FIFA 23 eCL Winner Icon Kaka Player Review - Cop or Flop?

Recently we as a community were introduced to a concept that had the winner of the eCL have the chance to select a card with unique stats. Now whilst we as a community felt a little bit disappointed that the player selection came down to Kaka, we still held hope that maybe we’ll get a nice juicy boost on his FUT Birthday Item along with maybe some 99 stats? We didn’t get any of that.

So eCL Winner Kaka is here.. That’s certainly a mouthful. Whilst many were disappointed, I think logically, EA were in a lose/lose position here. If they released any of the players that people had wanted (along with the stats we expected) this card would have cost a mortgage to complete. So it had to be something that would at least be semi-affordable. But in doing so of course that would be faced with backlash as the card would also be underwhelming. Now I just want to say, I was always a fan of Kaka. But in Fifa, he just didn’t seem to hit the mark.

Despite the negativity on Social Media. This card has a “fairly” even split when it comes to the FUTBin community. I for once, think this SBC is actually fairly priced. For context here, the FUT Birthday item until release today was sitting just shy of 900k. That card has now since dropped due to this SBC and this one is coming in at just shy of 900k also. So price-wise... I actually think this is okay value. Not cheap by any means, but not overpriced either. I think the only downside here is that EA have missed the mark again by not giving this card the 5*/5* boost.

You can check out the card here!

Here are the following SBC Requirements you’ll need to complete:

#1 - Born Legend
Rare Players: Exactly - 11
Player Level: Exactly Bronze
Pack Return - Two Rare Gold Players Pack

#2 - Rising Star
Rare Players: Exactly - 11
Player Level: Exactly Silver
Pack Return - Two Rare Gold Players Pack

#3 - On a Loan
Rare Players - Min. 1
Squad Rating - 81
Returns - Loan Kaka

#4 - Los Blancos
# of players from Real Madrid: Min 1
Squad Rating - 86
Pack Return - Prime Electrum Players Pack

#5 - League Finesse
# of players from La Liga Santander: Min 1
Squad Rating - 89
Pack Return - Small Rare Gold Players Pack

#6 - League Legend
# of players from Serie A: Min 1
Squad Rating - 90
Pack Return - Rare Electrum Players Pack

#7 - 91-Rated Squad
Squad Rating - 91
Pack Return - Mega Pack

As I said, this isn’t badly priced whatsoever. Initially, I was expecting to see 10+ segments come from this SBC but when you factor out the first 3 segments. You have 4 segments that can easily be completed after using the upgrade SBCs available to us. And i’m sure all of us have a discard TOTS or two lying around in the club.

For this review I decided to have a little fun and run a full Icon squad. Kaka was the heart and soul of the attack as he assisted Eto & R9 in getting the job done and he really held his own within the squad. I was concerned maybe he would end up drowning in the squad and I don’t know if this is maybe new player bias, but he seemed to shine brightest of them all.

How did he perform in-game?

+ Shooting for me was just superb. He seemed to be able to finish anything put in front of him. For a CAM I wasn’t expecting too much here but he really saved my bacon by finishing some incredible chances.
+ Positioning was fantastic on this card. He moved around so much and seemed so aware of his surroundings and moved in the perfect place to receive the ball at last minute when needed.
+ Dribbling on this card was superb. He felt incredible on the ball and looked sharp moving around the pitch and joined in with his Strength he really held his own.
+ As I mentioned, Strength was pretty good on this card considering it was only 81 rated. He seemed to force his way past players often and regularly regained possession quickly if ever I lost the ball in tight situations.
- I think if i’m being picky here, Pace for me felt a little off. 94 Pace should suggest some speed to this card but very often he just seemed fairly slower than that. Though that was quickly recovered by the strength as mentioned prior

eCL Winner Kaka - Cop or Flop?

This one is possibly going against the grain but also I kind of think not… This card actually really surprised me. I would say in the games I played he was the MVP of every single one. He really worked for the badge in these games providing countless goal contributions.

This isn’t a cheap SBC, but I really do think this is actually valued pretty well and is possibly well worth doing. Even if you just want to pick this card up and have a bit of fun within FUT.

Verdict: COP