FIFA 21 Carniball 2021 countdown: start date, predictions, leaks

It’s nearly party time ⁠in Ultimate Team — starting this month, FIFA 21 should be getting into celebration mode with its popular “Carniball” promo, based around the world-famous annual Carnivals across the globe.

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Every year, countries like Brazil, Belgium, France, and Spain get into the festive spirit with massive Carnivals and parades, celebrating the historical season of Lent.

To celebrate, FIFA rolls out super-boosted FUT squads, with players selected from celebrating countries. In the past, we’ve seen iconic footballers like Neymar, Hugo Lloris, Franck Ribéry, and Paulo Dybala handed big upgrades ⁠— and flashy new Ultimate Team cards to boot ⁠— as part of the early year event.

Last year, however, EA SPORTS skipped the 2020 celebrations.

That means we may see them go all-in on the event this time around, to make up for missing last year’s promo. There’s a good chance there’ll even be two squads.

Without further ado, here’s everything we know about Carniball 2021 so far.

When will Carniball 2021 begin?

EA SPORTS has yet to officially confirm anything regarding Carniball 2021, but we can put together when the promo would ship based on the Carnivals being held around the world in a host of European and South American countries.

The “Carniball” promo should arrive in FIFA 21 in mid-March. In FIFA 19 ⁠— the last time the event ran in-game ⁠— it kicked off on Friday, March 8 and ran for a full week.

This time, it should begin on Friday, March 12.

There’s also a chance we’ll see the promo split across two squads, as EA has done recently. That should mean a second lineup on March 19.

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Either way, the first date confirmation we should get ⁠— outside of leaks ⁠— will be on the Ultimate Team title screen, so keep your eyes peeled! Keep tuned on our Twitter accounts, @UltimateTeamUK and @FutWatch, to see all the breaking news.

Carniball predictions: who makes the 2021 team?

Who is eligible?

EA SPORTS chose each “Carniball” card from the eight high-profile cities that celebrate annual Carnivals around February and March each year.

This includes Brazil (Rio De Janeiro), France (Nice), Belgium (Binche), Italy (Venice), Argentina (Buenos Aires), USA (New Orleans), Spain (Cadiz), and Germany (Cologne). The lineup ⁠— potentially around 18 players strong ⁠if there’s two teams — will then be selected from these top-class footballing nations.

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The FIFA 21 publishers usually sway towards more popular clubs too, like Paris Saint Germain, Bayern Munich, Piemonte Calcio, LA Galaxy, and Boca Juniors.

Our top ‘Carniball’ predictions

With all that being said, here’s some of our top picks (and potential ratings). We’ve included a fair few, in case EA SPORTS splits the promo into two teams again:

• N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea) ⁠— 91
• Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich) ⁠— 88
• Leonardo Bonucci (Piemonte Calcio) ⁠— 87
• Ederson (Manchester City) ⁠— 90
• Radja Nainggolan (Cagliari) ⁠— 86
• Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain) ⁠— 90
• David Silva (Real Sociedad) ⁠— 90
• Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona) ⁠— 86
• Nicolás Tagliafico (Ajax) ⁠— 87
• Ike Opara (Minnesota United) ⁠— 85
• Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) ⁠— 92
• Julian Brandt (Dortmund) ⁠— 88

Expected Carniball content

FIFA 21 players should expect a hefty chunk of Ultimate Team content if the fan-fave Carniball promo does begin in early March, including:

• 2x Carniball teams
• Carniball Player SBCs
• Carniball Objective Players
• Repeatable FUT Upgrade SBCs
• Rare FUT Pack SBCs
• Packs & Lighting Rounds

So there you have it ⁠— everything we know about FIFA’s party promo, “Carniball,” so far. This is one of the funnest events on the FUT calendar, so make sure you’re all ready with plenty of packs, coins, and SBC fodder.

We’ll update this article when the promo begins. As always, stick with us on Twitter @UltimateTeamUK for all the latest FIFA news, updates, and content.