{"id":2731,"date":"2025-07-17T15:14:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T15:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2025-07-21T10:14:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T10:14:35","slug":"fans-fear-both-ea-sports-fc-26-cover-stars-have-been-hit-by-fifa-curse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/2025\/07\/17\/fans-fear-both-ea-sports-fc-26-cover-stars-have-been-hit-by-fifa-curse\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans fear both EA Sports FC 26 cover stars have been hit by FIFA curse"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Jude\t<\/div>
Jude Bellingham only recently underwent surgery for an injury he received in 2023 (EA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Football fans are beginning to worry that the FIFA<\/a> cover star curse has returned, as both EA<\/a> Sports FC 26\u2019s cover stars are already injured.<\/p>\n

Although they had already leaked beforehand<\/a>, the cover stars for EA Sports FC 26 were officially revealed this week<\/a>, alongside the first details and gameplay footage for the upcoming football game.<\/p>\n

England and Real Madrid player Jude Bellingham<\/a> is once again the main star (having also been on EA Sports FC 25<\/a>\u2019s cover), but he\u2019s now joined by former teammate and Bayern Munich player Jamal Musiala.<\/p>\n

However, in an unfortunate coincidence, both players are currently unable to play football in real life and will be out of action even after EA Sports FC 26 launches on September 26.<\/p>\n

Despite suffering a shoulder injury in November 2023, Bellingham has continued to play and only recently underwent surgery. In fact, the news of his problems dropped the same day as the EA Sports FC 26 announcement and Bellingham\u2019s not expected to return for another four months or so.<\/p>\n

Aside from being out of the game by the time of EA Sports FC 26\u2019s release, he\u2019s also expected to miss the start of the 2025-2026 season.<\/p>\n

As for Musiala, he was injured during the Club World Cup earlier this month, when Bayern Munich played against Paris St-Germain<\/a>, where he suffered both a broken leg and a dislocated ankle.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tExpert, exclusive gaming analysis\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n

Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter<\/strong><\/a> for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

He has since undergone surgery, but this still means he\u2019s out of the game and, just like Bellingham, isn\u2019t expected to be ready to return until November 2025 at the earliest.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s unlikely this will have any impact on EA Sports FC 26\u2019s sales, the timing is extremely unfortunate from a marketing standpoint, now that the two players EA picked to headline the game are on hiatus.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve already seen some fans suggest the FIFA cover curse is at work. If you\u2019re unfamiliar with it, there have been frequent instances of football<\/a> players who appear on the cover of FIFA (what EA Sports FC used to be called) games suffering misfortunes.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Is this the first time the cover curse has affected the cover athlete before we knew who they were? https:\/\/t.co\/XoS1QwGxYx<\/a><\/p>\n

— Mikus \ud83e\ude75 (@mikussy__) July 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

FC cover curse? Aren\u2019t both of them getting surgeries this summer https:\/\/t.co\/IgEZylH6S3<\/a><\/p>\n

— Mathew (@Srry_Kid) July 17, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

The fifa cover curse is real https:\/\/t.co\/wr2RruDPRM<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/IRPMCddreJ<\/a><\/p>\n

— moraless (@Justmoraless) July 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

It hasn\u2019t happened every year and it has not always been injuries (FIFA 21 star, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, for instance, went on to score no goals at the UEFA European Championship in 2021), but enough examples have warranted the curse\u2019s inclusion on Wikipedia\u2019s list of sports related curses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Bellingham was injured in late 2023, so EA really should have been aware he\u2019d have to undergo surgery at around this time… not that that stopped the company sticking him on the cover of last year’s game too.<\/p>\n

For what it’s worth, no such misfortunes appears to have befallen Swedish player Zlatan Ibrahimovi\u0107<\/a>, who retired in 2023 and graces the cover of EA Sports FC 26’s Ultimate Edition. Let’s hope he doesn’t somehow break any bones in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Fans of the Madden NFL games (which EA also handles) have their own superstition about that series\u2019 covers, believing any player who appears on it is doomed to suffer an injury.<\/p>\n

In an old 2007 Kotaku<\/a> interview, the EA Sports\u2019 vice president of brand marketing at the time, Chris Erb, revealed that the curse chatter did little to dissuade footballers from asking to appear on the next Madden NFL cover.<\/p>\n

\u2018We’ve spoken to plenty of guys from within the league, and they don’t think it’s a jinx,\u2019 said Erb. \u2018The players, who we work closely with, they definitely don’t think it’s a jinx, because they know better than anyone how easy it is to get injured, or to have a bad season.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Zlatan\t<\/div>
Ibrahimovi\u0107 is thankfully okay… for now (Electronic Arts)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email\u00a0gamecentral@metro.co.uk<\/a>, leave a comment below,\u00a0follow us on Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To submit Inbox letters and Reader\u2019s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/07\/16\/ea-sports-fc-25-costs-just-15-huge-playstation-store-summer-sale-23676084\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">EA Sports FC 25 costs just \u00a315 in huge PlayStation Store summer sale<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><title>Arrow<\/title><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/07\/14\/bayern-munich-hijack-arsenals-transfer-move-68m-star-jamal-musiala-injury-23662985\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">Bayern Munich hijack Arsenal\u2019s transfer move for \u00a368m star after Jamal Musiala injury<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><title>Arrow<\/title><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/07\/06\/everyone-play-rematch-best-new-football-game-years-readers-feature-23589788\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">Everyone should play Rematch: the best new football game in years \u2013 Reader\u2019s Feature<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jude Bellingham only recently underwent surgery for an injury he received in 2023 (EA) Football fans are beginning to worry that the FIFA cover star curse has returned, as both EA Sports FC 26\u2019s cover stars are already injured. Although they had already leaked beforehand, the cover stars for EA...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2735,"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions\/2735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.satecsite.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}