Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane is the most-used card in FIFA 21

FIFA 21
(Image credit: EA)

Real Madrid centre-back Raphael Varane is the most popular player in FIFA 21, according to data compiled by eSports betting site Unikrn.

As of this past weekend the French defender had amassed 36,027,268 appearances in Ultimate Team since the game’s October release, nudging him ahead of N’Golo Kante (30,255,639) and Marcus Rashford (27,584,123). 

Other players to rack up more than 20,000,000 (yep, twenty million) matches include Neymar, Sadio Mane, Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba, and Ferland Mendy. 

Unikrn has revealed a full eleven-player Ultimate Team featuring the most popular cards, which it says will set you back 1.8 million coins at current in-game rates.

FIFA 21

(Image credit: EA)

The full set of players is as follows:

  • Alisson (GK, Liverpool) - 17,344,828 matches
  • Joe Gomez (CB, Liverpool) - 17,776,444
  • Virgil van Dijk (CB, Liverpool) - 18,798,317
  • Raphael Varane (CB, Real Madrid) - 36,027,628
  • Ferland Mendy (LB, Real Madrid) - 25,688,638
  • Marcus Rashford (LF, Manchester United) - 27,584,123
  • N;Golo Kante (CM, Chelsea) - 30,255,639
  • Paul Pogba (CM, Manchester United) - 25,969,544
  • Neymar Jr (LW, Paris SG) - 22,430,645
  • Sadio Mane (LW, Liverpool) - 20,901,285
  • Kylian Mbappe (ST, Paris SG) - 22,526,489

“FIFA Ultimate Team continues to thrive this year and fans are always looking for the next best card to be released, particularly with new dynamic cards available that change rating depending on real-life results,” says a Unikrn spokesperson.

“However, according to our research, FIFA players are still finding a lot of value in the original rare gold versions of some of the world’s best players as their prices continue to drop on the transfer market over time."

"Having a Raphael Varane and Kylian Mbappe in your team is becoming an almost compulsory part of the game now and the number of matches they’ve featured in appears to back this up.”

Varane, Gomez, Mendy and Kante all feature in our FIFA 21 meta players guide.

Ben Wilson

I'm GamesRadar's sports editor, and obsessed with NFL, WWE, MLB, AEW, and occasionally things that don't have a three-letter acronym – such as Chvrches, Bill Bryson, and Streets Of Rage 4. (All the Streets Of Rage games, actually.) Even after three decades I still have a soft spot for Euro Boss on the Amstrad CPC 464+.