Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala may well have inherited the dreaded Madden curse as this year’s EA FC coverstars, having both made their way to operating theaters in recent weeks, but they can at least rest up by playing each other on FC 26. EA Sports FC 26 will be released on September 26th, 2025, or a week early on September 19th if you purchase early access. But what’s new this time around?
Well, fundamental tweaks have been made to gameplay, as well as the inevitable suite of new activities to get stuck into in Ultimate Team, Career Mode, and Clubs. So, without further ado, here are 74 changes that actually make a difference in EA FC 26.
Ultimate Team
1. Live events are a big new inclusion for Ultimate Team. These include the return of tournaments. These knockout competitions are comprised of up to four rounds, all the way up to a high-stakes final. Win it all and you’ll receive exclusive rewards. Once you win a tournament, however, you won’t be able to enter it again. Each tournament will have specific requirements and rules, such as all players being from a certain league or the first player to score two goals winning the match.
2. Another form of live event is gauntlets. Gauntlets will test the depth of your club, are different squads are required in each round, meaning the same players can’t play twice on one run. Unlike tournaments, these aren’t knockout competitions, but the more wins you get, the better your rewards will be.
3. And then we have Linked Events. These are special locked competitions that become available after completing specific objectives. For example, winning a qualifier tournament or reaching a certain division in Rivals might open these up for you to enter and earn more rewards.
4. Changes are coming to Rivals in FC 26. The first of those is bounties. Bounties are aiming to make each match feel less “win-centric”, meaning even if you’re 3-0 down, you have something to play for, such as scoring the last goal of a match and getting rivals points for doing so. Other bounties could include winning by a certain number of goals, scoring first, or keeping a clean sheet. Rewards range from card packs, coins, and progress points.
5. Rivals win streaks are being tweaked. When on a streak, you will now receive double reward points to get your weekly rewards faster. Plus, you’ll now see if the player you’re facing is on a win streak before playing them, putting a target on their back.
6. Rivals checkpointing is also changing. To prevent players from getting to a point where they’ve reached their skill ceiling and are mostly losing matches, but can’t be relegated to face opponents of more equal standing. New “breakable checkpoints” will be introduced to keep track of your losses and allow for relegation where appropriate.
7. Champions is also being tweaked. More reward tiers are being added, further increasing the importance of every match played and win gained.
8. Changes are being made to the qualifying for Champions. Playoffs are being removed and replaced by a system based on which division of Rivals you’re in. The level hasn’t been decided on yet by EA, but it could mean having to be at around division five before being able to enter Champions.
9. But if you’re in a lower division, you’ll still get your own weekend league to play in. This will be called Challengers (think of it as the Europa League to Champions’ Champions League) and is a second-tier competition that runs in parallel. It will follow the same format, just with less prestigious rewards awaiting you. You can only play in one of either Champions or Challengers on the same weekend, though, to prevent smurfing.
10. A new competitive camera angle is being introduced purely for Ultimate Team stadiums that combines a tactical view of the pitch, while also letting players see more of the details of their chosen customisations.
11. You will now be able to evolve every player card in Ultimate Team, as well as repeat evolutions that will allow you to take different members of your squad through the same set of objectives. In addition, you will also now be able to stack card cosmetics.
12. Big changes are on the way to how Ultimate Team handles player disconnections. In FC 26, you’ll now get the win if your opponent quits in the second half, after a red card has been issued, or a penalty has been given at any point. Players who repeatedly quit Rush matches will now also get a matchmaking timeout.
Gameplay
13. Gameplay fundamentals are getting a healthy amount of attention this year. Dribbling is promised to be more consistent and responsive, with more frequent touches of the ball giving increased player control.
14. Changes to the locomotion and running ability of players will also be seen. They’ll feel more explosive thanks to faster acceleration and deceleration.
15. As well as speed, strength will also be a focus in FC 26. Shielding will now be consistent both on and off the ball, allowing players to jockey for possession with an increased physicality. This will, in theory, mean fewer defenders just being able to step in front of an attacker and stealing the ball when a long pass is sent to a target man.
16. This newfound focus of strength will also apply to dribbling, with beefier players being able to hold off defenders coming in for a challenge.
