Check out our full Gameplay Deep Dive video:
Gameplay in FC 26
Welcome to the EA SPORTS FC 26 Gameplay Deep Dive Pitch Notes.
Our names are Keegan Sabatino, Gigo Navarro, and Thomas Ca...
Making EA SPORTS FC 26 More Accessible for Everyone
We know accessibility matters to our community and we’ve worked closely with our Accessibility Design Council to introduce a range of new accessibility features in EA SPORTS FC 26, and are one of the first-ever sports titles to include a High-Contrast Mode.
Why Accessibility Matters in Sports Games
We’ve listened to feedback from our community and with FC 26, we’re taking meaningful steps to set a new standard for accessibility in sports gaming.
Introducing High-Contrast Mode
High-Contrast Mode increases the visual separation between footballers, the pitch, and other key elements, making action clearer and more visible to those who need it.
This can be especially helpful for low-vision and blind players or those who find it challenging to track fast-paced gameplay.
We recognize that not everyone’s needs are the same, so we’ve added the ability to customize colours separately for home and away players, home and away goalkeepers, referees, and the ball. You can also choose whether you want High Contrast Mode to apply to a player’s whole body or just their kit.
Pitch Saturation Slider
As part of high-contrast mode, this tool allows you to adjust the intensity of the pitch colors, helping you focus on the most important parts of the game.
By increasing or decreasing the saturation, you can find a visual setting that works best for you. This feature is designed to reduce visual clutter and make gameplay more comfortable for everyone.
This feature is designed to help players who need assistance in distinguishing between different elements on the screen. HCM will also be available during head-to-head play, making FC 26 one of the first competitive games to support HCM in PvP.
Player and Stadium Shadows Toggle
We’ve heard from many players that shadows on the pitch can make it difficult to see the characters and follow the ball.
To address this, FC 26 includes toggles for both player and stadium shadows.
This small change can make a big difference in visibility and overall enjoyment, especially in matches where lighting conditions vary.
More Accessibility Options
Accessibility Boot Flow Screen - When you launch the game for the first time, you’ll be guided through the available accessibility options, making it easy to set up the game in a way that suits your needs right from the start.
Improved Subtitles - New ability to customize the subtitles in different ways.
Text Size: 5 different size options (Extra Large, Large, Default, Small, Extra Small)
Text Colour: 5 different colour options (Cyan, Yellow, White, Lavender, Orange)
Drop Shadows Toggle
Background Toggle
Simplified Skill Moves
Executing a successful Skill Move is one of the most enjoyable aspects of playing FC. Still, we recognize that requiring a complex series of inputs makes Skill Moves inaccessible to some fans. With Simplified Skill Moves, you can now access a contextually appropriate Skill Move with a simple flick of the right stick in any cardinal direction. More info can be found in the Skill Moves section.
We are committed to making sure that everyone can enjoy the excitement of FC regardless of their individual needs or preferences. These updates are just the beginning, and we’ll continue to listen to your feedback as we work together to improve accessibility.
We’ve heard from our players that the PlayStyles available in FC 25 were not balanced, so this year we’ve acted on that feedback, rebalancing some existing PlayStyles in order to make them more equal with the rest.
Player Attributes Vs PlayStyles
PlayStyles bring player personality and unique abilities to life, but we heard the feedback loud and clear: the gap between top-tier attributes and PlayStyle effects was too wide. In many cases, high-rated players without PlayStyles were underperforming on core mechanics.
Our goal is to make high-rated players play akin to their real-life ability, making attributes more impactful and PlayStyles feel like an addition, not a requirement.
Attributes - rebalanced attribute system to make players with higher base attributes execute standard gameplay mechanics more reliably, even without the relevant PlayStyle.
PlayStyles - rebalanced PlayStyles to still offer unique and situational boosts, while keeping base mechanics like first-time passes, jockey, or ball control more consistent for high-attributes players, PlayStyle or not.
New PlayStyles
Alongside the rebalancing of PlayStyles, we’ve added, consolidated, and reworked several of them to better reflect your needs. We reduced overlaps and streamlined how PlayStyles work, making each one feel more focused, impactful, and unique.
New PS/PS+: Enforcer, Aerial Fortress, Precision Header, Gamechanger, and Inventive.
Removed PlayStyles - we have removed the following PlayStyles and reworked their mechanics to the new ones above.
Power Header
Aerial
Trivela
Flair
Aerial Fortress
Who has it?
A defensive player who dominates aerial battles only in defensive scenarios. This reconfigures the former Aerial PlayStyle to give it a more defensive focus.
