It’s coming home, the EA FC 25 Standard Edition cover that is. After a week of leaks and speculation, it’s now official—Jude Bellingham is the EA FC 25 cover star.
EA barely waited long enough for Euro 2024 and Copa America to finish to begin the marketing campaign for EA FC 25. Right before Bellingham was set to play in the European Championship final with England, leaks suggested he’d be the EA FC 25 cover star.
Those leaks were all but confirmed by the unveiling of the EA FC 25 Ultimate Edition cover on July 16, featuring Bellingham alongside retired legends Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, and Gianluigi Buffon, as well as Ballon d’Or Féminin winner Aitana Bonmatí. A day later, on July 17, EA officially revealed the EA FC 25 Standard Edition cover, starring Bellingham.
The cover depicts the Englishman’s trademark “Belligol” celebration, captured right after he scored a stoppage-time winner in a 3-2 victory against Barcelona during April’s El Clasico that sealed the La Liga crown for Real Madrid.
As Bellingham mentions in his announcement regarding the cover, he’s the first English player to appear on the front of an EA Sports soccer game since 2011 when Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere were part of the large package of players to appear on various versions of FIFA 12.
Here’s Bellingham’s full statement on being given the EA FC 25 cover: “I played this game with my brother all the time growing up, and I’ve always thought about how incredible it would be to one day be featured on the cover. There have been so many iconic players on the cover over the years, and I am delighted to be the most recent English player to be bestowed with this honor since 2011. I’m also truly honored to be featured on the cover of Ultimate Edition with true legends of the game both past and present in Beckham, Bonmatí, Buffon and Zidane.”
Bellingham will also be the new cover athlete for EA Sports FC Mobile going forward. Logging in between July 18 and Aug. 1 will give EA FC Mobile players access to a 95 OVR Bellingham card in celebration of his cover reveal.
There’s a lot to celebrate indeed. While the English midfielder would have surely loved to pair up his shiny new EA FC 25 cover with the Euro 2024 trophy, at just 21 years old, he’s already a La Liga and Champions League winner, a European Championship finalist, and one of the youngest FIFA/EA FC cover stars. Now, we’ll have to wait and see if he can go on a similar cover run as Rooney did from FIFA 06 to FIFA 12.