How do Icons work in FIFA 23? Answered

In FIFA 23, Icons are very special cards in Ultimate Team (FUT) mode that represent iconic players from the history of football. Apart from being excellent players with high OVR, Icons also have some special properties that make them extra valuable. Here’s how to get Icons, what they do, and whether or not you can use them in Career mode.

Related: What do managers do in FIFA 23? Answered

How to get Icons in FIFA 23

Icons can be found in packs, but they are extremely rare, so your chances of getting one are very, very small. You can also buy an Icon on the transfer market, but they are very expensive. The cheapest start price we’ve seen was 54,000 Coins for Xabi Alonso, but even that was sold for its Buy Now Price of 173,000 Coins almost as soon as it was put on sale. In previous FIFA games, there were also Icon Squad Building Challenges (SBCs) whereby you could earn an Icon by completing an advanced SBC. None of these have appeared in FIFA 23 yet, but it’s likely that they will eventually. Finally, if you bought FIFA 23 before October 7, 2022, then you should have been awarded an Historic Cover Icon card, which is a 23-game loan of one of five Icon players to have been the cover athlete of a previous FIFA game: Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Rooney, Kaka, or Henry.

How do Icons affect Chemistry in Ultimate Team (FUT)?

FIFA 23 has a completely new Chemistry system in Ultimate Team that actually makes more sense than the old system, but can take a while to figure out. Icons have two special effects when it comes to chemistry. First of all, their nationality counts double towards your nation/region Chemistry tier. Secondly, instead of having a league and club, Icons just have 3 Chemistry Points by default.

So, if you look at these screenshots, adding Thierry Henry adds 4 Chemistry Points to our total. The first 3 are his default Icon Chemistry Points, then on top of that, he counts as two French players, bringing the total French players to five, which meets the second nation/region tier.

Can you use Icons in FIFA 23 Career mode?

In some previous FIFA games, there have been various workaround ways to get Icon players into Career mode, but currently in FIFA 23, there’s no way to use Icons in Career mode. Or maybe nobody’s figured out how to do it yet. Either way, you’re definitely not supposed to be able to.