EA FC 26 Season 9 is live, and the biggest free card grind of the FUTTIES window is already underway. Complete any four of the five Future World Tour objective groups and you unlock a 98 OVR FUTTIES ICON Frank Lampard — completely free and untradeable. Groups release one per week through mid-August, meaning the window is open right now with new tasks dropping each week.
This guide covers every confirmed group, all five Rio Ngumoha tasks (live now), predictive squad prep for each upcoming group, the pack rewards stacking up along the way, the fastest completion strategy, and which single group to skip if you want to minimise grind time.
Quick answer (TLDR): EA FC 26's Future World Tour runs five weekly objective groups in Season 9 — Rio Ngumoha, Estêvão, Lennart Karl, Can Uzun, and Éli Junior Kroupi. Complete any 4 of the 5 to earn the 98 OVR FUTTIES ICON Frank Lampard (untradeable). The first group (Ngumoha) is live now and clears in about 8 Squad Battles on Semi-Pro. Each subsequent group drops weekly through mid-August — you can skip the one that fits your club worst.
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What Is the Future World Tour in EA FC 26?
The Future World Tour is Season 9's flagship seasonal objective series, introduced with the "World Tour: Spain, Portugal & Morocco '30" update on July 8, 2026. It celebrates five rising stars set to light up the 2030 World Cup — one from England, Brazil, Germany, Türkiye, and France.
As stated in the EA Sports FC 26 Season 9 Pitch Notes: "A Completionist group will also reward FUTTIES ICON Frank Lampard for completing at least four of the five Future World Tour Objective groups."
Each group centres on one player. Complete its match-based tasks and you earn that player's National Pride or FUTTIES card plus a tranche of high-rated packs. All tasks count across Squad Battles (min Semi-Pro), Rivals, FUT Champions, and Live Events — so you accumulate progress however you're already playing each day.
The key strategic point: you need only 4 of 5 groups. You can deliberately skip the group whose nationality/league conditions suit your club least.
What Are All Five Future World Tour Groups and When Do They Drop?
| # | Player | Nationality | Card Type | Expected Live Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rio Ngumoha | England 🏴 | National Pride (96 OVR) | July 10 — LIVE |
| 2 | Estêvão | Brazil 🇧🇷 | National Pride | ~July 17 — Coming soon |
| 3 | Lennart Karl | Germany 🇩🇪 | FUTTIES | ~July 24 |
| 4 | Can Uzun | Türkiye 🇹🇷 | FUTTIES | ~July 31 |
| 5 | Éli Junior Kroupi | France 🇫🇷 | FUTTIES | ~August 7 |
| — | Completionist | — | Frank Lampard FUTTIES ICON 98 OVR | Unlock after any 4/5 above |
Groups drop on the weekly FUTTIES Friday refresh cadence. Start Group 1 now while you wait for subsequent groups to unlock.
How Do You Complete Group 1: Rio Ngumoha (Live Now)?
The Ngumoha group went live on July 10, 2026 and remains open through Season 9. The reward is a 96 OVR National Pride Rio Ngumoha — 97 Pace, 5-star Skill Moves, 5-star Weak Foot, built for the left midfield.
What Are the Five Ngumoha Objective Tasks?
All matches count in Squad Battles on minimum Semi-Pro (or Live Events / Rivals / FUT Champions — any competitive mode qualifies).
| Objective | Requirement |
|---|---|
| England Depth | Play 5 matches with at least 6 England players in your starting 11 |
| LM Link-Up | Score 5 goals with an LM in their preferred position |
| Dominant Win | Win 3 matches by 3 or more goals with 2 Premier League players in your starting 11 |
| Clean Keeper | Keep 5 clean sheets |
| First Owned | Win 8 matches with at least 6 First Owned players in your starting 11 |
How Do You Finish Ngumoha in ~8 Games?
Build one squad that satisfies all five conditions simultaneously, then grind Semi-Pro Squad Battles against the weakest available opponents:
Optimal squad requirements:
- 6 England players (naturals or dual-nationals — cheap bronze/silvers work fine)
- 1 LM in their preferred position slot
- 2 Premier League players (can overlap with the England six)
- 6 First Owned players (players you personally purchased or received — not SBC-crafted cards)
Note: Chemistry bonuses have no effect on the CPU in Squad Battles — you don't need a linked squad, just the right player conditions met.
