FC 27 kicks off Ultimate Team with a TOTW 1 led by Lamine Yamal

The competitive season of EA Sports FC 27 already has its first chapter in Ultimate Team. As reported by Vandal, Electronic Arts unveiled the game's first Team of the Week on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 16, arriving early in Spain and the rest of the world to open this year's content cycle. The squad is headlined by Lamine Yamal, joined by names like David Raya and Dumornay, and the cards will be available until September 23.

The detail that interests us most as a community is the change in format: for the first six weeks, FC 27's Ultimate Team lets players vote for a community player who makes it into the TOTW. In this first edition, the choice went to Yamal. It looks like a small move, but it says a lot about where EA wants to take the relationship between the mode and its most active audience.

What you need to know

• FC 27's TOTW 1 was unveiled on Wednesday, September 16, and can already be found in packs.
• The first Team of the Week cards will be available until September 23.
• Lamine Yamal is the highest-rated card in the squad, with a 91 overall as a right winger.
• David Raya and Dumornay share the second tier with an 89 rating.
• For the first six weeks, the community votes for a player who makes it into the TOTW; Yamal was the first to be chosen.

The TOTW 1 squad, card by card

These are the players that make up the first Team of the Week in Ultimate Team 27, according to the list published by Vandal. The source also mentions Memeti as a right midfielder, but his rating appears incomplete in the original text, so we are leaving him out of the table rather than filling in the gaps ourselves.

As is usual with TOTWs, the squad mixes high-profile stars with players who fill specific positions. Yamal takes the spotlight, but for anyone building their first team, Raya and Safonov offer two goalkeeper options at different tiers, and the 86-rated line (Nmecha, Thuram and Bronze) is the kind that tends to pay off in the opening weeks, while the market has yet to settle.

The community vote: more than a gesture

What is genuinely new about this launch is the community player. Letting the community decide one Team of the Week card for six weeks shakes up the usual script a little, where EA alone picked the squad based on weekend performances. That the first vote went to Lamine Yamal surprises no one: he is the biggest draw among the game's Spanish-speaking player base and, at 91, he fits as the flagship card of TOTW 1.

For the competitive scene, this has a practical reading. If the community vote tends to favor popular players over strict weekly performance, the early-season meta may lean toward cards that are more famous than efficient. We will have to see how the next votes play out and whether the community prioritizes the name or real usefulness on the pitch.

Our take

Here at the Underworld Lordz newsroom, we welcome EA opening a window, however small, for the community to take part in the content. Six weeks of voting will not change Ultimate Team's business model, but they do generate conversation, and conversation is exactly what content creators need at the start of a cycle. Every vote is a debate, every result is a video, and that feeds the scene far more than a squad decided behind closed doors.

That said, we are not going to stop being critical. The community vote runs the risk of turning into a popularity contest that always rewards the same names. For the competitive player, what matters is not who wins the poll, but whether the TOTW cards make sense within the meta and whether the system keeps progression fair for those who do not spend beyond what is reasonable. A TOTW 1 with a 91 right out of the gate sets a high bar from minute one, and that forces EA to manage rating inflation carefully throughout the season.

Our advice for those competing with the team: do not obsess over Yamal in the first week. Look at the 85 and 86 cards, which are usually the ones that really build a squad at the start, and save your resources for when the market settles. Big-name cards sell, but matches are won with balance.

What do you think?

The community vote has spoken and chosen Lamine Yamal to open the FC 27 season. Do you think it is a good call to let the community decide part of the TOTW, or do you believe it will end up becoming a simple popularity contest? Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord.