FC 26 Career Mode – Gameplay realism, fouls, and contract logic
First off, I’m really enjoying FC 26 so far. I play Manager Career Mode and I think this year’s installment is one of the strongest in the past 3–4 years. Gameplay feels solid on Authentic and Ultimate difficulty—maybe a bit too easy at times—but with some slider adjustments, it really feels good to play. That said, I’ve noticed a few issues that I think could be addressed to improve realism and immersion: CPU aggression and lack of fouls/injuries CPU teams rarely commit fouls, even with aggression and injury sliders maxed out. This leads to: - Very few free kicks or penalties (unless handballs are on). - Almost no injuries, which affects squad rotation and realism. - A noticeable imbalance where I commit more fouls than the CPU, especially when playing aggressively. It would be great to see more contextual fouls, physical duels, and injury variety—especially in longer Career Mode saves. Contract negotiation logic It seems players only want to negotiate contracts in the final year. That’s frustrating and unrealistic. It would be more immersive if: - Players were open to talks with 2 years left. - They initiated negotiations based on form, role, or wage expectations. - There was more dynamic interaction—e.g., players requesting extensions or pay bumps. This would add depth to squad management and make Career Mode feel more alive. These tweaks could make a huge difference for those of us who play long-term saves and prioritize realism. And when looking at what has been implemented in the game do not seem to me at least difficult to address.Not getting wins when the opponent quits
Please can something be done about players quitting the game when they're losing and the opponent does not get the win. I play online Seasons and almost every game the opponent quits when I am in a winning position. They either wait till 80+ minutes to quit or if they're losing by a big scoreline, they will quit the game immediately and I will not get the win nor will there be a record to show I played that opponent. Sometimes they will cheat by pausing the game, do something to quit and a message will show "you have lost connection to your opponent..." Sometimes the disconnection will be immediately after you score (almost instantly) and you will not get the win and there will be no record of that game. And finally, they also cheat by stop playing after you score. The game will restart from the centre circle and the opponent will not move at all, then after approximately a minute you will lose connection to your opponent and not get the win etc. The level of frustration this causes when people are doing it almost every game is immense and I will not play online Seasons anymore until this issue is fixed. I hope EA will do something about it.Authentic Gameplay - Online Friendlies
Dear EA team, could you please make it possible to use the truly good "authentic gameplay" at least online in friendly matches? The "competitive mode" is simply too fast and there are far too many goals. We are an online community that values realism and not scoring as many goals as possible. Please, please, add this with a patch as soon as possible. greetings!
Fc26 post patch - worst gameplay after the patch
The game is ruined, you can t freakin turn, If I score in this game After the patch I feel that I was in war, why are you ruining the game after every patch? Just let the game go as it was before this, it is really unplayable!! Please just listen to us and do make the game better, my players feels like bronze players after this patch. Thanks and I hope that you listen to usCareer mode catastrophically buggy
Career mode catastrophically buggy Rarely has career mode been so buggy. EA, the game and this mode are in a catastrophic state; it's a disgrace what's being sold here. Here's just a sample of the nonsense: -Players now decide for themselves when they want to extend their contracts, which is a good idea and realistic. If you could get information about this. This doesn't happen, then there is a second message where the player is angry and wants to transfer immediately. -Players extend their contracts and then want to transfer two days later. -If we don't sell the players who want to transfer, the assistant manager suddenly takes over, but the transfer never goes through; it fails every time. -Clauses can no longer be bought out. You are completely powerless and players can transfer for ridiculous sums, but unfortunately this only applies to you, not the CPU. -In Live Startpoint, players' first matches are all rated 0.0, at least for those who have played. This lowers the average rating, which affects the dynamic potential. -The youth players only have boots from EA. -It is not possible to search for or scout players whose contracts are expiring. -Players under the age of 23 generally cannot transfer without a transfer fee (which is nonsense). -It is still not possible to put 9 players on the bench. What is so difficult about implementing this? It is simply embarrassing. -After every squad update, the painstakingly created manager names disappear again. -Managers are dismissed far too rarely. In the Bundesliga, sometimes not a single manager is sacked in a season, which is nonsense. -When managers change, the assistant managers sometimes take over, some of whom are women. No offence, but it's unlikely that a woman will coach a Bundesliga club any time soon. -The objectives are absolute nonsense; you lose confidence even though you've won. With Dortmund, you're supposed to win the league title and reach the Champions League semi-finals. -There are no injuries at all, either in-game or outside of it, especially in Authentic mode. -The events are a good idea in themselves, when they do occur. One event in an entire season...far too few. -Some of the questions are complete nonsense and repeat themselves constantly. Why only questions about players and not general ones? It was better before. Why show how the answer affects the game? It's not like toddlers are playing the game. It would be nice to have a little more spice and expected effects. -The contract lengths for players are nonsensical and incorrect. I was able to get a correction in WWE with Thielmann even before release. Ache only has a one-year contract, which is wrong. -The clauses are assigned randomly and nonsensically. -The AI plays far too passively, even Bayern Munich honestly at the highest level. -40% of the games always take place in the rain. -The automatic kit selection is nonsensical. In the Champions League, the normal home kit is used. In the Bundesliga, the cup kit is sometimes used. There are so many other absurdities. Sorry EA, but honestly, this is just brazen and unacceptable. Andreas claimed in the video that before a feature is included, it is tested multiple times. What exactly was tested? Some of the errors are carried over from one part to the next, see the example of jerseys, rain, or no 9 players on the bench, etc. The mode is half-hearted, and I can't imagine that it has been thoroughly tested, otherwise these errors would have been discovered and eliminated in advance. One should demand compensation for this mode. There is so much potential here, but the implementation is a disaster. Dear EA team, this cannot and must not continue. You have a broad community and claim that you are listening to them this time, so why not make use of it? I and many others would certainly be willing to test the mode on a voluntary basis and report errors such as those mentioned above, so that a decent product can be brought to market. Why not take advantage of this? A beta in the USA, the land of football? Yes, exactly. Sorry, football is lived in Europe. Germany, England, Spain, France and Italy offer the beta there, and you will benefit from it. In any case, you are in the process of completely destroying the game with such errors, and this can no longer be tolerated.Attacking Wingbacks bug
