The Festival of Football 3 Gauntlet is live in EA SPORTS FC 26, and the headline reward is a free 95-rated Antonio Nusa Phenoms card. That alone makes this worth your time, but the full task list also hands out high-rated packs and an Evolution consumable if you push through every objective. Here's everything you need to know.
What is the Festival of Football 3 Gauntlet?
The Gauntlet is a limited-time objectives event tied to the Festival of Football promotion in FC 26 Ultimate Team. You work through a set of tasks, and completing any eight of the ten unlocks the full reward set, including the Nusa Phenoms item. The tasks mix scoring goals across separate matches with winning requirements inside individual Gauntlet rounds.
90+ pack from Gauntlet 3
All FC 26 Festival of Football 3 Gauntlet tasks and rewards
The table below covers every task and its corresponding reward. Note that several tasks reference Gauntlet 2 objectives specifically, so pay attention to which Gauntlet is listed before queuing.
What rewards do you get for completing the full set?
Finish any eight tasks and you unlock the Antonio Nusa Phenoms card. At 95 rated, this is a genuinely strong free card that holds up in competitive Ultimate Team squads right now. On top of Nusa, the full task completion also rewards multiple high-rated packs, including several 90+ Rare Gold Player packs, and an Evolution consumable you can apply to eligible cards.
The token rewards (40 and 50 Tokens from the first two tasks) are easy wins to grab early. Spending those wisely matters, and our FC 26 best token rewards in Festival of Football guide breaks down exactly where to put them.
How to complete the harder tasks
Evolution reward from Gauntlet 3
Perfect Round strategy
A Perfect Round means winning every match within a single Gauntlet round without a loss. Two tasks ask you to do this, and both reward 90+ Rare Gold Player packs. The best approach is to field your strongest squad and play conservatively, protecting the lead rather than chasing goals once you're ahead.
Scoring across 12 separate matches
The 12-match scoring task sounds tedious but runs passively alongside everything else. As long as you score at least once per game across your Gauntlet 2 sessions, you'll hit this without dedicating extra time to it.
Win-based tasks in Gauntlet 2
Several tasks require winning two or three matches within a single round. This means you need a strong enough squad to string consecutive wins together in one sitting. If your team is struggling, check the FC 26 best players for Creative Outlet Evolution guide to see whether an Evolution upgrade can push a card in your squad to the next level.
Is the Nusa Phenoms card worth the grind?
For a free card, a 95-rated Phenoms item is hard to argue with. The tasks themselves are not especially punishing, especially since you can skip two of the ten and still unlock the full reward set. The 90+ packs and Evolution on top of Nusa make this one of the better free objective runs in the current Festival of Football event.
If you want to stay on top of every active reward opportunity in FC 26, the full EA SPORTS FC 26 strategy guides collection covers everything from SBCs to seasonal pass rewards in one place.