Winter Gameplay Update Part 2: The Full Reveal for 2026 Launches
In December, we shared Part 1 of our Winter Gameplay Update, covering the Essence end of season transition, first gameplay insights for leagues launching in February, and more. If you missed it, you can read it here.
Now we’re ready to unveil what you’ve been waiting for: the new gameplay enhancements for the leagues kicking off in early 2026, plus their competition structure, prize pools, and more! All designed with one goal: elevate what makes Sorare 26 great and make the experience even more fun, exciting, and rewarding.
As a reminder, the gameplay elements we introduce for leagues with a different seasonality like MLS also help us shape the best possible experience for Sorare 27. That doesn’t mean Sorare 27 will mirror it. We’ll listen, learn, and iterate to deliver the best possible gameplay based on your feedback.
No more waiting, let’s dive in.
Three New In-Season Competitions
The beloved MLS is back in 2026 with its own dedicated competition for the second year. But this season, it’s bringing company: K League and J.League are joining the roster with their own dedicated In-Season competitions!
We’re beyond excited to celebrate these leagues, especially knowing how deeply they’re rooted in Sorare history and how many OG Managers have championed them since day one.
These three competitions will be the ones to showcase all the new gameplay elements we’re introducing for leagues kicking off in early 2026.
J.League: A Special Situation
As you may know, major changes are coming to the J.League starting this season. The league is transitioning to a new seasonality, with its next full season kicking off in Summer 2026.
To bridge this gap, a special tournament will take place over the next six months, spanning 20 Matchdays. You can find full details about this tournament format on the official J.League website.
The J.League tournament will be fully covered on Sorare. This means all J.League Classic cards will continue to have utility across Classic competitions and Arenas throughout the tournament, and creates the opportunity for a tailored In-Season gameplay experience.
For In-Season gameplay, the newly launched J.League-specific competition will cover only this special tournament and will also run for six months. The J.League cards released in the upcoming drop will therefore have a six-month In-Season utility window, matching the duration of the tournament.
Regarding our long-term partnership discussions, it’s important to clarify that the 2026–27 J.League season is not yet guaranteed to be on Sorare. If the league is confirmed for Sorare 27, we will announce it at the end of the season as part of the Sorare 27 gameplay reveal.
Should that happen, new J.League cards will be launched in the summer, and the cards releasing in the coming days will become Classic cards at that time.
Argentina Clubs
As of now, we are not planning to launch Argentinian clubs for the new season. Due to current context around Argentinian league rights, we’re not able to secure a partnership at this time.
We know how much our community enjoys this league, and we remain hopeful that we’ll be able to resume the partnership in the future. We’ll keep you updated if that changes.
Card Launch Calendar
By now, you know the drill, all three leagues will launch with Early Access cards, released before each league kicks off, so you can play with your new signings from the very first matchday.
League launches in the market will roll out gradually. You’ll find the launch calendar below, though please note that dates may still be adjusted slightly.
Please note that we’re not able to share the exact launch date for J.League Early Access cards yet, but they will be available before the first Game Week. Stay tuned.
For partnership reasons, the first sales of all J.League Limited cards will be in bundles. These bundles will not include #1 serial number cards. Individual sales will follow after this first sale subject to clubs’ approval.
Now that you know where you’ll be competing, let’s break down the new gameplay we’ve built specifically for these three In-Season competitions.
Gameplay Enhancements
Classic Slot Confirmation
First, an important note about a gameplay element that will remain. As mentioned in Part 1 of our Winter Gameplay Update, all In-Season lineups will continue to include one Classic slot, allowing you to use a card from any season in your 5-player team.
Similarly, the Super Rare and Unique competitions will keep their additional Unique Classic slot, maintaining the same functioning as Sorare 26.
We’re happy to confirm this gameplay stability for the season ahead.
Two Distinct Modes: Hot Streaks & Leaderboards
For the three In-Season competitions about to launch (MLS, K League, and J.League), we’re exploring something new: a clear separation between Hot Streak and Leaderboard gameplay.
Currently, a single lineup can compete simultaneously for Hot Streak targets and Leaderboard rankings, a structure that can lead to unclear intentions and less strategic decision-making.
To improve clarity, strategy, and reward distribution, we’re introducing two distinct modes:
Hot Streak Competitions
The beloved beat-the-game format where you’ll enter lineups aiming to hit the points target, climb Streak Levels and win rewards.
You loved this mode in Sorare 26 so we’re making it even bigger.
Leaderboard Competitions
Another mode, with its own dedicated lobby menu, where you enter teams to battle it out against other Managers in Leaderboard play.
