EA Sports FC 27 lands worldwide on 25 September, and it arrives with the biggest shake-up in terms of features the series has attempted since the FIFA name was dropped.

Volta and the old standalone Clubs hub are gone. In their place sits an open-world social space that borrows openly from NBA 2K’s The City. The headline modes remain three: The Grounds, Football Ultimate Team and Career.

Each feature has been reimagined to offer a new gaming experience; it includes a transfer market that finally behaves like a transfer market, a FUT collection layer that rewards everything you have ever packed, and a persistent world where your Pro’s progression never really stops. Kylian Mbappé fronts the cover and doubles as an in-game mentor.

The Grounds

EA Sports

This is the most significant and bold addition in years. The Grounds is a free-roaming social hub split across three districts, and you explore on foot, buy gear, and drop into matches without touching a menu:

• Parkside, a working-class British setting.
• Montclair, cage football in a Parisian cityscape.
• Zeiza, built around Argentine potrero (makeshift field) culture.

Competitive formats allow for matchups such as 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and Rush. It also runs alongside looser activities like Bocce Ball, Team Keepaway and Balloon Ball. Progression is layered — Archetype XP, Grounds Coins, Amps and permanent Masteries all feed your Pro giving a long-term view to this new gameplay.

Mbappé, Chloe Kelly, Paulo Dybala and Alex Hunter appear as mentors, in a new feature, and Clubs is also folded in, with upgradeable stadiums and clubhouses. O

There is one catch: it’s PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch 2 only.

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FUT’s big idea this year is the Gallery — which is a permanent record of every card you’ve earned, whether you kept it or sold it. Complete collections by league, club and rarity to earn Gallery grades from D to S, unlocking kits, badges and Gallery Tokens.

What’s new is that premium tiers hand out holographic cards carrying player signatures. Those tokens feed the Hall of FUT, a set of 17 launch cards immortalising cult heroes including Hulk, Adebayo Akinfenwa and Marouane Fellaini.

Elsewhere, SBCs have been stripped of chemistry and rating requirements in favour of a single squad-score threshold, Evolutions now run six customisable stages with pre-viewable chains, and a new Campaign Hub pulls Objectives, Evolutions and Tokens into one place.

Manager & Player Career

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Career mode also gets its most substantial overhaul in a decade. The transfer market has been rebuilt around genuine negotiation — initial inquiries, rival interest, late contract changes — with valuations powered by a TransferRoom partnership and deals structured using installments, loan-backs, swaps and buyback clauses providing a more interactive experience.

Dynamic Player Overalls mean ratings now move with form, fitness, injuries and squad competition, while Growth Profiles give every player a distinct development curve. On the Player side, Career Rivalries pit you against a positional competitor, with in-game media coverage casting you as hero or villain.

In football, a ‘major trophy’ is silverware that carries genuine pedigree and a competitive weight for a club side.

With leagues, multiple domestic cups, super cups, tiered competitions and friendly tournaments, there’s a whole host of available team competitions to win.

Interestingly, there is no official barometer or ruling that stipulates exactly what trophies are considered “major” and what aren’t — a lot of it has come down to fan perception and a general acknowledgment of history and prestige.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to delve into this unique topic to define just what exactly a major trophy is in the footballing world.

Below are trophies that fit the billing as elite in the biggest regions.

England

• Premier League — the hardest and most prestigious trophy in English club football.
• FA Cup — the world’s oldest national knockout competition (founded 1871).
• EFL Cup (League Cup / Carabao Cup) — a secondary knockout, contested by the 92 EFL and Premier League clubs.

The Premier League and FA Cup are universally seen as major trophies, but the League Cup holds a unique position. While it does feature all the major clubs, its reputation and place in the football calendar deem it less prestigious. However, with a final at Wembley and a place in Europe up for grabs, it certainly sits on the borderline.

Europe

• UEFA Champions League — the pinnacle of club football, contested by the continent’s champions and top-ranked sides.
• UEFA Europa League (previously the UEFA Cup) — the secondary continental competition, a major honour in its own right.
• UEFA Conference League — the third-tier continental cup, launched in 2021: newest and least prestigious.

The Champions League is the top prize in club football worldwide and the Europa League has historically been a major trophy. However, in recent years, the introduction of the Conference League as a C-tier competition has sparked debate. It has been won by major clubs such as Chelsea and Roma, yet, it isn’t considered in the same bracket.

USA

• MLS Cup — the postseason playoff championship, and the trophy most Americans regard as “winning the league.”
• Supporters’ Shield — awarded to the best regular-season record across MLS.
• U.S. Open Cup — the oldest ongoing US competition (founded 1914), open to clubs across the American pyramid.
• CONCACAF Champions Cup — the confederation’s elite continental competition.

The MLS Cup and CONCACAF Champions Cup are the two major club honours that stand out. With the latter granting a path to the FIFA Club World Cup to compete with the top clubs in Europe. Whereas the other two trophies only have a domestic presence.

Which Trophies Are Not Considered Major, and Why?

• Community Shield (England) and equivalents — the annual champion-vs-cup-winner curtain-raiser.
• Super Cups generally, including the UEFA Super Cup — one-off matches, not campaigns.
• Trophée des Champions, DFL-Supercup, Supercopa and other domestic super cups.
• Pre-season and invitational tournaments — friendlies, the various summer cups, and testimonials.
• Youth, reserve, and regional trophies — not contested by first-team senior squads at full strength.

