For years, Career Mode has been virtually stagnant, seemingly forgotten by the official community. However, in EA FC 26, it finally receives some substantial updates.

The managerial mode incorporates new mechanics. You may face unexpected injuries, financial pressures, or transfer requests, forcing you to make tactical and management adjustments. While still not on par with Football Manager, it at least offers a more challenging management experience.

The player career mode introduces Archetype system, similar to NBA 2K's MyPlayer mode. Players can choose from 13 different styles, such as Magician, Progressor, and Marauder, and gradually improve their attributes through matches.

FC 26 Career Mode is more replayable than ever before, but it also brings more challenges. So how can you master this mode and become a legendary football manager? Every step you take in the game matters.

Mode Selection

Manager Live mode is recommended because it introduces a challenge system, unlike traditional manager modes. You can earn rewards such as retro kits or Season Points by completing specific objectives.

Manager Live mode requires you to select a challenge restriction:

• Squad Restriction: You can only select teams from the list (e.g., Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, etc.).
• Transfer Restriction: You can only sign new players through loans.
• Simulation Restriction: You cannot quickly simulate or skip matches and you must play or watch the entire match yourself.

Club Selection And Detailed Gameplay Settings

You can choose a real club or create your own, depending on your preference. Before you start the game, you can set your desired gameplay content and difficulty. Here are some recommended settings, but you can also adjust them yourself:

• Simulation Depth: Deeper simulation
• Manager Market: Enabled (allows you to apply for jobs at other clubs during the season)
• Board Expectations: Strict (increases the difficulty and realism of the game, putting more pressure on you)
• Match Duration: 4-minute half
• Difficulty: Adjust according to your level
• Youth Team Matches: 3-minute half
• Training: Disable Training Plans and Drills (to save management time).
• Injuries and Suspensions: Enabled
• Transfer Negotiation Strictness: Relaxed (makes transfers easier to complete)
• Scouting Speed: Normal
• Currency: Choose your preferred setting

Player Development: Set the development speed of both adult and youth players to Slow to prevent players from increasing too quickly and disrupting game balance.

Unexpected Event Frequency: This adds unpredictability and excitement to the game, such as a team outbreak of food poisoning, a player's sudden retirement, or a serious injury during training. If you prefer this sense of uncertainty, set it to High; if not, set it to Low. If you'd like to increase the challenge and realism, you can disable the following features: Quick Simulation, Skipped Matches, Tactical View, Highlight Replays, and Replays.

Starting Stage

Upon entering the game, the first thing you'll need to do is complete Daily Tasks, which will be displayed throughout your entire game session.

Tactical Vision

Before you start managing your team, you must set your Tactical Vision. This determines your team's overall tactics and your basic style of play. Choosing a different Tactical Vision directly affects the roles and movement tendencies of EA FC 26 players on the field.

There are seven Tactical Visions:

• Standard: Balanced and stable.
• High Pressing: Turns missed possessions into opportunities.
• Possession: Continuously passes and rotates until the runner finds a gap in the opponent's defense.
• Wing-Play: Utilizes full width, advancing quickly to the touchline and overlapping with the full-backs.
• Kick and Rush: Frequently bypasses the midfield to engage the striker. Counter-Attack: Use numbers to defend in depth, then quickly penetrate the backline.
• Park the Bus: Specializes in low-blocking and cautious, compact defense.

Coach Management

Also within Tactical Vision screen, you can hire coaches to specifically train players and accelerate their development in specific areas. The coaches you hire should be selected based on your tactical vision.

A coach's proficiency (Expert > Proficient > Competent) and star rating determine their training efficiency. A higher star rating provides more training points. Your goal is to achieve the ideal number of points as close as possible, but you won't be able to cover every position.

Squad Hub

Squad Hub is your central hub for managing all your players. You can add players to the transfer list, loan list, or block offers, set personalized training priorities for each player (very important), and manage your team's lineup and jersey numbers.

Besides Player Management, you can also view detailed player attributes, contract length, salary, and more by pressing RB/R1. Press Square/X key to sort any column, for example, by contract age to quickly identify players whose contracts are about to expire for renewal. You can conduct contract negotiations with players yourself or delegate them to an assistant coach.

Youth Academy Development

In addition to the roles on your team, your assistant will also send you an email to highlight new players. In Youth Hub, you can identify promising young players and create training plans for them, focusing on improving specific attributes or learning new roles.

When two plus signs (++) appear on the role icon next to a player's portrait, they have fully mastered that role and can switch to another development plan. Once a development plan is completed, you'll receive an email to confirm the player's new role.

Team Management

When you're ready to play a game, you can select your starting XI and bench in Team Management section. This allows you to create a new tactic and set it to active. This prevents the game's default settings from automatically resetting your tactic. Tactical setup requires you to choose a formation and set your attacking and defensive styles, ideally tailored to your team's vision.

You can then set specific positions for your FIFA 26 players. This significantly impacts player behavior during matches, and you can press Square/X key to display a player activity heatmap to ensure no areas of the field are overlooked.

Once you've successfully gotten your team up and running, you'll need to continue scouting for new talent and continually refining your squad. Players may leave, retire, or request contract adjustments, requiring you to manage your budget to retain key players.

FIFA 26's Career mode is much more engaging than before, and playing it also allows you to progress through the Battle Pass and unlock Icon players. However, it doesn't significantly improve your Ultimate Team mode. If you're looking to improve your Ultimate Team, you can buy reliable FUT FIFA 26 coins and players from utnice.com to maintain your unbeatable performance in Ultimate Team mode.