EA Sports FC’s Player Career mode adds Ballon D’Or in glitzy award ceremony

But apparently not on last-gen consoles.

Following EA Sports FC 24’s formal unveiling earlier this month, the steady dripfeed of news continues, with EA now revealing a partnership with the Ballon D’or that’ll see the presitgious award come to Player Career mode via a glitzy in-game end-of-season ceremony – for players on current-gen consoles and PC, at least.

The Ballon d’Or has been awarded annually to the best football player of the season by French magazine France Football since 1956, and an award specfically for female players was introduced in 2018. Come the arrival of EA Sports FC this September, those that manage a particularly strong individual season in Player Career mode can earn the Ballon d’Or in-game.

That manifests as a glitzy award ceremony where the winning player steps up on stage to receive the prize amid rapturous applause from the audience. You can watch the proceedings in the latest EA Sports FC video deep dive below, which this time focuses on Career mode.

The one oddity in all this is that EA’s press release announcing the inclusion of the Ballon d’Or suggests the award – or, at least, the award ceremony – won’t be available for those playing EA Sports FC on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. Specifically, EA says the Ballon d’Or “animation” is restricted to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, but I’ve asked the publisher to clarify whether last-gen owners can still win the award, even if they don’t get the fancy cutscenes to go with it.

EA Sports FC 24 – which also includes licensing deals with the likes of the Premier League, UEFA, Spain’s Liga F, and Germany’s Frauen-Bundesliga – launches for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on 29th September. Eurogamer deputy editor Chris Tapsell recently spoke to EA Sports FC boss Nick Wlodyka to find out more.