EA Sports is leaning into fundamentals with EA SPORTS FC 26. The studio’s guiding principle this year is “make gameplay better,” emphasizing responsiveness, fairness, and realism over flashy new modes. According to EA’s Gameplay Deep Dive Pitch Notes (July 22, 2025), the devs have focused on key gameplay fundamentals that define how matches feel: dribbling, movement, AI positioning, first touches, defending, and goalkeeper logic.
A major confirmed change is the introduction of two distinct gameplay presets, “Competitive” and “Authentic”. Competitive is tuned for faster, online modes like Ultimate Team, with more direct control and responsiveness. Authentic aims to mirror real-football tempo in modes like Career, with smarter defenders, more realistic corner success, and more regard for positioning.
EA has also stated improvements to ball control, shielding, and goalkeeper reactions. For instance, goalkeepers will have “reinforcement-learning positioning” to better anticipate attacks, and dribbling has been refined for more fluid movement and stability under pressure.
Online integrity and fairness are receiving attention: matchmaking is being tuned, latency optimizations are part of EA’s planning, and EA promises additional visibility into how feedback shapes updates.
Some of the more technical aspects you mentioned—such as detailed collision-cones, spin continuity on every deflection, or overly granular update cadences—are not fully specified in EA’s public materials. They may reflect developer intent or rumor; until confirmed, they should be referenced as “planned or expected” rather than firm commitments.
