EA FC 26 Holiday Update Patch Notes: GK Movement Nerf, Career Mode Improvements, and More

The EA FC 26 Holiday Update is en route, and like every year, it’s expected to fix many of the issues plaguing the game. For starters, the devs are finally nerfing goalkeeper movement and reducing its effectiveness – a change that the community has been demanding for years. To go along with this, EA is implementing a Rush rematch feature in Ultimate Team as well as a host of improvements across Career Mode and Clubs.

With that being said, the devs are still monitoring feedback regarding AI defending and will not be tweaking anything in the Holiday Update. Those changes will seemingly be reserved for a future patch in January. On that note, here are the full patch notes for the EA FC 26 Holiday Update.

EA FC 26 Holiday Update Patch Notes

The EA Sports FC 26 Holiday Update (v1.3.0) is dropping soon and includes updates to goalkeepers for more authentic play based on your feedback, improvements to Career Mode and Clubs, Rush rematches, and Classic XI Teams additions to Kick Off.

Ultimate Team

Made the following change:

• Added the ability to rematch in Rush.
• Rush rematches will become available shortly after this update, following a server release.
• To learn more about Rush rematches, scan the QR code on the right to visit the EASFC Tracker.

Addressed the following issues:

• The radial menu displayed an incorrect expiration time when previewing Training Camp Evolutions.
• The Objective tracker within the pause menu displayed incorrect information when an Evolution Player Item was present in the squad.
• An expiration timer for a Group Objective was not in the Favourite Objectives Tab.
• [Visual Only] The group reward was missing when viewing an Objective that was marked as a favourite.
• When Authentic settings were turned on, they were unintentionally applied to some offline modes.
• After getting access to the Transfer Market, the menu tile for it could have shown 0 Live Transfers until entered.
• Newly obtained Player Items added directly to the squad could not be started in Evolutions.
• The Concept Players in the Club did not display the View Available Evolutions option in the radial menu.
• Sometimes, the radial menu options displayed incorrect Evolution status for completed Evolutions.

Gameplay

Made the following updates:

Goalkeepers

• Greatly reduced movement speed and amount of ground covered when using Manual Goalkeeper Movement in open play.
• Removed Goalkeeper Rush To Center mechanic from open play.
  • An earlier version of this specific note was published and contained slightly different an incorrect information.
• Addressed an issue where goalkeepers could have sometimes reacted poorly to first time shots.
• Addressed cases of the goalkeeper not being able to save certain shots when diving to the opposite side of the goal.
• [Competitive Only] The goalkeeper can now transition faster to the next action after catching the ball.

Be a Goalkeeper

• Reduced amount of ground covered during a requested sidestep.
• Removed instances of a requested save being canceled after a shot deflection.
• Improved grab ball logic in 1 on 1 scenarios and when chasing an easy to get to loose ball.
• Improved auto ball pickup logic when chasing an easy to get to loose ball.
• Added a Super Cancel option when attempting to intercept crosses.
• Flicking the Right Stick input upwards during crosses will now request a punch.
• Increased positioning assistance during cross claiming actions.
• Increased consistency of the goalkeeper’s ability to catch crosses.
• When attempting to claim a cross that results in a shot, the goalkeeper can attempt to make an auto save.
• Slightly increased auto save assistance range across all assistance levels.
• Addressed instances of the goalkeeper incorrectly interacting with the goal net.
• Streamlined height selection input for Right Stick save requests, with more shots being covered by flicking the stick left or right, and corner shots requiring more precise inputs.

Skill Moves

• Slightly increased animation transition speed when following up a Drag Back with another Skill Move or dribble.

Set Pieces

• Addressed instances of user-controlled players becoming unresponsive during set pieces.
• The CPU AI could have sometimes incorrectly kicked corner kicks out of play.

Rules

• In some cases, an offside call could’ve been made on an incorrect player.
• Improved referee logic when making penalty calls that involved goalkeeper fouls.

Attacking

• Players who were trying to avoid going offside could’ve become unintentionally passive, and they will now look to run into open space more often.

Passing

• Slightly decreased the accuracy of headed passes.
• Lowered crossing ball trajectory height to reduce the amount of crosses that were keeping the ball in the air for too long.

Defending

• Addressed cases of the secondary contain indicator appearing incorrectly during possession.

Career Mode

Made the following changes:

• Added a new field in Squad Hub indicating players’ willingness to extend their contracts.
• Added a new tab in the Manager Live Hub to streamline starting a new Live Start Point and Manager Live save, providing quicker access to previously earned retro kits rewards.
• Shortcut selections are now remembered automatically when exiting the switcher menu rather than requiring a manual selection save.
• Added an in-menu preview for mascots in the Create Your Club flow
• In Player Career, the Player Archetype preview tile now displays both current XP and XP needed to reach the next level.
• Added Recommended Archetypes in the Player Career creation flow instead of Attributes.
• Added a Mascot preview when using Create Your Club.

Addressed the following issues:

• Addressed instances of incorrect camera angles when playing as a Goalkeeper.
• Addressed an issue in Manager Career Create Your Club, that prevented replacing a club other than your favourite team.

Clubs

Addressed the following issues:

• Addressed cases of short-term fatigue applying quicker than intended.
• Addressing this issue means that short-term fatigue in Clubs matches functions the same as other areas of the game.
• Adjusted Match Rating calculation logic for all CAM roles to avoid unintended rating inflation.
  • The adjustment will go live in the near future following a Server Release.
• Sometimes, when editing My Pro, the randomise button callout could disappear.
• Improved some UI transitions.
• When editing My Pro, some hairstyles could be missing from the preview.
• After the match, on the post-match screen, the Pro displayed on the player card could be incorrect.

General, Audio, and Visual

• Made the following changes:
• Added 10 Classic XI teams to Kick off.
• The teams will be available through a server release soon after the Holiday Update.
• Refreshed the main menu to match the holiday spirit.
• The refreshed menu will go live through a server release soon after the Holiday Update.
• Added 8 star heads which will soon be available following a server release.
• Updated some audio and commentary, placeholder images, badges, logos, hair, boots, 2d portraits, lighting, hair, tattoos, balls, kits, pitch trophies, banners, flags, scarves, and stadiums.

Addressed the following issues:

• [PC Only] Addressed an issue where the controller was not being recognised when reconnecting during gameplay.
• Addressed various stability issues that could have occurred.
• Addressed instances of placeholder text and incorrect UI elements.
• Addressed instances of incorrect gameplay and cinematic camera angles and animations.
• Addressed instances of incorrect narrations.

And that wraps up the EA FC 26 Holiday Update patch notes. What do you make of all the changes? Let us know in the comments.