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.

EA Sports president Cam Weber also stated, “In addition to welcoming back millions of our longtime players, new players in FC 24 are up nearly 20% year-over-year, showing the excitement of football fans everywhere to join the Club. We are building the world’s biggest football community through EA Sports FC, and we’re just getting started.”

It’s worth noting that even with lower year-over-year sales in the UK, EA Sports FC 24 is still the region’s second biggest physical launch, trailing behind The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Hogwarts Legacy. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that sales for the Nintendo Switch version are slightly up over FIFA 23.

Along with Nintendo Switch, EA Sports FC 24 is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. Check out our review (where we awarded it a 6 out of 10) for more details.