EA FC 26 launches with frustrating Career Mode glitch

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 19/09/2025

EA FC 26 is officially out with Ultimate Edition purchasers already able to play the game.

However, as EA Sports prepares for the universal release, it appears a lot of bugs and glitches are already been discovered.

And many players are already frustrated by a bizarre glitch in the new Career Mode which has strangely made the bench smaller.

It turns out, if you play with the most up-to-date squads, the game weirdly limits the number of substitutes you can name to seven.

With everything new in EA FC 26 Career Mode, EA Sports claimed the new game is more realistic than ever.

Back in 2020, the Premier League updated its rules so that clubs could have nine substitutes on their bench.

EA FC 25 reflected this, giving players more options for making changes later into the game.

This is especially important in Career Mode, as you have to manage players’ stamina carefully.

Thankfully, this seemingly isn’t intended and EA Sports are apparently aware of the issue.

The 7-sub glitch on EA FC 26 should be fixed soon, possibly before the game’s full release on Friday, September 28th.

Though it’s still frustrating for those who spent extra money to play the game early.

Player are also dissapointed to see that one of Career Mode’s most boring features hasn’t been updated in EA FC 26.

EA FC 26 authentic and competitive gameplay impressions

For the first time in franchise history, EA FC 26 has entirely seperate gameplay systems for online an offline play.

Ultimate Team and Pro Clubs use fast-paced, skill intensive ‘competitive’ gameplay.

While Kick Off and Career Mode utilise ‘authentic’ gameplay which is slower and has heavier physics.

This is a dream come true for Career Mode fans who felt like updates due to FUT exploits regularly ruined gameplay after a few months.

Many players are reporting they’re enjoying authentic gameplay with close, more tactical matches. Though you may need to use AI sliders.

It hopefully means all types of players, including slow but strong forwards, will be usable rather than having to paec abuse.

Meanwhile, a lot of Ultimate Team players are delighted with the lack of realism in their gameplay.

It appears EA FC 26 is remarkably fluid with very fast-paced passes and dribbling, even without tiki-taka playstyles.

It may almost be too fast paced and fluid, judging by this clip from content creator Krasi.

EA FC 26 will definitely have a steeper learning curve than previous iterations.

Especially with how difficult defending is as defenders lunge in strongly at the press of a button.

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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