EA FC 26 Ultimate Team new features – new game modes, repeatable Evolutions and Rivals overhaul

Ultimate Team is the biggest game mode in EA Sports FC, and some massive changes are coming in EA FC 26.

On a recent trip to the EA Sports HQ in Vancouver, I was able to not only play EA FC 26 for the first time, but also find out all there is to know about EA FC 26 Career Mode changes, Clubs changes, and the biggest of them all, Ultimate Team. EA has put big emphasis on listening to community feedback in EA FC 26, and based on the changes coming to EA FC 26 Ultimate Team, this is reflected.

From new gameplay, Evolutions updates and improved Division Rivals, these are 30 changes coming to Ultimate Team in FC 26.

READ MORE: EA FC 26 beta – how to get a closed beta code and when codes will be released

READ MORE: EA FC 26 hands-on first impressions – I played the new game early, and EA has delivered

EA FC 26 Ultimate Team changes

These are all the changes coming to Ultimate Team in EA FC 26. EA has added a few new ways to play Ultimate Team while also upgrading other features, so all in all, these changes are very exciting.

Competitive gameplay – the return of pace

Gameplay will be faster in Ultimate Team thanks to the new competitive gameplay. In EA FC 26, there will be two types of gameplay, competitive and authentic. While Authentic is a slower version of the game, more suited for Career Mode, Competitive is much faster, giving the gameplay a more arcade-like feel. This suits Ultimate Team perfectly.

Live events and tournaments

Live events and tournaments will be a big focus in EA FC 26. These new tournaments are high-stakes knockout events where you can play up to four rounds, ending with an epic final. To make matchmaking fair, you’ll always play someone who’s at the same round as you.

There will be exclusive rewards available for tournaments, while EA will keep things fresh by having special squad requirements and objectives. Each tournament will have a limited number of entries, and once you win the tournament, you can’t enter again.

Another new live event coming to FC 26 Ultimate Team is the Gauntlet. A series-based event where you play up to five games, but every game you must use a new squad, with no player able to be used twice. The aim is to win as many games as you can to earn better rewards.

Other live events will be available but locked, and you can only unlock entry to these by completing certain objectives. These events are intended for elite competition, so think of it as the top four get Champions League spots in the Premier League. Only the best of the best will qualify.

At the end of each FC Season, more live events will be released that are intended to "bring the community together", whatever that means.

FUT Champs overhaul

FUT Champs is being overhauled in EA FC 26. Towards the end of EA FC 25, the FUT Champs play-offs became a bit of a chore, but this is no more, with play-offs being removed completely.

A new FUT Champions competition will also be released, called FUT Champs Challengers. This will be released along with the regular FUT Champs, with players in Divisions 10 to Division 6 in Rivals qualifying for FUT Champs Challengers. This simply allows players in lower divisions to still have the chance to compete in FUT Champs.

Of course, the rewards won’t be as good as the main event, so you can't drop down from Division 1 to Division 6 in the hope of easing your way to 15-0 and amazing rewards. FUT Champs is also getting a visual update in EA FC 26, so expect to see a new-look menu and layout.

Make Rivals great again

With no more FUT Champs Play-Offs, Rivals is now more important than ever before to qualify, and some big changes are being made. You can now get win streak bonuses in Rivals, where you can climb up to two stages and earn double Rivals points. Your opponent will also be told if you are on a win streak, vice versa.

There are limited checkpoints in Rivals. These can act as a cushion and tell you how many games you can afford to lose before you are threatened with relegation.

It got frustrating if you were on a losing streak in Rivals in EA FC 25, because you could play five games and get nothing to show for it. This is changing in EA FC 26 thanks to a new feature called Bounties. The bounty system will see players given challenges to earn extra Rivals points, meaning even if you lose, you can still get points towards your weekly total.

Some examples of Bounties are Clean Sheet, so keep a clean sheet, Domination, which is win by two goals or more, First Strike, which is score first, Scoring Streak, which is score two goals in a row, and Last Strike, which means score last. These are good because, say you are losing 4-0 and you score in the 90th minute to make it 4-1, you may have lost, but you will still earn Rivals points.

Some of the rewards for competing bounties are coins, packs, Rivals stage skips and Rivals weekly rewards points. Rivals points earned from Bounties can be added to your total tally, so if you win a game of Rivals and also complete a bounty for two Rivals points, you would get five Rivals points from one game.

When you are playing for a bounty, your opponent is also playing for the exact same one, so a cool bit of extra competition is added to the game.

Winners don't quit, and quitters don't win

If a player quits a game while drawing, a win will be awarded if the game is either in the second half, a red card has been handed out, or a penalty has been given. EA has also updated this, so even if a player quits through the menus or by turning their console or PCoff, the win will still be given.

Players who quit games in Rush repeatedly will be given matchmaking timeouts. Timeouts get longer and longer if the player continuously quits games

Evolutions are better than ever

Evolutions have been updated for EA FC 26, with the ability to evolve goalkeepers now included. But, even though you can play as a goalkeeper in Clubs Rush, you can’t in Ultimate Team.

Repeatable Evolutions are coming to EA FC 26, meaning you can use the same Evolution on multiple players rather than just as a one-off. And visually, you can now stack Evolution upgrades.

This means, if you completed a Future Stars-themed Evolution and then a Centurions Evolution after, rather than losing the past cosmetic design, the two will be combined and stacked.

And everything else

There’s a new competitive camera being added to Ultimate Team, which can only be used in Ultimate Team. EA is also pushing a less-is-more philosophy with content in FC 26. This doesn’t mean fewer promos, but instead, the upgrades each week will be smaller, meaning the power curve will increase more slowly.

EA discussed with us the potential of adding dynamic images to cards in Ultimate Team, and even though they confirmed it wasn’t discussed for EA FC 26, they didn’t deny that it could happen in the future.
It was also confirmed that the Icon player item included in the FC 26 Ultimate Edition pre-order bonuses is a pack, not a player pick, while EA has confirmed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alex Morgan, and Toni Kroos are all new Icons for FC 26, with more set to be announced soon.

To get players into games quicker, 3D team sheets have been removed, with 2D team sheets returning, and even though crossplay has been around for a while now, the transfer market will not be shared between console and PC in FC 26, which I think is a good thing.

Lastly, FUT Moments will still be in EA FC 26. Although it’s not a competitive game mode, EA sees it as the perfect way to introduce new players to the game who are playing and learning for the first time.