All Clubs changes coming in EA FC 26

EA FC 26 brings plenty of huge changes to the popular Clubs mode, including a major overhaul to how you create your player and level them up.

So far, EA FC 26 is shaping up to be exactly what fans want. There’s no flashy new feature dominating the conversation like last year’s Rush; instead, the devs appear to be focusing on smaller gameplay changes that add up to make a big difference.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some huge additions in each mode, and Clubs is one of the areas that has received plenty of love this time around. So, here’s a full breakdown of everything coming to Clubs in FC 26.

Archetypes

The headline change this year is Archetypes, a new way for players to create and level up their pros. Rather than just picking a position and building out the attributes from there, you’ll need to choose from one of 13 Archetypes that determine how they will play.

These essentially act as classes inspired by a real-life footballer, deciding which areas your custom player will be stronger or weaker in. They also provide specific Playstyles that aren’t available in other Archetypes, as well as unique perks that fit that style of play.

For example, the Finisher comes with the First Touch and Low Driven Shot PlayStyles, boosts to stats like finishing and composure, and perks that buff their fake shots and effectiveness in 1v1 scenarios.

Each class also has three specializations, making 39 in total, that let you tailor them even further to suit your needs. So, continuing the example from before, a Finisher can specialize into Finisher+, Presser, or Hunter, which all come with their own additional perks and PlayStyles.

Just like before, you’ll need to play matches and level up your Archetype to earn skill points, which can be used to increase attributes and unlock new specializations.

Live events

Rush arrived in Clubs in FC 25, and the devs are doubling down on it in EA FC 26 with new live events. These limited-time Rush tournaments will arrive throughout the season, featuring unique entry requirements, gameplay modifiers, and rule changes.

Each will have multiple stages, and winning will progress you onto the next round, while losing will cost one of your limited number of attempts. There will be a number of different rewards up for grabs, from player cosmetics to Archetype XP boosts.

Multiple clubs

Another huge change coming to Clubs this year is the ability to join multiple clubs at once. At any given time, all players can be on the books for three teams at once and switch between them as often as they want.

This is a major quality of life update, as in the past you could be in one club at once. This meant tyhat if you wanted to play with a different group of friends or make a new team to start from the lowest division, you had to leave the existing one.

Gameplay changes

Competitive

EA FC 26 features distinct types of gameplay — Authentic and Competitive. As expected, Clubs will use the same Competitive option as Ultimate Team.

This means that it will be consistent throughout, with very few random mistakes from defenders or sloppy first touches. It also means that dribbling will feel extra responsive, allowing you to glide past opponents with ease.

As an online mode against real players, this setting ensures that skill is the deciding factor in who wins. This is drastically different from Career Mode, which uses Authentic to create matches that are more realistic and random just like real football.

Fatique

As part of the move to Competitive, fatigue is no longer a major concern. All players still have short-term fatigue to contend with, which will slow them down if they’ve been sprinting for too long without a proper break.

Long-term fatigue has been completely removed for player-controlled players, so you’ll be as fresh in the 90th minute as you were in the first. Meanwhile, AI players still have long-term stamina loss, so they will become more tired over the course of a match.

Ratings

Another smaller but important change is the update to match ratings, which will now be more tailored to your position rather than being more general.

So, defensive players will be rewarded more for putting in tackles and blocks, while attacking midfielders will earn more crucial passes and assists. This should make it much easier to win Player of the Match, even if you aren’t attacking, compared to last year, where goals and assists ruled all.