EA SPORTS FC 26 and the growth of women's football

EA Sports FC has added partnerships with Chelsea and Bayern Munich's women's teams and England's Lionesses, and Senior Marketing Director James Salmon spoke about how the women's game fits into EAFC 26. Salmon described rapid growth and strong engagement, noting that more than 13 billion matches have been played with a women's player in the starting XI of an Ultimate Team side, which he sees as evidence fans are using the platform to experience the women's game.

Those new agreements are less about putting teams into the game — some were already present in EAFC 25 — and more about deepening the storytelling around players. Through the EA Sports app, FC and FC Mobile, Salmon said the company can explore players’ journeys and share those stories with a highly engaged audience, mentioning Lauren James and Chloe Kelly as examples.

Stadium inclusion remains a technical, resource-intensive process rather than a simple licensing decision, Salmon explained, and EA launched an FC Feedback Hub to gather fan input on which venues to prioritise.

England

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