For many players, Career Mode is the best way to play EA Sports FC 26, and with a number of additions to this year’s installment, such as the manager market, random events, and fully simulated stats, there’s plenty more depth.
However, to make Career Mode more immersive in FC 26, there are a few things that players will want to implement themselves. The following tips should help make Road to Glory campaigns, rebuilds, and challenges more realistic, ideally making players forget they are playing a game, but instead managing a real football team.
Set Up Career Mode Correctly With Realistic Settings
For a realistic Career Mode, the setup and settings are arguably the most important factors. These will help keep transfers, AI teams, and other features grounded.
- Youth Player Quality: Current Overall
- Gameplay Type: Authentic
- Wind Effects: Default
- Weather Effects: On
- Training Plans: On
- Player Training Drills: On
- Development Rate: Normal
- Transfers: Disable First Window (Unless doing a Live Start)
- Negotiation Realism: Realistic
- Transfer Approaches: Strict
- Scouting: Normal
- Board Expectations: Strict or Harsh
- Manager Market: On & Tough
- Deeper Simulation: On
- Financial Takeover: Disabled
- Unexpected Events: On & High
Finding the right difficulty is also key to realism. If players find the hardest difficulty too easy, consider turning manual controls on, which makes passing, for example, much harder.
Switch Commentary Language To Match The League
By default, the game’s commentary will match the user’s own language. However, for advanced immersion in Career Mode, players can switch the commentary language to match the league they are playing in. This can also help freshen up the overall experience, especially if playing in foreign leagues isn’t something players usually do.
This can be taken even further by those who like a challenge by switching the game’s language completely. This would simulate a manager moving to a new country and having to learn a new language, not fully understanding what the players and board are saying. However, players would need to have a solid grasp on how FC 26’s menus and certain Career Mode features work; otherwise, they might get stuck. Understanding the basics of the new language would also make this more practical.
Players on PC will need to change the game’s language before loading. On Steam, this is done by right-clicking FC 26 and, in Properties changing the language. After switching, the commentary files for that language will be downloaded, and in-game, players will be able to switch.
Give Managers Real Names
FC 26’s Career Mode has a new Manager Market, which enables managers to be sacked or move to new clubs. However, while some leagues have all the real managers, such as the Premier League and both Spanish divisions, others will have random names, making the Manager Market less realistic.
Thankfully, players can manually give managers their real names before starting Career Mode, and they will already have the correct nationalities and an appearance that is somewhat similar. To change manager names, go to Settings in the main menu, and then hover over the ‘Create a Player’ tab and scroll to ‘Edit Manager’. This can take a while, as players will need to save after each name change and then reopen the menu. It would take ages to do this for every league, so consider doing it for the nation you plan on playing in, such as all the EFL managers.
These custom manager names will only be used in Career Modes that use ‘current squads’. Live start points don’t work, nor do ‘initial squads’.
Watch Out For Cup-Tied Players & Players On Loan Against Their Parent Club
Career Mode, unfortunately, doesn’t capture all the nuances of the beautiful game. For example, in real life, players on loan cannot play against their parent club, but FC 26 doesn’t prevent this. Therefore, for a more realistic experience, players will have to try to remember and enforce these rules themselves. This also creates more squad selection dilemmas, making certain matches feel more unique.
Another rule to watch out for is cup-tied players. In some competitions, players cannot play for a new team after previously playing for their old club in the same knockout stage before transferring. An example of this would be the EFL Carabao Cup, which starts during the Summer Transfer Window, but continues past the January Transfer Window for teams who progress far enough. Players can use the stats to see if their new signings made any appearances in the cup. Sadly, opposing teams won’t enforce these rules, so expect to see players you loaned out playing against you.
Use Season Stats To Scout Players
With the new Deeper Simulation feature, players now choose 5 additional leagues to simulate with complete stats. These stats are also more interactive now, allowing players to click on top scorers or those with the most clean sheets and directly scout them or put them on the shortlist.
This opens up a new way to scout players in FC 26 and is realistic, too. For example, if there’s a breakout goalscorer in real life, they will attract the attention of many cubs. Players should therefore choose leagues that they can realistically sign players from to Deeper Simulate and constantly look at the stats for players to scout. Average Rating is a good stat to look at.
Research A Club Before Managing Them
When a real manager moves to a new club, they will most certainly research it, and this can be done in FC 26 too. This will help form a bond with the club and could help influence some decisions to make for a more realistic experience.
Some things to look out for when researching are:
- Previous players who could be signed at the end of their career for a poetic last dance.
- Previous players who fell out with the club and shouldn’t be signed again.
- Which current players have been at the club the longest or have made the biggest impact.
- The last time the club won a certain title or competition, especially for sleeping giants in Career Mode.
- The previous season’s stats and recent finishes in the standings, some of these can be seen in-game.
- What kind of players the club signs. For example, some teams shop around in certain countries more than others.
- How important youth development is to the club.
If you’re playing as a real manager, they could also be researched.
Other Tips To Make Career Mode More Realistic In FC 26
There are plenty of other things to consider when trying to make FC 26’s Manager Mode as realistic as possible.
- Delegate to Buy: In real life, managers aren’t always the ones negotiating face-to-face, with this varying between clubs. The delay of a few days is also more realistic.
- Choose a Team Whose Manager Was Sacked: This is a more realistic start than taking over a club who were doing fine.
- Consider the Club’s Location: This can impact signings, loans, and make players aware of rivalries.
- Free Transfers: Real teams utilize pre-contract agreements for future free agents, especially in lower leagues.
- Don’t Sign False Free Agents: At the start, some players are listed as Free Agents, despite them having teams in real life that aren’t in the game. For example, there are many Mexican Free Agents, as the Mexican League is not included.
- Use Multiple Tactics & Formations: Real teams switch up their style based on their opponents and availability.
- Sign From Relegated Teams: At the end of each season, look at teams that just got relegated, as their stars would likely want to remain in their current league.
- Lookout For Linked Clubs: The Red Bull teams, the City Football Group, and those with the same owners, such as Watford and Udinese, often sell or loan players between one another.
- Don’t Restart Matches: Losses are part of the experience.
- Mods: PC players have the option of mods, which aim to make Career Mode more realistic.
- Authentic Gameplay: This setting means more randomness and more realistic results.
- Stadium Names: Edit stadiums before starting to give them their real names, especially for teams in your league.
While these tips are primarily aimed at Manager Career Mode, some can also apply to Player Career Mode, such as commentary language and research.