Match strategy: Pick bronze/silver CPU squads from the Squad Battles refresh. Score 3+ goals each match while keeping a clean sheet — that simultaneously ticks the 3-goal win, clean sheet, and First Owned objectives in one game. After 8 matches covering the above squad conditions, all five objectives are done. In our testing with this squad setup in Season 9 Squad Battles, all five tasks stacked cleanly — the simultaneous three-objective tick per match made the grind fast and efficient.
What Are the Estêvão Objectives in Group 2?
The National Pride Estêvão group is listed as "coming soon" as of July 16 and is expected to go live around July 17 on the weekly refresh. Estêvão is a 19-year-old Brazilian winger at Chelsea, rated among the highest-potential forwards in world football.
Based on the Ngumoha template, Group 2 will almost certainly require Brazilian league or Brazilian national squad conditions — likely 5-6 Brazilian players and/or La Liga / Premier League connections if Estêvão's Chelsea team is used as the league requirement. Expect 5 tasks and roughly 8–10 qualifying matches.
Prep now: Stock cheap Brazilian silvers in your club (Brazilian players with La Liga links are particularly useful, as Brazil's national teams are well-represented there). Keep your transfer list budget available for the cheap bronze/silver fillers that make these conditions trivially easy to meet on Semi-Pro.
How Do You Prepare for Groups 3–5: Lennart Karl, Can Uzun, and Éli Junior Kroupi?
Based on the weekly release cadence and the Ngumoha blueprint, here's what to expect — and how to pre-prepare — for each upcoming group:
What Should You Expect from Group 3: Lennart Karl (Germany, ~July 24)?
Lennart Karl is a German midfielder tipped for a big future in the Bundesliga. Group 3 will likely require 6 German players and/or Bundesliga squad conditions, similar to how Ngumoha required English/Premier League depth.
Prep: German bronze and silver players are cheap on the transfer market. Bundesliga fodder is always available in bulk. Stock 6+ German silvers now — they can double as SBC fodder later if you skip this group.
What Should You Expect from Group 4: Can Uzun (Türkiye, ~July 31)?
Can Uzun is a Turkish attacker making his name in the Bundesliga. His objective group will likely focus on Turkish national team players and/or Bundesliga connections — making this the most unusual nationality requirement of the five groups, since Turkish players are less common in FUT clubs.
Decision to make early: If you have no Turkish depth, Can Uzun is a prime skip candidate. Turkish bronze/silvers are available on the transfer market but are thinner in stock than English, German, or Brazilian players. Factor this in when deciding your skip before week 4.
What Should You Expect from Group 5: Éli Junior Kroupi (France, ~August 7)?
Éli Junior Kroupi is a young French winger with Ligue 1 connections. Group 5 will likely require French national players and/or Ligue 1 squad conditions — French bronzes/silvers are consistently plentiful on the transfer market, making this one of the easier nationality requirements to meet alongside Ngumoha.
Prep: Stack cheap French bronze players now if you plan to complete all five groups. At ~200 coins each, building a French squad costs almost nothing.
The skip logic in summary: Most players will skip Can Uzun (Türkiye/Bundesliga — thinnest player pool) and complete the other four. If you already have strong Turkish depth, skip whichever other group has conditions least suited to your club.
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What Packs Do You Earn Along the Way?
Intermediate pack rewards accumulate as you complete groups (expected rewards based on community objective tracker data — confirm in-game as each group unlocks, as EA may adjust):
| Stage | Expected Pack Reward |
|---|---|
| After 1st group completed | 3x 88+ Rare Gold Players Pack |
| After 2nd group completed | 2x 89+ Rare Gold Players Pack |
| After 3rd group completed | 5x 88+ Rare Gold Players Pack |
| After 4th group / Completionist | 20x 87+ Rare Gold Players Pack + Frank Lampard FUTTIES ICON |
The 20x 87+ Rare Gold Players Pack at the Completionist stage is the headline reward alongside Lampard — premium SBC fodder perfectly timed for Best of Batch FUTTIES content expected from July 24 onward.
Even the intermediate 88+/89+ packs carry real value. Opening 10x 88+ packs across the grind gives a realistic shot at a pull worth tens of thousands of coins, making the objectives essentially profit-neutral or better on the fodder alone — before you even factor in the free Lampard card.
Is the Frank Lampard FUTTIES Icon Worth the Grind?
Frank Lampard's FUTTIES ICON arrives at 98 OVR as a central midfielder — one of the premium CM options in Season 9. Lampard was one of the Premier League's greatest goal-scoring midfielders, and his FUTTIES version reflects that with exceptional shooting and passing numbers.
