EA FC 26: Win More Battles with a New Physicality Features

In EA FC 26, the development team is on a mission to enhance the fundamentals of gameplay in both the Competitive and Authentic mods. Protecting the ball is an essential part of football, and the EA SPORTS FC team agrees that this is an area with lots of room for improvement.

The goal for EA FC 26 is to give you added consistency with the shield button, allowing you to protect the ball effectively, whether you’re receiving a pass, holding off a pressuring opponent, or bumping a marker with your shoulder to create space.

In our previous article, we discussed Passing and Shooting. Now, let’s jump right into a deep dive on Physicality.

Shielding Improvements

In EA FC 26, Shielding has been fully reworked to provide you with more consistent options and extra authentic physicality all over the pitch. This has been broken down into two key areas.

Shield Trapping

The objective here was to give players a new, viable tool when trapping the ball, allowing you to stand your ground instead of immediately having to move.

When receiving a pass, you can now Hold L2 or Hold LT to initiate a Shield Trap.
The effectiveness of this action has increased Strength-based differentiation, meaning stronger players will be significantly better at it.
The system now prioritizes your player getting their body in the way of an incoming opponent, rather than focusing on achieving a perfect first touch.
The outcomes and timings for shielding before and after receiving the ball have been rebalanced and improved.
New Shielding trap animations have been added to increase coverage and effectiveness.

Shield Dribbling

Dribble shielding has also been fully reworked to make it more consistent and better at respecting your input.
The consistency of your player’s positioning relative to the ball when shielding has been improved.
The transition from shielding into a full sprint is now much smoother.
The duration you can shield for has been re-tuned and now depends on your player’s short-term fatigue.
New Shielding movement animations have been added for more visual variety and realism.

Shield Entries

The team has added multiple new ways to perform one-off Shield actions while on the move. These can be used to quickly and physically get in front of an opponent before bursting into a sprint, or as a way to initiate a shield from an off-balance position.

Dribbling Shoulder Challenges: This is a new type of shielding action that allows you to better protect the ball while dribbling, using your player’s body to create space.

Physics: The physics effects for both the shielder and the player being shielded have been improved to accentuate the physicality of the action.

New Animations: Multiple new animations have been added for Step-ins, Seal Outs, and Shield Turns, making these interactions look more authentic.

Enforcer PlayStyle: Players with the new Enforcer PlayStyle and PlayStyle+ will have access to unique animations, making them even more dominant in these physical battles.

Contested Box Outs

On top of all the improvements to physicality, a brand-new mechanic called Contested Box Outs is being added in EA FC 26.

This mechanic allows stronger players to keep opponents away when fighting for an incoming aerial ball.

By using the Shield button when in front of your opponent, you can trigger a strong physical action that provides more space to either trap the ball or set up for a header.

The effectiveness of the Box Out is based on the Strength attribute difference between the two players.
It can only be triggered if your player is in a good position while waiting for the ball to arrive.
Following a successful Box Out, you can fluidly transition into any other action, like a volley, pass, or chest control.

Final Whistle

With the revamped Physicality system in EA FC 26, shielding, challenging, and battling for the ball has never felt better.

Whether you’re muscling out an opponent to win an air ball or carefully trapping a pass under pressure, EA FC 26 provides more consistency, realism, and control across every physical interaction.

Stay tuned for more breakdowns of gameplay improvements coming to the game!