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FC 26 World Cup event: Release date and what to expect

Carnaval De FC.

A promotional image for EA Sports FC 26's The World's Game World Cup update featuring 'The Pitch Notes' on a purple background and several players running on a small green pitch.

EA Sports

Published: Friday, 12 June 2026 at 11:50 am

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The FIFA World Cup has begun, if you can believe it, and EA Sports is celebrating with its traditional FC 26 World Cup update.

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The mode is one of the most popular in the game, giving players the chance to enjoy the pinnacle of football in Career Mode, Ultimate Team and more.

So, if you want to know what EA has prepared for us for WC26, here is everything you need to know about FC 26's World Cup event – The World's Game – including when it starts and what to expect.

When does the FC 26 World Cup event start?

The FC 26 World Cup event, dubbed 'The World's Game', started on 4 June 2026.

While an initial update went live on 28 May, introducing some changes to PlayStyles and more general gameplay changes, the full update arrived a week later, activating the mode and the World Cup experience.

There's a lot to come as part of it, so for the full details…

What to expect from the FC 26 World Cup event

The World's Game brings a huge amount of new content to FC 26, including a whole new game mode.

To make things easier to parse, we've split everything up into sections.

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The World's Game tournament mode

The flagship mode of the update, also called The World's Game, gives you the chance to play through the tournament.

Multiple new nations have been added to the game, giving players the option of using one of 53 different teams, with 41 of the teams from this year's World Cup included.

There are several glaring omissions, such as Japan, which do not make the cut due to licensing agreements.

Furthermore, host stadiums such as Gillette Stadium and BMO Field have been added to the game.

Ultimate Team

International football comes to Ultimate Time, bringing with it new Evolutions, Festival of Football Tokens, and weekly Festival of Football campaigns and objectives.

The Tokens are a new type of item that can be earned from playing modes like Rivals and Squad Battles, as well as for completing certain Objectives and SBCs.

Tokens will become the primary way to earn rewards in FUT from here on out, and can be spent on the rewards you actually want, giving players much more choice in what they earn from their time in the game.

The higher you finish in your divisions each week, the more Tokens you earn, with a maximum cap on the number of Tokens you can earn by playing matches each day.

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A similar, but separate system will be implemented for FUT Champs, with FUT Champions Tokens being eligible for rewards in a separate store.

Along with that, players who log into the game during the event will earn a 93 OVR Festival of Football Icon Pelé, with three 'Choose Your Journey' Evolutions.

Another big addition is the PlayStyles Lab, which will let you choose preferred PlayStyles and PlayStyles+ for four new Evolutions.

Festival of Football: Journey of Nations is an event that will require you to assemble certain international-themed squads each week to complete objectives.

The teams will centre around FIFA confederations according to the following schedule:

To help with your team building, more than 100 new international players will be added to the FUT player pool, including two brand-new Icons: Rivellino and Mario Kempes.

Festival of Football Campaigns

A total of five campaigns will take place in Ultimate Team between 5 June and 24 July, adding themed items to the game:

Career Mode

The men's World Cup has been added to Career Mode, with the same structure as in The World's Game mode.

The international teams that have been added to the game as part of this update will also be made available to manage at the beginning of a new save.

Further introductions include End of Season Live Starting Points to allow you to take charge right before the World Cup kicks off, new Festival of Football Icons and Heroes, new Live Challenges and Season Objectives.

Penalty Shootouts Event

Last, but not least (well, probably the least, if we're being honest), is the new Penalty Shootout Event.

It's exactly what it sounds like – a limited-time event that lets you play out a penalty shootout.

It is available in both Kick-Off and Ultimate Team.

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Check out more of our Gaming coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

Authors

Black and white cut-out portrait headshot of Alex Raisbeck, smiling against a lime green background.

Alex RaisbeckGaming writer

Alex Raisbeck is a Gaming Writer at Radio Times, covering everything from AAA giants to indie gems. Alex has written for VideoGamer, GamesRadar+, PC Gamer, PCGamesN and more.

Echo ApseyContributor

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