EA FC Game Modes Glossary

By Treesz · Updated Nov 2, 2026

EA SPORTS FC spreads its modes across several menus, and a few of the names players search for are not modes at all: Skill Rating is a number, Manager League is an item, Survival is a Kick Off rule. This page sorts them out as they work in EA SPORTS FC 27 (released 25 September 2026) and notes where FC 26 differed.

The top-level list on the FC 27 menu is Co-Op Seasons, Kick Off, Learn to Play, Manager Career, Online Friendlies, Player Career, Seasons, The Grounds, Tournaments and Ultimate Team. The Grounds is new in FC 27: a social open-world space with kickabouts and 1v1s, and Clubs (the Virtual Pro mode) now lives inside it. Rush, the 5v5 mode where you control one player, sits in Ultimate Team. Kick Off itself is unchanged from FC 26.

Term	Where it lives	One-line meaning
Seasons	Top-level mode	Ten-match online divisions, 1v1
Skill Rating	Ultimate Team Rivals, Elite Division	A hidden number that ranks the best players
Survival	Kick Off House Rules	A player is removed each time a team scores
Skill Games	Learn to Play	Short training challenges
Online Friendlies	Top-level mode	Five-match season against one friend
Manager League	Ultimate Team item	Changes the league of a Manager item

Seasons

Seasons is the divisional online mode: you play with an authentic club or national team against other players in your division, earn points and move through ten divisions. A season is ten matches. A win is worth 3 points and a draw 1. You start in Division 10 and the goal is Division 1.

In FC 27 the point targets are the same as in FC 26:

Division	Title	Promotion	Relegation
10	12	9	none
9	13	10	6
8	15	12	8
7	17	14	8
6	18	16	10
5	19	16	10
4	19	16	10
3	21	18	12
2	21	18	12
1	23	none	14

Cup Matches are limited-time knockouts inside Seasons. You start in the Round of 16 and must win four matches in a row. Eligibility depends on your division: EA Shield for Divisions 8 to 10, EA Cup for 5 to 7, Continental Cup for 3 and 4, Premier Cup for 1 and 2, and a Women's International cup open to any division. The 2v2 version is Co-Op Seasons, covered in the Ultimate Team glossary.

Seasons is separate from Division Rivals in Ultimate Team, and its ten divisions are not the Rivals divisions.

Skill Rating

Skill Rating is the number that orders players in the Elite Division of Ultimate Team Rivals. It is not shown for the other divisions. Rivals has ten numbered divisions (10 lowest, 1 highest) plus the Elite Division above Division 1. Once you enter Elite you stay there for the rest of the season, and Elite players are matched only with each other.

What is known about the rating itself:

When you first enter Elite you get a default Skill Rating of 500, according to EA's help page for Rivals; each match then moves it up or down.
The size of the change depends on both players' ratings. The maximum change per match, the K-factor, is 30.
Matchmaking treats every rating of 2200 or above as 2200, so top players still find opponents. Skill Rating, your location and the data centre all count when the game pairs you.
The top 200 appear on a Global Leaderboard, split by platform group.
In Co-Op, the higher-rated player's Skill Rating is used.

Division progress is separate from Skill Rating. In Rivals a win gives 3 points and a draw 1; base weekly rewards need 15 points and upgraded rewards 30. Rewards arrive on Thursdays at 8:00 UTC, and your rank at the end of the week sets their quality. FC 27 changed rewards rather than rules: more frequent Bounties, more FUT Coins and more tradeable rewards. A returning player's start division comes from the old game: FC 26 Division 1 and FC 26 Elite both start in Division 7 in FC 27.

Online Leaderboards

"Leaderboard" covers several separate lists, not one global table:

Rivals Elite Division: the top 200 by Skill Rating on a Global Leaderboard, separated by platform group.
Skill Games: your results can be compared with friends on leaderboards.
Squad Battles: each weekly campaign has up to 14 eight-minute matches against AI squads built by the community, and your results decide your leaderboard rank and rewards.

If someone tells you to "climb the leaderboard", ask which one: climbing Rivals Elite means gaining Skill Rating, while Skill Games leaderboards depend on scores in short challenges.

