EA FC 26 Player Ratings: Highest Rated + Best by Position
The short version: The highest overall rating in EA FC 26 is 91, and four players share it: Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbappe, and, in the very same pool, Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas. FC 26 rates men and women on one 0 to 99 scale, so women hold two of the four top spots. Below them is a 90 tier: Ousmane Dembele, Rodri, Virgil van Dijk, Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland and Caroline Graham Hansen. These are the launch Ultimate Team ratings, each cross-checked against EA's official pages. Verified June 2026.
- Top overall is 91. Salah, Mbappe, Bonmati and Putellas. Nobody is rated higher.
- Men and women share one pool. Same 0 to 99 scale, directly comparable. Two of the top four are women.
- Best goalkeeper: Donnarumma, Alisson and Courtois, all tied at 89.
- Best defender: Virgil van Dijk, 90, the only outfield defender at 90.
- Two ratings per player. Ultimate Team and Career Mode use different overalls, so Haaland is 90 in UT but 91 in Career. This page uses the UT launch pool.
- "Ratings Reload" is a promo, not a re-rating. Your base cards were not changed.
EA does publish the ratings, but it does not make them easy to read. The official ratings page shows a search box and a handful of single-stat leaders, not a browsable list you can actually scan. So most people end up guessing, or trusting a number without knowing what it means. This page fixes that: the real top of the game, the best player at every position, and the two things about FC 26 ratings that confuse almost everyone. Every overall here was checked against EA's own player pages and at least one more reputable source. Where a rating is disputed or sits in a tie, we say so.
The highest-rated players in EA FC 26
Four players sit at the ceiling of 91. Two are men, two are women, and that is not a typo.
| Player | OVR | Position | Club | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohamed Salah | 91 | RW | Liverpool | Egypt |
| Kylian Mbappe | 91 | ST | Real Madrid | France |
| Aitana Bonmati | 91 | CM | FC Barcelona | Spain |
| Alexia Putellas | 91 | CM | FC Barcelona | Spain |
| Ousmane Dembele | 90 | ST | Paris Saint-Germain | France |
| Rodri | 90 | CDM | Manchester City | Spain |
| Virgil van Dijk | 90 | CB | Liverpool | Netherlands |
| Jude Bellingham | 90 | CAM | Real Madrid | England |
| Erling Haaland | 90 | ST | Manchester City | Norway |
| Caroline Graham Hansen | 90 | RW | FC Barcelona | Norway |
A note worth keeping in mind before you spend coins chasing any of these: a 91 is not automatically the best card to use. Salah and Mbappe are elite in-game, but so are plenty of cheaper cards that fit your formation better. Rating tells you the ceiling, not the price-to-performance. We cover the cards that punch above their cost in our best cheap players guide.
Wait, women are rated the same as men?
Yes, and it is the single most misunderstood thing about FC 26 ratings. EA puts men and women on one shared 0 to 99 scale, so the numbers are directly comparable. The proof is at the very top: the four highest-rated players in the entire game tie at 91, and two of them, Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas, are FC Barcelona midfielders.
This is not a separate women's leaderboard. In a sortable list, women appear interleaved with men at every tier. Caroline Graham Hansen is a 90-rated winger. Mapi Leon is an 89-rated centre-back who outranks Gabriel and William Saliba. Patri Guijarro ties Joshua Kimmich at 89. If you only ever look at the men, you are reading half the game. The position tables below include everyone, because EA's pool does.
Best players by position in EA FC 26
These are the highest-rated players at each position in the launch Ultimate Team pool, women included because EA ranks them in the same pool. Most tiers have ties, which we flag, because EA does not break them at the overall level.
Best goalkeepers
| # | Player | OVR | Club | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gianluigi Donnarumma | 89 | Manchester City | Italy |
| 2 | Alisson | 89 | Liverpool | Brazil |
| 3 | Thibaut Courtois | 89 | Real Madrid | Belgium |
| 4 | Christiane Endler | 88 | OL Lyonnes | Chile |
| 5 | Jan Oblak | 88 | Atletico Madrid | Slovenia |
The top three are level at 89, with EA listing Donnarumma first. Christiane Endler (88) is the highest-rated woman in goal and sits level with Jan Oblak.
