Football fans worldwide are counting down to a major release — EA Sports FC26, the newest installment of the iconic franchise, drops in just a few days. Electronic Arts recently held an official livestream with the first look at FC26 gameplay. As always, the event featured celebrity guests and plenty of giveaways for the audience.
On September 16, the official EA Sports FC channels on Twitch and YouTube aired a two-hour stream showcasing EA Sports FC26’s gameplay and new features. Viewers could earn player card packs and other in-game rewards just by watching. The broadcast also included special activities where fans had the chance to win full copies of the game.
For the first EA Sports FC26 gameplay stream, the organizers brought in a star-studded lineup of guests. Legendary commentators Derek Rae and Stewart Robson — long recognized as two of the most iconic voices of the franchise — were joined by current and former pro players James Maddison, Chloe Kelly, Adebayo Akinfenwa, and David Beckham, rapper Skepta, football insider Fabrizio Romano, and many popular streamers and YouTubers.
Throughout the broadcast, guests faced off in FC26 matches, highlighting the game’s new features while also taking on fun in-game challenges.
Official broadcasts on EA Sports channels
The FC26 gameplay stream on the EASportFC Twitch channel peaked at 208.9K viewers, making it the channel’s biggest broadcast of 2025 and the eighth most-popular in its history. Meanwhile, the YouTube stream reached 86.5K concurrent viewers — the channel’s best performance since July 2023, when it featured the first gameplay reveal of FC23.
Several popular streamers also got early access to FC26, including Mario Alonso “DjMaRiiO” Gallardo, Elias “Eliasn97” Nerlich, Michael “AuzioMF” Faria, and Morgan Samley “Angry Ginge” Burtwistle. While many didn’t focus much on actual matches, they drew big audiences by opening player card packs live on stream.
Most popular categories on Twitch
The combination of the gameplay reveal and early access helped EA Sports FC26 hit 1.2 million watch hours on Twitch in its very first day. That made it the fourth most-watched game on the platform. In terms of peak concurrent viewers, the FC26 category even claimed the top spot, beating out Grand Theft Auto V, League of Legends, and Counter-Strike.
EA Sports FC26 streams are only going to grow in number. Starting September 19, Ultimate Edition owners will get early access, followed by the game’s full release on September 26.