Gameplay effects:
PlayStyle
Performs higher jumps and has physical defensive presence before and during aerial duels
PlayStyle+
Performs even higher jumps and has greatly improved physical defensive presence before and during aerial duels.
Precision Header
Who has it?
An offensive player who specializes in controlled, accurate headers, rather than just raw power towards the goal. Refined from the former Power Header PlayStyle, with more focus on aerial battles and heading accuracy.
Gameplay effects:
PlayStyle
Performs headers with increased accuracy and power.
PlayStyle+
Performs headers with greatly increased accuracy and power.
Inventive
Who has it?
A player specializing in creative passing, combining and refining the former Flair and Trivela PlayStyles.
Gameplay effects:
PlayStyle
Fancy and Trivela passes are performed with improved accuracy.
PlayStyle+
Fancy and Trivela passes are performed with greatly improved accuracy.
Game Changer
Who has it?
A player who is known for extraordinary and unconventional finishes, combining and refining from the former Flair and Trivela PlayStyles.
Gameplay effects:
PlayStyle
Fancy and Trivela shots are performed with improved accuracy.
PlayStyle+
Fancy and Trivela shots are performed with greatly improved accuracy.
Enforcer
Who has it?
A physical attacker who takes control through shielding and when initiating contact while dribbling.
Gameplay effects
PlayStyle
Performs dribble Shoulder Challenges and Shielding with increased effectiveness.
PlayStyle+
Performs dribble Shoulder Challenges and Shielding with increased effectiveness.
Relentless Playstyle with new Fatigue changes
With the changes made to the Fatigue System, the Relentless PlayStyle and PlayStyle+ were adjusted as follows:
Relentless and Relentless+ will now also contribute to increasing the speed of short-term stamina regeneration.
Our changes to FC IQ in FC 26 are focused on improving areas of the system based on community feedback, covering gaps in positions/Roles, and adding a couple of new elements that better match real football.
The new Player Roles in FC 26 - Ball-Playing Keeper, Wide Back, Inverted Wingback, and Box Crasher - serve as an opportunity to further customize your tactical approach and push beyond a regular formation.
You also requested more control over set pieces, and we’re delivering eight more set piece assignments that can further customize your routines (more details below). Another big piece of feedback we received is that players want more flexibility from the FC IQ system, including in the Roles and general Positioning. We’ve made multiple changes to address this concern.
More Flexible Roles
Attacking Positioning - Players are less constrained by their Roles. If the opportunity presents itself, they can go beyond it or contribute to the play in more ways.
New Versatile Focus to make specific Roles less rigid.
Added more Focuses to existing Roles based on feedback.
Significantly improved usage of regular Roles and Roles+, to bring them closer to Roles++.
Drastically reduced the negative impact of being Out of Position.
At launch, players will have more positions and Roles+/++ available.
Players can go beyond the 4th position in FC 26.
There will be more players with Role++ throughout FC 26’s cycle.
New Player Roles and Focuses
4 new Roles
Wide Back - A central defender who opens wide to cover for the fullbacks. Ideally part of a back-three, the Wide-Back can occupy the Fullback position if they are not present in the formation or they go up for the attack.
Focuses: Defend, Aggressive, Support
Inverted Wingback - A modern attacking fullback that gets forward and adopts a central position high up the pitch when their team has the ball. Depending on the Focus, can play as a Playmaker or a Shadow Striker.
Focuses: Build-Up, Attack
Box Crasher - A defensive midfielder who can get forward to join the attack, making trailing runs into the box if the opportunity arises. Is slow to return to their defensive duties.
Focus: Balanced
The Box Crasher is not focused on Defence like other CDM Roles, so they don’t consider defensive actions a priority.
Ball-Playing Keeper - A modern ball-playing goalkeeper who supports build-up play as a passing option and stays on their line when their team is in defense.
Focus: Build-Up
New Focus - Versatile
Replaces “Complete”
Used to allow the player to be more flexible and less restrictive in the specific Role. Can essentially perform whichever focus is more appropriate at the moment.
Added to Fullback, Classic 10, Winger, Poacher, Advanced Forward
Box-to-Box - Ball Winning - Focus on recovering the ball between the two boxes and providing central support to attack and defence.
Half-Winger - Support (CM-only) - Focus on supporting the play. Position themselves between the wing and center of pitch.
Half-Winger - Roaming (CAM-only) - Will freely alternate the side on which they are attacking, even during a play.
False 9 - Attack - Makes runs into the box from deep, following the ball closely. Less worried about supporting the defence.
Reworked Wide Mid and Sweeper Keeper
Wide Mid are now more defensively oriented and ideal for 3-back formations.
