EA FC Icons Match 2025: Bale, Rooney, Ronaldinho, Henry all feature in greatest line-up yet

Former Barcelona, Manchester United and Real Madrid legends are part of what is surely the best pair of squads ever seen for a charity football match.

This weekend, FC Spear will take on Shield United at the Seoul World Cup Stadium as part of an EA FC event ahead of the launch of the new game and some of the greatest players to ever play the game will be getting their boots back on.

The likes of Kaka, Steven Gerrard, Eden Hazard, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Didier Drogba will line up for an FC Spear team coached by Arsene Wenger.

Meanwhile, Shield United have players like Iker Casillas, Ashley Cole, Carles Puyol, Claude Makelele and Gilberto Silva set to play.

The full squads are:

FC Spear

Bum Young Lee, Gianluigi Buffon, Ja Cheol Koo, Ki Hyon Seol, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Clarence Seedorf, Eden Hazard, Franck Ribery, Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale, Kaka, Steven Gerrard, Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Ji Sung Park, Didier Drogba

Coach: Arsene Wenger

Shield United

Young Kwang Kim, Iker Casillas, Alessandro Nesta, Michael Carrick, Marchisio, Gilberto Silva, Joo Ho Park, Sol Campbell, Claude Makeléle, Ashley Cole, Maicon, John Arne Riise, Nemanja Vidic, Carles Puyol, Young Pyo Lee, Rio Ferdinand

Coach: Rafa Benitez

Naturally, this got us thinking what the best combined XI is and this is our verdict:

GK: Iker Casillas

We kick off with the tough choice of two World Cup winning in Casillas and Buffon but we are going to give the Spanish keeper the nod on this occasion.

While Buffon has more than a fair claim at starting spot, the fact that Casillas has three Champions Leagues and was captain of the Spain squad that won back-to-back Euros and the World Cup gives him the edge.

He has also produced some big moments such as denying Arjen Robben just minutes before Andres Iniesta scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final.

RB: Maicon

The people who arranged the squads seem to have forgotten about right back which makes our job easier as in goes Maicon.

While British fans tend to remember him for that match against Bale, he is still one of the best to ever do it with an incredible run at Inter.

Six years at the San Siro saw him develop into one of the best full backs of his generation with a speed but also toughness to provide wingers with a real issue.

CB: Carles Puyol

Nicknamed Tarzan because of his long curly hair, Puyol was just about everything you could want from your captain.

A willingness to stick his head quite frankly in places it did not belong all in the name of defending his team, he was a one club man at Barcelona, staying for almost two decades.

With Spain, he won the World Cup and scored a crucial semi-final goal against Germany with an absolute bullet header.

CB: Alessandro Nesta

Joining Puyol in defence is Nesta who has a claim to be the best Italian defender of all-time not called Paolo Maldini.

He spent around a decade at both Lazio and Milan and was a key part of Italy’s World Cup 2006 winning squad.

LB: Ashley Cole

The left back spot is arguably the easier one to choose given how good Cole was during his career.

Three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups, a Champions League, a Europa League and a League Cup along with 107 caps for his country still do not do justice for how he redefined the role of a full back.

CDM: Claude Makelele

With apologies to Schweinsteiger who may feel he deserved a spot in the team, the CDM position simply has to go to Makelele.

Few players in the history of football are so good in one spot that their name becomes synonymous with it but even 14 years on from his retirement, if someone says the Makelele role, everyone knows what they’re talking about.

He was part of the Madrid Galactico side and when the club agreed to sell him to Chelsea, Zinedine Zidane summed it up best by saying: “Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?”

CM: Ronaldinho

Will Ronaldinho be defensive-minded enough to work in the midfield? Almost certainly no. Are we including him anyway because it’s Ronaldinho? Absolutely.

Even his Barcelona successor Lionel Messi did not have the control of a ball like the Brazilian wonder did, who could produce tricks and flicks that made a generation fall in love with the game.

His career may have been short, he left Europe at 31, but he inspired a whole wave of players like Neymar to take up the game.

CM: Kaka

Joining Ronaldinho in midfield is his fellow Brazilian Kaká.

He moved to Milan in 2003 from Sao Paulo and quickly developed into one of the most exciting young players on the planet.

Success came quickly as he won the World Cup and the Champions League and in 2007, he was named the winner of the Ballon d’Or.

Injuries may have seen his career fade but he is still one of the best to ever play the game.

RW: Gareth Bale

Arguably the best British player of all time, Bale made a name for himself at Spurs, most notably when he gave Maicon an absolute nightmare during a Champions League encounter.

An incredible 2012-13 season in which he scored 21 goals and pulled Tottenham to fifth in the table earned him a record-breaking move to Madrid where he went on to win five Champions League titles.

Fitness and a love of golf may have meant his later career did not match his earlier one but he is still easily one of the best players the UK has ever produced.

LW: Eden Hazard

In a parallel universe where Messi and Ronaldo don’t exist, Hazard may well have a few Ballons d’Or on his trophy cabinet.

The Chelsea legend was one of the best dribblers on the ball and during his seven years in the Premier League, only Kevin De Bruyne came close to him in terms of talent.

While in London, he won a sackful of trophies and even if his dream move to Madrid did not pan out, it still got him a Champions League winners’ medal in 2022.

ST: Thierry Henry

Considering this is a final, we should have perhaps picked Drogba but you can’t leave Henry on the bench.

The Frenchman defined 2000s Premier League football and even when he moved to Barcelona and was no longer the star man, he adapted to become part of one of the greatest teams in football history.

In Pep Guardiola’s first season, they won the treble with Henry scoring 26 times, a feat that only Samuel Eto’o and Messi bettered.

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