17. “Tackle backs” emerged as a huge point of frustration for FC 25 players — the all-too-often circumstance where you go in for a challenge, win the ball, but then it bounces straight back into your opponent’s path — but in 26, work has been done to stop this from happening regularly.
18. Similar changes are also being made to interceptions, meaning when darting in the path of an opponent’s pass, the ball is more likely to now stick to your boot as opposed to cannoning off to the other team. Both of these tweaks aim to create a cleaner game.
19. Goalkeepers have always been a tricky puzzle for EA to solve, but in FC 26, the developer is promising big improvements. Saves and deflections from keepers will now produce more varied results, meaning, in theory, the ball will fall into the path of a waiting attacker less often.
20. Keepers will also now take up smarter positions when faced one-on-one with an attacker, meaning fewer easy chances for forwards.
21. Fresh goalkeeper animations will provide a greater range of types of saves we’ll see from them, in theory increasing the number of ways they can be effective stop-stoppers.
22. Two different types of fundamental gameplay experiences will now be available: Competitive and Authentic. The former is designed for online players and is high-speed and super responsive. The latter is for offline and career mode players who may favour a speed more grounded in reality.
23. Competitive mode is not only faster, but also comes with its own mechanics, such as a revamped fatigue system, meaning that whenever your player gains possession of the ball online, they’ll feel as fresh to control in the final minute of a match as the first. This means fatigue now only affects AI-controlled players.
24. Authentic will focus more on the unpredictability of real sport, with players more likely to miscontrol or let the weather affect the game, with matches turning on the bounce of a ball.
25. Accessibility is a big focus for the development team this year. Among the biggest improvements being made so everyone can enjoy FC 26 are a simplified skills system that allows players to perform skill moves with the flick of the right stick, as well as a variety of high contrast modes to aid those with visual impairments. Everything from the colour of the kits and ball to the pitch and stadium shadows is customisable in order to meet as many needs as possible.
26. Input delay has been an issue plaguing online play and Ultimate Team in particular in EA FC. Improvements have been promised in FC 26, however, with in-depth research done into what causes these issues, ranging from player setups to player animations causing delays. For more information on this subject, check out our full dedicated article on how the studio is addressing input delay.
27. With the aim of further improving responsiveness is the introduction of one-frame passes and shots — touches of the ball so quick they happen the moment your thumb presses the button.
28. Playstyles have been rebalanced, with some new ones being introduced. These include Precision Header, which has a focus on heading accuracy and winning aerial battles, and Fortress, its defensive counterpart that aims to dominate in the air at the back. Another new playstyle is Enforcer, which emphasises the physical hold-up play of attackers as mentioned earlier.
29. Trivelas (hitting the ball with the outside of the boot) are now locked being the new Game Changer playstyle.
30. Low-driven shots are also making their comeback. A quick double tap of the shoot button will fire a low strike towards the net, and will now also apply to all types of effort, including headers and volleys.
31. The reintroduction of low-driven shots means that the timed finishing mechanic has been removed from FC 26. The developers felt that it “didn’t add meaningful skill depth and proved very difficult to balance”.
32. Positions are less constrained by roles now, so, for example, a winger can cut in-field and temporarily act like an inside forward would if they see a big opening emerge in the penalty area.
33. New roles are being added to the tactics screen. These include ball-playing keepers, the modern inverted fullback, and box-crashing CDMs that attack from deep.
34. The negative impact of players being out of position has been reduced too, with launch players having more positions and roles available to avoid situations such as a right midfielder not being able to perform well in the right winger spot, as they don’t have it listed in their bio.
35. New set-piece assignment slots have been added, as well as new ones added to both attacking and defending corners.
36. You can now save tactics and copy and paste codes between modes, so if you have a setup you’re really happy with, which you’ve been messing around with in career mode, you can then transfer it to Ultimate Team.
37. AI attackers will now perform runs into space with greater regularity, with a lower reliance on trigger runs desired.
38. Playing as a goalkeeper has been overhauled thanks to a completely new control scheme.
39. Of course, new skill moves are making their way into FC 26. These include the explosive step over, among many others.
Career Mode
40. The new Manager Live Hub acts as your portal to everything Career Mode. Challenges, both long and short term, will appear here, as well as content tailored to your chosen preferred clubs.
