Today, Electronic Arts unveiled its first gameplay deep dive for EA Sports FC 27.
In the deep dive, Principal Gameplay Designer Gilliard Lopes outlines a major shift toward rewarding player skill and reducing automation across every game mode. Over the years, community feedback has consistently called for greater control over key moments on the pitch, leading the development team to redesign several core gameplay systems.
According to the developer, EA Sports FC 27 places a much stronger emphasis on manual defending, smarter attacking movement, improved set pieces, and more expressive attacking play, to make players the deciding factor in every match. One of the biggest gameplay changes coming in EA Sports FC 27 is the overhaul of AI defending.
In Competitive gameplay, AI-controlled defenders will no longer automatically attempt tackles when attackers come within range. Instead, they will focus on maintaining defensive positioning and supporting the play until the user manually switches to them and chooses when to challenge for possession.
AI defenders can still collect loose balls or stop attackers who dribble directly into them, but automatic tackle attempts have been significantly reduced. The change is being made to make winning possession a deliberate player action rather than something handled by AI teammates.
To balance this reduction in AI assistance, manual defending has received several improvements. Manually controlled defenders now have faster jockey movement than in EA Sports FC 26, and an increased stand tackle range, allowing players to keep pace with attackers better and be rewarded for reading plays correctly.
The goal is to make player switching, positioning, jockeying, and tackle timing more effective while ensuring manual defending remains a key skill throughout EA Sports FC 27’s lifecycle. Teammate Contain has also been adjusted to match the new defensive philosophy, as AI teammates will now contain attackers from a slightly greater distance, encouraging users to switch defenders if they want to apply tighter pressure manually.
Set pieces have received one of the largest overhauls in EA Sports FC 27. During corner kicks, players now have a brief period after selecting the delivery area where they can manually reposition attackers inside the box before the ball is crossed.
Players can also move teammates, switch between attackers, make runs, shield defenders, or use the brand-new Avoidance mechanic to create space before the delivery arrives. Automatic positioning inside the penalty area has been removed, so players must now manually attack space and time their runs to connect with crosses.
Poor movement may result in the ball sailing through the box untouched, while well-timed runs can produce a much wider variety of finishes than in previous entries. Avoidance is another new mechanic introduced for corners.
By holding R1 on PlayStation or RB on Xbox before the cross is delivered, controlled players become more evasive, allowing them to move through crowded areas without being blocked as easily. When combined with shielding, attackers can create separation before attacking the incoming ball.
Rather than heavily assisting crosses directly toward teammates, crossing has also been significantly reworked in EA Sports FC 27, placing greater emphasis on player input. Crosses are now delivered into open space more frequently, making aiming and power far more important; well-placed deliveries will reward good vision and execution, while poorly aimed crosses can completely miss intended targets.
The changes to crossing also affect heading. Headers are intended to become more skill-based, with attackers stretching, diving, or adjusting their runs to meet the ball from a wider variety of angles. While clean headers are expected to be less common than in EA Sports FC 26, successful connections will be more accurate and rewarding.
Attacking Spatial Awareness has been upgraded to improve AI movement in possession. Attackers will better recognize available space, defensive positioning, and the offside line, allowing them to make smarter curved runs instead of charging directly into congested areas.
New manually triggered run mechanics are also being introduced, including Triggered Curved Runs, performed by pressing L1 and R1 on PlayStation or LB and RB on Xbox, which allow players to send teammates on curved attacking runs around defenders instead of straight-line sprints. These runs take longer to develop but create more dynamic attacking opportunities.
Another new option is Pass & Follow Runs, which let players trigger the passer to immediately make a curved supporting run that overlaps or cuts inside depending on available space after making a pass. Both run types are designed to provide greater control over off-ball movement.
Manual player runs have been adjusted so that, rather than continuing indefinitely across the pitch as in previous games, manually triggered runs now last only a limited distance before players return to their positional responsibilities. Users can retrigger runs if they remain involved in the attack, encouraging more active management of teammate movement and reducing unrealistic attacking situations.
Creative runs performed automatically by AI attackers have likewise been improved, as players now better account for space, defensive shape, and the offside line. An example of this is that wingers may stay level with defenders before curving into the penalty area after a pass is played, creating more authentic attacking movement.
Passing assistance has also been reduced. Ground and lofted through passes now follow player input much more closely instead of automatically steering into open passing lanes. The aim is to create a fairer balance between attacking creativity and manual defending by rewarding accurate aiming.
Dinked passes have been moved to a fully manual system as well in EA Sports FC 27. Their effectiveness now depends almost entirely on player precision with aiming and power, raising the skill ceiling for one of the game’s more advanced passing techniques.
EA Sports FC 27 also introduces Off-Balance Dribbling for elite dribblers. Players with high Balance, Agility, and Dribbling attributes can now maintain control after collisions or shoulder challenges by stumbling while remaining under user control instead of immediately losing possession. This feature will only be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.
EA Sports has also rebalanced PlayStyles to place greater emphasis on player attributes. Finesse Shot now relies more heavily on shooting attributes, while the gap between standard and PlayStyle+ versions has been reduced. Technical, Rapid, Quick Step, Precision Header, and Jockey have all received balance adjustments to narrow the performance difference between PlayStyles and base player ratings.
Several PlayStyles have also been redesigned. Pinged Pass and Tiki Taka no longer reduce trap errors for receiving players, focusing instead on improving pass delivery. Low Driven shots have lost their previous speed boost, with shot velocity now determined entirely by shooting attributes and player input, although the PlayStyle still provides an accuracy bonus.
EA Sports FC 27 is set to release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 on September 25, 2026. The Ultimate Edition and Ultimate Plus Edition owners can begin playing on September 18, 2026.