Following the feedback we received after our Winter Update Part 1, it was clear how much the community values Leaderboard competition and prestige. So we’re keeping it and giving it a dedicated place.
This new gameplay brings more clarity and more control over your strategic intent.
Important Note:
The new gameplay interface will be released ahead of the MLS launch and its first Matchday. As a consequence, the first two J.League Matchdays will be played as special competitions, featuring Leaderboards only (no Hot Streaks) and temporary prize pools.
We’re also aware that some matches are scheduled on Friday morning CET and involve fewer than 10 teams. Even so, we will still open these special competitions, with prize pools adapted to the number of participating teams, during the two midweek Game Weeks:
- Game Week 50 (Tuesday 3rd – Friday 6th)
- Game Week 52 (Tuesday 10th – Friday 13th)
What This Means in Practice
This new structure means that for each of MLS, K League, and J.League, you’ll now find two distinct competitions:
- One in the Pro tab → Hot Streaks
- One in the newly introduced Arena tab → Leaderboards
Important clarification:
Although they appear in the Arena tab, these Leaderboard competitions are not Arenas as you know them. They do not involve 10-Manager Arena Rooms, and they do not require Essence.
We’ve created a new Arena tab to host all existing Arenas, and this tab will also become the home for Leaderboard (PvP) gameplay.
Let’s dive deeper into each mode.
Improved Hot Streaks
Hot Streaks have been highly praised as one of the best parts of Sorare 26 gameplay so we’re taking them even further. More rewards. More strategy. More fun.
MLS, K League, and J.League will each have separate Hot Streak competitions, featuring several new gameplay innovations:
Additive Rewards When Multiple Lineups Hit the Target
Until now, hitting the Hot Streak target with one lineup or several in a given Game Week made no difference: you won the same reward.
We’re changing that. Hot Streak rewards will now be additive, meaning you’ll win extra rewards for each lineup that hits the target in the same Game Week.
Example:
If the Hot Streak reward for a given level is $500*, you will now win an additional $250* for every extra lineup hitting the target:
- 1 lineup hits → $500*
- 2 lineups hit → $750*
- 3 lineups hit → $1000*
… and so on.
This rewards Managers who build multiple strong lineups capable of beating the game together.
The Permanent Essence Grand Prix
With Hot Streaks now operating as standalone competitions, we wanted to ensure that truly exceptional scores receive meaningful recognition.
Introducing the Essence Grand Prix.
Each Game Week the Essence Grand Prix prize pool will be shared among every Manager who scores above a specific target (for example, 480 points in Limited). Eligibility doesn’t depend on your current Streak Level.
This ensures that even if you’re early in your streak, a huge score is still rewarded in a big way.
New Competition Opening Rules
To improve the experience even further, we’re updating the competition opening rules. Only for MLS, K League, and J.League Hot Streaks competitions (not Leaderboards).
We’re removing the “minimum 10 licensed teams playing” requirement for a Hot Streaks competition to open. From now on: as long as at least one domestic league match featuring a licensed team is played in a Game Week, the Hot Streaks MLS, J.League or K League competition will open
This is a direct benefit of separating Hot Streaks and Leaderboards into distinct gameplay modes, allowing us to apply more flexible opening rules for Hot Streaks (as the 10 licensed teams requirement remains in place for Leaderboard competitions to ensure sufficient participation and competitiveness).
This gives you more chances to advance your streak and avoids those frustrating Game Weeks where calendar constraints stop you from playing Hot Streaks altogether. And don’t worry, all existing rules remain in place (your streak still won’t reset if you don’t play in an open Game Week).
Super Rare & Unique Essence Hot Streaks
The merged Super Rare & Unique competitions will now have their own dedicated Hot Streaks, with Essence rewards only.
We know that most Managers in these scarcities prefer Leaderboards for cash* prizes, which remain the main game mode, but we also want to offer an additional way to play.
Super Rare & Unique Hot Streak targets are set at an accessible level, aligned with Rare targets, while benefiting from higher scarcity bonuses. These new Hot Streaks give Super Rare and Unique cards, especially lower-tier ones, more utility and more chances to grind Essence by simply beating the game.
Please note that no Unique reward boost applies to this Hot Streak competition. Managers can choose between Super Rare or Unique Essence when claiming their reward.
Instant Reward Claim
With this gameplay, you’ll still be able to claim and enjoy your Hot Streak rewards live during the Game Week (starting 30 minutes after the last match in your lineup ends).
This also applies to Additive Rewards. Each time one of your lineups hits the score target, you’ll be able to claim the corresponding reward 30 minutes after that lineup’s final match concludes.
Full prize pool details are available later in this blog, in the dedicated prize pool section.
