Year 2026 might finally have good news for FC 26 players as EA Sports is all set to make some much-needed changes to AI defending.
AI defending has been a massive frustration for the community. It’s been so overpowered that many players simply don’t control their defenders or attempt to make manual tackles at all.
Thankfully, the upcoming changes promise improvement, and EA Sports spoke about what they plan to do.
FC 26’s AI defending changes could finally sort out an old issue
On Dec. 22, EA Sports briefly explained changes it plans to make in Ultimate Team. The AI defending will be nerfed to a great extent from what we have now. In the current meta, the AI-controlled defenders move too quickly, especially when moving sideways.
This allows the defenders to effortlessly close down opposition attackers without much influence from players. In some ways, this completely reduces the need for you to defend manually. In many cases, it’s better to let the AI-controlled defenders make the tackle to win the ball.
However, the upcoming changes will greatly reduce the movement speed of AI-controlled defenders. This includes the speed at which they move sideways, and also the rate at which they can close down attackers on their own. Once the patch goes live, the meta should shift significantly as the slower movement will definitely affect AI-defending as we know it.
In other words, manual defending should be making a comeback soon. However, plenty of promises have been made in the past, and it remains to be seen whether these changes will have the effect that EA hopes for.
Published: Dec 22, 2025 10:59 am