Across Europe, we can certainly list some less-prestigious competitions despite them featuring some of Europe’s best. Then there are debates over the likes of the FIFA Club World Cup and European Super Cup.

With the main argument being that you typically have to win a major competition that includes the likes of the Champions League or Europa League to attend, with many not recognising Chelsea as world champions even though they technically hold the title until 2029.

The likes of the Community Shield (and other Super Cup equivalents) are seen as the annual curtain-raiser for the season that predates the true beginning of the competitive campaign.

One section of tournaments that belongs in this section is any pre-season or invitational tournaments, while any youth competitions are invalid due to them not being senior affairs.

One unique way of looking at the distinction is through Barcelona (2009) and Bayern Munich‘s (2020) sextuple achievement. It includes winning all three domestic trophies, both European trophies and the Club World Cup, and they are the only two to achieve the feat.

Taken individually, the two super cups don’t register as major honours but by combining it all into a clean sweep of all six, though, they become something else entirely.

The sextuple is unprecedented, and within that group every trophy pulls its weight. It’s less a collection of six majors than a single statement of dominance.

Manchester United have completed their pre-season preparations ahead of the new Premier League campaign, and Michael Carrick has picked up some serious lessons in the process.

The Red Devils played six friendly matches during the summer, claiming two wins (5-0 vs Rosenborg, 2-1 vs Atletico Madrid), two draws (1-1 vs PSG, 1-1 vs Leeds) and two losses (1-0 vs Wrexham, 4-2 vs AC Milan), as Carrick looked to start to implement his ideas and plans into the squad for the long-term, having been appointed permanently following an excellent interim spell last season.

Some things have worked, and some less so, while other things have become evident. Here are five things we learnt during the team’s pre-season, and what we can likely expect in the coming weeks of the transfer window and the rest of the campaign.

1. Mason Mount Can’t Be Relied On

Carrick is clearly a big fan of Mason Mount, and he is trying to find a place in his team for the former Chelsea star. Mount has made just 72 appearances for the club over three seasons since joining in a £60m deal, with his time at Old Trafford plagued by injuries.

But Carrick tried to give him a new, deeper role in midfield, which initially saw him playing some of his best football in a red shirt alongside Andrey Santos. It even saw reports emerge that the club were considering altering their transfer strategy away from signing a new midfielder this summer.

However, Mount was once again injured against PSG within 30 mins of the game, and subsequently missed the last two pre-season games. Man Utd say it was only a precaution, but it’s evident that Mount isn’t someone who can be relied upon going forward, and plans must be made to ensure his absence is covered for within the squad.

2. Luke Shaw Needs Replacing

Luke Shaw has been at Man Utd since 2014, when he signed from Southampton in a deal worth £30m. Since then, he has had ups and downs at the club, but injuries have been a constant issue.

In 2025/26 Shaw was the only Man Utd player to start every Premier League game, but his performances regularly left plenty to be desired, and with a return to a back four and the fact that United will be playing twice a week, injury concerns are a concern once again.

His performances in pre-season have shown why the club are reportedly keen to bring in a new left-back too, and with just over two weeks remaining of the window, INEOS must step up their plans to find a new first-choice left-back immediately.

3. Heaven and Lacey Ready to Explode

via Reuters

Pre-season has been a great opportunity for young players to show if they’re ready to make an impact on the first-team this summer, and two have stepped up more than others.

Ayden Heaven has regularly impressed when featuring for the first-team, but often finds himself behind all the more senior options in the squad. However, this summer, he has proven that he is ready to play when called upon, and arguably deserves his place in the starting lineup for the opening game against Hull.

Alongside him, Shea Lacey is quite clearly ready to fight for a place in the team. The 19-year-old has been one of the standout performers during pre-season, and his technical qualities are there for all to see. Despite having an abundance of attacking options available, Lacey deserves to be considered for minutes just as regularly as anyone else.

4. Zirkzee May Have Man Utd Future

Joshua Zirkzee has struggled for regular first-team minutes at Man Utd since his arrival from Bologna two summers ago, and Carrick hasn’t seemingly been a major fan of the Netherlands star either.

Benjamin Sesko is the first-choice striker, while Bryan Mbeumo has often played up front too. With Matheus Cunha and Marcus Rashford also in the squad and capable of playing as a number nine, Zirkzee’s future at Old Trafford looked bleak.

But his performances in pre-season have shown that stylistically he can fit into the squad well, and link with the attackers around him, and that he is capable of having a future at the club if interest in him doesn’t materialise before the end of the window.

5. Man Utd Need 3 More Signings

REUTERS/Scott Heppell

Despite some decent performances in pre-season, and some good signings coming in already, it’s very evident that Man Utd need more if they want to be competitive this season.

As mentioned, a left-back should be an absolute priority before the deadline on September 1st, but the club also need a third central midfield signing to come in. Someone who covers ground well and can win the ball back would be the ideal signing, and there are plenty of names being linked to the club.

More depth in attack would be coming in in an ideal world too, with Benjamin Sesko yet to feature in pre-season. More sources for goals would never be frowned upon, and Carrick has also made it clear that he thinks the squad needs more, so the final weeks of the window could shape the new campaign.