Defending has received a major overhaul in EA Sports FC 26.
In some ways it’s easier, with fewer knockbacks falling straight back to the feet of the opposing team, going some way to alleviate the relentless pressure that felt like the ball was scripted to be sucked into your goal.
But in other ways it’s a whole new challenge. In online modes, the competitive gameplay type has much less AI defending, making it much easier for attackers to snake through your defensive line without your players automatically putting a foot in. While in Career Mode, the slower, more deliberate pace of Authentic gameplay makes it more difficult to recover your position after overcommitting.
So, with a renewed emphasis on manual defending, positioning yourself correctly and timing your tackles to perfection, stacking your squad with the best defenders in EA Sports FC 26 can give you a real tangible advantage.
Luckily, it seems now more than ever that there are loads of great defenders, particularly in the CB slots, who are more than up to the task.
Here are our favourite CBs, LBs and RBs to sign in Career Mode for a variety of budgets, with a range of ages and overalls, or to add to your squad in Ultimate Team.
If you’re struggling with defending in general, take a look at our list of the best FC 26 Tactics codes for the best formations to get the most out of your players.
On this page:
Best CBs in EA Sports FC 26
| Name: | Team: | Age: | Overall: | Key Attributes: | Value/Wage: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeremiah St. Juste | Sporting | 28 | 76 | Unbelievable pace, solid defending, Career Mode legend | £6.5m/£16k |
| Jayden Oosterwolde | Fenerbahce | 24 | 76 | 80 Potential, incredible speed and physicals, Anticipate PlayStyle | £8.6m/£31k |
| Roger Ibanez | Al Ahli | 26 | 82 | Exceptional physical profile, great PlayStyles, highly recommended for top teams | £28.8m/£46k |
| Takuma Ominami | OH Leuven | 27 | 70 | Overpowered physicals for lower leagues | £1.3m/£8k |
| Maxwell Gyamfi | Kaiserslauten | 25 | 66 | Great physicals, very cheap for Road to Glory saves | £1m/£5k |
| Sondre Langas | Derby | 24 | 71 | Great mix of pace, strength and Anticipate PlayStyle to cover lower tackling stat, solid potential | £2.3m/£9k |
| Jorel Hato | Chelsea | 19 | 78 | Wonderkid with 89 Potential, fast natural LB but has frame to play CB | £24.9m/£56k |
| Jakob Scholler | RK Rapid Wein | 19 | 63 | 80 Potential with great starting pace and physicals at 6ft 3”, recommended Road to Glory player | £1m/£3k |
| Soumaila Coulibaly | Strasbourg | 21 | 72 | Again, 80 Potential with great starting pace and physicals at 6ft 3”, more expensive but still a recommended Road to Glory player | £4.2m/£20k |
| Mario Gila | Latium (Lazio) | 25 | 79 | Great ball-playing CB with great pace, good dribbling and passing | £20.6m/£27k |
| Saul Coco | Torino | 26 | 76 | Career Mode legend, brick wall with great pace, strength and tackling | £7.3m/£29k |
| Tim Oermann | Sturm Graz | 21 | 72 | Great pace, strength and tackling, 80 Potential | £4.2m/£26k |
| Max Rosenfelder | Freiburg | 22 | 74 | 83 Potential with great pace and tackling, Anticipate PlayStyle | £7.7m/£17k |
| Tomas Araujo | Benfica | 23 | 78 | 86 Potential, amazing all-rounder for a top team with starting stats around 80 for pace, strength, passing and tackling | £24.9m/£15k |
| Eduardo Quaresma | Sporting | 23 | 77 | 84 Potential, great pace and tackling with Anticipate playstyle | £16.8m/£14k |
| Ramon Hendriks | Stuttgart | 24 | 70 | Fast ball-playing CB for lower-budget teams | £2m/£15k |
| Calvin Bassey | Fulham | 25 | 78 | Rock solid in-game | £14.2m/£59k |
| Valentin Gomez | Real Betis | 22 | 76 | Great PlayStyles, fast, shorter, ball-playing CB | £13.3m/£19k |
| Ousmane Diomande | Sporting | 21 | 80 | Top quality from the start, 87 Potential and amazing stats everywhere | £34.4m/£15k |
| Antonio Silva | Benfica | 21 | 78 | 86 Potential, another amazing all-rounder for top teams | £25.4m/£13k |
| Wilfried Singo | Galatasary | 24 | 80 | 85 Potential, absolute unit and rock solid in-game | £24.9m/£41k |
| Nnamdi Collins | Frankfurt | 21 | 74 | Top quality Potential, amazing speed, physicals and tackling for age | £7.7m/£15k |
| Goncalo Inacio | Sporting | 24 | 81 | Top team-ready ball-playing CB with amazing stats everywhere | £30.1m/£19k |
| Leonardo Balerdi | Marseille | 26 | 81 | 84 Potential, solid physicals and passing with Anticipate PlayStyle | £25.8m/£41k |
| Josip Sutalo | Ajax | 25 | 78 | Typical Ajax CB, quick, cultured, huge strength with Anticipate and Intercept PlayStyles | £15.1m/£16k |
| Bright Arrey-Mibbi | Braga | 22 | 71 | 81 Potential with amazing pace and physicals plus solid defending for his Overall | £3.4m/£7k |
As discussed, there are actually tons of great CBs in FC 26, all with overpowered pace and physical stats.
