Tournaments are fundamentally BROKEN - Megathread
I apologize for the length of this post, but I feel it's extremely important to fully elaborate on just how fundamentally broken Tournaments are at present.
We're now several weeks into FC 27, and after participating in the UEFA Euro, UEFA Euro Elite, and Screamers tournaments, I can confidently say that this mode is riddled with serious bugs affecting almost every fundamental aspect of the experience.
These aren't minor visual glitches or occasional inconveniences. We're talking about formations being randomly changed, human-controlled players being shuffled into incorrect positions, multiple goalkeepers spawning on the pitch, inaccessible team management, matchmaking preferences being ignored, tournament entries being consumed by technical failures, broken tournament brackets, statistics not tracking, AXP multipliers not functioning, and an entire playable position being unavailable.
These issues directly compromise competitive integrity, player progression, and the overall experience.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that many of these problems were already evident during earlier tournaments, yet subsequent events have continued with the same underlying defects.
Here is a comprehensive breakdown of the issues our club has experienced.
ISSUE 1 - FORMATIONS ARE RANDOMLY CHANGED AND HUMAN PLAYERS ARE ASSIGNED TO INCORRECT POSITIONS
This is arguably one of the most disruptive bugs in the entire tournament mode.
Our club enters tournament matches with our preferred formation and players assigned to their respective positions. However, when the match loads, the formation is unexpectedly altered, and our human-controlled players are rearranged into positions they never selected.
We've attempted multiple troubleshooting methods, including resetting all five custom tactic slots to the default FC presets. None of these attempts has resolved the problem.
Players can end up in completely incorrect positions, fundamentally compromising the team's tactical structure and ability to compete.
This is especially damaging in tournament competitions, where every match matters and one loss can eliminate a club from the event.
A competitive tournament should NEVER arbitrarily change a team's formation or player assignments.
Worse still, the game provides no practical way to correct the problem once the match begins.
ISSUE 2 - MULTIPLE GOALKEEPERS SPAWNING ON THE PITCH AND BREAKING THE DEFENSIVE LINE
Another completely unacceptable tournament bug involves multiple goalkeepers appearing on the pitch simultaneously.
Instead of fielding the standard eleven players in their designated positions, the game can spawn an additional goalkeeper, resulting in two goalkeepers being present while another outfield position is effectively lost.
This completely disrupts the team's formation, defensive structure, and positional organization.
Even more concerning, the additional goalkeeper can remain positioned outside the penalty area or in locations that interfere with the defensive line, creating serious problems with the offside system.
Opposing attackers can effectively be kept onside because of the incorrectly positioned goalkeeper, leaving defenders at an enormous disadvantage.
How is a competitive tournament supposed to function when the game cannot even consistently assign eleven players to their correct positions?
This is not a minor graphical issue. It fundamentally alters how the match is played and can directly influence goals, results, and tournament eliminations.
The problem is especially frustrating given that human-controlled goalkeeper selection is already disabled in tournaments. Despite preventing clubs from selecting a goalkeeper, the game can still generate multiple goalkeeper players and disrupt the entire team.
EA needs to investigate why additional goalkeepers are spawning, why outfield positions are being displaced, and why these malformed lineups are allowed to enter competitive tournament matches in the first place.
A match with an incorrectly generated lineup should never proceed as though everything is functioning normally.
ISSUE 3 - TEAM MANAGEMENT IS VISIBLE BUT INACCESSIBLE TO THE CAPTAIN
Although the Team Management option appears in the pause menu, the captain cannot actually access the controls necessary to make tactical adjustments.
This means we cannot change formations, reorganize players, or correct the positional chaos created by the formation bug.
Think about how ridiculous that is.
The game randomly rearranges your players, and then denies the captain the ability to fix the problem.
The consequences extend beyond the formation bug itself.
If a player receives a red card, the captain should be able to reorganize the remaining players and adjust the formation accordingly. Instead, we're left improvising by asking another human-controlled player to manually occupy the vacated position while remaining assigned to an entirely different role.