Best centre-backs
| # | Player | OVR | Club | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virgil van Dijk | 90 | Liverpool | Netherlands |
| 2 | Mapi Leon | 89 | FC Barcelona | Spain |
| 3 | Gabriel Magalhaes | 88 | Arsenal | Brazil |
| 4 | Irene Paredes | 88 | FC Barcelona | Spain |
| 5 | Alessandro Bastoni | 87 | Inter Milan | Italy |
Van Dijk is the only defender in the game at 90. Spot five is a crowded 87 tie, with Marquinhos, William Saliba and Jonathan Tah all level with Bastoni.
Best full-backs (LB and RB)
| # | Player | OVR | Club | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Achraf Hakimi | 89 | Paris Saint-Germain | Morocco |
| 2 | Katie McCabe | 87 | Arsenal | Rep. of Ireland |
| 3 | Lucy Bronze | 87 | Chelsea | England |
| 4 | Jules Kounde | 87 | FC Barcelona | France |
| 5 | Trent Alexander-Arnold | 86 | Real Madrid | England |
Hakimi is clear at the top. The 87 tie includes two women, Katie McCabe and Lucy Bronze, who genuinely outrank every full-back except Hakimi and Kounde. Spot five is a three-way tie at 86 with Ona Batlle and Nuno Mendes.
Best defensive midfielders (CDM)
| # | Player | OVR | Club | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodri | 90 | Manchester City | Spain |
| 2 | Patri Guijarro | 89 | FC Barcelona | Spain |
| 3 | Joshua Kimmich | 89 | FC Bayern Munchen | Germany |
| 4 | Moises Caicedo | 87 | Chelsea | Ecuador |
| 5 | Declan Rice | 87 | Arsenal | England |
Rodri leads at 90. Patri Guijarro (89) ties Kimmich. Note the gap: there is no 88-rated CDM in the base pool, so Caicedo and Rice at 87 are the next tier.
Best central midfielders (CM)
| # | Player | OVR | Club | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aitana Bonmati | 91 | FC Barcelona | Spain |
| 2 | Alexia Putellas | 91 | FC Barcelona | Spain |
| 3 | Vitinha | 89 | Paris Saint-Germain | Portugal |
| 4 | Pedri | 89 | FC Barcelona | Spain |
| 5 | Federico Valverde | 89 | Real Madrid | Uruguay |
The two best central midfielders in the game are women, both at 91, ahead of every man. Spots three to five are a 89 tie. If you saw Vitinha or Pedri listed at 90 somewhere, that is a mid-season aggregator number, not the launch rating.
Best attacking midfielders (CAM)
| # | Player | OVR | Club | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jude Bellingham | 90 | Real Madrid | England |
| 2 | Florian Wirtz | 89 | Liverpool | Germany |
| 3 | Jamal Musiala | 88 | FC Bayern Munchen | Germany |
| 4 | Debinha | 88 | KC Current | Brazil |
| 5 | Cole Palmer | 87 | Chelsea | England |
Bellingham is the only 90 here. Debinha (88) ties Musiala. Bruno Fernandes (87) is level with Palmer at the cut line.
Best wingers (LW and RW)
| # | Player | OVR | Club | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mohamed Salah | 91 | Liverpool | Egypt |
| 2 | Caroline Graham Hansen | 90 | FC Barcelona | Norway |
| 3 | Raphinha | 89 | FC Barcelona | Brazil |
| 4 | Vinicius Junior | 89 | Real Madrid | Brazil |
| 5 | Lamine Yamal | 89 | FC Barcelona | Spain |
Salah is the highest-rated winger in the game. Caroline Graham Hansen (90) is the highest-rated winger by primary position and outranks Vinicius Junior and Lamine Yamal, who sit in the 89 tie.
