There is nothing more infuriating than dropping into an EA FC 26 match, having your opponent quit/disconnect midway, and then the game ending in a draw. Today, EA has finally addressed this gigantic issue, and you’re now more likely to be awarded a win sooner if your opponent quits or disconnects from the match. The change was announced today by the official EA Sports FC Direct account on X/Twitter, and early fan reactions are positive.
Justice, At Long Last
Previously, if your opponent quit or disconnected before halftime (45 in-game minutes) in Live Events, Rivals, or Champions, the match would end in a draw. This rule would not account for the fact that you were dominating or clearly ahead. The only exceptions were if the other player conceded a penalty or received a red card, in which case the remaining player gets the win.
Now, EA has lowered the threshold from 45 to 20 in-game minutes, meaning you’ll get the win much sooner if your opponent leaves after the early stages of the match. The penalty and red card conditions remain the same. To prevent potential abuse of this system, players will only receive a win from this system five times per day. The limit resets daily at 00:00 UTC.
This change is being widely praised as a fair and practical quality-of-life improvement to the game. It discourages rage quitting as your opponents now have more to lose, with early exits counting as a loss rather than draws. You also save time by not having to replay matches to earn lost progress. It is bizarre that they took this long to fix this issue, but we’re happy nonetheless that it’s being addressed at all. Now, if they can look to somehow address goalkeeper movement while they’re at it, that would be great.