This is a fundamental part of football management that is simply unavailable.
Why does a supposedly competitive tournament mode not allow its captain to manage the team?
ISSUE 4 - TOURNAMENT ENTRIES ARE CONSUMED BY MATCHMAKING FAILURES AND DISCONNECTIONS
This is particularly unacceptable because tournaments impose restrictions on the number of times clubs can participate.
The entry allowances we've encountered include:
UEFA Euro: 10 entries
UEFA Euro Elite: 5 entries
Screamers: 50 entries
Far too frequently, matchmaking or connection failures result in players being kicked out before they can properly participate in a match.
Despite the match never being successfully played, a tournament entry is deducted.
How is that remotely fair?
This was especially damaging during UEFA Euro Elite, where clubs were restricted to only five entries. Losing even one entry because the game's matchmaking infrastructure fails represents a substantial reduction in legitimate opportunities to compete.
The Screamers tournament provides 50 entries, which makes the problem less damaging in practical terms, but does absolutely nothing to excuse the underlying bug.
A club should NEVER lose a tournament entry because of a matchmaking failure, synchronization error, or disconnection that occurs before a legitimate match begins.
EA needs to implement proper validation before consuming entries, along with a mechanism for restoring entries lost because of technical failures.
Players should not be penalized for problems with the game's own infrastructure.
ISSUE 5 - THE MATCH ANY SETTING IS IGNORED IN TOURNAMENT MATCHMAKING
This is another major issue that directly undermines competitive integrity.
When Match ANY is enabled, our club expects to be matched against another club using a human-controlled ANY.
Instead, we're repeatedly matched against clubs that have no human-controlled ANY, leaving the CPU responsible for their remaining outfield players.
This is not an occasional anomaly. We've encountered it repeatedly across multiple tournament competitions.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that FC 26 finally appeared to resolve this longstanding issue in league matches. The preference worked as intended, and human-ANY teams were consistently matched against other human-ANY teams.
Yet here we are in FC 27, dealing with the same problem again in tournaments.
A club that deliberately chooses to use a human-controlled ANY should not have its matchmaking preference disregarded.
Regardless of whether players prefer competing with or without an ANY, the entire purpose of offering this matchmaking setting is to allow clubs to select their preferred competitive environment.
If the setting doesn't actually work, why is it there?
ISSUE 6 - MATCH MY TEAM SIZE ALSO APPEARS TO BE IGNORED
The Match My Team Size preference is similarly unreliable.
We've repeatedly entered tournaments with only two, three, or four human-controlled players, only to be matched against opponents fielding seven, eight, or nine human players.
These are substantial differences in human-player participation.
The matchmaking system should be making a reasonable effort to match clubs with comparable numbers of players, particularly when the relevant preference is enabled.
Instead, tournament matchmaking routinely produces wildly disproportionate team sizes.
Taken together with the Match ANY issue, this raises a serious question:
Are the matchmaking preferences in the tournament lobby functioning at all?
Because based on our experience, they appear to be largely ineffective.
Competitive matchmaking should prioritize reasonable balance rather than routinely placing significantly mismatched teams against one another.
ISSUE 7 - TOURNAMENT MATCHES DO NOT PROPERLY CONTRIBUTE TO CLUB SQUAD STATISTICS
This is another area of considerable frustration.
Tournament appearances do not appear to register within the club's individual Squad Stats.
For example, a player could have 150 recorded appearances before participating in tournaments, play dozens of additional tournament matches, and still display the same 150 appearances afterward.
Why are legitimate competitive tournament appearances excluded from our statistical records?
These are matches played for our club, against other clubs, in officially supported competitive competitions.
They should contribute to our overall club records and individual statistical histories, or EA should clearly explain why they do not.
This is made even worse by the fact that the Squad Stats screen itself remains broken.
Games Played is effectively the only statistic that displays, while other individual performance statistics continue to remain unpopulated.
We've been reporting problems with Squad Stats for far too long.
Clubs players deserve accurate, comprehensive career and club statistics that reflect the matches they actually play.
