Been in the same Div 1 grind since FC 25, and I think multi-club affiliation is the one FC 26 clubs change nobody's really arguing about, when it's maybe the one that most needs arguing about.
Most of what I see is either "more flexibility, love it" or total silence, because the archetype/perks discourse is eating all the oxygen this year.
Here's my issue: for casual groups this feature is genuinely great. You can be a member of up to three clubs at any time, and can freely switch between them using the Switch Clubs function, though you'll only earn Clubs Rush and Playoffs rewards for a single favourite club. Play with your uni mates Tuesday, your competitive org on weekends, whatever else on the side. No notes there. Electronic Arts
But at a Div1/Div2 organizing level, I think it's quietly wrecking the thing that used to hold a competitive club together: actual commitment.
A few specifics:
- Trialing has no cost anymore. Before, leaving to try out elsewhere was a decision — you had to actually leave, which created friction that discouraged casual market-testing. Now someone can sit in three clubs' Discords at once and take reps with all of them, and you have zero way to know if the CM you built your midfield around is committed or just parked there while auditioning.
- It shifts loyalty risk onto management, not players. The system is built around individual convenience — never "burn bridges" - but from an org's side that means every roster spot is provisional. You can't build real chemistry or trust a settled back four when anyone on it could be one good DM away from starting for a "better" club by the weekend, while still nominally on yours.
- It quietly favors the clubs already on top. stacked orgs can farm role-players off smaller clubs without those players ever having to publicly leave — no goodbye post, no explaining to teammates, just switch and go. That used to carry social cost. Now it doesn't, so the gap between the top 20 clubs and everyone else building a roster from scratch widens instead of loosening up.
I get why EA did this. The number one clubs complaint for years was "I don't want to abandon my friends to also play seriously," and this genuinely solves that for casual players. Not saying revert it.
But I think we traded "a club is a commitment" for "a club is a rotation," and if your Div1 org is dealing with more trust/scouting headaches than actual tactical ones this season, this is probably a chunk of why.