The Leaderboard Competitions
MLS, K League, and J.League will also each have their own separate Leaderboard competitions.
No More Divisions
As we’re now separating gameplay between Hot Streaks and Leaderboards, we’re testing a version of Leaderboard competitions without divisions. This approach allows us to focus rewards more effectively.
Combined with carefully defined limits on the maximum number of lineups per Manager (see details below), this structure helps keep Leaderboards exclusive, while still ensuring that a meaningful share of participating Managers win rewards, and that these rewards go to Managers who intentionally choose to compete in this Leaderboard mode.
At the same time, progression and consistency are preserved through the standalone Hot Streak competitions, which continue to reward long-term performance. Leaderboards, in turn, become a more direct battleground for instant prestige and top prizes.
To design these Leaderboard competitions properly, we’ve approached each scarcity differently, taking into account its specific dynamics and the needs of Managers:
Super Rare & Unique
The merged Super Rare + Unique Leaderboard competition will function similarly to what you know today. Following your feedback, cash* rewards are fully concentrated here.
Managers can enter up to 3 lineups in the Leaderboard competition and enjoy a separate Hot Streak competition (also with 3 entries) where they can win Essence.
This gives Super Rare/Unique Managers both a leaderboard mode with cash* prizes and a beat the game mode for Essence rewards
Rare
Because the Rare scarcity has fewer total cards and fewer participants, we’ve adopted a split reward model between Leaderboards and Hot Streaks.
Managers can enter 2 lineups in the Rare Leaderboard competition and 4 lineups in the Hot Streak competition
In Hot Streak competitions, Managers can win cash* and Essence.
In Leaderboard competitions, Managers can win:
- Cash* and Essence in MLS
- Essence in J.League and K League
Limited
To maintain the exclusivity and prestige of the Leaderboard competitions in Limited, Managers will be able to enter only 1 lineup in the Limited Leaderboard competition and 5 lineups in the Limited Hot Streaks competition.
This ensures a more strategic and deliberate Leaderboard meta, a sense of exclusivity and the ability to build exciting prize pools
In Hot Streak competitions, Managers can win cash* and Essence.
In Leaderboard competitions, Managers can win:
- Cash* and Essence in MLS
- Essence in J.League and K League
Full prize pool details are available later in this blog, in the dedicated prize pool section.
Lineup Bonuses
We’ve been really happy with how Lineup Bonuses, namely the Multi-Club Bonus and the 260 Cap Bonus, have added an extra layer of strategy to lineup building, helping Managers push for higher scores and better rewards.
That’s why we’re keeping them for these three new league competitions, both in Hot Streaks and in Leaderboard competitions.
Let’s dive into the full prize pool breakdown for these new competitions.
Prize Pool Overview
In this section, you’ll find the different prize pools broken down by league, game mode, and scarcity.
In this main blog, we’ll showcase a selection of examples only. For the full breakdown of all prize pools, please refer to the dedicated Prize Pools blog.
Hot Streaks:
Limited:
Rare:
Super Rare & Unique:
Essence Grand Prix:
Limited example:
Details on the other scarcities can be found in the prize pool blog.
Thanks to the option for Super Rare and Unique Managers to choose their reward scarcity, they can claim their share of the prize pool in either Super Rare Essence or Unique Essence (at a 5:1 exchange rate). For example, if a Manager is the only one to hit the 560-point target in a Game Week, they can choose between 5,000 Super Rare Essence or 1,000 Unique Essence.
Leaderboards:
MLS:
Note that XP rewards are no longer part of Leaderboard prize pools (with the exception of Arenas). They will now be rewarded more frequently through Daily Missions and Special Competitions.
Hot Streaks 3X Promo
To help you kick off the season strong, we’re turning up the heat!
For a limited time, all Hot Streak rewards will be tripled in Limited, Rare, and Super Rare across the three new Hot Streaks competitions: MLS, K League, and J.League.
How it works
- The 3X boost applies to the first 5 Matchdays of each league:
- As a reminder, J.League Hot Streaks begin at Matchday 3, so the boost will apply from Matchday 3 through Matchday 7.
- The boost applies to the first five Matchdays of each league and remains active until all five are completed, even if they span more than five Game Weeks.
- As a reminder, J.League Hot Streaks begin at Matchday 3, so the boost will apply from Matchday 3 through Matchday 7.
- All streak rewards are tripled
- Additive Rewards are tripled too
- The boost applies every time you reach a streak level during the promo window, even if your streak restarts.
Example
If you hit MLS Hot Streak Level 5 with 3 lineups:
- Normally: $500 + $250 + $250 = $1000
- With the promo: $1500 + $750 + $750 = $3000
DNPs Discussion
As mentioned in Part 1 of the Winter Gameplay Update, we were considering testing a DNP mitigation system for this new gameplay. First, a huge thank you for all the feedback shared, your passion and dedication in these discussions mean a lot.
