EA has never published a promo calendar in advance, and it is not going to start with FC 27. What follows is a predicted schedule, built from where these events landed in the FC 26 and FC 25 cycles — the recurring ones arrive within a week or so of the same point most years, which makes them worth planning around and worth not treating as fact.
Every row below is marked confirmed or predicted. Nothing here is an EA announcement unless it says so.
The season at a glance
| Event | Expected | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Early access | 18 September 2026 | Confirmed |
| Global launch | 25 September 2026 | Confirmed |
| Destined for Glory | Late September | Predicted |
| Ratings Reload | Early October | Predicted |
| Road to the Knockouts | October | Predicted |
| Ultimate Scream | Late October | Predicted |
| Centurions | November | Predicted |
| Black Friday | Late November | Predicted |
| Winter Wildcards | December | Predicted |
| Team of the Year | January | Predicted |
| Future Stars | February | Predicted |
| FUT Birthday | March | Predicted |
| Team of the Season | April–May | Predicted |
| Shapeshifters | June | Predicted |
| FUTTIES | July–August | Predicted |
The events that decide your season
Fifteen promos is a lot to care about and most of them will not change how you play. Four will.
- Team of the Year, in January. The highest-rated cards of the cycle, and the single biggest shock the market takes all year. Prices of everything else collapse during the vote and the reveal. If you are holding fodder to sell, sell before TOTY, not during it.
- Winter Wildcards, in December. Historically the promo with the largest gap between what a card costs and what it does, because it lands when a lot of players have coins and nothing to spend them on.
- Future Stars, in February. Young players with inflated ceilings. The cards that hold value are the ones with real-world minutes behind them, not the ones with the biggest jump.
- Team of the Season, from April. The longest promo of the year and the point at which most squads get rebuilt from scratch. Anything you buy in March is worth less in May.
How to use a predicted calendar
The dates are the least useful part. The pattern is what matters, and the pattern is reliable even when the timing slips.
- Sell into a promo, buy after it. Prices spike as an event starts and fall once the packs have been opened. This holds for almost every promo in the list.
- Do not hold fodder through TOTY. It is the one event that reliably devalues everything that is not in it.
- Untradeable cards have no market risk. If a promo card comes from an objective rather than a pack, its timing does not matter to you.
- Watch what EA does not say. The gap between two announced events is usually where an unannounced one lands.
For the dates EA has actually committed to, see every date that matters. If you want to be trading before anyone can play a match, the Web App guide covers the window that opens first.
Questions
Has EA confirmed the FC 27 promo calendar?
No, and it never publishes one in advance. Only the launch and early-access dates are official. Everything else on this page is predicted from previous cycles.
When is Team of the Year?
January, on previous form. EA announces the nominees roughly a week before the squad drops.
Which promo has the best cards?
Team of the Year, by rating. Whether they are the best value is a different question — they are also the most expensive cards of the season.
When should I spend my coins?
After a promo has been live for a few days, not on day one. Pack-opening pushes supply up and prices down across the market.
Do promo cards get upgraded later?
Some do — Road to the Knockouts items upgrade with real-world results. Most do not. Check the specific promo before paying a premium for a card on that assumption.
How far in advance do promos leak?
Usually a few days, occasionally weeks when a roadmap surfaces. We cover those as they land, labelled unconfirmed until EA says otherwise.