Newcastle United amongst the elite as EA FC26 nears launch
The video game formerly known as FIFA, now known as EA FC, is due to launch its new iteration this month, with fans of the franchise keen to see where their club ranks in the stats leagues.
Newcastle United have pretty much always ranked pretty highly, even during the grim Mike Ashley years; they were still a decent team to take over for those of us who enjoy the career mode.
If you took them online in their vanilla form, you'd probably end up going against a player who only ever uses Real Madrid, because who online is interested in fairness? It wouldn't end well for you more often than not.
However, ESPN have taken a look at the star ratings of the top 16 clubs in this year's edition of the game, and we faithful Mags may stand a chance.
Newcastle United are the ninth-best team on EA FC26
Newcastle, unsurprisingly, doesn't have any of the top 20 players in their squad, but as a team overall, they are in the top 10, which is pretty cool to see. That top 16, as collated by ESPN, is made up of:
- Real Madrid, La Liga: 5 Stars
- Barcelona, La Liga: 5 Stars
- Paris Saint-Germain, Ligue 1: 5 Stars
- Liverpool, Premier League: 5 Stars
- Manchester City, Premier League: 5 Stars
- Arsenal, Premier League: 5 Stars
- Bayern Munich, Bundesliga: 5 Stars
- Atlético Madrid, La Liga: 4.5 Stars
- Newcastle United, Premier League: 4.5 Stars
- Napoli, Serie A: 4.5 Stars
- Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga: 4.5 Stars
- Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League: 4.5 Stars
- Chelsea, Premier League: 4.5 Stars
- Aston Villa, Premier League: 4.5 Stars
- Manchester United, Premier League: 4.5 Stars
- Bayer Leverkusen, Bundesliga: 4.5 Stars
EA Sports must have been feeling a bit generous when they created those star ratings ... Manchester United 4.5 stars? Did they pay any attention to last season?
Alexander Isak didn't make the top 20 players. Shame
If he were still a Newcastle United player, we'd probably be a bit miffed that Alexander Isak isn't recognised as one of the top 20 best players in the game, but he's not, and so that's hilarious.
Although Liverpool do still boast four of the top 20, including Mo Salah at number one, so perhaps we shouldn't feel so smug.
Nick Woltemade will be on that list in EA FC27, though, and Newcastle United will be a 5-star team.
We can dream, can't we?