ISSUE 8 - AXP MULTIPLIERS DO NOT FUNCTION IN TOURNAMENT MATCHES
Another extremely frustrating issue involves Archetype XP boosts.
Players can acquire and equip AXP multipliers, such as 2.5x and 3.5x boosts, to accelerate their archetype progression.
Yet in our tournament experience, these multipliers simply do not apply as expected.
Why?
Players invest time and in-game currency into obtaining these consumables specifically to improve progression efficiency.
If tournaments are intended to be a meaningful part of the Clubs experience, why should participating in them prevent players from receiving the benefits of their equipped boosts?
If this is an intentional design restriction, EA needs to explain that clearly.
If it is a bug, it needs to be corrected.
We should not be forced to choose between participating in a competitive tournament and making effective use of our progression consumables.
ISSUE 9 - HUMAN-CONTROLLED GOALKEEPERS ARE UNAVAILABLE IN TOURNAMENT MODE
Goalkeeper selection remains disabled or locked within tournaments.
This is an entire position being excluded from a football game mode that is supposed to support organized club competition.
The restriction was already present when these tournaments became available.
Whether this is connected to other goalkeeper-related defects or represents a separate technical limitation, the practical result is the same: clubs cannot compete using their preferred human-controlled goalkeeper.
Goalkeeper is a fundamental position in Clubs.
Some clubs have dedicated goalkeeper players who have invested substantial time developing their archetypes and refining their skills.
Why should those players be prevented from participating in official tournament competitions in their preferred position?
And why has this limitation remained unresolved?
ISSUE 10 - TOURNAMENT BRACKETS AND ROUND PROGRESSION TRACKING ARE INCONSISTENT AND OFTEN INCORRECT
Another major issue involves the tournament bracket and progression-tracking system, which frequently displays conflicting information about where our club actually stands in the competition.
In a four-match tournament structure, the progression should be straightforward:
Match 1 of 4: Round of 16
Match 2 of 4: Quarterfinal
Match 3 of 4: Semifinal
Match 4 of 4: Final
However, the tournament interface regularly displays contradictory information between the post-match tournament bracket and the pre-match lobby.
For example, the lobby might indicate that we're entering Match 3 of 4, which corresponds to the semifinal. Yet the tournament bracket displayed after the previous match can present an entirely different picture, suggesting we're at another stage of the competition.
In other instances, the bracket shown after completing what we believed was our third match indicates that we're entering the final, even though other information presented to squad members may not align with that progression.
To make matters worse, different members of the same club can see different tournament bracket information following the exact same match.
How is that even possible?
We're all participating in the same tournament, representing the same club, and progressing through the same sequence of matches.
Yet the interface cannot consistently communicate which round we're playing or where we stand in the competition.
Based on our experience, the match counter displayed in the tournament lobby is generally the more reliable indication of the actual round being played. However, the tournament bracket itself frequently appears out of sync.
This creates unnecessary confusion, particularly in a competitive knockout environment where players need to know whether they're entering the quarterfinal, semifinal, or championship match.
The tournament bracket is supposed to be the definitive visual representation of progression through the competition.
Instead, players are left comparing contradictory screens and trying to determine which information is accurate.
EA needs to investigate why tournament progression information is inconsistent between the bracket and lobby, why different squad members receive conflicting displays, and whether these are visual synchronization problems or symptoms of a deeper issue with tournament state tracking.
Every player representing the same club should see the same bracket, the same completed rounds, and the same upcoming match.
This is basic functionality that should work reliably in any tournament mode.
THE BIGGER PROBLEM: THE ENTIRE COMPETITIVE EXPERIENCE IS COMPROMISED
Individually, each of these problems deserves attention.
Collectively, they paint a much more concerning picture.
Consider what players are being asked to tolerate:
- Your formation can change without your consent.
- Your human-controlled players can be placed into incorrect positions.
- You randomly spawn a second goalkeeper, losing an outfield player while also completely breaking your defensive line.
