FC 26 Rivals Matchmaking and Gameplay Responsiveness Issue in Division 2

I am a Division 2 Rivals player in Southern California and I have identified a repeated pattern that needs investigation.

I have spoken to multiple opponents after matches, and several confirmed they are in Division 6, Division 7, or Division 4 and that they do not play often. I have consistently noticed that the lower their division is, and the less they play, the harder the match becomes for me. In many of these matches it feels almost impossible to win.

Their AI defending becomes extremely difficult to break down, my gameplay becomes delayed and out of sync, I get micro freezes or micro locks, my inputs do not respond properly, and they score from unrealistic angles with weak or unusual squads.

I have already completed the normal troubleshooting:

• Ethernet connection
• game restarted multiple times
• modem and router restarted
• no VPN
• QoS enabled
• no server issue shown on EA status page

This is not a normal skill gap issue. It feels like either matchmaking, gameplay balancing, or a responsiveness/routing issue is causing matches against lower division and low activity players to play abnormally.

Please investigate this pattern instead of sending generic connection steps.