The WSC Pro-Rel Experiment: a FC 26 Career Mode RTG

Finding interesting and creative ways to play EA FC Career Mode can be challenging. Every year, players explore the leagues of the game to discover new teams, interesting challenges, and unique ways to engage with the gameplay.

I am a dedicated FC nerd. I have been playing this game religiously since FIFA 07, when I was just a wee 7-year-old starting to fall in love with football. By 2015, during my high school years, I began to tire of the usual FIFA saves. Playing with popular teams simply lost its appeal.

Around that time, I discovered a YouTuber named Cutzy who had been creating “Youth Academy Road to Glory” career modes for a couple of years. The premise was straightforward: take an English club from EFL League Two to the Champions League final. The only players allowed were those generated by the game, either through the youth academy feature or regenerated players from retirees. It sounded simple enough.

By FIFA 17, many of my career mode saves revolved around these generated players. That was nearly a decade ago, and I have continued playing this way since. However, after five or six years of this consistent setup, I began to create custom databases to explore even more daunting and creative saves.

The Limitations of Modding

Before you think, “Why not play modded?” my computer cannot handle modded FC. It struggles with a regular Football Manager database and save, but that’s a different story…

When Westchester SC was announced in the summer of 2024, I immediately envisioned using Westchester in FC 24 for a “Create-a-club” save. I moved all MLS clubs to the EPL and EFL Championship, created WSC in EFL League Two, and embarked on a “normal” Road to Glory with the club. For the first time in years, I allowed myself to use real players alongside youth academy products and “regens.”

In that save, my first signing was Kemar Lawrence, who had been playing in the Romanian league. To my delight, I was spot on. Kemar became the first WSC signing just a few months later. I also researched local soccer players and signed others for WSC: Dante Polvara of Aberdeen (from Pleasantville, NY), Pierre da Silva of Cusco FC (from Port Chester, NY), Will Sands of the Columbus Crew (now New England Rev, younger brother of James Sands, from Rye, NY), and Luca Koleosho of Burnley (from Norwalk, CT). Each of these players, except for the aging Lawrence, remained a part of that save until the end.

The Unsatisfying Conclusion

However, the conclusion was not as fulfilling as most of my other saves. Typically, my goal would be to win the UCL. Yet, with FC 25 releasing the same week I began the final season of that save, I made a cardinal rule: I set a deadline, deciding that would be the final season. Despite our best efforts and the star academy product Ethan Anderson, a 25-year-old American LW by the end of the save, we could only finish 3rd in the American Premier League (behind Inter Miami and NYCFC) and suffered a semifinal exit in the UCL to Bayer Leverkusen. We did win the FA Cup (or US Open Cup, I guess?), but I was left unfulfilled.

A Fresh Start

Last year, my second save on FC 25 revisited that same idea. This time, however, I did not place any American teams in the English leagues. Instead, the database I created was straightforward. Westchester would need to climb the English leagues to become the best team in the world.

With only regens and academy products allowed, this save proved more daunting. After twelve seasons of building the best team possible, we won the treble, losing only one game in the Premier League. We hoisted the league, FA Cup, and UCL trophies. The stars of the show included 6’5” ginger American DM Cody Adams (who came through at RB Leipzig), Haitian LW Pascal Delatour (95 rated in the last season, an academy product who played ten seasons), American RW/AM Luke Tremblay (another 90+ academy boy), and Mexican ST Juan Carlos Villalba (92 rated and a killer signed out of free agency in season five).

The New Challenge Awaits

Following the end of WSC Season One a few weeks ago and the start of the current MLS playoffs, I have decided to undertake another WSC save on FC 26. This time, I will be using a heavily modified custom database. Since I am playing with custom squads on the console, there had to be a sacrifice. The German leagues became the victims of this setup.

All eighteen Bundesliga teams, plus twelve from Bundesliga 2, will be moved to the MLS, operating as a “German Super League.” To fill the eighteen Bundesliga spots, I replaced each Bundesliga team with the eighteen teams that qualified for the 2025 MLS Playoffs. The remaining twelve MLS teams were swapped with twelve Bundesliga 2 teams. For the other six Bundesliga 2 teams (in this save, they are Magdeburg, Elversburg, Furth, Dresden, Munster, and Karlsruhe), I adapted their squads.

Adding Extra Challenges

To add an extra layer of challenge, I included all former MLS players abroad back to their former MLS clubs. For instance, Taty Castellanos is now on NYCFC, Tyler Adams is on NYRB, and so on. Additionally, any USMNT or Canadian internationals who have not played in MLS have also been added to an MLS team. Notable examples include Christian Pulisic to Philly, Malik Tillman to San Diego, Flo Balogun to DC, Jonathan David to Montreal, and Promise David to Toronto.

Since all the former MLS clubs are now loaded with players, and the remaining German teams in Bundesliga 2 feel random, I built regional “USL” teams on the six remaining Bundesliga 2 teams. Remember, it is impossible to modify these teams on console, so in-game their names will remain German, but they will be represented as such.

• Elversburg will be “Sacramento Republic,” featuring players from LA Galaxy, LAFC, San Diego, San Jose, and Toronto (who could not fit into the Northeast team, which was fully loaded).

• Furth will be “Colorado Springs Switchbacks,” with players from Portland, RSL, Colorado Rapids, Vancouver, and Seattle.

• Dresden will be “Detroit City,” with players from Chicago, Minnesota, Columbus, Cincy, and Nashville.

• Magdeburg will be “Hartford Athletic,” with players from NYCFC, NYRB, New England, Montreal, and Philadelphia.

• Munster will be “Charleston Battery,” with players from Inter Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Charlotte, and DC United.

• Lastly, Karlsruhe will be “FC Tulsa,” with players from Austin, Dallas, Houston, Sporting KC, and St. Louis.

  
  

WSC squad on FC 26, as of 11/1/25: https://sofifa.com/squad/2324642 

Lastly, I have created a custom Westchester SC squad based on the FM26 ratings of Westchester SC, which is available on SoFIFA. For anyone interested, that squad is linked in this post. However, I will not be using a custom or realistic WSC squad in the save, as the potentials of each player would be unrealistically high, making the save less challenging. Thus, WSC will be placed in 3. Liga, one level below all the custom American squads above, with a modified 3. Liga database where each team loses some of their best players. Why? If one of those teams had gone up to Bundesliga 2, they would be able to compete with the American squads, and, in my opinion, there is no fun in that.

Below, I will also post the year one squad for Westchester SC in this save, as generated by the game. Our best players, at least for now, are pacy Italian LW Fabio Schillaci, 6’7” Swedish ST Henry Omsberg, and American CB Bruno Theall.

See you at the end of season one!