AFL 26

Overview

AFL 26 is a sports game from developer Big Ant Studios and publisher Nacon, released in 2025. It brings AFL and AFLW football together with modes focused on building a squad, developing a player’s career, and coaching a team. Its match presentation aims to evoke the noise and drama of the sport, with lifelike gameplay, crowds, and commentary.

The game covers the journey on and off the field. You can shape a team over multiple seasons, follow a player from draft ambitions into their career, or make decisions as a coach about the list, player development, and tactics on game day. The feature set also includes local and online competitive and co-operative play.

Key features

Build a squad in Pro Team

Pro Team centres on assembling and improving a squad, then taking it through seasonal challenges. Progress unlocks rewards and opportunities to upgrade the team, with rivals providing the measure of how well your lineup performs.

Follow a player’s career

Player Career puts you in the role of an emerging footballer. The mode follows a player’s progression from draft day through training, setbacks, milestones, and matches in either the AFL or AFLW.

Make the calls as coach

Management Career focuses on guiding a club over time. You manage the list, develop younger players, and make tactical adjustments during matches, with the aim of building toward premiership success.

Play together or compete

AFL 26 supports single-player as well as multiplayer, PvP, and co-op. These options include online play and shared-screen play, so the listed modes cover both networked sessions and playing together locally. Steam Achievements are also included.

Platforms

AFL 26 is listed for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X|S. The Steam listing specifies Windows and includes the game’s online and shared-screen play options.

Who it's for

AFL and AFLW fans have several ways to engage with a season: develop a squad in Pro Team, follow an individual player’s rise, or take responsibility for a club’s roster and match decisions. The range of online and shared-screen PvP and co-op also makes the game relevant to players who want to compete or play cooperatively with others. The listed features do not specify dedicated servers, mod support, or streaming tools.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Three distinct career and progression angles, spanning squad building, an individual player journey, and team management.
• Both AFL and AFLW are represented in Player Career.
• Online and shared-screen options are listed for competitive and co-operative play.

Cons

• The available feature details do not explain how online matchmaking or co-op sessions work.
• The listed platforms are limited to Windows and Xbox Series X|S.
• No server-hosting or modding features are specified.

Alternatives

For other sports games from Big Ant Studios, consider Rugby 25, Tiebreak, AFL 23, Cricket 22, AO Tennis 2, Tennis World Tour 2, Cricket 19, and AO International Tennis. See more games by Big Ant Studios.

Verdict

AFL 26 is built around the many roles involved in following a football club: constructing a squad, pursuing an individual playing career, or managing a team toward success. Its stated support for online and shared-screen competition and co-op adds ways to play with others. For players looking specifically for server administration or mod tools, those capabilities are not established by the available details.