Women\u2019s soccer will have a fully featured single-player career mode in EA Sports FC 25 for the first time, allowing players to create a superstar and take her on a journey through five professional leagues at parity with the longstanding Career for male players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key thing that we wanted to do was present the women\u2019s career authentically, and make it feel like it really was, not just like \u2018men\u2019s career with women players,\u2019\u201d Pete O\u2019Donnell, game design director on EA FC 25, said during a preview event July 11. \u201cA lot of the systems behind the two mostly work the same; but it\u2019s the financial models and other things that make a really big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
EA Sports FC players can start a manager or player career in one of five leagues: England\u2019s Women\u2019s Super League; the United States\u2019 National Women\u2019s Soccer League; France\u2019s Division 1 F\u00e9minine; Spain\u2019s Liga F and Germany\u2019s Frauen-Bundesliga. Big licenses are a calling card of EA Sports\u2019 flagship sports product, O\u2019Donnell said, and the development team wanted to give the women\u2019s career the same treatment, as it also demonstrates a commitment to full parity.<\/p>\n
EA Sports FC 25 will be the second team sports video game to establish a full women\u2019s career mode. 2K Sports\u2019 NBA 2K21 was the first with \u201cThe W\u201d for the WNBA, and though it has evolved it is still a wholly separate mode that does not cross over with the game\u2019s larger MyCareer mode based on the NBA, including its open world of rec league and street park games. What O\u2019Donnell described last week is integrated within EA Sports FC 25\u2019s Career suite, including the ability to retire as a women\u2019s pro and cross over to a men\u2019s league as a coach.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s game itself in Career will emphasize youth soccer, where it plays a bigger role in developing talent for the parent club. That means the youth academy component of a manager\u2019s career will, for the first time in EA FC, include playable events \u2014 for both women\u2019s and men\u2019s career. Players who start Career in a women\u2019s league will also find tighter \u201cfinancial models,\u201d which, O\u2019Donnell mentioned, won\u2019t mean simply fewer dollars, pounds, or euros.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key kind of differences, within women\u2019s football, is the finances,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said. \u201cThey\u2019re managing tighter budgets, they\u2019re negotiating a lot shorter contracts, and women\u2019s football is a lot more people moving at the end of contracts when they\u2019re out of contract, adapting to different salary structures, and the realities of smaller transfer portals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contract negotiations for top stars are also a lot more competitive because of this, O\u2019Donnell said. Rather than consider these differences hindrances, or a throttling of the men\u2019s management system, O\u2019Donnell said they help the women\u2019s half of Career feel distinct, and present a wholly different challenge. Such nuances and emphases made their way into the mode after close consultation with experts in women\u2019s professional soccer, O\u2019Donnell said, two of whom are employed by EA Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to sit here and say, \u2018I know everything about women\u2019s football,\u2019\u201d O\u2019Donnell said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a woman on our team, Simone Laudehr, who scored the winning goal in the 2007 World Cup for Germany; we\u2019re lucky enough to have Nicole [Baxter] an ex-NWSL player. We\u2019ve been trying to surround ourselves with people who know more about [women\u2019s] football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Youth academy play answers a longstanding request<\/strong><\/h2>\nProducer Andreas Wilsdorf said that the importance of youth soccer to the women\u2019s professional game made EA FC 25 a great time to deliver on a longtime request from the game\u2019s community, and that\u2019s a playable youth academy \u2014 again, for both women\u2019s and men\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
In the past, academy operations and promotions out of it have been handled strictly in-menu. Now, when EA FC 25\u2019s gaffers visit the academy, they will be able to play with top prospects in EA FC 25\u2019s new 4v4 Rush game, to get a feel for their pace, ball-handling, movement, finishing and the like.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being able to play with your youth players just makes such a huge difference,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said. \u201cIt really brings it to life [\u2026] rather than it being on a spreadsheet, we\u2019re actually bringing it to life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rush, as described in our general preview, actually has five players, as one is an AI keeper. But it\u2019s a fast-paced game whose limited roster means each player spends more time on the ball, which in Career\u2019s case gives a manager more of a feel for what that prospect will play like, regardless of position.<\/p>\n
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Moreover, players can choose from two ways to play their budding stars in Career Rush \u2014 at their current overall rating, which will usually be somewhere in the 60s, or at their maximum potential rating, should everything go their way and they become a pro.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole idea behind this was, imagine if you could have played [Lionel] Messi when he was 15 years old,\u201d Wilsdorf explained. \u201cDoing this, we think, you\u2019ll get really attached to your youth players.\u201d<\/p>\n
These youth tournaments will take place every two months (in game time) Wilsdorf said and, yes, the players really will look like teenagers playing soccer \u2014 no more supposed 16-year-olds running around with full beards. They\u2019ll change in physique, too, as they mature, he promised.<\/p>\n
Scouting improvements will polish off your best virtual club<\/strong><\/h2>\nScouting is the other off-the-field realm in which EA Sports FC 25 players will see deeper connections and bigger results. Wilsdorf said the game is adding another 90 countries to scout, bringing the total to 160 worldwide, with the overall goal of helping players find the next gold nugget, should their top star have eyes on another team or league.<\/p>\n
Additionally, managers can direct their scouts to look at four specific positions, instead of just scouting a territory on the whole. Wilsdorf used strikers and attacking midfielders as an example, compensating for the expected loss of a top goal-scorer like Kevin de Bruyne at Manchester City.<\/p>\n
As to that, Career will reflect real-world developments in that EA FC will offer players a chance to start a career not just from the beginning of a season, but in the middle of it, after major developments have gone through.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell said these starting points will be updated on a live-service basis throughout the year, on a week-to-week basis, reflecting the roster, table, and other real-life developments among EA FC 25\u2019s 11 different licensed leagues at that point. Really impactful changes, like a manager or player switching clubs, will become their own \u201csnapshot\u201d starting point, as well.<\/p>\n
EA Sports FC 25 launches Sept. 27 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\nScouting is the other off-the-field realm in which EA Sports FC 25 players will see deeper connections and bigger results. Wilsdorf said the game is adding another 90 countries to scout, bringing the total to 160 worldwide, with the overall goal of helping players find the next gold nugget, should their top star have eyes on another team or league.<\/p>\n
Additionally, managers can direct their scouts to look at four specific positions, instead of just scouting a territory on the whole. Wilsdorf used strikers and attacking midfielders as an example, compensating for the expected loss of a top goal-scorer like Kevin de Bruyne at Manchester City.<\/p>\n
As to that, Career will reflect real-world developments in that EA FC will offer players a chance to start a career not just from the beginning of a season, but in the middle of it, after major developments have gone through.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell said these starting points will be updated on a live-service basis throughout the year, on a week-to-week basis, reflecting the roster, table, and other real-life developments among EA FC 25\u2019s 11 different licensed leagues at that point. Really impactful changes, like a manager or player switching clubs, will become their own \u201csnapshot\u201d starting point, as well.<\/p>\n
EA Sports FC 25 launches Sept. 27 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n