Best strikers (ST)
| # | Player | OVR | Club | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kylian Mbappe | 91 | Real Madrid | France |
| 2 | Ousmane Dembele | 90 | Paris Saint-Germain | France |
| 3 | Erling Haaland | 90 | Manchester City | Norway |
| 4 | Alessia Russo | 89 | Arsenal | England |
| 5 | Khadija Shaw | 89 | Manchester City | Jamaica |
Mbappe leads, with Dembele and Haaland tied at 90. Alessia Russo and Khadija Shaw (both 89) edge out Harry Kane, who is the first striker cut from the top five by EA's own ordering.
Why the same player has two different ratings
This catches almost everyone. Search Haaland and you will find him rated 90 on one site and 91 on another, and both are correct. FC 26 runs two different overall-rating formulas:
- The Ultimate Team and official-reveal pool is the headline one, the ratings EA announces at launch and the cards you pull in packs. Haaland is 90 here, Salah is 91. Every table on this page uses this pool.
- The Career Mode pool recalculates overalls with a different weighting. Haaland comes out at 91, while Salah is not in the top tier at all.
Neither is wrong. They answer different questions. When you compare players, just make sure you are comparing the same pool, or you will end up arguing about a number that both people are reading correctly. For squad building in Ultimate Team, the ratings above are the ones that matter, and they feed straight into how you build links, which we break down in our chemistry guide.
What an overall rating actually means
An overall is a weighted blend of a card's six face stats, weighted by position. A striker's pace and shooting count for more than their defending. That is why a 90-rated striker and a 90-rated centre-back play nothing alike, and why overall alone is a poor way to pick a card.
The number you should care about in-game is fit, not rating. A cheaper card in its best position, on full chemistry, with the right PlayStyles, will out-perform a higher-rated card jammed somewhere it does not belong. That is the whole reason a 91 is not a shortcut to a better team. Build around the right shape first, see our best formations guide, then fill it with value, not just high numbers. Career Mode managers should weigh potential and growth over launch overall too, which is what our wonderkids list is built around.
"Ratings Reload" explained
If you have seen the words "Ratings Reload" and assumed EA re-rated everyone, relax. Ratings Reload is an Ultimate Team promo, not a change to the base ratings on this page. It runs Live Events and themed Evolutions that boost the six face stats on special, limited card versions. The base overalls that the whole game is built on did not move. So the launch ratings here remain the reference point, and the Reload simply adds boosted promo cards on top for a while. Those special cards are different items, not re-rated base players.
This page is not for: live in-game prices or the full searchable database of all 17,000 cards. For that, a live database is the right tool. What we do instead is curate the part that actually matters, the top of every position, verified and explained, so you are not scrolling 17,000 rows to learn that Van Dijk is the best defender.
EA FC 26 ratings FAQ
Who is the highest-rated player in EA FC 26?
Four players share the top rating of 91: Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbappe, Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas. Nobody is rated higher.
Are women rated the same as men in EA FC 26?
Yes. FC 26 rates men and women on the same 0 to 99 scale in one shared pool, so they are directly comparable. Two of the four 91-rated players, Bonmati and Putellas, are women.
Who is the best goalkeeper in EA FC 26?
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alisson and Thibaut Courtois are all tied at 89, with EA listing Donnarumma first.
Why does Haaland have two different ratings?
Ultimate Team and Career Mode calculate overalls differently. Haaland is 90 in the Ultimate Team pool but 91 in Career Mode. This page uses the Ultimate Team launch ratings.
Did EA FC 26 ratings get updated?
The base launch ratings are unchanged. "Ratings Reload" is an Ultimate Team promo that boosts special cards, not a re-rating of base players.
Who is the best striker in EA FC 26?
Kylian Mbappe at 91, followed by Ousmane Dembele and Erling Haaland tied at 90.
The EA FC Zone Team plays EA SPORTS FC every week (Ultimate Team, Career Mode and more), testing every squad, SBC and tactic before we write about it.
