EA Sports FC 26 Tactics Codes for the best formations

Since their introduction, the revamped tactics and roles systems have been revolutionary in EA Sports FC. Now, not only do you have to think about the best formation to play, but the roles your players fill within that formation, and how to get the best out of their attributes while they perform their duties on the pitch.

In FC 26 there are more roles than ever, with the new Box Crasher, Inverted Wingback and Versatile Forward focuses giving you greater flexibility in shaping both attacking patterns and defensive structure.

To give you a competitive edge, we’ve found the best tactics codes in FC 26 which unlock the strongest formations to play in both Ultimate Team and other game modes.

First, we’ll go through tactics codes favoured by top streamers, pro FC players and high-level competitors for what would be considered the “meta” formations and tactical set-ups. Then we’ll go through some tactics codes which emulate the styles of real life managers and teams, both in the Premier League and other top leagues around the world.

Finally, we’ll discuss why these formations are the best, what they allow you to do, and what kind of roles you want your players to play within these systems.

On this page:

Best FC 26 Pro Player Tactics codes

These FC 26 Tactics Codes have been shared by competitive professionals and streamers and should represent the most hardcore, win-at-all-costs strategies you can bring to the new game:

Best FC 26 Club Team Tactics codes

These tactics codes emulate the styles of real-world teams from all of the top leagues around the world. There’s a huge variety of systems on offer, from the rock solid ultra-defensive structure of Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone to the more free-flowing approaches of progressive coaches like Luis Enrique, Arne Slot and Robin van Persie.

Whether you want to play like your favourite team or just whoever’s dominating their domestic league, these codes are the best place to start. You’d better believe we’ll add Jose Mourinho once his feet are under the table at Benfica.

• Arsenal/ Mikel Arteta – 4-3-3 Holding – #BhMps6gy#eq
• Villa/ Unai Emery – 4-2-3-1 Wide – tYFzchR3HrJt
• Chelsea/ Enzo Maresca – 4-2-3-1 Inverted Wingback – 1YNfMZZNhxSV
• Liverpool/ Arne Slot – 4-2-3-1 Inside Forwards – RZpbfD1$9Rnz
• Man City/ Pep Guardiola – 4-3-3 Short Passing – bB&bcrXvH$x9
• Spurs/ Thomas Frank – 4-2-1-3 – yZ%2TYi8%yPX
• Manchester United/ Ruben Anorim – 5-2-3 – QprSogZe7auQ (surely no one wants this)
• PSG/ Luis Enrique – 4-3-3 Flat High Press – f549eDxzKp9E
• FC Bayern/ Vincent Kompany – 4-2-3-1 – TZrBhDX@NVp1
• Borussia Dortmund/ Niko Kovac – 3-4-2-1- d54pFrNrbBxv
• Napoli/ Antonio Conte – 4-3-3 Wingbacks – d52d?BuoJd7C
• Juventus/ Igor Tudor – 3-4-2-1 – c53CckMu4my?
• Roma/ Gianpiero Gasparini – 3-4-2-1 Shadow Striker – ?5Zo9Gm%#6ce
• AC Milan/ Max Allegri – 3-4-3 Catenaccio – %Bp%@2oYaKkw
• Inter/ Christian Chivu – 5-3-2 Holding – jx?t7ntx$t5F
• Como/ Cesc Fabregas – 4-2-3-1 Wide – bZzFBJP$mb5A
• Atalanta/ Ivan Juric – 3-4-2-1 – 95YbTL$naHZd
• Atletico Madrid/ Diego Simeone – 4-2-3-1 Defend – oYAS%WAwy2E#
• Barcelona/ Hansi Flick – 4-2-3-1 Inside Forwards – jZ7NqzVtPjB#
• Real Madrid/ Xabi Alonso – 4-3-3 Balanced – 5YRj@hRDUDN7
• Feyernoord/ Robin van Persie – 4-3-3 Attack – vQ#PN5X55vDx
• PSV/ Peter Bosz – 4-3-3 Holding – LBkPsbbFvVft
• Ajax/ Johnny Heitinga – 4-2-1-3 – VZxTr95fffq3
• Al Hilal/ Simone Inzaghi – 4-4-1-1 – 3#R1?BHBaBUX

What are the best formations in EA Sports FC 26?

4-4-2/4-1-2-1-2

Usually, at the beginning of an EA football game’s lifecycle, good old 4-4-2 is the best formation to start with. This is because it offers a solid defensive framework, while also having a good amount of players in attacking positions.

Pro FC players and streamers tend to err on the side of caution with robust full-backs set to defend, two holding midfielders and advanced forwards to hold an attacking threat. However, you can vary the roles in your team depending on whichever area of the pitch you’re struggling with.

If you’re struggling to score, you can set your wide midfielders to Inside Forward and push your full-backs to Balanced instead of Defend to provide width and more options as you play forward. However, in this situation you’d probably want to set both of your central midfield players to defend, otherwise you will be very open to the counter.

With the addition of Competitive Gameplay, the match speed in FC 26 has been cranked up even further to never-before-seen heights, meaning you can turn defence into attack very quickly.

Formations favoured by pros aren’t always the best for us normal people, because they’re literally better at the game than us and can create chances with fewer players using individual dribbling ability and skill moves to carve out an opening. If 4-4-2 isn’t working for you, it might be worth checking out 4-1-2-1-2, a narrower formation with a CAM which is getting a lot of buzz at the start of the game.

4-2-3-1

The more midfield focused 4-5-1, and its variations 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-4-1, seem to be big beneficiaries of FC 26’s tweaked game mechanics.

In FC 26 Competitive Gameplay, on-the-ball players no longer feel the negative effects of low stamina. This means you can run attacking midfielders very hard and still have them feel good on the ball and provide meaningful support to your striker. So while you technically have fewer players up front, box crashers and playmakers seem to stream backwards and forwards really well.

Defensively, particularly if you’re playing with a CDM or 2, 4-5-1 can be as solid as 4-4-2 but with more passing options to play out from the back once you win possession. 4-1-4-1 in particular seems extremely difficult to break down at this point in the game, especially with most people’s proclivity to play inside forwards in a narrow line.

These advantages also make 4-5-1 a great early game option if you’ve only packed one decent striker, but find yourself with a lot of good CMs (as happens to most people).

4-3-3

However, for an even more offensive focus, 4-3-3 is similar to 4-5-1, but with more explicit attacking impetus. It requires quick and mobile midfielders to cover the larger distance between defence and attack, but allows you to play faster; or more “vertically” to use the pretentious technical term.

This works very well with Competitive Gameplay’s snappier, less error-prone passing and zippy player movement. But, like I said, if you’re playing against someone who’s very good at a high press, then you can find yourself with fewer short passing opportunities because of the bigger distance between your defensive midfielders and wide forwards.

With that said though, once you do clear that press you can often isolate defenders against quicker and more skilful wingers. This is probably the formation to pick if you’ve managed to snag a good skiller or wonderkid like Nico Williams or Lamine Yamal from packs.

Alternatively, if you pack good LM and RM players early, you can also make 4-3-3 by setting your wide players to Inside Forward in a 4-2-3-1 off the ball formation. This tactic is how FC tries to simulate Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid and Slot’s Liverpool. However, this can make your forward line quite narrow, with width coming from attacking fullbacks. Again, pro players would never use a tactic like this because it leaves you too open to a counter-attack, but it’s definitely something to consider if you’re more in the game for fun than all-out competition.