For top teams with big budgets, Roger Ibanez and Ousmane Diomande are ready-made starters with incredible speed, strength and defensive stats to marshall even the toughest attackers. Diomande is very young and a huge potential advantage, but Ibanez looks like a great “win now” player who still has even more room to improve.
If you’re playing with a club a step down from that level, check out the likes of Jayden Oosterwolde and Eduardo Quaresma. They offer a similarly stellar physical profile, but with some rougher edges in the tackling or passing department which make them more accessible for mid-tier teams.
If you’re after the best value for money, head to Germany and shortlist Nnamdi Collins at Frankfurt and Max Rosenfelder at Freiburg. Both players have brilliant starting stats for their Overall, as well as a relatively cheap price tag in relation to their Potential. It’s also worth noting that they both have great defensive PlayStyles too.
Finally, just because you’re working with a small budget in a lower league doesn’t mean you can’t have an overpowered physical defender. For less than £5m you can pick up players with solid starting stats and even bags of potential. Standouts include Bright Arrey-Mibbi with 90 Sprint Speed, 80 Stamina and 82 Strength, as well as Jakob Scholler with 85 pace and 75 strength at just 63 Overall and 19 years old.
Best LBs in EA Sports FC 26
| Name: | Team: | Age: | Overall: | Key Attributes: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Felix Agu | Wolfsburg | 25 | 75 | Former winger, great pace, dribbling and stamina |
| Yaimar Medina | Genk | 20 | 70 | Extremely fast, 84 Potential |
| Tom Rothe | Union Berlin | 20 | 74 | 6ft 4”, 84 Crossing, 81 Potential, unique profile and solid |
| Alex Bangura | Middlesbrough | 26 | 69 | Exceptional physicals for lower league teams |
| Ismail Jakobs | Galatasary | 26 | 75 | Affordable and good quality with 90 pace and decent technicals |
| Nuno Tavares | Latium (Lazio) | 25 | 78 | Amazing PlayStyles with Anticipate, Rapid, Quick Step and Whipped Pass, great pace and physicals, 81 Potential to work on tackling |
| Anton Donkor | Schalke | 27 | 66 | Great lower league player |
| Archie Brown | Fenerbahce | 23 | 71 | 6ft 3” with amazing pace and strength, Long Throw+ PlayStyle for the memes, 76 potential for a bit of growth with mid-table top teams |
| Niels Nkounkou | Frankfurt | 24 | 72 | Solid pace, strength and good dribbling |
| Bali Mumba | Plymouth | 23 | 69 | Realistic pick-up for English teams, great pace and stamina |
| Miguel Gutierrez | Napoli | 24 | 81 | Top quality passing, dribbling and stamina with a good defensive frame |
| Sergi Cardona | Villareal | 26 | 79 | Solid pace, dribbling and passing with great stamina and Intercept and Anticipate PlayStyles, still has 82 Potential to get better |
| Mika Marmol | Las Palmas | 24 | 75 | Solid all-rounder with 82 Potential |
| Nathaniel Brown | Frankfurt | 22 | 77 | Anticipate PlayStyle, 85 Potential makes him a brilliant option with great stamina, dribbling, passing and tackling, low strength but tall |
| Mauro Junior | PSV | 26 | 79 | Great stamina, passing and attacking pace, still 82 Potential to get better |
Wingbacks in FC 26 provide an important part of both your offensive and defensive structure, so you need to decide pretty early on in your squad building journey whether you want to pack out your back four with tall, strong defensive powerhouses or technical dribblers who can contribute to your attack.