41. A huge number of varied career challenges will be available with a vast number of variables. These range from transfer restrictions, not being able to simulate fixtures, and playing on certain difficulty levels.
42. Rewards for completing objectives include over 30 retro jerseys. Some revealed include classic Real Madrid, Germany, and Napoli shirts.
43. You’ll now be able to add both icons and heroes to your Career Mode squads by unlocking them throughout the season pass.
44. The pre-order icons that are available in FC 26 are Alex Morgan, Toni Kroos, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
45. The Manager Market is a new system where coaches from other clubs in your Career Mode save will take jobs at other teams, both domestic and international. Managers can be poached, fired, or even retire.
46. The Manager Market menu also lets you see which coaches’ positions are under threat and what jobs are currently open to apply for if you fancy a fresh challenge.
47. Manager stories will also weave in and out of your careers, with commentators even mentioning when one coach might be coming under fire and on the verge of the sack if they lose the match.
48. Live events will also take place in Career Mode, which can inflict unexpected consequences on your team with the aim of encouraging creative problem-solving. These can be positive, such as a sudden financial takeover granting you a healthy new transfer budget, or negative, such as a player getting injured on international duty or a rogue bout of food poisoning leaving you with numerous players unavailable for your next fixture.
49. For the stats heads, you can now select up to five other leagues and get a full statistical breakdown of which players are performing in that division, which can aid with knowing who to scout.
50. Youth tournaments will now actually have stadiums, and the size of those arenas will depend on the stature of the club.
51. You can now substitute youth players in youth tournaments.
52. Rival teams will rotate their squads more regularly, meaning a top Premier League club won’t go full strength in early Carabao Cup rounds, for example.
53. You can now loan out a player immediately after buying them
Clubs
54. Archetypes are a new way to build your player in Clubs, effectively acting as classes. There are 13 in total, with each representing a unique playing style and modeled on real-life professionals.
55. Within each archetype are three different specialisations — effectively subclasses in RPG terms. As you progress, branching paths will appear as you select the specalisation for you. For example, the Finisher archetype leads to the Finisher Plus, Presser, and Hunter specialisations, each containing their own traits and perks.
56. Picking a certain archetype doesn’t lock you into only playing that position on the pitch.
57. You can re-spec your clubs player at any time using in-game currency, but can’t save builds to easily switch between.
58. The old skill tree upgrade system is gone and has been replaced with a more traditional menu where you can put points into individual attributes, granting you more direct control over your pro’s progression.
59. Your archetype card is displayed at the beginning of every match, Ultimate Team style, and can be customised as more cosmetics are unlocked.
60. New playstyle slots will be added over the course of FC 26’s lifetime, and the level caps for pros will increase season on season, meaning players will be able to reach overall ratings not previously seen before in Clubs.
61. Live events and tournaments will encourage players to experiment with a variety of different archetypes and playstyles.
62. Limited-time multi-round knockout tournaments are coming to Clubs, but only in Rush.
63. Players can now join multiple clubs simultaneously, so you can play with up to three different friend groups easily.
64. Long-term fatigue is being removed in clubs, but short-term fatigue still remains.
65. AI facilities can be unlocked to target and train specific positional groups of CPU-controlled players in your Clubs squads.
66. Your match rating is now measured against what’s expected from your chosen role, rather than a general metric of how well you played.
67. Quick chat has been expanded from four to sixteen different messages.
Presentation
68. Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena makes its return in FC 26.
69. 13 new real-life mascots are joining this year after their introduction in FC 25.
70. New Premier League broadcast intros harness the power of Google Earth as the camera zooms in on stadiums from high up in the sky.
71. Mix and match commentary is being introduced for the English broadcast teams, meaning you can pair up commentators Derek Rae and Guy Mowbray with whatever pairing of analysts Stewart Robson and Sue Smith you desire.
72. Derek Rae has also been added as a possible Rush commentator to further add to the variety.
73. To try and achieve a more realistic colour palette during matches, the saturation has been dialed back, with extra fog and air density added.
74. You can now customize what information is shown on the player name cards at the bottom of the screen, such as what their strongest foot is or how many stars in regards to skills moves they have.
And those are the 74 biggest things coming to EA FC 26. What are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
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