The best multiplayer stadiums and pitches in EA Sports FC history
From Brazilian slums to Japanese rooftops, the world’s best football game has taken fans on a global adventure. From the outlandish to the super-cool, these are some of the most memorable maps.
Launching on September 25, EA Sports FC 27 is set to feature a whopping 173 playable stadiums. And while most of these globe-spanning locations are only available in the main story, the game will take a new and innovative approach to multiplayer mayhem.
When it comes to getting the gang involved, for the first time ever, EA FC 27 will introduce The Grounds, featuring 100-player sessions, with realistic social sessions spread across a trio of real-world-inspired neighbourhoods. It’s a new approach to multiplayer unlike anything we’ve seen in the EA (or, before that, FIFA) series.
And while professional players like FIFAe World Champion Umut Gültekin and fellow football gaming legend Tekkz of RB Leipzig’s RBLZ Gaming can turn their hands (and in-game feet) to any EA FC map, fans playing at home have undoubtedly amassed fond memories of their favourite multiplayer maps over the years.
So, from VOLTA Football and FIFA Streets to EA FC 27’s The Grounds, here are some of the most iconic multiplayer maps in the franchise’s history.
01
VOLTA Football’s super cool Amsterdam
A Dutch underpass has never been more fun
© EA Sports
Introduced in FIFA 20 and running through FIFA 23, VOLTA Football was once the way to face off against your friends. Focusing on street style football, cage matches and smaller sides, VOLTA Football arguably mimicked how fans had grown up playing football in real life.
At the time it was introduced, the new mode was revolutionary, with a reworked system allowing for simplified skill moves, flairs, flicks, and even the ability to use the wall to your advantage (just try that on your local five-a-side pitch).
While EA FC 27 looks to share a similar grassroots, street-level ethos, for those that cut their teeth on VOLTA, there’s nothing quite like some of its more memorable pitches.
One of the most beloved pitches saw players take to a graffiti-strewn space beneath a bridge in Amsterdam. It’s gritty and thanks to the permanent nighttime vibe and crowds of onlookers cheering you on, it really can feel like your game is everything.
FIFA Street’s unique dockside
Taking on Wayne Rooney on a dockside is a special experience
© EA Sports
The original FIFA Street series saw three entries in 2005, 2006 and 2008, before an updated and more polished reboot in 2012. Taking a more arcade-style approach to football, the series did exactly what it promised by launching players into the nitty-gritty of local street football across 35 maps, from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro to New York.
Players weren’t limited to traditional pitches, either. Anywhere you could kick a ball, you could play FIFA Street. That means car parks, indoor gyms and rooftops, with surfaces ranging from concrete and turf to wood.
While the series didn’t inspire a life beyond its last release 14 years ago, its slightly wacky DNA has lived on in the hearts and minds of fans. Take, for example, the dockside level from FIFA Street 3. While the level might look more at home in Call of Duty, (and you may think your ball is constantly at risk of going into the water), it’s actually a pretty fun experience that harkens back to a less polished era of FIFA.
EA FC 27’s Parkside
Nothing says football like a good British kickabout
© EA Sports
EA FC 27 isn’t set to launch until September, but already The Grounds’ Parkside pitch looks set to be a special one. For English football fans, this is exactly the type of inner-city scrap of greenery where you might have practised your headers and keepie-uppies growing up. In other words, it’s heavily nostalgic, yet fresh at the same time.
Of course, this isn’t the first pitch to take us to the British streets, but with the next-generation graphics, EA FC 27 looks set to realise every aspect of British street football in sharper detail than ever before. (The Monclair level looks set to do the same for French fans). In other words, this looks like a map fans will surely still be talking about and playing a decade from now.
VOLTA Football’s futuristic Tokyo
Do football pitches get much cooler than this?
© EA Sports
First appearing in FIFA 20, VOLTA’s Tokyo map might be the coolest pitch ever created in a game. Designed in collaboration with the Adidas Tango League, the high-rise rooftop takes a fictional spin on the Japanese capital, inspired by neon-heavy neighbourhoods like Shibuya and Shinjuku.
This one’s all atmosphere. For a moment, it can feel like you’re playing in a futuristic anime like Ghost in the Shell, or even Blade Runner.
Fancy a replay? Don’t skip the VOLTA Story mode, where you can unlock football freestyle star Kotaro Tokuda and recruit him to your team.
FIFA Street 2012’s legendary Favela
The Rio de Janeiro favela is an all-timer
© EA Sports
The FIFA Street reboot promised "the first true quality street football experience," and it’s fair to say it lived up to the claim, with a more grounded take on street football. The environments were more down-to-earth, while still eye-poppingly varied. The cartoon-like visuals were toned down without losing pace and there was an emphasis on tricks and set pieces.
The famous Favela pitch was inspired by a real-life rooftop football court located in the Tavares Bastos favela in Rio de Janeiro. Arguably the standout of the game, it’s so beloved that EA FC and FIFA players still make the pilgrimage to play there in real life today.
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