There are a few good-looking options for top teams, including Miguel Gutierrez at Napoli, who, despite being the highest rated Overall, finds himself 3rd choice in the pecking order being the now-legendary Leonardo Spinazzola and older Matias Olivera in Naples. He’s great all over the pitch, with amazing stamina, pace, passing and dribbling, along with 85 Potential to take him to the very top.
Similarly, you could also look at Nathaniel Brown at Frankfurt, who have a ridiculous amount of talented young players this year. On top of his potential, the Anticipate PlayStyle makes Brown stand out; he’s sure to be a Career Mode favourite this year.
The mid-tier has a few interestingly unique players, including Tom Rothe, who brings a bit of that Dan Burn-style solidity to the left-back role. At 6ft 4” he’s certainly a presence, but it’s his passing that turns heads. 84 crossing from the start with the Whipped Pass PlayStyle makes him a real threat with a target man in the middle.
While he’ll be relying on dynamic potential to make it to the very top, Archie Brown looks like a lot of fun. With a top physical profile he can definitely mix it with the best in that regard, but you simply can’t ignore the meme potential of Long Throw+. Obviously you can’t be offside from a throw-in, but the AI doesn’t really understand that, so you can get some real distance up the pitch from just running past your opponent’s defensive line and launching it as far as possible.
Best RBs in EA Sports FC 26
| Name: | Team: | Age: | Overall: | Key Attributes: | Value/Wage: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Bah | Benfica | 27 | 78 | Amazing pace, physicals and PlayStyles including Anticipate, Relentless and Bruiser to boss the flank | £12.9m/£17k |
| Wesley | Roma | 22 | 77 | 85 Potential and already top quality, good speed, tackling and stamina | £19.4m/£28k |
| Jackson Tchatchoua | Wolves | 24 | 74 | 81 Potential with exceptional speed and stamina, great PlayStyles including Anticipate, Whipped Pass and Rapid | £6.9m/£35k |
| Josha Vagnoman | Stuttgart | 24 | 74 | Career Mode legend, 6ft 3” with great pace, physicals, passing and dribbling, still a few Potential points to get better | £4.7m/£22k |
| Diogo Travassos | Moreirense | 21 | 69 | Accessibly cheap with 80 Potential, good pace and stamina | £2.6m/£6k |
| Elias Baum | Frankfurt | 19 | 72 | 84 Potential with exceptional stamina from the start | £4.7m/£12k |
| Josh Acheampong | Chelsea | 19 | 70 | 6ft 3” with 85 Potential, decent pace and strength | £3.1m/£28k |
| Givairo Read | Feyenoord | 19 | 75 | 88 Potential and already very solid, the best pick-up for most teams | £11.2m/£9k |
| Joaquin Seys | Club Brugge | 20 | 73 | 86 Potential with great pace and decent stats elsewhere | £6m/£14k |
| Thierry Correia | Valencia | 26 | 76 | Exceptional pace with great PlayStyles like Anticipate, Quick Step, Rapid and Bruiser | £7.7m/£28k |
| Dodo | Fiorentina | 26 | 78 | Great pace, dribbling and passing with Anticipate PlayStyle for tackling | £12.9m/£40k |
| Tiago Santos | Lille | 22 | 77 | 83 Potential with good dribbling and crossing | £13.8m/£21k |
| Joe Scally | Borussia Monchengladbach | 22 | 74 | Great pace and stamina with Anticipate PlayStyle for tackling | £4.7m/£17k |
| Semm Renders | Royal Antwerp | 17 | 62 | 84 Potential but very cheap due to starting overall, decent stats for age | £1m/£2k |
I quote this every year, but one of UT hero Gianluca Vialli’s greatest pieces of footballing wisdom was that in the ‘00s and earlier the right-back was often the worst player on the pitch. To paraphrase: “if they were any good at defending they’d play in the middle and if they were any good at attacking they’d play right wing”.
As if taking this as a personal insult, there are actually quite a few exciting RBs in FC 26.
First up, Alexander Bah has been my recommendation for top teams for ages now, but this year he’s got a load of great new PlayStyles to make him even more impactful. Great pace and strength are only made better by Relentless, Bruiser and Anticipate.
Elsewhere, Wesley from Roma and Givairo Read from Feyernoord both look exceptionally good with amazing potential and already great starting stats. Both are lightning-quick, technical players with strong stamina to run the line and enough defending to actually do the job they’re on the pitch to do.
In the mid-tier, Jackson Tchatchoua, Joaquin Seys and Josh Acheampong all have high potential in relation to their Overall, making them accessible and perfect fits for long-term Road to Glory saves with lower league teams.