- Your captain cannot access the tactical controls necessary to correct those problems.
- You cannot properly reorganize your team following a red card.
- Your Match ANY preference is ignored.
- Your Match My Team Size preference is seemingly ignored.
- Your limited tournament entries can disappear because of matchmaking failures.
- Your tournament appearances aren't reflected properly in Squad Stats.
- Your equipped AXP multipliers don't provide their expected benefits.
- Human-controlled goalkeepers cannot participate.
- Your tournament bracket can show different progression information to different members of the same club.
- You cannot consistently rely on the tournament interface to tell you which stage of the competition you're actually playing.
How is any of this acceptable in a game mode built around competitive football?
Players are expected to organize their clubs, coordinate schedules, develop their archetypes, acquire consumables, manage limited tournament entries, and compete against other organized teams.
Yet the actual systems supporting those competitions are failing on multiple levels.
Even more concerning is that these aren't entirely new problems appearing in a single event.
We've experienced many of these issues across UEFA Euro, UEFA Euro Elite, and now Screamers.
Instead of delivering new tournament events on top of an unstable foundation, shouldn't EA be prioritizing the underlying functionality that makes these competitions playable in the first place?
WHAT WE NEED FROM EA
I'd genuinely appreciate a direct response from the development team addressing the following:
QUESTION 1 - Has EA reproduced the formation bug that randomly changes formations and rearranges human-controlled players in tournament matches? Is a fix being developed?
QUESTION 2 - Why is the second goalkeeper glitch happening? Has EA identified the cause, and is a fix being prioritized?
QUESTION 3 - Why is Team Management inaccessible to captains in tournament matches? When will captains regain the ability to change formations and reorganize their players?
QUESTION 4 - Why are tournament entries deducted following matchmaking failures or disconnections before a legitimate match begins? Will affected clubs have their entries restored or receive compensation?
QUESTION 5 - Are Match ANY and Match My Team Size actually enforced in tournament matchmaking? If not, why are these preferences available in the tournament lobby?
QUESTION 6 - Are tournament appearances and individual performance statistics intended to contribute to Squad Stats? If so, why aren't they tracking correctly?
QUESTION 7 - Are AXP multipliers intentionally disabled during tournament matches, or is their failure to activate an acknowledged bug?
QUESTION 8 - Why are human-controlled goalkeepers unavailable in tournaments, and is there a timeline for restoring goalkeeper participation?
QUESTION 9 - Why does the tournament bracket display inconsistent progression information between squad members and contradict the match counter shown in the lobby? Is this a visual synchronization issue or a deeper tournament-state tracking problem?
QUESTION 10 - Has EA investigated whether tournament progression and reward calculations are being affected by the same synchronization issues?
QUESTION 11 - Most importantly, is there a coordinated effort underway to address these problems collectively rather than treating them as unrelated, low-priority reports?
FINAL THOUGHTS
Clubs has tremendous potential, and organized tournaments should be one of its strongest features.
Instead, we're dealing with a competitive environment in which basic football functionality, tactical controls, matchmaking preferences, participation limits, progression systems, and even tournament brackets cannot be consistently relied upon.
It's difficult to take these competitions seriously when the game itself can rearrange your players, generate an additional goalkeeper, prevent you from correcting the formation, disregard your matchmaking preferences, and consume limited tournament entries because of technical failures.
These are not unreasonable expectations.
We're asking for formations to remain intact, captains to have access to team management, matchmaking preferences to function, tournament entries to be protected from technical failures, player progression to be tracked accurately, and tournament brackets to display consistent information.
These are fundamental requirements of a functional competitive tournament mode.
EA needs to conduct a comprehensive technical review of Clubs tournaments, acknowledge the issues players are experiencing, establish clear priorities for resolving them, and communicate those plans directly to the community.
We don't need more tournament events layered onto broken systems. We need the existing systems fixed.
Until these problems are addressed, Tournament Mode and MORE IMPORTANTLY, CLUBS AS A WHOLE will continue to fall far short of the competitive experience it is supposed to deliver.