Reported card stats (via fut.gg, subject to official EA confirmation at card release):
| Attribute | Rating |
|---|---|
| PAC | 91 |
| SHO | 99 |
| PAS | 97 |
| DRI | 96 |
| DEF | 92 |
| PHY | 91 |
Reported PlayStyles+ (via fut.gg): Finesse Shot+, Incisive Pass+, Tiki Taka+, Long Ball+, Technical+, and Press Proven+ — a complete box-to-box/attacking mid profile. 99 Shooting and 97 Passing on a free untradeable card is elite value regardless of what the transfer market prices comparable players at.
As an untradeable, he won't add coins to your wallet — but on-pitch he delivers an 98 OVR CM for zero budget cost, freeing every coin you'd otherwise spend on a comparable gold card for other squad upgrades or SBC completion.
Which Group Should You Skip?
You need 4 of 5. Pick the skip based on your squad's weakest nationality link:
- Most players should skip Can Uzun (Group 4) — Turkish players are the rarest nationality requirement across all five groups. If your club has no Turkish depth, this is the obvious skip.
- Ngumoha (Group 1) should be everyone's first completion — English players are widely available at bronze tier, the tasks are confirmed, and it's live right now.
- Éli Junior Kroupi (Group 5) is easy not to skip — French bronze/silvers are extremely cheap and common, making the squad-building conditions trivial.
- Don't decide on Groups 3–5 yet — wait for each group's exact task requirements to go live before committing to a skip. A surprising condition (e.g., "Win with a La Liga squad") could flip which group is easiest for your specific club.
How Can Coins Speed Up Your Future World Tour Grind?
All five objective groups are technically free — no SBC costs, no pack purchases required. But coins help in two real ways:
1. Buy the right nationality fillers cheaply. For each group, you need 5–6 players from a specific nationality. At bronze/silver prices (typically 200–500 coins each), building the filler squad for any group costs under 3,000 coins. Having coins available means you spend 5 minutes on the transfer market instead of farming them from your existing club.
2. Fund SBC completions with your pack rewards. The 88+/89+ packs you earn are best used as SBC fodder — converting them into the cards needed for Best of Batch FUTTIES SBCs requires coin investment alongside the packs. More coins = faster fodder conversion = more completed SBCs. See our SBC fodder guide for the cheapest methods to stock up before Best of Batch week.
A small coin top-up is the highest-ROI move in this window: Lampard's equivalent market value would be hundreds of thousands of coins if he were tradeable. Spending a fraction of that on cheap nationality fillers and SBC supplements is the obvious calculation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to complete all five Future World Tour groups to get Frank Lampard? No — you only need to complete any 4 of the 5 available groups. You can skip whichever group has squad conditions that don't suit your club.
Are the Future World Tour rewards tradeable? All rewards from the Future World Tour Completionist objective are untradeable, including Frank Lampard, the Ngumoha card, and all intermediate packs.
Can I complete Future World Tour objectives in Rivals or FUT Champions instead of Squad Battles? Yes. All tasks count in Squad Battles (min Semi-Pro), Live Events, Division Rivals, and FUT Champions — any competitive mode works toward every objective.
What OVR is the Frank Lampard FUTTIES Icon card? Frank Lampard arrives at 98 OVR as a FUTTIES ICON CM, with reported stats of 99 SHO and 97 PAS (via fut.gg — subject to official EA confirmation).
When does each Future World Tour group drop? Groups release on the weekly FUTTIES Friday cadence starting July 10. Group 2 (Estêvão) is expected around July 17, with Lennart Karl (~July 24), Can Uzun (~July 31), and Éli Junior Kroupi (~August 7) following in weekly waves.
Which Future World Tour group is easiest to complete? Group 1 (Rio Ngumoha) is the confirmed easiest — English players are cheap and widely available at bronze tier, and the 5 tasks can be stacked into ~8 Semi-Pro Squad Battles matches.
What is the best pack reward in the Future World Tour? The 20x 87+ Rare Gold Players Pack at the Completionist stage is the highest-value single reward — excellent SBC fodder arriving just as Best of Batch FUTTIES content launches around July 24.
Source: EA Sports FC 26 Season 9 Pitch Notes, July 8, 2026. Ngumoha objective task requirements cross-referenced with the EA FC 26 in-game objective tracker and official EA Pitch Notes. Intermediate pack rewards and Lampard stats reported via community FUT trackers (fut.gg, futbin.com) — confirm in-game at each group's unlock.
