EA Sports has shared the FC 26 patch notes ahead of update 1.5.3 which is expected to arrive in the morning if the usual release pattern holds. One of the more notable gameplay changes focuses on time wasting, as goalkeepers will now kick the ball out of play if players repeatedly pass back to them. The adjustment is aimed at preventing unrealistic situations and should not affect normal backpass behavior.
Career Mode also sees a handful of improvements and fixes. European competition standings now display a clearer separator so it is easier to identify which teams move on to the playoffs. When applying for jobs, the selected team is automatically added to the watchlist and managers with low job security at the end of a season are now set to an okay status. Check out the full patch notes below.
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Gameplay
- Goalkeepers will now kick the ball out of play if a player excessively wastes time by passing back to them over and over again.
- This change is to address rare scenarios that are inauthentic to football and does not impact a typical backpass.
Ultimate Team
- Some kits and badges were not searchable in the transfer market.
- Some Player Celebration animation previews did not display when selected.
Career Mode
- Added a missing separator in European competition standings, making it easier to see which teams advance to playoffs.
- In Career Mode, when applying for a job, it now automatically adds the team to your watchlist.
- Added labels next to team crests in challenge descriptions to clearly differentiate men’s and women’s teams.
- Added a clearer description on the challenge completion UI to explain how saves and career progress work after completion.
- Managers with low job security at season’s end are now upgraded to Okay.
- Sometimes, Managers were incorrectly assigned to a different team when selecting Icons & Heroes in career creation.
- In the Manager Career, ICON players could have requested low wages during contract negotiations.
- In some cases, a League-winning team was placed in the incorrect European League.
- Addressed instances of incorrect or overlapping text.
General, Audio, and Visual
- Updated some names, overlays, kits, sponsors, crests, banners, scarves, flags, logos, hair, boots, star heads, ad boards.
- Addressed various stability issues that could have occurred.
Published: Apr 6, 2026 10:07 pm