Real Madrid is so popular, Real Madrid vs. Real Madrid outranks nearly every other matchup in EA Sports FC 25
Last year saw EA finally transition from its long-running FIFA series of licensed football games towards its own upstart competitor. Except EA Sports FC wasn't so much an upstart as the moneybags incumbent, and the same yearly upgrade alongside a marketing blitz that saw it plastered across seemingly every football ground saw the audience move over more-or-less seamlessly: EA Sports 24 sold slightly fewer units than 2023's FIFA 24, but ultimately made a lot more money.
EA Sports FC 25 launched in so-called early access (read: pre-order bonus) on September 27, and the publisher's now released a bunch of stats covering the game's first 25 days. Irritatingly this stat dump avoids some of the key metrics such as, y'know, how many people bought the thing, and instead offers up plenty of meaningless fluff about 4.3 billion goals scored and 1.7 billion matches played. But there are some gems in the mud.
Spain's Real Madrid are the most-selected men’s football team, while rivals FC Barcelona are the most-selected women’s football team. The El Clásico and Women’s Clásico match between Real Madrid and Barcelona unsurprisingly proved the most popular matchup in both categories. The real fun comes in the top three, though:
Most popular matchups (Men)
- Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona
- Manchester City vs. Real Madrid
- Real Madrid vs. Real Madrid
Yep, that's Real Madrid taking up four of six places in the most-chosen men's team. If they're not playing Barcelona or current European Champions Man City, who else is there to play but oneself? The story is slightly different in the women's game, which I suspect is down to the prominence achieved by clubs in the women's English Premier League.
Most popular matchups (Women)
- Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona
- Arsenal vs. Chelsea
- Chelsea vs. FC Barcelona
It's all just personal preference of course, but I do find it funny that, when you can choose almost any prominent club in the world to play as or against, so many folk are just going for the Madrid mirror match. I guess it's too close to call.
"It’s been a month since we invited the world to play EA Sports FC 25 and the community response has been amazing, with nearly 300 million matches played of our new 5v5 Rush social experience, and matches with friends doubling year over year in Ultimate Team," said John Shepherd, VP, EA Sports FC. The Rush mode is one of EA Sports FC 25's big new additions, a more casual five-a-side mode built around quick matches with and against friends.
The stadium popularity contest unsurprisingly goes to Real Madrid's spectacular Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, with Liverpool's Anfield and Man City's Etihad Stadium also among the most played. As far as individual players go, the most sought-after transfer targets won't raise any eyebrows, with Spain's outstanding teenager Lamine Yamal winning the popularity contest (and cover star Jude Bellingham nowhere to be seen).
Top 5 career mode transfers (Men)
- Lamine Yamal
- Endrick
- Memphis Depay
- Pau Cubarsí
- Nico Williams
Top 5 career mode transfers (Women)
- Aitana Bonmatí
- Sophia Smith
- Alisha Lehmann
- Alexia Putellas
- Jule Brand
EA ends with a bit of bragging about just how many licenses it has in the game: over 19,000+ athletes across 700+ teams in more than 120 stadiums and 30+ leagues, which all comes thanks to over 300 global football partners. There's also a little dig at FIFA, by listing every prestigious competition you can play in EA Sports FC 25 except, of course, the World Cup.
It's fair to say that, even if it's not sharing hard sales figures yet, EA Sports FC is very much mission accomplished for EA Sports, and thanks to the marketing around major competitions feels inextricable from the real-world sport. It no doubt helped that FIFA didn't have a clue where to go after losing its long-running partner, though that may be about to change: The world governing body has inked a toe-dipping deal with Konami that may, emphasis on may, lead to a more in-depth relationship with eFootball. Even if that comes to pass, however, it's hard to see anything knocking EA Sports FC off its perch for a long time to come.