With the football World Cup being just days away from starting, EA has unveiled a major update for EA Sports FC 26 and EA Sports FC Mobile. According to IGN, the update has been titled The World’s Game, and is slated for release on May 28th. The update will feature a 28-team international tournament mode, which will kick off on June 4th.
While EA doesn’t hold the rights to the FIFA World Cup branding anymore, the update will still end up including 53 fully-licensed playable national teams, out of which 41 are participating in the real-life World Cup. Teams part of the update include Brazil, Cabo Verde, Uzbekistan, Belgium, Austria, France, and England, among many others. You can find the full list of licensed national teams below.
Interestingly, the update also includes two teams that haven’t been licensed—Egypt and Japan—with authentic players, as well as five generic squads—Algeria, Curaçao, Iran, Iraq, and Jordan. In a statement, the company noted that the inclusion of national teams came down to the licensing rights that EA was able to acquire. However, this also meant that laws and regulations come into play, like the sanctions that have been imposed on some countries by the US.
“National team inclusion depends on our ability to secure licensing rights directly and comply with applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. sanctions, which may limit our ability to partner with certain federations,” explained the company.
The new 48-team tournament mode will involve three group stage matches, with the top two teams of each group, as well as third-place teams in all groups, being able to progress further into the tournament. This kicks off a knockout stage with 32 rounds, which will then lead into the finals for the tournament.
The update is also bringing in some new things for Ultimate Team players, including a dedicated Event Hub and new campaigns themed around the Festival of Football. There is also a new login bonus for players that hop into the game between June 5th and July 24th—a 93 OVR Festival of Football ICON Pelé, along with three “Choose Your Journey” Evolutions.
The Festival of Football will bring in 100 new international players to Ultimate Team, headlined by two new ICONS: Rivellino and Mario Kempes.
EA Sports FC 26 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. For more details, take a look at our review of the PS5 version, which we gave a score of 8 out of 10. EA Sports FC Mobile is available on iOS and Android.
List of national teams coming to EA Sports FC 26 and EA Sports FC Mobile with The World’s Game update:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia & Herzegovina*
- Brazil
- Cabo Verde
- Canada
- Colombia
- Congo DR*
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Ecuador
- England
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Ghana
- Haiti
- Holland
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Ivory Coast
- Korea Republic
- Mexico
- Morocco
- New Zealand
- Northern Ireland
- Norway
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Republic of Ireland
- Romania
- Saudi Arabia
- Scotland
- Senegal
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Tunisia
- Turkiye
- Ukraine
- United States
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Wales
*Will feature generic kits as of June 4, updated to include authentic kits in a future update.
