{"id":80087,"date":"2025-09-16T10:44:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T09:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/?p=80087"},"modified":"2025-09-16T10:44:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T09:44:22","slug":"ea-fc-26-how-to-play-early-complete-guide-using-the-new-zealand-settings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/ea-fc-26-how-to-play-early-complete-guide-using-the-new-zealand-settings\/","title":{"rendered":"EA FC 26 How To Play  Early: Complete Guide Using The New Zealand Settings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Early Access <\/strong>for <strong>EA FC 26 <\/strong>is almost here. If you\u2019ve <strong>pre-ordered<\/strong> the <strong>Ultimate digital edition<\/strong> on <strong>Xbox Series X\/S <\/strong>or <strong>Xbox One<\/strong>, you can even jump in a<strong> few hours earlier<\/strong> by taking advantage of the <strong>New Zealand trick<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s a <strong>step-by-step guide<\/strong> on how to unlock <strong>EA FC 26 in advance<\/strong>. By setting your console language to <strong>English <\/strong>and your location to <strong>New Zealand<\/strong>, you can access the latest chapter of the Canadian studio\u2019s football simulator several hours before the official European release, around <strong>1:00 PM UK time on 18 September<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once you\u2019ve changed your settings, simply<strong> restart your console<\/strong> and launch the game. At present, this method doesn\u2019t appear to work on other platforms such as <strong>PlayStation 5<\/strong> or <strong>PlayStation 4<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The official unlock time is <strong>midnight in New Zealand between 18 and 19 September<\/strong>, which lines up with <strong>1:00 PM UK time<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Knowing that many players will be ready to use this clever trick again this year, we\u2019ve put together a guide to help you configure your Xbox correctly and enjoy early access to EA FC 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you haven\u2019t already, we recommend checking out our guide on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/ea-fc-26-how-to-unlock-the-transfer-market-in-web-app-companion-app\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"79756\">how to unlock the transfer market in the Web App and Companion App<\/a><\/strong>, both of which will be released on 17 September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We also remind you that on our pages, you\u2019ll find a guide on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/ea-fc-26-cheap-starter-squads-with-low-budget-for-ultimate-team\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"79974\">how to build budget squads that will help you climb the Division Rivals ladder quickly and compete in the finals of the FUT Champions Weekend League<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pre-Order EA FC 26 Ultimate Edition<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To begin your early access journey, you\u2019ll need to <strong>pre-order the EA FC 26 Ultimate Edition<\/strong>. This is the version that includes early access, so make sure you\u2019ve secured it before moving on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Configure Your Xbox Settings<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Set Language to English (Australia):<\/strong> Early access for<strong> EA FC 26<\/strong> is typically tied to this language option, so make sure your <strong>Xbox <\/strong>is set accordingly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Change Region to New Zealand:<\/strong> Go into your<strong> Xbox settings<\/strong> and head to the \u201c<strong>System<\/strong>\u201d tab. Under \u201c<strong>Language &amp; Location<\/strong>,\u201d select \u201c<strong>New Zealand<\/strong>\u201d as your location. This little time zone trick is the key to unlocking the game early.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Restart Your Xbox Console<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Once you\u2019ve adjusted your settings,<strong> restart your Xbox<\/strong>. This ensures the changes take effect properly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Launch EA FC 26<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>When your console is back up and running, launch EA FC 26. If you\u2019ve followed all the steps correctly, you\u2019ll be playing ahead of the official release time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stay tuned to our pages, we\u2019ll soon publish guides to help you get off to the best possible start in both Division Rivals and the Champions Weekend League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>EA Sports FC 26<\/strong>\u00a0is now available\u00a0on <strong>PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Steam, and Nintendo Switch<\/strong>. Follow us on our social media channels <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/futukofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ultimateteam_uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Twitter<\/strong><\/a>, for more news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Play EA FC 26 Early by Switching Your Account Nationality from UK to New Zealand on Xbox Series X\/S or One<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":80093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4038],"tags":[4075,2435],"class_list":["post-80087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ea-fc-26","tag-ea-fc-26","tag-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fifaultimateteam.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}