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What's the story?
EA Sports have been building up to the September release of FIFA 18 by offering regular glimpses of the upcoming game. The past few days have seen the game-makers release FUT cards for the ICONS side which will feature in the game.
Continuing with this trend, EA have released the FUT cards for Brazilian legend Pele and with his 1970 card rated at 98, it is arguably the best FIFA card ever.
In case you didn't know...
For the first time ever on the FIFA series, there will be an FUT team featuring the game's legendary players. This all-star team will include the likes of legendary Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin, Argentine forward Diego Maradona, former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry and of course Pele.
The heart of the matter
Building a card for Pele must not have been an easy task for EA Sports considering the Brazilian won the award for the World Player of the Century way back in 1999. He also won three World Cups and nine Sao Paulo State Championships, scoring 1283 goals in 1363 games over 20 years.
Also read: FIFA 18: Former Real Madrid star Ronaldo Nazario's ICONS rating revealed
Such unbelievable statistics saw the Brazilian receive a FIFA 18 card rated at 98. Pele's chief attributes in the upcoming game will be his pace, dribbling and shooting, all of which have the highest rating of 96. Defending was never his strongest trait and hence he drops down to a lowest of 56 in that attribute.
What's next?
Pele was the last of the five FUT ICONS to be unveiled in the build-up to the release of the entire ICONS lineup on the 1st of August. The official gameplay was unveiled and the ratings of a select few superstars were revealed as well.
A 98-rated card means that Pele is likely to be the best player in the upcoming game, ahead of the previous edition's best player, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Author's take
Pele is one of the greatest to have ever played the game and eclipses rivals Messi, Ronaldo and Maradona in the race to be the greatest of all time. Scoring over 1000 goals in a 20-year career is no mean feat and his card is rightfully rated higher than that of the two current generation superstars, Messi and Ronaldo, on FIFA 18.