The Defend Focus tracks back like a Wingback protecting the DM line.
The Support Focus supports possession and defense when needed.
The Build-Up Focus can move a little forward to support play, but also comes back on defence.
Sweeper Keeper Role is focused on rushing and coming out to recover balls during defence. This Role will not come out to support play as much.
Replaced a few existing Roles
Advanced Forward - Complete is now Advanced Forward - Versatile.
Wide Mid - Balanced is now Wide Mid - Support.
Attacking Wingback - Balanced is now Attacking Wingback - Support.
Tweaked Wide Mids and Fullbacks attacking Roles’ positions to avoid congestion in the wings.
Tuned multiple existing Roles based on feedback.
Example 1: Tweaked all Roles’ positions to allow for more space in play.
Example 2: Stoppers and Centre-Backs who step up will attempt to do so more safely and effectively.
New Set Piece Assignments
2 new Attacking Corner Kick assignments
Top of Box
Defensive Cover
5 total (Near Post, Back Post, Target Player, Top of Box, Defensive Cover)
4 separate Defensive Corner Kick assignments
Threat Marker
Post Watcher
Near Post
Back Post
Left Throw-in Taker
Right Throw-in Taker
Quality of Life Improvements
We focused on improvements to the existing UI and systems. Some of the main highlights include:
Out-of-Position Indicator and With/Without Ball View in Squad
Shortcut in Squad to take you directly to your Active Tactic
Spider-chart Tactical Breakdown to help understand your tactic’s strong/weak points at a glance
6 stats: Attack, Defence, Build-Up, Width, Length, and Endurance
Changes to the Tactics Code:
Line Height gets saved to the Tactics Code
FC 25 tactics codes are compatible with FC 26 and will be converted to the FC26 format when applied
Ability to save and load Tactics Codes to your “profile”
Works in/between Ultimate Team, Career Mode, Kick-Off, Seasons, Friendlies.
Can have up to 10 different Codes saved - can delete Codes to make space for new ones.
To Save: On My Tactics screen, press ⬜ || X to manage your tactic and select “Save Code”. If the list is full, choose a code to overwrite.
To Load: On My Tactics screen, navigate to “Use Code” panel and press Right-Stick to select “Load Saved Code”. Then select your code from the list.
Tactical Suggestions will work with your existing formation and give you a version of that Tactic that maintains your current formation and suits your players.
Your formation will never change when accepting a Tactical Suggestion.
For Rush, we wanted to allow players to play as the Goalkeeper, add a few quality of life improvements based on your feedback, and enhance certain areas like Visuals and UI.
Rush Improvements
Be a Goalkeeper - players can now control the Goalkeeper in Clubs Rush, adding a new dimension to Rush gameplay.
Quick Chat - four diverse Quick Chat categories, each featuring four messages for a deeper social experience.
Paused Users - when a player pauses the game, teammates can see a Pause icon above them. If that player has the ball, teammates can request a pass, prompting the AI to deliver it.
Career Mode Rush - players can now make substitutions during Youth Tournament matches, allowing them to develop and evolve more youth players per game.
Enhanced Visuals, UI, and Audio
Dynamic Camera Focus - the camera will dynamically keep both the player and the ball in view.
New Commentator - Derek Rae is now an option for players to select in Rush.
Post-match Accolades - refreshed post-match screen highlighting each player and achievements.
Presentation Elements - reworked wipe transitions to be smaller and less obtrusive, and cameras will now zoom in on the goal scorer during celebrations.
We’ve added new skill moves to give you more ways to express yourself on the pitch.
Explosive Stepover - from Stand and Jog (3-5 Star)
Hold L1 + Rotate RS Forward to Left / Right (+ LS direction to exit)
Hold LB + Rotate RS Fwd to Left / Right (+ LS direction to exit)
Advanced Heel Flick - from Jog (4-5 Star)
Flick RS Forward, Back + LS diagonal left or right or forward 45/315/0
Drag To Chop - from Stand (4-5 Star)
Hold L2 + Roll RS Left, Back, Right / Right, Back, Left
Hold LT + Roll RS Left, Back, Right / Right, Back, Left
Elastico Variation - from Jog(5 Star)
Hold L2 + Rotate RS Right, Back, Left / Rotate RS Left, Back, Right
Hold LT + Rotate RS Right, Back, Left / Rotate RS Left, Back, Right
New Trickster Rainbow - from Stand and Jog (1-5 Star)
Flick RS Back, Forward
Other Skill Move Changes
Adjusted Lane Change to be faster and not push the ball forward at the end of the animation.
Adjusted jog variation of Drag Back to be 10% more effective.