Skill Games

Skill Games are targeted challenges for passing, shooting, dribbling and set pieces, found under Learn to Play. Each has levels that get harder and a score you can compare with friends. Learn to Play holds two other parts that are easy to confuse with them:

Practice Arena: an open training space where you choose a player and a goalkeeper and practise shooting, dribbling, penalties and free kicks, with no score and no rewards. In FC 27 a Practice Arena also appears inside Manager Career for 11v11 practice matches against your reserves.
Training Centre: structured chapters, exercises and matches that introduce the core mechanics, aimed at new players.

Use Skill Games to learn one input at a time, such as a chip shot or a free kick, before taking it into a ranked match.

Online Friendlies

Online Friendlies is a top-level mode in which you challenge one friend to a five-match season. Results are tracked until one player wins the trophy; after that either player can start a new season to defend or reclaim it. FC 26 described it as the player with the highest points after five games winning the trophy.

It is a separate mode from Seasons and Rivals, so it is a place to try tactics against a known opponent. Check the in-game match settings for which options Friendlies allows.

Penalty Shootout Mode

"Penalty Shootout Mode" is the name older guides used for the shootout that settles a drawn knockout match. FC 27 does not list it as a separate mode on its main menu. You meet shootouts in knockout competitions, for example in Tournaments with cups such as the UEFA Champions League or CONMEBOL Libertadores, in Career Mode cups, and in the Cup Matches inside Seasons, which are straight knockouts. To practise penalties without the pressure of a live match, use the Practice Arena under Learn to Play, which has penalties as one of its drills.

The game follows the real football rule set by the lawmakers (IFAB Law 10):

Each team takes five kicks, alternating, and each kick is taken by a different player.
If one team has scored more than the other could reach with all its remaining kicks, the shootout ends early.
If still level after five, kicks continue in rounds of one each until one side is ahead after an equal number.
Only players on the field at the final whistle may take a kick; a player sent off cannot.

Practical points for the game: set your penalty taker in the roles section of team management, and remember that the captain is usually among the first to step up. Vary your placement, because a human goalkeeper reads repeated patterns quickly, and choose takers with good finishing and composure for the first kicks.

Survival Mode

Survival is one of the House Rules in Kick Off. When a team scores, one of its outfield players is picked at random and removed from the pitch. The goalkeeper is never removed, AI-controlled players are chosen before human-controlled ones, and a maximum of four players can be removed from each team. Each team can also receive up to two red cards before forfeiting the match.

The mode flips the usual logic of scoring: the leading side gets weaker. Hold the ball and score late rather than early. The House Rules menu is opened with R1 or RB on the match selection screen. The other rules in FC 27 are Mystery Ball, King of the Hill, No Rules, Headers and Volleys, Long Range and First To; see the Ultimate Team glossary entry on House Rules.

Manager League

A Manager League is a single-use consumable in Ultimate Team. It changes the league assigned to a Manager item, which matters because of how managers feed chemistry: in FC 27 the manager adds one point toward the chemistry threshold for each eligible player in your starting XI who shares the manager's nation or league, capped at one point per player. Switching the manager's league with this consumable lets the same manager support a different league block in your squad.

That makes it a squad-building tool, not a game mode. Typical use: your squad is built mostly from one league, but your favourite manager is assigned to another; apply a Manager League consumable for that league and every player from it gets closer to the next threshold. Since FC 25 there are no contracts for player or manager items, so a Manager item no longer needs to be renewed.

Guides and services

For ranked grinding, Onlyfarms has Division Rivals, Squad Battles and Rush services, listed in the EA FC section. The Weekend League guide explains the Champions side of Ultimate Team.

FAQ

How many points do you need for promotion in Seasons?

It depends on the division. In Division 10 you need 9 points, in Division 5 you need 16, and in Division 2 you need 18, out of a maximum of 30 from ten matches. Division 1 has no promotion, only a title at 23 points.

Is Skill Rating the same as division in Rivals?

No. Divisions 10 to 1 are decided by points per match. Skill Rating only applies in the Elite Division, starts at 500 there according to EA's help page, and changes by up to 30 per match.

Does Survival remove the goalkeeper?

No. One outfield player is removed at random each time a team scores. At most four players can be removed per team, and AI-controlled players go first.

What is the difference between Seasons and Online Friendlies?

Seasons is ranked, with divisions and ten matches against varying opponents. Online Friendlies is a five-match season against a single friend with a trophy and no divisions.

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