Football and gaming fans just received their biggest insight yet into the new and improved features of EA Sports FC 27. The developers’ Gameplay Deep Dive and accompanying Gameplay Pitch Notes covered the changes in every area of the pitch, with emphasis on giving autonomy back to the gamers.

The EA gaming community has criticised the overreliance on AI assistance in recent editions and EA have listened to the fans with their latest installment. The result is greater control across every mode within the game.

EA Sports have been building anticipation for the game with a steady stream of key information, as well as cover star Kylian Mbappé. But the deep dive into the new gameplay features is the biggest indicator as to what EA Sports FC 27 will look like.

Here’s a closer look at the biggest changes this year ahead of the game’s imminent release.

Manual Defending Gets the Biggest Makeover

EA Sports

Starting from the back and working their way forward, EA Sports FC 27 has taken a lot of power away from the AI defenders. Rather than mindlessly chasing the ball, they will instead wait for the gamer to take control and decide how they want to approach the attacker.

Positively, there are still scenarios where the AI defender will try to win the ball, for example, if an attacker runs into them. The developers have also reduced the interception range of AI defenders. This has helped to hand the defensive decision-making back to the gamer.

Improvements to Teammate Contain and jockeying speed are the biggest changes to Manual Defending and will help AI teammates to spot attacking danger earlier in the sequence of play.

Corner Kicks and Crossing Overhauled

EA Sports

The offensive side of EA Sports FC has also improved considerably, with the changes reflecting the chaos of modern set pieces.

After choosing where to deliver the corner, the camera now shifts to the penalty box, allowing the gamer to control the actions of attacking players. This allows greater control over runs, shielding, and switching.

The new Avoidance mechanic helps with this, allowing for smoother movement through crowded areas. Players contesting for the ball during corner kicks will also no longer automatically move into the best position to connect with the ball, providing a greater command over set piece strategy.

The changes to crossing also provide more freedom for the user. Rather than targeting a specific player with a cross, there is now more emphasis on delivering into space and dangerous areas. This has been introduced alongside greater precision for headers from corners and free kicks.

Passing and Through Balls Become More Manual

EA Sports

The emphasis on greater user control continues with the tweaks to passing. Through balls, ground passes, and lobbed passes now require more directional input from the gamer. This not only benefits attacking gameplay, but complements the defensive overhaul too.

Gamers are rewarded for the accurate aiming of passes, whilst giving defensive players the chance to intercept passes if they read the play correctly.

Unlike crossing, through passes are no longer geared towards hitting open spaces. The emphasis is on the skill of the gamer, all the while maintaining the vast range of creative passing options available to them.

More Intelligent Attacking AI

EA Sports

One of the most exciting updates is to the attacking AI’s improved off-the-ball movement. EA have introduced a new system, Attacking Spatial Awareness, that helps AI attackers to make smarter runs that avoid defenders.

Interestingly, the type of run made by the attacker is affected by the context of the attack. The developers have introduced new curved runs triggered by the gamer that also works in tandem with an improved awareness of the offside trap.

The updated spatial awareness system also helps AI attackers to identify open passing lanes to run into. And rather than running continuously into these spaces, AI attackers will stop after a certain distance before returning to their position, helping to maintain formational shape.

Much like the game’s exciting new social hub, AI attackers are being given more freedom to roam.

Major Boosts to Dribbling, PlayStyles, and Attributes

EA Sports

EA’s new Off-Balance Dribbling helps the game’s very best dribblers to shine during physical duels with defenders. Dribblers with the required balance, dribbling, and agility attributes will hold onto possession when under pressure from defenders. If a defender engages the skilled dribbler with shoulder charges or any form of contact, the dribbler will be more likely to stay in control of the ball and ride the challenge.

The most popular PlayStyles, such as the Finesse Shot and the Incisive Pass, have been adjusted to reduce the gap between these unique traits and core player attributes. This has resulted in player ratings that are more accurate and meaningful, regardless of whether they have a PlayStyle applied or not.

With SummerSlam edging closer on the horizon, anticipation is reaching a crescendo as WWE prepares to stage one of the biggest weekends on its calendar.

A two-night spectacle held across the 1st and 2nd of August at Minneapolis’ US Bank Stadium promises blockbuster championship clashes, feuds reaching their zenith, and several contests capable of reshaping WWE’s landscape heading into the autumn of this year.

With fans continuing to speculate over who will emerge from their bouts shrouded in SummerSlam glory, fresh backstage reports suggest that WWE may have already settled the majority of the card, already choosing their creative direction.

WWE Reportedly Already Know Six Winners at SummerSlam

According to WrestleVotes radio on Fightful Select, a source familiar with WWE’s creative plans has indicated that the direction of six bouts may already have been decided.

Plans in professional wrestling are always liable to change, but the report claims that six stars have emerged as the favourites in their match-ups and are likely to walk away from the marquee event with glory draped across them.

Among those expected to prevail are Undisputed WWE Champion CM Punk and World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns.

