EA SPORTS FC 27 Clubs Feedback – AI Balance, Matchmaking, and Gameplay Pace

Hello EA SPORTS FC Development Team,

I want to share some feedback regarding Clubs and what I believe needs to change in EA SPORTS FC 27 to make the game mode more enjoyable, balanced, and accessible.

There are three major issues hurting the Clubs experience: defensive AI that is far too powerful, unrealistic player positioning that slows the game down, and matchmaking that unfairly punishes players who don't have a full team available.

AI BALANCE – FAR TOO STRONG DEFENSIVELY, FAR TOO WEAK OFFENSIVELY

The current AI balance in Clubs is extremely frustrating. AI defenders with an overall rating of 80–82 can feel like 99-rated defenders on the highest difficulty. They read attacking movements unnaturally well, stretch their legs to intercept the ball from seemingly impossible distances, and make it incredibly difficult to beat them with skill moves or close control.

Yet, when these same AI players receive the ball, they often freeze, dribble slowly, make poor decisions, and give possession away. This creates a bizarre dynamic in which AI defenders are nearly impossible to beat through normal attacking play but can be bypassed by exploiting predictable weaknesses, such as lobbed passes or simple through balls directly through the middle.

This is not challenging gameplay; it is inconsistent gameplay that rewards exploiting the AI rather than playing good football.

My recommendation is to remove the system that scales AI overall ratings based on club reputation or fan count. If fans are intended to provide a progression-based advantage, that could be reflected through other mechanics, but AI ratings should be consistent for all teams competing in the same division.

Players should not be punished for progressing to Division 2 by being forced to play against significantly stronger AI simply because their opponents have accumulated more fans or reputation. Two teams competing in the same division should face comparable AI quality.

More importantly, AI should be better at attacking, moving the ball, and making intelligent runs, while being less dominant defensively. Nobody wants to beat three human defenders only to have an AI defender magically poke the ball away regardless of the skill or timing of the attacking player.

ATTACKING PLAYERS SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO DEFEND WITHOUT MEANINGFUL TRADE-OFFS

Another major issue is the ability for attacking players to drop all the way back into their defensive half, help defend, and then immediately sprint back up the pitch to join the attack.

This results in a slow, congested, and sloppy style of football. Teams can overload their defense with human-controlled players while retaining the ability to launch quick counterattacks with those same players, without a meaningful positional or tactical trade-off.

There needs to be a better balance between attacking and defensive responsibilities. Potential solutions could include more meaningful stamina consequences, slower recovery when transitioning between defensive and attacking positions, or other mechanics that discourage constant end-to-end repositioning.

The goal should not be to prevent tactical flexibility. It should be to stop this strategy from becoming the default approach because it is so effective and has so few drawbacks.

MATCHMAKING NEEDS A PLAYER-COUNT CAP

This is arguably the most important issue for players who enjoy Clubs with a small group of friends.

I do not have nine friends who can jump online and play at a moment's notice. Sometimes I want to play with just one friend. That should not mean being forced into matches where we are outnumbered 2v5, 2v7, or even 2v9.

The current matchmaking experience can make the game mode feel virtually unplayable when a small group is expected to compete against a much larger team. We have fewer human players, fewer options in possession, and a greater reliance on AI teammates that frequently struggle to make effective attacking decisions or maintain possession.

This is an issue with accessibility, not simply competitive difficulty. Players should be able to enjoy Clubs regardless of whether they have a full squad of friends online.

Please introduce a matchmaking option that caps the number of human opponents based on the size of our own party. If we queue with two players, we should have the option to search for matches against teams with a comparable number of human players, rather than automatically being matched against significantly larger squads.

I would gladly wait longer in matchmaking if it meant finding a fairer game. Give players the option to prioritize balanced player counts over search time.

If the game already allows teams to match against opponents with the same number of players or more, there should also be an option to restrict matchmaking to teams with the same number of players or fewer.

This simple change would make Clubs significantly more accessible to smaller groups and give players a genuine choice in how they want to experience the game mode.

CLUBS NEEDS TO PRIORITIZE FUN AND ITS ARCADE IDENTITY

Ultimately, these issues feed into one another. Overpowered defensive AI, attackers who can constantly drop back without meaningful consequences, and mismatched player counts combine to create slow, low-scoring games that feel more like a grind than an enjoyable football experience.

This is an arcade-style multiplayer game. If realism were the overriding priority, the standard multiplayer experience would not be built around an arcade format.

There is nothing inherently wrong with high-scoring matches. Games ending 7–6 or 10–9 can be exciting, competitive, and memorable. I would much rather play an entertaining, fast-paced match with opportunities for creative attacking play than grind through another 1–0 or 2–1 game in which defensive AI is nearly impossible to break down and entire teams of human attackers can retreat into defense with little consequence.

Clubs should reward creativity, teamwork, attacking intelligence, and skill. It should not reward exploiting predictable AI weaknesses, relying on unnaturally strong defenders, or having more friends available to play.

MY MAIN REQUESTS FOR EA SPORTS FC 27 CLUBS

• Remove AI overall scaling based on club reputation or fan count, and standardize AI quality within each division.
• Improve AI attacking intelligence, passing, movement, and decision-making while reducing its defensive dominance.
• Introduce meaningful trade-offs for attackers who repeatedly drop deep to defend and immediately sprint forward to attack.
• Add matchmaking options that cap the number of human opponents based on the size of our party, even if this increases queue times.
• Restore a faster, more entertaining, attack-oriented gameplay experience that fits the arcade identity of Clubs.

I am providing this feedback because I want Clubs to succeed. The mode has enormous potential, particularly for players who want to build their own Pro, develop a playstyle, and enjoy football with friends without needing a full squad available every night.

However, when AI defending is excessively strong, AI attacking is unreliable, and matchmaking routinely places small groups at a numerical disadvantage, the experience becomes frustrating rather than fun.

Please consider these issues when developing EA SPORTS FC 27. Clubs deserves gameplay and matchmaking systems that encourage people to keep playing, regardless of how many friends they have online.