Closer ball control when doing a Skill Move while sprinting.
Reduced skill move error across all skill moves.
Adjusted Fake Shot to Stops to transition to dribble faster.
Enabled goalkeepers to do more skill moves such as Ball Rolls, Body Feints, and Roulette.
Fixed unresponsive skill moves and increased responsiveness in some instances to be more consistent.
Reduced the speed boost effect during Step-Overs.
Simplified Skill Moves
We briefly mention the Simplified Skill Moves in the Accessibility section, and here are more details on which Skill Move will trigger depending on your input and Skill Move Star Rating.
The setting is inside the Accessibility menu.
To activate it in-game, press RS in any of the 4 main directions.
The Skill Move performed changes depending on Star Rating.
A higher star rating equals more accuracy and faster animation speed.
1 - 2 stars
Right Stick Forward - Low Skill Roulette
Right Stick Left / Right - Ball Roll
Right Stick Back - Feint Forward and Turn
3 - 4 stars
Right Stick Forward - Roulette
Right Stick Left / Right - Stop and Turn
Right Stick Back - Feint Forward and Exit
5 stars
Right Stick Forward - 3 Touch Roulette
Right Stick Left / Right - Drag Turn
Right Stick Back - Flair Nutmeg 180
For balancing, Simplified Skill Moves take longer to perform than their conventional counterparts, are harder to chain (max 3 in a row), and are slightly more error prone.
The new customizable player UI lets you tailor your on-screen experience. You can adjust the information displayed, choose your preferred layout, and highlight the info that matters most to you.
This flexibility is intended to ensure that you have the tools you need to stay focused and informed during every match.
Player Name Bar(or Name Information Bar/NIB):
In addition to the existing information in the Player Name Bar, we added a few new elements to the bar and a new setting called Player Name Bar, enabling you to customize it.
You can individually toggle on/off PlayStyles+ Icons, Footedness Icons, or Skill Moves Rating.
All are set as on by default, but they can be disabled via settings.
Here is what each setting does:
PlayStyles+: shows which PlayStyles+ the currently controlled player has available.
When these are activated in the moment, they will flash/glow to indicate their use.
Skill Moves Rating: shows the currently controlled player’s Skill Move Rating.
Footedness: shows whether the player is left or right footed, and how good they are with their weak foot.
The strong foot is highlighted with a double border (black and white).
The weak foot is on a five point scale, with the boot filling up from the heel. The more filled in, the stronger the weak foot.
Within UT, the team badge is replaced by the UT Player Item, and in modes such as Clubs, you'll see the Player Archetype. In play-as-a-player modes (Clubs and Player Career), the player's match rating will also show next to the Player Name Bar.
Ratings during a match have been changed to be related to the player’s active Role and the actions that matter the most to that Role. Now, even if two players are in the same position, they might be evaluated differently depending on whether they’re a Playmaker or a Box-to-Box.
The ratings are also split into groups, which are:
Goalkeeping, Defending, Dribbling, Shooting, Passing, and a unique group that includes stats such as Goals scored or conceded by the team, red cards, and even individual Goals or Assists. These all impact players equally.
The importance of Positioning stats in Match Ratings have been dramatically lowered across the board and it has been nullified for Clubs and locked to player matches.
In the Performance screens during a match, you can find a breakdown of these ratings and how much they contribute to the total rating.
For more information on the changes to Match Ratings, check out the FC 26 Clubs Pitch Notes coming soon.
Here’s some more info about CPU-related changes to Authentic Gameplay:
Call for Pass Improvements - will be more intelligent when considering pass requests and will prefer a better option when multiple requests come in at the same time.
This change is important for Rush and Clubs, since it means a CPU Goalkeeper will choose better pass options when players spam the pass request.
Powering Up - the CPU now powers up shots and passes the same way human players do, allowing for a more authentic experience in certain plays and contexts.
Lastly, our Rules system has received some further improvements to ensure fairness across the pitch, with the following changes:
Breakaway Fouls - improved our breakaway logic to better detect fouls involving the last player back.
Offside Calls - remade the offside logic to improve the accuracy of calls.
Thanks to Abdoulaye, Bogdan, Breno, Chadi, Danillo, Goran, Kantcho, Laszlo, Luke, Paul, Rory, Santiago, Shelden, and the FC Gameplay Team for helping with this Pitch Notes.
Thank you for taking the time to read these pitch notes. We appreciate your passion for EA SPORTS FC and look forward to seeing how you make the most of these new features and improvements.
If you have any feedback, be sure to share them in our official EA SPORTS FC Feedback Hub: ea.com/fcfeedback.
Community Manager