Punk will be facing long-time friend and current adversary Cody Rhodes. After vanishing from WWE television for 78 days, Punk returned to the grand stage by defeating Sami Zayn on the 6th July to claim his third recognised Undisputed WWE Championship.

The two men battling it out to call themselves the Undisputed WWE Champion recently faced off against Sami Zayn and Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event XLV in a tag-team match to ensure the SummerSlam showdown remained a one-on-one affair, rather than evolving into a Fatal 4-Way for the belt.

Reigns, meanwhile, will renew hostilities with another familiar foe in Seth Rollins.

The pair share one of the richest and most enduring rivalries in WWE history, stretching back well over a decade to their days alongside Dean Ambrose in The Shield, a trio that captured the WWE Tag Team Championship on three occasions.

In the years following, their paths have crossed countless times, though, none more famous than WrestleMania 31 in 2015, when Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract during the main event between Reigns and Brock Lesnar, promptly pinning Reigns and winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, a moment forever immortalised and dubbed as the ‘Heist of the Century.’

Whether SummerSlam represents the final instalment in their pair’s storied history remains to be seen, but there is an undeniable sense that a saga spanning more than a decade is reaching its final chapter.

Alongside the two main events, Trick Williams is expected to retain his WWE United States Championship against Baron Corbin, Oba Femi is the favourite to defeat Brock Lesnar in their Hell in a Cell bout, Chad Gable will win his first WWE Intercontinental Championship against champion Penta, and Gunther is predicted to defeat Nick Aldis.

Two Matches Are Coin Tosses

Credit: WWE

Despite creative plans leaning one way in six of the matches shown so far, WrestleVotes added that two bouts remain balanced on a knife-edge.

The interim WWE Women’s Championship Ladder Match and Sami Zayn’s WWE Championship No.1 Contender’s Match against Finn Balor are both understood to remain genuine 50/50 internally, with no outcome currently viewed as the clear frontrunner behind the scenes.

According to the report, both matches remain the subject of internal discussion, making them the most unpredictable contests on the SummerSlam card.

For now, however, as the biggest event of the summer looms large, the picture behind the scenes appears increasingly clear. Six paths appear all but mapped out, while two remaining bouts are still waiting for the final page to be written. It’s also worth noting there are FOUR more matches over the two nights, of which plans for those are also currently unknown.

With the 2026 World Cup bringing us the most expensive football fan experience of all time, there’s another governing body we can compare it to: UEFA.

The competition in the summer of 2026 was dogged by outrage over sky-high, demand-led pricing since tickets first went on sale — and European governing body UEFA are looking to price tickets far cheaper.

Therefore, Euro 2028 has a chance to endear itself to the fans whilst being a completely contrasting financial experience: here’s everything you need to know.

Dynamic Pricing: The Fault Line

Reuters/Brett Davis

This is a key area where the two governing bodies differ the most. FIFA, for the first time at a World Cup, introduced dynamic pricing, meaning ticket costs fluctuated in real time based on demand, supply and other market factors.

It’s the same model that affected Oasis fans in 2024, and it did FIFA few favours — the most expensive final tickets, initially listed at $6,730, had climbed to $10,990 by the April sales window. For reference, the 2022 final was going for roughly $1,600, which shows the unnecessary hike that FIFA have since allowed.

FIFA, for its part, insists it uses “variable pricing” rather than dynamic pricing, a distinction few fans found convincing. The New York and New Jersey attorneys general were unconvinced too, launching a joint probe into FIFA’s ticketing practices.

For Euro 2028, UEFA has committed to no dynamic pricing, alongside equal pricing for regular group stage matches — ensuring a clear, consistent structure it says worked well at Euro 2024. After all the controversy, it becomes a direct rebuke of FIFA’s model.

Distribution: Who Actually Gets In

Reuters/Nathan Ray Seebeck

Another key area where UEFA has focused on is access. Essentially, more than 40 per cent of the roughly three million tickets will sit in the most affordable categories, and over 80% will be available to fans of participating teams and the public — a welcome revelation for fans.

Crucially, tickets only go on sale after the December 2027 draw, so supporters know which teams they might see before committing.

There’s a face-value-only official resale platform with no seller fees, a ballot system to avoid queue chaos, and 10,000 tickets reserved for each qualified team’s supporters at every group game.

FIFA’s approach drew the opposite reaction; critics have argued its framework favoured wealthy and corporate buyers, with a late $60 “Supporter Entry Tier” widely dismissed as a token gesture amounting to a few hundred seats in 80,000-capacity stadiums.

Prices: The Euro 2024 Benchmark

It is important to state that nothing is guaranteed until Euro 2028’s numbers are published, and UEFA’s pledges remain in that state.

However, the philosophical divide between the two bodies is stark. FIFA have chased maximum yield and revenue and have faced a legal probe whilst UEFA has staked its pitch on affordability and transparency. This dichotomy has arguably been crystallised in UEFA’s strong opposition to FIFA’s plans to sell stakes in competitions to private investors.

Even allowing for a US market and inflation, the gap is enormous — and it’s exactly the comparison UEFA will want fans making. The difference in the finances will surely result in a higher interest from European fans, with the travel far easier across the continent.