PS5

EA Sports FC 26

SimulatorSport

Time to beat: about 30.9 hours

Overview

EA Sports FC 26 is an association football simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. It was released worldwide on 26 September 2025 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Amazon Luna. It is the third installment in the EA Sports FC series following EA FC 24 and EA FC 25 and the 33rd overall installment of EA Sports' football simulation games. The ultimate edition has Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the cover whilst the standard edition sees the return of Jude Bellingham and the introduction of Jamal Musiala.

EA Sports FC 26 introduces significant gameplay innovations which include a complete overhaul of dribbling mechanics, enhanced artificial intelligence for player positioning, and more lifelike goalkeeper animations. The game also features two distinct gameplay presets: Competitive, tailored for Ultimate Team and Clubs with faster-paced action and smarter AI; and Authentic, designed for Career Mode with realistic football behaviors and tactics based on real-world data.

Various changes were also done to Career Mode, especially Manager Career. Manager Live Challenges were added, which allowed players to choose specific challenges to complete, such as winning the Treble, or being on top of the league by Christmas. Another new feature was Unexpected Events, which meant events similar to real-life scenarios such as players being home sick could affect your club. Player career also received some changes, notably the addition of Archetypes. That feature allowed players to choose a specific path or playing style for their player to progress, which enabled more personalization to the experience.

FC 26 received "generally favorable" reviews as reported by review aggregation website Metacritic. OpenCritic determined that 83% of critics recommended the game.