EA Sports reveal the 11 new icons in FIFA 21 as Cantona, Xavi & Torres included

EA Sports have announced the 11 new legendary players that will grace FIFA 21's Ultimate Team mode, allowing players to incorporate the likes of Eric Cantona, Xavi and Fernando Torres into their squads.

Fans will be able to get their hands on the next instalment of the FIFA series on October 6, which will feature over 100 'Icons' for the first time ever.

Along with Cantona, Xavi and Torres, gamers will also be given the chance to add Nemanja Matic and Ashley Cole into their teams on Ultimate Team (FUT).

Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas has been added to the popular game series for the first time ever, while German duo Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm make their returns.

Samuel Eto'o and Petr Cech complete the star-studded line-up added to FUT for this year's title.

Icon cards have become a staple in FUT and are some of the rarest items to be acquired in the game mode.

FIFA 20 saw the addition of Zinedine Zidane, Pep Guardiola and Didier Drogba as icons, while fans are also able to include Pele, Diego Maradona and Paolo Maldini into their teams – if they are lucky enough.

Following the announcement of the new icons last week, EA Sports stated: 'Create your dream squad as a combination of today's superstars and footballing giants of the past like Eric Cantona, Xavi, and Philipp Lahm joining Pele, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff, Ronaldo Nazario, Zinedine Zidane and more to make up the prestigious FUT 100.'

Along with the announcement of the new icons, EA also confirmed that they will be making the game 'less toxic' for players going forward.

Goal celebrations such as the 'Shush' and 'A-OK' will be removed while the amount of time allocated to celebrate goals has also been reduced.

Explaining the recent removal and reductions, producer Sam Rivera told SPORTbible: 'There are people who play a lot of matches in the weekend and they need to complete 30 matches in a certain amount of time.

'We really felt like there were instances where if we're giving you an experience, it has to be smooth and it has to be to the point. I just want to come here and play; that's what the game is for.

'The game flow is so important and we need to keep it as short as possible. I play a lot of FIFA and for years I've felt we needed to trim this animation down so you don't have 15 seconds of celebration plus ten replays.

'We're now at a point where you have time to celebrate, which is part of football and that's what we want, and then you watch one replay of the goal and you're back into play.

'It's a change the hardcore community are going to appreciate a lot.'