The FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) is a well-liked online game mode and one of the most anticipated sports games in 2025. So far, Ultimate Team has long been the centerpiece of the franchise, giving players the opportunity to build their dream squad, compete locally and globally, and have a better football experience. However, fans praised and criticized FC 25 Ultimate Team for their mechanics but this time, fans are expecting changes as to what they complained about. EA will be launching FC 26 soon enough and we have gotten information on upgrades made in Ultimate Team, making it not only competitive gameplay but also a more rewarding environment for casual and hardcore players. In this article, I will be revealing some new features in FC 26 Ultimate Team.
Here Are The New Features Revealed and Predictions
1. Live Events ✅
EA Sports leaks valuable information to fans about FC 26 live events. This has increased our expectations and thirst for the game, EA hopes to bring more changes to Ultimate Team by introducing Live Events. This event competition will definitely keep fans on their toes and will challenge players to equip their teams with the best of the best players. Now players are able to build different squads with the help of customized entry requirements and match rules, which would make every player undoubtedly valuable to have in the team. Before going into the next feature on the list, make sure to buy affordable FIFA 26 coins and get ready to stack up your squad
2. Entry Requirements✅
Here’s where it gets more competitive, to get access to some Live events, your squad will have to meet the requirements needed, so this means, as a beginner starting the game you can’t jump into any live matches without meeting the custom criteria. These entry requirements are made to keep a competitive environment for FUT players and monitor their progression. This custom criteria enables players to know if they are qualified to access special locked events.
Here are some Entry requirements:
- Completing a specific objective or Group Objective
- Reaching a Rival Division
- Rarity, Nation, League, or Club counts
- Player’s Quality
- Chemistry or Position rules
3. Custom Rules And Match Settings ✅
This feature enables players to customize different match settings and involve some house rules for adjustment that might suit the gameplay pace, difficulty, shot assistance, and finishing. This means players will encounter events where every match feels different. However, EA will be involving some custom rules in FC 26 Ultimate Team to make the game more challenging and at the same time still friendly to players.
Live events can also include some custom rules like:
- House Rules (Classic match. Mystery Ball, No Rules, Long Range, Swaps, First to score, king of the hill, Survival)
- Match Limit
- Solo only, Co-op only, or open matchmaking
4. Objective Linking ✅
Previously, FC 25’s Menu options were too complex to keep track of rewards and progress, it most likely required you to jump across multiple menu options to track your progress.
However, changes have been made in FC 26, giving you direct access to claim rewards without needing to scan through multiple options on the menu and spending more time on the pitch and less time navigating. Now, each event will highlight its own required objectives that are expected to be completed before any rewards can be earned or progress can be made.
5. New Play Menu✅
The play menu has been rebranded and improved on making it easier to navigate, discover, and choose preferred options or modes available. This time, you don’t only get to see the new and upcoming live events at a glance, you will also be shown the rewards for each event.
The new menu uses the following categories:
For You
The For You tab is at the top left axis, you can always navigate through various tabs by pressing L1 or R1. The For You tab contains the most relevant content based on your activity so far.
Here are the three distinct activities under the For You Tab:
New: Freshly launched competition
Continue Playing: shows your last played modes
Upcoming: shows future events available in a serial order. However, this can allow you to preview entry/squad requirements to prepare in advance.
- Online
- Rush
- Rivals
- Champions
- Challengers
- Online Draft
Player vs Friend
- Play a Friend (Classic Match)
- Couch Play (Classic Match)
Player vs. CPU
- Squad Battles
- Moments
- Single Player Draft
Other Tabs
- FC Pro
- PlayStation Tournaments
6. Gauntlet✅
Gauntlets are new ways to test your club’s strength and performance across multiple matches, each Gauntlet consisting of possibly five matches. Here’s what is required, you can only use players that you haven’t used before for every new match, which means no player will be repeated after use. Unlike the tournament gameplay, where eliminations are important to determine the winner. Here there is no elimination involved, you just keep playing regardless, but the more wins you achieve, the better the rewards. Friendly advice, stack up your team with numerous players to be eligible for different matches.
At launch, we’ll drop more detailed information about the Gauntlet feature.
7. Bounties ✅
Bounties are seasonal challenges or objectives that offer rewards after successfully completing various tasks, some objectives can be completed by playing a certain number of matches, scoring a specific number of goals in a match. However, if objectives are completed you’ll earn rewards immediately after the final whistle, rewards can come in the form of Rival Points, Champions Qualification Points, Coins, Packs, and Season XP to help skip certain rival stages to progress faster
These are some Bounties that you might come across while playing
- Score the first goal
- Score the last goal
- Win two or more
- Keep a clean sheet
- Perform certain skills
Most of the time you don’t need to win all the matches to get rewarded, all you’ll do is perform certain required objectives.
8. Limited Checkpoint ✅
This is another new feature that tracks progress, whether it’s a winning or losing streak. It helps players who are unable to progress or stuck in a certain division that doesn’t match their skill level. Under a limited checkpoint, you will be given some losses accepted during that stage if exceeded you will be demoted to a lower division and the limit will reset at the beginning of each Rivals season.
9. Tournaments Knockout ✅
This feature brings out an unusual knockout format for elimination purposes, this happens when you lose in a tournament, you get disqualified and you lose your entries. This new structure is made available on rare bases or special moments rather than having this run every week. Each tournament has its own specific rewards for winning matches, squad rules for entry requirements, etc.
Tournaments may include
- Specific entry requirements (based on objective progress, Division rank, etc)
- Entry limits refreshes
Full details on the Tournament and rewards will be disclosed after launch.
10. Rush Match Outcomes / Matchmaking Delays ✅
In FC 25, fans had similar complaints about RUSH matches and how frustrating it gets when your teammates disconnect or quit certain matches and resulting in a connection problem. However, the story is now different and exciting in FC 26, EA is introducing matchmaking delays in FUT RUSH for players who consistently leave matches early because they were losing with a huge goal difference. With these mechanics RUSH matches won’t be humiliating anymore, this time if the opponent disconnects or quits the game, the other teammate gets the win.
11. Competitive & Authentic Gameplay ✅
In FC 26, they’ve been a separation of the gameplay into two phases which are the Competitive Gameplay and Authentic Gameplay. However, if you discover your gameplay is less effective it is preferable to adapt to any of these two gameplays to get good results.
From the deep dive on EA Sports FC 26, there has been a significant improvement in goalkeeper reflexes, where deflections from a 1v1 situation are punched towards the corner flag or the throw line this gives teammates hope during the match. Another improvement that was noticed is the Attacking AI which is slightly better than the FC 25 where players make attacking runs in open spaces to create a 2 v 1 situation with the Goalkeeper.
Final Thoughts And Predictions
As FC 26 approaches, Ultimate Team will certainly be the big deal after launch. EA has revealed promising changes, especially in the Evolution, reward system, objectives linking, Gauntlet, Bounties, live events, and rush match outcomes which aim at giving a good football experience. These new features might just be a stepping stone to a more dynamic and competitive gameplay in Ultimate Team.
However, the prediction fans laid out about unbalanced gaming experience, pay-to-win culture, and server instability. FC 26 has come up with solutions that fix the problem by introducing refined matchmaking, earning rewards based on your progress, and a smooth online gaming experience for fans to enjoy. We hope to share more insights from EA relating to the upcoming 26 Ultimate Team soon.
