FC 24 Futties Icon Franck Ribery Player Review

The pink time of the year has officially arrived to mark the true end of yet another football simulator cycle.  The cards are juiced, the packs are paying out more than usual, and Weekend League only gets more and more difficult as the sweatiest of competitors with the craziest teams remain… Us included.

With a separate squad of Futties, Futties Heroes and Futties ICONs there was a decent selection but my eye was immediately turned to that of Frank Ribéry.  Obviously his host of ridiculous statistics and meta PlayStyles would gain anyones attention… But for me this one goes all the way back to the TOTY ICON SBC that I was unable to resist and was never more disappointed… Which I know may be a controversial statement, but was my experience nonetheless. Perhaps my single biggest waste of coins/fodder into a card that never really cracked my starting eleven and gave me countless headaches… In the end I wanted to see just how improved Ribéry would feel and how he would stack up to the current Wild West Weekend League. 

The 4-3-2-1 once again provided the backdrop for this weekend's team and if you have been following the EAFC25 updates then you will know this will be one of the last times that this formation reigns supreme as it is set to be removed from the game.  However, we still made the most of the meta this weekend with Ribéry taking up positions as both the left and right CF throughout the review.  The HAWK Chemistry Style was applied regardless of the side Franck was asked to patrol and all was set for Ribéry  to make amends for the pain he caused me earlier in the year, running down the wings all weekend long in the following squad:

Overall 

Rating: 9/10

While the card glitch might say “Not Found”, thankfully that was not the case for Ribéry’s performance on the pitch this time around.  In fact I quite enjoyed the “presence” that Ribéry brought to the attacking third of the pitch and provided a great focal point for working my attacks.  I will point out that in the 4-3-2-1 that I play, one CF is always getting back to defend while the other is set to stay forward… And with Ribéry it was clear that he thrived on the stay forward side (more on that to come).

Main Statistics – Kicking the Ball

Shooting Rating: 9/10

Passing Rating: 10/10

Weak Foot: ★★★★★

PlayStyles: Finesse Shot Plus, Pinged Pass Plus, Chip Shot, Power Shot, Dead Ball, Trivela, Incisive Pass, Whipped Pass 

With 8 goals and 2 assists in 5 matches it was not a statistical performance that would turn any heads… But it was those same goals and assists that caused the rage quits throughout and made playing 5 matches more difficult than ever.  Ribéry is clinical in front of goal and when opponents stretch to close down the various Shooting PlayStyle options at your disposal, you can utilize any of the numerous Passing PlayStyles that also come with this card.

The Passing with Ribéry is fantastic and even when it looks like opponents have read the correct lanes, Ribéry will manage to find a teammate at the crucial moments to keep the attack building.  In the end it was when Ribéry was receiving those same passes from teammates that the small issues arose where despite basically perfect statistics, 5 STAR WEAK FOOT, and a solid mix of PlayStyles… Ribéry was still wasteful in front of goal at times especially on his left foot (which oddly enough was one of my, albeit there were many, complaints about TOTY Ribéry as well).

Value/Coins

Value/Coins: 3/5

When you see cards plummeting the second they are released and fantastic looking cards like Futties ICON Stoichkov sitting at 500k discard you know it is closing time on the game… However, that same fact is why the 1.3 million for Ribéry is simply too steep of a price tag.  Yes, Ribéry is a great card and what he does well, he does REALLY well… But in the end the lack of any aerial threat, the lack of FIRST TOUCH or PRESS PROVEN PlayStyles, the unfortunate addition of QUICK STEP instead of RAPID on an EXPLOSIVE AcceleRATE card and finally the lack of RELENTLESS with only 92 STAMINA all adds up to a card that just falls short. 

Good vs. Bad 

Good vs Bad Rating: 4/5

Despite some missing links I want to double down on the fact that the 9/10 Overall Rating still isn’t overzealous with many attributes making Ribéry an offensive threat.

+ The Dribbling is extremely responsive with this card (something I always found disappointing on the TOTY) and the 5 STAR SKILLS will make many happy.  Yet for me the best attribute with Ribéry is how “jammy” he felt in tight spaces and the amount of bounce off of defender opportunities that were created in only a few matches was outrageous (and may have contributed to those rage quits I mentioned).

+ Part of the dribbling ability did come from the 99 ACCELERATION that combined well with the QUICK STEP PlayStyle and EXPLOSIVE AcceleRATE to blast out of the touch tight dribbling into space.  Unfortunately that was not sustained by the 99 SPRINT SPEED, which was by no means slow, but also didn’t keep the high end defenders from making up ground and taking away breakaway chances.

One major issue with Ribery…

- The Physicality of this card is really poor and a major issue why Ribéry struggled in the Come Back on Defense CF position in my squad.  The card does not win much, if anything in the air… There isn’t enough stamina for a solid extra time showing (and again is missing RELENTLESS)... And outside of the jammy dribbling, the 77 STRENGTH was exposed in numerous situations.

Closing Words

Definitely not the FLOP that I felt TOTY Ribéry was and in truth it isn’t even close.  In attacking areas with the ball at his feet Ribéry will do serious damage to your opponents and the goal/assist totals were only dampened by quitting and the odd missed left foot.  Honestly it is the price tag that is working the most against recommending at least a test drive of this card, but at this stage it is a high price to pay for what ultimately felt like a luxury item in my squad compared to the warriors that Ribéry was lined up alongside for the review.

Hoping you are well.  Cheers for reading