Best FC 26 Formations & Custom Tactics (With Codes)

Top 5 Tactics and Formations right now in FC 26

Tactics are very important to changing the way you play, but every play has different styles, some prefer narrow systems others prefer wider systems. Here are the best formations and Tactics

Best EA FC 26 Defensive Tactic

The 4-2-1-3 is a fairly new formation it was first introduced in EA FC 25, but the reason why it’s so effective is it has a Left Winger & Right Winger they both stay high up the pitch to exploit opponents fullbacks, then you have two CDM’s holding the line when you lose the ball in transitions. Making it the perfect all-rounder.
This is a perfect formation as a combination of the defence and attack – stable is the word I like to use – if you do get counter attacked you have two CDMs to protect you, when you go forward you have that CAM and then the wingers.

Top Tip: The 4213 was the best formation overall last year, it would probably be the same until the META is fully established, but either way I would predict it would maintain a top 3 position due to its effectiveness until the end of the cycle, its definitely a formation you would like to keep in your arsenal.

They key is being patience, I have millions of people improving FC and I’ve personally coached thousands, if you are emotional when you play this game you will lose, think about it, just close your eyes and think for a second how many times have you been inside a game when you were so close to winning, or maybe the game was so close but emotions let you override your decisions, ultimately being emotional and frustrated is the biggest kryptonite, for my research I found that: majority of losses is due to players conceding or making a mistake when they are either emotional or frustrated. When you become frustrated and emotional you make silly mistakes running out with your defenders etc, remember no formation can save you if you run out with your defenders and leaving massive gaps in-behind. Its like leaving your house with front wide door open, and surprised that some random person walked inside.

The benefit of this formation is it also helps you play a bit slower, because you don’t have all those attacking players you have to build up a bit more meticulously it indirectly force you to play slower, this is a good start of formation if you’re ever unsure always go back to this formation.

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NealGuides is a gameplay expert with one of the biggest tutorial channels for EA FC 26. He has repeatedly predicted powerful META mechanics in advance and turned them into practical guides that help players improve. He is also one of the very few members part of the EA Design Council, in which he travels to EA headquarters multiple times per year to play the game and provide feedback and as a consultant.

Through his 20 years of extensive football simulation knowledge, he now focuses on helping the average player get better at the game. He has coached over 10,000s of people exclusively through his FC School, and his YouTube channel boasts over 300,000 subscribers, with over 100 million views across all platforms. Best known for his tactics, he breaks down each tactic and formation exploring the different variations and adjustments for the viewers style, all his formations that he releases are testing by him and members of different skill levels before being released.

Best 4213 Tactics to pair with this Formation

The best tactics to pair with this would be a balanced defensive style (to be precise around 45), I would say specially if you’re trying to use a formation and you’re trying to adapt to a game, use it more as a template as a baseline, don’t go to the extreme such as deep, which actually I would never use, and don’t go to high, although high might be aggressive an you might see a lot of professional players using it but they have the experience.

I would suggest using the counter build up style, now remember counter doesn’t mean that you’re going to be playing counter attack football, but it just means that you’re telling players to make runs in behind when you turn over possession and start attacking your opponents half.

For the roles, I would go with two CDMs on deep lying playmaker, definitely try the new “box crasher” – which I think is very effective – which can allow a CDM to go forward and attack if you want to enhance the attacking ability of the formation.
Keep your fullbacks on defensive, as you want them to stay back, for a more attacking approach you can consider your LW/RW being on “inside forward” the best AI attacking movement for the LW/RW or alternatively the “winger” role which is slightly more versatile if you want them to stay wide.

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Do not forget to pre-load your game to get ahead and start playing as soon as the game comes out, you can find out on my dedicated page explaining how to preload FC 26.

Best Formation in FC 26: 4-4-2 (Best for attacking/pressing when losing)

Another favourite of mine, however this formation requires skill to be played, think you’re driving a Formula One car let’s say you may be a good driver in real life when you drive your normal car on the road, but if you imagine you sat in a Formula One Car and you was about to race, do you think you’ll be able to compete with the best Formula One racers?

You might be thinking, one earth am I talking about?
What I’m trying to say is this formation unlike the last one requires a lot of skill, the reason is you don’t have those CDM for protection, CDMs naturally sit deeper therefore when you lose the ball that almost in a perfect position to intercept the ball, or they are in the right palace to “sweep up the danger”, with a 442 the flat version, you have CMs, they are notoriously known to be very inactive during defending and this is more for pressing, think of this formation with two strikers can have an old school approach of using wing play, with two strikers you’re more aggressive and attacking, and this is the perfect formation to press if you will losing, a lot of top tier players use this formation throughout the entire game, but I must emphasise again, this formation will scale with the skill of your gameplay.

