FC 27's New SBCs Have Fans Split: Genius Fix or Dumbed Down?
Published 2026-08-26 · DB.Coins Blog
What actually changed with SBCs in FC 27
EA has split Squad Building Challenges into two flavours for FC 27. Most Player and Upgrade SBCs now use a new "Streamlined" format: instead of assembling an 11-man squad around chemistry, position, and overall rating walls, you just hit a target score. Submit any mix of eligible players — including duplicates of the exact same card — until you cross the threshold, and you don't have to do it all in one sitting.
Traditional full-squad SBCs haven't disappeared entirely, but the streamlined format is clearly where EA wants most of the mode's grind to live from here on.
Why the closed beta crowd is split down the middle
Since closed beta footage and patch notes started circulating this week, timelines have been arguing about whether this is the best UT quality-of-life change in years or the moment EA finally flattened what made Squad Building Challenges interesting.
The veteran case against it: longtime traders and grinders on Reddit and X are worried this guts the puzzle-solving side of SBCs. Half the appeal of the old system was hunting for the exact cheap combination of positions, nationalities, and leagues to hit a chemistry requirement — a skill that separated efficient traders from everyone else. A pure "submit anything until the number goes up" model removes that entirely, and some longtime players are calling it another sign that EA is smoothing the mode into something anyone can brute-force with coins rather than planning.
The counterargument: a large chunk of the community — especially players with less time to sit and theory-craft squads — are treating this as a straightforward win. No more getting stuck one silver Bundesliga card short of a chemistry requirement, no more losing 45 minutes to a squad that doesn't quite fit. Being able to submit duplicate cards and finish an SBC across multiple sessions is being welcomed as one of the more sensible changes EA has made to Ultimate Team in years.
There's a third strand of the discussion too: some fans are folding this into a broader fatigue with FC 27's pre-release messaging, pointing out the gameplay trailer got a lukewarm "nothing new" reception on social media, and joking that yet another "we listened" cycle is coming whether the community actually asked for this specific change or not.
What it means for your coins
This is the part that matters most for traders. A score-based system almost certainly changes how fodder gets valued. When squads needed specific positions and leagues, low-rated cards from obscure clubs could spike in price around SBC releases. If any eligible card of the right rating band now counts toward a flat score target, expect fodder pricing to flatten out and become less about squad-specific scarcity and more about pure overall rating and quantity.
Early SBC completions after launch will likely go faster and cheaper in bulk than FC 26's did, which could soften prices on low-to-mid rated gold cards early in the cycle — worth watching if you're stockpiling fodder ahead of release. It also means less of an edge for players who were good at squad-building logistics, and more of an edge for anyone simply holding coins when a new SBC drops.
Our take
Streamlined SBCs are a genuine simplification, not a nerf to the mode's value — EA has just moved the skill from "build a clever squad" to "have the coins ready when it matters." For most FC 27 players that's a welcome trade, even if the loudest voices online are the ones missing the old puzzle. Either way, having a healthy coin balance heading into launch week will matter more than ever once the streamlined SBC grind actually opens up.
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