It’s that point of the 12 months once more and EA has revealed the cowl stars of its subsequent soccer recreation, FC 26. However this go round there’s concern that the notorious ‘Madden curse’ has unfold to EA’s soccer sequence, after joint cowl stars Jude Bellingham and Jamal (*26*) suffered vital accidents that left them dealing with prolonged spells on the sidelines.
“It’s very nice to share this second with Jamal, as a mirrored image of how far we’ve come,” stated Actual Madrid and England midfield star Bellingham in a remark accompanying the announcement.
“I bear in mind our instances rooming collectively in the England Youth crew, we’d play the recreation all the time. The place I’m from, everybody is aware of the recreation, everybody performs it and talks about it a lot. I’m grateful to be given the alternative to be on the cowl once more.”
And right here’s a remark from Bayern Munich and Germany ahead (*26*): “After I discovered I’d be on the cowl of FC, it was such a loopy feeling. I believed, how may I inform my little brother? He’s an enormous fan of the recreation, so this will probably be a pleasant shock for him. It’s one thing I at all times needed rising up and it’s such an enormous a part of soccer tradition. Who is aware of, perhaps I can nonetheless beat Jude at FC.”
The issue is, each gamers are injured and are set to miss a major chunk of the subsequent season. Let’s begin with Bellingham. The 22-year-old simply had surgical procedure on a long-standing shoulder harm that’s set to preserve him out of the recreation for up to 4 months. Meaning he’s going to miss the begin of subsequent season and might not return till November.
It’s worse for (*26*), although. He suffered a horrible harm taking part in at the Membership World Cup that guidelines him out for between 4 and 5 months. After breaking his leg and dislocating his ankle in the similar incident, the 22-year-old is about for an extended absence.
All this implies FC 26 launches in September with each its cowl stars unable to play the recreation. One doubtlessly gained’t play once more till 2026. Hardly excellent for the entrepreneurs at EA Sports activities, who have to be questioning whether or not they’re now cursed.
The Madden curse fan principle suggests any athlete who seems on the cowl of Madden NFL suffers a downturn of their profession, both from an harm or typically underperforming. The long-standing Madden curse most lately bothered Madden NFL 25 cowl star Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers, who was shifted to the injured reserve checklist due to calf tightness and achilles tendinitis one month after he graced the cowl of the newest American soccer entry from EA Sports activities, which arrived August 13, 2024.
CBS Sports analyzed the historical past of the Madden curse upon McCaffrey’s announcement as 2024’s cowl star, deeming that, between 2000 and 2024, 58% of gamers struggled after showing on the cowl.
EA’s FIFA sequence — now FC — has a great distance to go earlier than a ‘FIFA curse’ spreads on-line, however maybe FC 26 has began one thing new. FC 26 launches throughout PS5, PS4, Xbox Sequence X and S, Xbox One, PC, Amazon Luna, Nintendo Swap, and Nintendo Swap 2 on September 26, 2025, with early entry by way of the Final Version starting September 19, 2025.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.