Earlier today, in the latest deep dive for EA Sports FC 26, players finally got a look at this year’s Ultimate Team mode. While I’m not the biggest Ultimate Team player, I dabble in the mode for the first few months following release every year. After the initial excitement around the mode each year, Ultimate Team usually struggles to maintain my interest. Thankfully, several of the changes coming to Ultimate Team in EA FC 26 have me more excited than ever to engage with the mode for a longer period of time.
So, what exactly changes and why am I excited about them? Well, firstly, we have the addition of live events which offer new, varied ways to earn rewards, including tournaments, gauntlets, house rules matches, and more. Live Events are essentially replacing friendlies, giving you new challenges and opportunities to earn rewards on a weekly basis. Two aspects of Live Events make it particularly interesting to me—one being the return of tournaments (a much-requested feature), and the other being the addition of the all-new gauntlets.
Gauntlets will function somewhat similarly to Squad Battles, it sounds like, with you playing through a series of matches—and the more wins you get, the better your rewards will be. The key difference with gauntlets is that they are designed to test your squad depth. That’s because in each match of a gauntlet, you must use a completely new squad.
I believe this need for more squad members could change the dynamics of Ultimate Team as a whole. For players that play through gauntlets regularly, I predict we may not see them selling as many cards on the transfer market as we usually do. If this does happen, it also has the potential to affect the in-game economics of EA Sports FC 26’s Ultimate Team mode, which in turn would impact the way that players trade cards, buy packs, and more. It remains to be seen if something like gauntlets will have such a massive impact on Ultimate Team in EA FC 26, but the potential for it to shake things up is very exciting.
Other improvements this year include a revamp to Rivals and Champions, along with the addition of Challengers, which will act as a second tier to Champions—allowing more players the chance to win rewards in the weekend league.
As someone who largely avoids Ultimate Team’s Champions mode and the weekend league due to the skill gap between myself and others who qualify, Challengers offers a compelling way for me to more consistently play in the weekend league. To be fair, every time I have tried to qualify for Champions weekend league, I manage to do it. So, I’m good enough to be in the weekend league. The issue for me is that on most occasions, I’ll either beat someone 5-1 in weekend league or I will lose by the same margin. That’s because I sit somewhere in the middle of the skill pool for players that make it to the weekend, often winning just over or just under half my matches.
For myself and other players like me, I’m hoping that Challengers will sit somewhere in the middle ground of the current weekend league skill pool, thus providing a more balanced but competitive division for all players. Time will tell if it works out this way, but as of now, I am hopeful.
These were the major changes for Ultimate Team in EA Sports FC 26, but there is even more, including disconnection improvements. Read all about these changes here.
Pre-orders are now available for EA SPORTS FC 26, which will launch on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Amazon Luna, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. EA SPORTS FC 26 will be available worldwide to play on September 26, 2025, with early access through the Ultimate Edition beginning September 19, 2025.
