EA Sports FC 27 Ultimate Team: Biggest new features and changes
The popular Ultimate Team mode is getting a major overhaul in EA Sports FC 27 in the way you acquire players, evolve those players and the new ways that rewards can be earned, and more.
Love it or hate it, the Ultimate Team mode is here to stay, and it’s understandable why some players would rather stay away from it, because there are a lot of temptations to spend real-world money in the unlikely event of unpacking the exact rare cards you’re after. Claudia Pina, R9 Ronalda and Zlatan Ibrahimović, I’m looking at you.
However, in EA Sports FC 26, especially, there are plenty of ways to earn players and upgrades without spending money on packs. While it still costs money, the introduction of the Season Pass is a great way to unlock exclusive rewards for a very low cost. But, in EA Sports FC 27, there are even more ways to unlock fantastic rewards without parting ways with your hard-earned cash.
After learning what Electronic Arts has planned for this year's Ultimate Team, EA Sports FC 27 looks like it will not only be the best iteration yet but also the most accessible for all types of gamers, and here, we’ll go through some of the new improvements and best changes.
Best new features and improvements in EA Sports FC 27’s Ultimate Team
FUT Gallery
This is a brand new feature introduced in EA Sports FC 27. Every card you earn will be in the FUT Gallery, and they will stay there even if you sell or trade that card in an SBC. The best way to think of the FUT Gallery is that it’s kind of like a Panini Sticker Album.
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You’ll be able to complete sets that may be inspired by certain leagues, football teams or a specific type of rare card. Each card will have a score which depends on the player and card rarity. Those scores will contribute towards a Gallery Set grade, which ranges from D, C, B, A, and S. Galleries will level up, and this is where you’ll earn juicy rewards. Rewards can vary from kits, badges, and Gallery Tokens (more on that in a bit). Arguably, the best reward will be the guaranteed Holographic card. This is a new, rare card in EA Sports FC 27 that has an extra shiny design, with the featured player's signature, and they’ll score higher points for your galleries.
Now, on to the Gallery Tokens. These are spent in the Gallery store and can be used to acquire the new and exclusive Hall of Fame FUT cards, which are inspired by “fan favourite” cards from yesteryear. There will be 17 Hall of Fame FUT cards at launch, including Givanildo Vieira de Sousa (otherwise known as “Hulk”), Marouane Fellaini, Loïc Rémy, Eljero Elia, Giovani dos Santos and Adebayo Akinfenwa. I’ll be having my fingers crossed that it also includes Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Base Icon Revamp
Base Icons will be revamped, with the stats and PlayStyles said to be more aligned with the featured player, in the hope that they’ll be more authentic. Furthermore, the base overall will be increased from 86 to 88 for all Base Icon cards.
READ MORE: EA Sports FC 27 Career Mode: Biggest new features and improvements
More ways to earn single-player rewards
For the most part, in EA Sports FC 26, if you’re someone who doesn't enjoy playing online all that much, it means that you’ll be missing out on a ton of exclusive rewards. Whereas multiplayer has Live Events, Rivals, Champions and more. However, in EA Sports FC 27, a new single–player Live Events will be introduced to exist alongside its multiplayer offering.
These single-player Live Events will include competitions like the UEFA Champions League from the Round to the Final. In this instance, it will reflect the UEFA CL for the 2025/26 season (at least to begin with). The first round AI opposition will be on the easiest difficulty, but if you reach the final, you’ll face current Champions League winners, Paris Saint-Germain, on the Ultimate Difficulty.
Streamlined SBC’s
SBC’s are great ways to earn packs, coins and exclusive players, but completing some of them can be a bit of a time-consuming ballache, especially during the early days when it's especially hard to reach the required overall squad and chemistry ratings. Thankfully, that should no longer be an issue in EA Sports FC 27.
The required overall squad rating and chemistry are no more. Now, all you have to do is meet the required squad score to complete that particular SBC objective. The scores that each player has on cards will contribute towards the squad score, such as having a target of 500 to meet. It sounds much easier and means that we should clear those SBCs in no time.
Capped PlayStyle Plus’
At first, when I heard that the PlayStyle Plus’s are being capped at three, I was concerned, but I see the intended logic by EA. Basically, it means that the special cards you’ve unpacked or evo’d will stay relevant for much longer.
It’s annoying when you evo’d a Thierry Henry to have great base stats, and three solid PlayStyle Plus’, but as soon as other players get four and five PlayStyle Plus’, they quickly become outdated and barely make your current squad. Sure, they can acquire additional PlayStyles later on, but they may remain obsolete for a while until then (assuming you’ve not put them in an SBC).
In theory, this should mean that cards should stay with you for much longer. Just imagine, if you started a Thierry Henry evo at the start of the game, and he stayed with you until the end. That would be fantastic if that’s how it plays out. Time will tell.
Five Fewer Campaign Weeks
I’m not sure if this will be a popular thing yet, but much like the cap on three PlayStyle Plus’, I can see EA’s logic. Basically, five fewer campaign weeks should also contribute to your best cards staying relevant and with you for much longer. Again, we’ll just have to wait to see how this plays out. Campaign squads will also be reduced. While this may mean that you get fewer "special" cards with a smaller pool, it should result in fewer duplicates, and when you see that special flair, it should, in theory, mean that you'll pull a rare card that you've not seen in your squad countless times. Hopefully, those special pulls will now mean more.
Bigger, easier payouts for slower progression
Another potentially controversial change by EA, and again, we’ll have to see how this plays out. How this should work is that your base squads at the beginning of the game will progress players' stats a little slower, but will pick up further into the game. EA says it's “slower to strong, faster to elite”. This is to make the player have a longer connection with the cards in their squads, rather than having to disregard them sooner as the squad gets better faster. Patience is a virtue, as they say.
To counter this new, overhauled progression, while players may improve a little slower, you will earn better rewards much sooner. For example, completing a match can not only earn you Coins, but you’ll also earn Season Points for the Season Pass. So, earning Season Points is no longer tied to just completing objectives and whatnot. EA also says that players will have more ways to earn tradable packs.
FUT Swap Tokens are here to stay
FUT Swap tokens returned in EA Sports FC 26, and they’re here to stay in EA Sports FC 27 throughout certain points of the game's lifecycle. This, of course, means that they’ll be exclusive FUT Swap Token stores to buy exclusive players, packs and evolutions.
Evolutions have evolved
This is potentially the best improvement in Ultimate Team this year, and it's the options you have when evolving players. Rather than having set evolution states that can vary from stage one to stage six, each stage, including the first stage, will have a branching path. Whatever branching path you choose could favour particular stat boosts, PlayStyles and even some visual upgrades. This means that the “meta” ratings have been expanded, and not everyone will have the same R9 Ronaldo card.
You can also preview all evolution chains before committing, and the PlayStyle Labs are returning and will be a recurring feature throughout the game's lifecycle. Some cards will have some predetermined PlayStyles, but it still means that players will have even more opportunities to build the perfect customised card to suit their way of playing. What’s more, all players will have Roles++ for primary and secondary positions from launch.
EA Sports FC 27 will be released on September 25, 2026, on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch consoles.
READ MORE: The best EA Sports FC 26 players for ‘The Perfect 10’ evolution
Topics: EA, EA Sports FC, FIFA, Features