This is explained further on some of my YouTube videos & in detail in my FC school on how to use this formation.

Best Custom Tactics for 4-4-2 to pair with the formation

The classic 442. Do not forget that this has no CDMs; the flat 4-4-2 has centre midfielders (CMs) what I recommend to be aggressive is using a CM playmaker and CM box-to-box (but risky and will high depend on your skill level)

However, this can sometimes be seen as too aggressive. If you’re reading this and you know that you’re struggling with the game, a lot of professional players use a similar system to what I just said above; however, it’s sometimes better to be a bit more conservative initially. Then you can become more aggressive and increase it as you need to be, so if you are in doubt just use two holding players. You can always trigger players going forward manually if you need to; otherwise, you can put one of the players on a box-to-box role.

If you want a more conservative option for two CM formations in general, have a look at my suggestions below:

1. (Attacking) Both CMs on box-to-box players,
2. (Balanced) One CM playmaker and one holding player.
3. (Defensive) One CM Deep Lying Playmaker (Defend) and One CM on holding.

For the LM/RM, use the inside forward, and for the strikers, put one ST on advanced forward and the other on poacher. This way you have different attacking AI movement, rather than the same movement for both players.

For the full-backs, consider leaving them on defend, and, if need be, trigger them forward yourself (by pressing L1/LB).
Note: If I don’t mention the other positions just leave them on “default” i.e. Defenders to stay on Defender-Defend.

Best Formation in FC 26: 4-4-1-1 (Favoured by the PROs )

I want you to think of this formation like a combination of the two above, it’s like 442 and a 4213 had a baby. Now just like the 442 two you don’t have any CDM, but since you have that CAM, its much easier to build the ball up in the final third, especially if you struggle without that “10” in the middle. The main benefit is that its a more “attacking” version of a 4213, lets say you are losing, you want to change, but you need that 10 in the middle to link up your play in the attack, you have the same system, but just CMs instead of CDMs.

Also defensively, you have a bit of help, that CAM can help by dropping deeper and helping you have another player to press and run back with. Just make sure the role is not on a Shadow Striker (as this CAM will act as a striker almost, making runs forward and wont come back defensive, unless YOU manually drag that player back).

And that’s all for the tactics, I will guarantee you this if you read this with the game comes out, come back at the end of the year and you will see that these are some of the top formations at least top five inside the game, the metre in terms of gameplay may change, but formations do not, it’s just how you use the formation is key. I would suggest using a variation of all three, 442 for pressing/when losing, 4213 for a balance state or to be a bit more defensive, and use that 4411 to have your CMs push up help recycle the ball outside your opponents box, or in a perfect place for a long shot.

Best Tactics to pair with this formation (4411)

The tactics for this formation I would suggest putting the LM/RM that are more conservative than LW/RW on inside forward, however, since you have CMs they sit higher up the pitch, allowing them to join the attack and be involved.
I would say for advanced users two box-to-boxes or one playmaker and one box-to-box combination is really good for attacking.

For new players I would suggest one CM on Holding, just so you can stay back and have a defensive option holding the line when you lose the ball, you have that “Matic” style player protecting the defence.
Keep the CAM on the playmaker and consider the strikers either Advanced Forward or Poacher

Top Tip: if you give any top professional player any formation with any team they will still win the game, all you need is the basics and the fundamentals, mechanic abusing is important to use, but only at that level, you can very easily get to the Elite Division with the most basic gameplay, I do it every year, and so does thousands of people that I have coached.

Honourable Mentions & Considerations

These formations are very effective, but there are also other formations that can be useful. Feel free to experiment, the key is always changing the roles to make the formation play the way you want to play, copying a code and a tactics is going to give you that last 10% difference, that you will need to find yourself. I go through and explain the roles and most different variations in my youtube channel.

Key Takeaways

Best formation for the casual player all-rounder 4-2-1-3
Best formation for pressing the ball when losing 4-4-2
A more attacking variation of the 4-2-1-3 is the 4-4-1-1, as CMs sit higher than CDMs
Always adjust tactics to your own playstyle
If you are unsure, see my tactics list of codes and formations.

Neal Guides

I am NealGuides, I run a Youtube Channel with over 300k+ Subscribers helping people get better at FC 26. We have helped millions of people improve.
I am part of the EA Design Council, in which I have played EA FC 26 early and provide feedback on the game to help shape its future.
I have coached many players in FC from the average casual, to pros, to real life footballers. If you want to improve at FC join my FC school series.