I assume its a bug compared to their behavior on FC25, Attacking Wingbacks specially when set to Attack focus should go up a lot faster and stay up yet in FC26 they act a lot more as a regular wingback, they stay close to the ball height in the pitch and dont overlap nearly as aggressive as it was in FC25, this makes 5 back formation useless for exemple (not to mention regular back 4 formations) because u cant count with your wingbacks making the team more wide and aggressive... Tested with with Authentic Features ON... dont know if online with competitive gameplay its better but with Authentic its surely bugged. Please EA take a look at this.Player Career Mode Is Unplayable Because of Horrible AI Teammate Behavior
TL;DR: When controlling a single player AI teammates constantly turn over possession making irrational passes panicking in possession, and they take senseless shots, while CPU opponents play like a coordinated team. This creates a massive imbalance and ruins immersion. This has been happening for years and I am fed up. It’s a more glaring problem now. The biggest issue is the AI teammates when you’re controlling a single player. They play like they are being controlled by a toddler who has no idea what they are doing. There is no logic, no structure, and no awareness. Before I proceed I’m not sure, but for context I play LW (left wing) as this issue might differ slightly depending on the position you play on the pitch. My teammates, especially the midfielders will make a run toward the touchline with the ball and then make weird desperate diagonal passes straight to the opposition. They play like they are in a panic all the time. In general in almost every situation they make desperate do or die passes when there are better and simpler obvious options right in front of them. When they receive the ball in midfield they immediately start drifting toward the touchline for no logical reason, almost like they’re programmed to run sideways instead of driving the play forward or driving the play in a logical manner. And then, out of nowhere, they’ll launch this awkward, desperate diagonal pass sometimes while off balance or even while falling straight into the feet of the opposition. It’s just horrible decision making. Not only for that scenario, but like I said in general when they get the ball, they treat it like hot potato, making hasty, rushed passes with zero composure. It’s so weird that it actually becomes comical to watch. Sometimes they just make blind passes like who are you passing to? And besides these hasty nonsensical passes like they’re panicking for no reason, what makes it worse is they are obsessed with forcing the ball to me at all costs (losing the ball in the process), even when there are better passing options all around. Like, can we actually play as a team? There are other players on the pitch too. It shouldn’t feel like I’m the only target in every buildup. Furthermore strikers will consistently take horrible shots with their back turned to goal. They take desperate and ridiculous shots from awkward angles where there is no chance of scoring. They get the ball with their back to goal, space is tight, and instead of recycling possession they force an off balance shot that was never going to work. It is weird. It is strange. It makes no sense. And they do the same with passing too. Instead of finding an easy pass back they force something dumb. They get the ball anywhere in or near the box even with their back to goal, surrounded by defenders and instead of making a smart pass or holding play, they just blast a random shot. It’s like they don’t process what’s happening around them. Meanwhile, the CPU opponents play like they’ve got an actual playbook. They build out intelligently, press well, and move as a unit. They play intelligently, press with purpose, and control the rhythm of the game like a real team. It creates a massive imbalance where I’m forced to run around doing everything myself because my teammates are functionally useless. I have to overcompensate, running all over the pitch to drag my team forward because my teammates simply do not play at the same level. I play left wing but I am forced to abandon my position, drop deep, and carry the ball, force passes myself just to progress the attack. It should not be my job to play creator, controller, and finisher all at once because my teammates are useless in possession. This is not one or two bad matches. It is every match. And the fact that this has been going on for years and is now somehow even worse is frustrating. It is actually hard to believe that anyone genuinely play tested this game mode before release. It is ridiculous. It is absurd. Please fix this. Career Mode is supposed to feel immersive and rewarding. Instead, it feels like dragging a team of clueless NPCs through “90 minutes” of chaos. Please fix all this. Smarter AI teammate logic, better AI teammate decision making would completely change the mode.Player Career AI
Please consider a serious look at the AI in Player Career mode when controlling only the created player. The two main issues: Teammate AI is horrible. Defenders are poor at marking and let attackers constantly cut through the middle. They also can’t tackle when there’s an obvious opportunity. Worse is the attacking AI. Players carry the ball straight to the touchline and cut back a pass directly to the defender. Wingers carry the ball to the corner and launch a cross directly into a defender one foot away. Your player has to move out of position and force passes to progress the attack, but then your player rating goes down for being out of position. It makes the game boring a lot of the time, and really frustrating the rest of the time. AI opponents never foul, even when turning up the slider. It removes free kicks from the game, which is one of the best parts of controlling the created player. Improving these would go a long way to saving Player Career mode (in addition to bigger things like training on the manager’s tactics rather than relying on the color of the match rating to direct you).