10 Features FC 26 Career Mode Needs to Include Now That Football Manager 25 Has Been Canceled

The recent cancellation of Football Manager 25 took the football simulation community by FC 26 Coins surprise. For years, Football Manager (FM) has been the gold standard for those seeking deep, immersive management experiences. However, its absence opens the door for EA Sports’ FC 26 to fill that void—and possibly become the premier management simulation title. But to seize this opportunity, FC 26 must go beyond incremental updates and truly evolve its Manager Career mode, improving depth, realism, and immersion to capture the fans left disappointed by FM’s hiatus.

Current State and The Opportunity

While FC 25 offered a solid Manager Career mode, many players found it riddled with bugs and lacking the realistic touches that make football management so compelling. EA Sports has faced criticism for releasing essentially the same game year after year, with minimal meaningful improvements. Now, with FM stepping back, FC 26 has a chance to change that narrative by delivering a truly next-level experience.

To succeed, FC 26 must learn from Football Manager’s success and build upon it, especially focusing on features that add strategic complexity and narrative depth. Below are 10 critical improvements that could make FC 26 the must-have football management game of the year.

Reintroduce Budget Increase Requests Like in FIFA 15 & 16

One of the best features in earlier FIFA titles—now EA Sports FC—was the ability to request increased transfer budgets from the board, adding a realistic layer to managing club finances. This feature forced players to build trust with club directors and promised a balance of power and responsibility. Unfortunately, it was removed in later titles and is missing from FC 25.

Bringing back budget increase requests would inject realism into Manager Career mode. Managers could negotiate funding boosts based on performance targets, adding strategic depth and reflecting the real-world dynamics between club management and the board. For this to work, the AI governing the board’s decision-making must be smart enough to deny unreasonable requests, preventing exploitation.

Let Fan Expectations Shape Your Managerial Experience

In real football, fan support can make or break a manager’s tenure. Whether it’s chanting in the stands or social media reactions, supporters’ expectations are a constant pressure. Currently, FC 25 offers a social media tab, but it has no real impact on gameplay and is often buggy.

Football Manager 24 nails this with “board and supporter confidence” metrics that managers must actively manage. Implementing a similar system in FC 26 would elevate immersion, where fans’ expectations influence job security, transfer policies, and even player morale. This feature could add a new dimension of buy FC 26 Coins challenge and reward for players who can keep fans onside.