FC 26 Career Mode finally makes changes you've been waiting for

Building on foundations is exactly what EA Sports has done, and thanks to the fan feedback that appears to be the cornerstone of FC 26, there are plenty of big new changes, arguably bringing the mode closer than ever to the flexibility of Football Manager.

FC 26 Career Mode changes that you've been waiting for

Set your own challenges

Undoubtedly, the highlight of these new changes is the Manager Live system.

An expansion of the Live Start Points introduced last year, Manager Live provides players with unique challenges throughout the year, offering a short-term experience that grows into a fully-fledged save over time.

Examples we've been given so far include winning titles with youth players only, making use of players from certain nations, making a certain amount of money from selling players and, of course, Road to Glory.

It's a mode that pushes you to experience new challenges, whether that's through restrictions or a new league, offering much fresher experiences.

For FM-only players who are used to pentagon challenges and nation building saves, it may not be quite as impressive, but for those of us who enjoy a bit of both series, being able to set specific challenges to overcome in Career Mode is something the mode has needed for many years.

You can even share challenges with your mates to compete to see which of you can do better, a nice social addition to an otherwise solo game mode.

There are too many specific challenges to go over here, but you'll have to just trust us that there is a ton of variety.

More realism

FC as a series has made a point of making the gameplay itself more realistic in recent years, but for Career Mode, realism needs to go beyond the pitch, and we're finally getting that in FC 26.

The new Manager Market feature means that managers will now move around between clubs, whether that's through hiring, firing or retiring.

Like you, managers will have a 'Job Security' rating, showing how well they're doing in their role.

If you're looking for a new role, you can check a specific menu to see which managers' jobs are under threat. Clubs will also now appoint caretaker managers that can be offered the job full time if they perform well enough.

When you're looking at the Manager Market, you can also now view how likely you would be to get the job if you apply.

Bromley? No problem. Manchester City? Probably not, or at least, not for now – your performance now has a visible impact on your reputation within the game.

I know I said earlier that realism has needed to go beyond the pitch, but the realism on the pitch has had its own upgrade too.

Competitive gameplay and Career Mode gameplay are now separate. Every time a balance patch for Ultimate Team tweaks the gameplay, this won't affect how the game works in Career Mode, meaning you'll always have a more grounded, realistic AI to play against.

Unique events

Another update to the realism is that managers will now have to deal with some of the bizarre situations that impact managers in real life.

Teams may now be docked points or even relegated for financial issues. Players can catch illnesses, forcing you to play flexibly and change your teams on the fly.

The team have introduced this as a means of keeping long-term saves interesting ­– once you're winning the league every season, this feature introduces various narrative beats to punctuate your overall save.

Sometimes, these will be short-term issues like an injury crisis, new transfers failing to settle in, or a loss of morale after not playing often enough.

Long term, players may encounter board takeovers and cash injections, or perhaps players retiring unexpectedly.

Your seasons will have ups and downs, making each season memorable for different reasons, and keeping things interesting no matter how long you play for.

Moneyball lite

The Moneyball approach to team building has become very popular in FM – buying players based on stats like xG to emulate real-life success stories like Brighton and Brentford.

While not as detailed as the system in FM, FC 26 makes the move towards this style of gameplay.

Players can now select up to five specific leagues to 'scout'. This will provide you with detailed info on the players in that league, showing off the highest scorers and assisters, most clean sheets, highest average ratings and more.

As I said, you aren't getting the same level of detail that your analysts and data hub can provide in FM, but it's a nice start and will no doubt add plenty to the experience of building a team.

As well as all of these flagship features, we of course have a bunch of quality of life improvements, too.

Menus are cleaner and more customisable, player roles can be changed without altering your tactical vision, there are more realistic transfer behaviours from the AI. Stuff that doesn't exactly make or break the game, but will certainly be nice to have.

Overall, FC 26's Career Mode may not be changing the world, but after all the good work the team did overhauling the mode last year, it's encouraging to see them continuing to improve on it.

Hopefully, that same motivation has rubbed off on Ultimate Team a bit, too.

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