EA Sports FC 26 is officially coming later this year with a lot of changes and, hopefully, improvements. Especially for Career Mode.
As the big money maker, Ultimate Team has always been the main attraction for EA Sports.
However, Career Mode seems to be getting a lot of love this year too as EA claim that FC 26 is taking on more fan feedback than ever before.
The Career Mode deep dive isn’t until August, but a lot has already been revealed. Here is everything we know about EA FC 26 Career Mode so far.
How will the Manager Market work in EA FC 26 Career Mode?
Managers being able to move clubs is the biggest FC 26 Career Mode change, but could be disastrous if not done well.
The new manager market will see teams hire managers based on their philosophy and tactics, then their playstyles will change accordingly.
Supposedly, managers will stick to the leagues they’re in or to the country they’re from, but there will also be shock moves on occasion.
All licensed national team managers will be in the available pool, but managers won’t simultaneously manage both international teams and clubs.
Like in real life, assistant managers can be promoted temporarily after a head coach is sacked and may even be made permanent with good results.
The major mechanic that will make this work is a hidden rating system for managers, which will heavily influence whether they’re hired or fired.
This rating will be hidden in the game and can change dynamically, essentially working the same as potential in Career Mode.
Though clubs themselves won’t have manager retention stats, so Watford may actually stick to one manager long-term for once.
To add some extra realism, players will have the ability to rename unlicensed managers in their saves without the need to mod.
How will gameplay be different in EA FC 26 Career Mode?
For the first time, EA Sports has created completely different gameplay types for online and offline play.
Ultimate Team and Pro Clubs will use the faster and more arcadey Competitive gameplay, while Career Mode and Kick Off will feature slower, realistic matches.
The “authentic” gameplay preset will have a heavier focus on realistic physics and close matches rather than rapid-fire goalfests.
The full list of authentic gameplay features is as follows:
- Authentic Sliders
- Weather Effects, including wind, rain, and snow
- Lower speeds for dribbling and skill moves
- More physics-based GK rebounds, blocks, and bounces
- More realistic tackle accuracy
- Greater AI defending enabled, with tighter defensive lines and defenders reacting realistically when a ball is nearby
- More realistic and tighter positioning in midfield
- More realistic header passing and shooting accuracy
- Corner kicks and crossing tuned to match real-world success rates
- Players avoiding a ball might occasionally be hit by it instead
- More realistic animation transitions
- Human-like reactions and get-up animations
However, players will also be able to use the competitive gameplay preset for Career Mode, if they prefer.
Will there be an online career mode in EA FC 26?
Unfortunately, the heavily requested online, multiplayer version of Career Mode is still not happening in EA FC 26.
EA Sports developer Andreas Wilsdorf has said that an online version has been explored as an idea, but nothing has been developed.
Allegedly, one of the reasons this hasn’t been created yet is that there are concerns that trolls quitting will ruin people’s saves.
Also, EA wants it to be a public mode, not just with friends, which would make the fairness of transfers difficult to maintain.
EA FC 26 UK release date
The new game will release in the UK and globally on Friday, September 26th 2025.
However, those who pre-order the Ultimate Edition will be able to play a week early, starting Friday September 19th.
While you wait for the new game to come out, why not check out esports betting sites to pass the time?
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