FC Pro 27: EA spreads US$2.5 million across six stages of the season

Six lines and one total: that is how EA Sports presents the money of its next competitive season. In the deep dive on FC Pro 27 that the publisher posted on its FC Pro pages on August 27, a section called Prizing Overview gives US$2,500,000 for the season, with a prize pool for each of the six stages that pay. The largest is the FC Pro World Championship, at US$1,000,000. The smallest is the FC Pro Open Global Qualifier, at US$152,000.

FC Pro is the name EA gives to the official circuit of EA Sports FC, its soccer video game, in which professionals play one against one. FC Pro 27 is the season played on the new edition of the game, EA Sports FC 27. It starts online on September 21, 2026.

EA adds one line of small print to its total: the US$2,500,000 excludes the prize pools of partner leagues and licensed events, the competitions EA runs with soccer leagues or licenses to other organizers, which also feed the circuit.

EA Sports, FC Pro 27 deep dive, published August 27, 2026. Partner league and licensed event prize pools are not counted.

The six pools, from largest to smallest

The World Championship takes 40% of the season's money on its own. The other US$1,500,000 is spread over five stages that come before it, and none of those five carries more than the US$533,000 of the FC Pro Open, the live event that runs through the winter.

The season follows two paths, and the money can be read the same way. The path to the FC Pro Open holds two paying stages, the Global Qualifier and the Open itself: US$685,000 together. The path to the World Championship holds four, the Open Cups, the Last Chance Qualifier, the Play-Ins and the final tournament: US$1,815,000 together.

The publisher's page stops at the pool of each stage. It prints no table by placing, so the amount that goes to a winner, a finalist or a player knocked out in the first round is not known for any of the six.

Two stages that pay nothing, and why they matter

The season opens with two rounds that carry no prize pool at all, and almost every player in the circuit starts there.

The first is the FC Pro Open Ladder, from September 21 to October 3. It is played inside the game, in the Ultimate Team mode, with no outside registration. A player who has reached Division 5 or higher in Division Rivals, the game's ranked online mode, gets access from a menu, and what counts is the highest skill rating reached at any point of the 13 days. EA sends 1,376 players on PlayStation 5 through to the next round, shared between ten regions. Players on Xbox Series X|S can earn the in-game rewards of the ladder, but only PlayStation 5 players advance.

The second is the Regional Qualifiers, played online on October 10 and 11: a first day in the Swiss system, in which players with the same record meet each other round after round, and a second day in double elimination, where a player is out after two defeats. Of the 1,376 players, 52 go through.

The regional shares are fixed in advance. Western Europe and Eastern Europe have 12 places each, southern Latin America has eight, the Middle East six, Africa four, and northern Latin America, North America, Oceania and the two Asian regions two each. The Middle East region also grows this season: EA said residents of Bahrain, Jordan, Libya and Oman are now eligible.

Where the first US$685,000 is played for

The first check of the season is written in London. The Global Qualifier is held there in person from November 5 to 7, with a pool of US$152,000 for 64 players: the 52 who came through the regions and 12 invited players, those who finished fifth to 16th at last season's FC Pro Open.

All 64 play five Swiss rounds. The best 32 are then placed in four double-elimination brackets of eight, and the top four of each bracket, 16 players in all, qualify for the FC Pro Open. EA notes that this qualifier has no last chance round of its own this season.

The FC Pro Open carries US$533,000, the second pool of the season, and it is the longest event on the calendar. Its group stage runs from November 30, 2026, to January 18, 2027, over eight match days, and its Finals are played on January 25. There are 24 players: the 16 qualifiers and eight invited players, the top four of last season's FC Pro Open and the top four of the last World Championship. They are drawn into four groups of six that play a double round-robin, each player meeting the others of the group twice.

What a group place is worth at the Open is described in sporting terms, not in dollars. First place in a group earns a seat at the World Championship. Second and third go on to the Finals, a single-elimination bracket of 12 players in which every quarter-finalist is invited to the World Championship. Fourth place brings an invitation to next season's Global Qualifier. Fifth and sixth start over next season.

Eight seats at the World Championship are therefore handed out at an event that also pays US$533,000, before the season's largest pool is played for.

The second road: cups, a last chance and Play-Ins

A player who misses the Open, or never reaches it, has another way in, and EA has put US$815,000 on it before the World Championship itself.

It starts with the FC Pro Open Cups, three of them, with US$315,000 for the set. Each cup is a short ladder followed by a two-day playoff of 1,376 players, Swiss on the first day and single elimination on the second. The ladders run from October 29 to November 3, December 15 to 20 and January 11 to 16; the playoffs are on November 21 and 22, January 2 and 3, and February 6 and 7. EA gives one pool for the three cups and does not say how it is divided between them.

The cups also award Circuit Points. The best point earners over the three cups take 28 places in the World Championship Play-Ins, with fixed shares again: six each for the two European regions and two for each of the other eight.

The Last Chance Qualifier comes next, with US$248,000 and a field of at least 512 players. Its dates and its registration are to be announced later.

The Play-Ins gather 64 players, from the cups, from selected leagues and from the Last Chance Qualifier, for US$252,000. The format has three layers: a Swiss stage, a double-elimination playoff whose best players qualify for the World Championship, and a single-elimination survival round for the last places. The deep dive does not say how many seats the Play-Ins award.

A million dollars for 36 players

The FC Pro World Championship closes the season with US$1,000,000 and 36 players: the eight who qualified at the FC Pro Open, plus those who come through selected leagues and the Play-Ins.

It opens with a League Stage, which EA brings back after introducing it last season. The players are seeded into six pools by the FC Pro World Rankings, the points table of the circuit, and each plays six matches, one against a player of each pool. All results go into a single table of 36. The top eight go straight to the Round of 16, the players placed ninth to 24th play a Round of 24, which leaves the last 12 out, as in the last edition. From there it is single elimination to the final. The winner lifts what EA calls the Diogo Jota FC Pro World Championship trophy.

How it compares with the season just ended

The only earlier figure EA has published in the same terms concerns the last World Championship. In its review of that tournament, posted on July 29, the publisher wrote that it was played over five days in Paris, at the Esports World Cup, with 36 players and a prize pool exceeding US$1 million. RvPLegend10 won it, beating levyfinn 6-5 in the final.

The format was the one announced again for FC Pro 27: a league phase of six matches each, eight players sent directly to the Round of 16, 16 more into a Round of 24. The pool announced for next season's edition is US$1,000,000.

The deep dive makes no comparison with the FC Pro 26 season as a whole, and gives no earlier total to set against the US$2,500,000.

What EA has not yet published

Three things are missing from the money side of the announcement. The first is the split by placing inside each of the six pools. The second is the prize money of the partner leagues and licensed events, which EA counts apart. The third is the calendar of the last three stages: the Last Chance Qualifier has no date yet, and the page sets no day for the Play-Ins or the World Championship.

The first dates, by contrast, are close. The ladder opens on September 21 and closes on October 3, the Regional Qualifiers follow a week later, and the first prize pool of FC Pro 27 is played for in London from November 5.

The .esports registry publishes Esports Observer, so the whole scene can read its news for free.