FC 27 launched on September 25, 2026, and with it came four brand-new skill moves: the Fake Turn, the Ball Roll Spin, the Stepover Combo, and the Kneel Header. Everybody is in the practice arena trying them. Almost nobody needs them yet.
Here is the honest truth about skill moves, in this game and every one before it: five old, boring tricks win more matches than the entire rest of the list combined. Learn those five first. Then meet the four new arrivals — what they do, who can perform them, and where they might fit once the community figures them out.
One note on inputs: this guide gives PlayStation buttons first, Xbox in parentheses. RS means the right stick, LS the left stick, and directions assume your player is running up the pitch.
The rule of stars
Every player has a skill-move star rating from 1 to 5, and a player can only perform moves at or below their rating. Your 5-star dribblers — Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembélé (both 93 dribbling), plus Michael Olise, Vinícius Júnior, and Rayan Cherki (91 each) — can do everything. A 3-star midfielder cannot do a 4-star move, no matter how clean your inputs are.
This is why the list below is ordered the way it is. The best move in the game is not the flashiest one. It is the best move your players can actually perform.
The 5 moves that win games
1. Ball Roll (2 stars). That is the whole move — no, really. Roll the ball sideways across your body and the defender’s lunge misses by a step. It is boring, easy, and the most-used skill in competitive play, because it is fast, safe, and chains into everything: roll one way, then shoot, pass, or sprint the other way.
2. Drag Back (2 stars). Your player drags the ball backward and stops dead. Use it when a defender is sprinting at you full speed — their momentum carries them past while you calmly turn the other way. The cardinal sin is doing it every time you receive the ball. Good players read patterns fast; save it for when someone overcommits.
3. Stepover (2 stars). Rotate RS from up toward the direction you are running (up-to-right going right, up-to-left going left). One stepover freezes a defender for a split second — not to beat them outright, but to make them hesitate while you burst past. Do it at the edge of the box before a shot to buy half a yard.
4. Heel to Heel Flick (4 stars). The ball pops from heel to heel and launches forward past the defender’s challenge. Best used when you are already facing goal with space ahead: one flick and you are through at full sprint. Needs 4-star dribblers, so check ratings before building your attack around it.
5. Elastico (5 stars). (mirror it starting left for the Reverse Elastico). The player knocks the ball one way with the outside of the boot and whips it back the other — the most violent direction change in the game. It only works if the defender hasn’t covered your exit: elastico into a covered lane and you have simply passed them the ball, with style. Reserve it for 1v1s in space with Yamal-tier dribblers.
The 4 new moves in FC 27
Combos below come from FIFPlay’s FC 27 launch table, cross-checked against EA’s gameplay deep dive. One honesty note: with the game days old, early guides disagree on a couple of star ratings — where they do, this guide follows the input-level table, and ratings may still shift with patches.
Fake Turn (4 stars). Your player sells a turn one way, then bursts the other. Built for tight spaces: 1v1s, cutting inside from the wing, the edge of the box, or receiving with a defender on your back. The strength is surprise, so the moment you spam it, it stops working. Fake one way, turn the other, then pass or shoot before the defender resets.
Ball Roll Spin (4 stars). A ball roll fused with a spin: move the ball across your body, then turn away from pressure and attack the space behind the defender. This is the new move with the best chance of mattering, because it extends something players already do every match. Watch for it under tight marking.
Stepover Combo (5 stars). Chained stepovers in one sequence instead of a single stepover and go. The idea is patience: each extra stepover makes your eventual direction harder to read. Best near the corner of the box, in 1v1s, or before accelerating into space. The risk is holding the ball too long — the combo is a setup, not a destination.
Kneel Header (1 star + Trickster). The odd one out: an aerial move where your player drops to redirect a cross. It is gated behind the Trickster Playstyle rather than a star rating — any player with Trickster can perform it. Early verdicts call it more spectacular than practical. File under “score a viral goal with it,” not “win Weekend League with it.”
How to actually learn them
Go to the practice arena, not matches. Pick one move and do it fifty times: walking, then sprinting, then with a defender added. Only when you can do it without looking at your thumbs is it match-ready. Then learn the cardinal rule of skillers: one move per attack. Every extra trick doubles the chance you lose the ball. The best dribblers in the world mostly do one ball roll and explode.
And if your thumbs are not cooperating, FC 27 still has simplified skill moves: flick RS in a main direction and the game picks a contextual trick for your player’s star level. Training wheels, but honest ones.
The one thing to remember
Stars decide what you can do; judgment decides what you should do. Five boring moves, used once per attack, beat a whole library of tricks spammed at the wrong moment.