After thoughtful consideration and research, we decided not to implement any of the DNP mitigation solutions we explored. It seems that none of them would meaningfully improve the Manager experience in the short term. Addressing a topic with such a significant impact on gameplay requires a carefully designed, long-term solution, built as part of a broader gameplay evolution.
For that reason, we’ll revisit the DNP topic as part of the broader Sorare 27 gameplay vision. In the meantime, we may explore targeted experiments through Special Events ahead of next season.
That said, we still want to support MLS, K League and J.League Managers during lineup-building. We’ve decided to make them eligible for the later deadline, giving Managers more time to gather the information they need and potentially avoid DNPs.
As an exploration for the first three MLS Game Weeks where no matches are scheduled before Saturday night CET, the late deadline will be set to Saturday at 4 PM CET. This gives Managers time to consult the injury report, often published on Friday evening, and make their final lineup checks. We will then assess whether to keep this rule for the full season based on your feedback.
Special Event Competitions
We’ve heard your feedback about missing the Special Events that ran in previous seasons. This was largely due to the new competition structure, with permanent All-Star, U23, and Arena competitions ensuring your cards always have utility, every Game Week.
That said, we hear you. We know how much you enjoyed the surprise and delight these events brought, especially the fun twists like scoring matrix variations or special lineup rules.
That’s why we’ve decided to bring Special Events back on an occasional basis, once or twice per month. These events will feature one Leaderboard per scarcity and may offer rewards such as XP, Crafting Clues, or Essence.
Stay tuned!
Summer Scoring Matrix Change
Regarding scoring, we want to give our community a heads-up: we’re exploring potential changes to the scoring matrix as part of next summer’s gameplay update ahead of Sorare 27. We’d love to hear your feedback on how we can make the system even better.
Rest assured, we’ll provide notice before any change goes live. Since these updates would apply to MLS and K League in the second half of their season (and for the J.League new season if the partnership is extended in 26/27) we wanted to share this early with the community.
Essence & Crafting
The Card Factory will remain open during the entire launch period. Cards from MLS, K League, and J.League will join the crafting reward pool as soon as the Game Week of their first fixtures locks, exactly as we did last summer. If a league is eligible for a late deadline, cards will be added after that deadline.
Before crafting, we recommend checking the “Available Competitions” section in “Rules & Eligibility” to ensure the leagues are available.
Here’s the availability calendar: Last update: 09/02/2026
A quick reminder: in Part 1 of the Winter Gameplay Update, we shared the full breakdown of how the Essence transition will work from Sorare 26 to Sorare 27. You can revisit it here if needed.
And to be clear again: standalone leagues beginning in early 2026, specifically MLS and K League, will not be impacted by the Essence conversion, as they’ll be mid-season when it happens.
So if you hold 1,200 MLS Essence, you’ll still have 1,200 after the transition.
Introducing Collect Missions
We’ve heard your feedback about wanting more ways to be rewarded for collecting on Sorare, and we know how much some of you enjoyed the Collect Missions introduced in Common gameplay. That’s why we’re excited to bring Collect Missions to Limited, and Rare.
For the three new leagues, MLS, K League, and J.League, you’ll find Collect Missions in the Collect tab of the Missions page. These missions unlock milestones and rewards tied to specific collection challenges, adding even more value to building and growing your collection.
Stay tuned for more details when Early Access cards for each league go live.
Please note that we will closely monitor activity to detect attempts to game Collect Missions (such as lending cards solely to complete challenges). Any such behavior may result in severe sanctions, including permanent bans.
Sealing: End of Season Transition
We’re delighted to see the positive feedback around Sealing and Vault features in Sorare 26, and how they’ve created more utility for cards by letting Managers seal them for boosted rewards.
As a reminder, the Vault bonus applies only to Leaderboard winnings, and this will also be the case for the MLS, K League, and J.League competitions launching now.
In our next gameplay update, coming this summer ahead of Sorare 27, we’ll explain how Sealing will transition into the new season. We may also consider recalibrating Vault Levels and bonuses so they include Hot Streak rewards as well.
In any case, we will communicate all changes well in advance to give Managers time to prepare.
New Tiering Test
As you may know, we recently introduced a new card tiering system in Common and Set gameplay. This system organizes player cards into clearly defined categories, including a handpicked Star tier, while the remaining tiers are determined by a player’s recent performance (L10) and average minutes played.
We’re confident that this approach is better aligned with gameplay, as it rewards Managers with cards that more accurately reflect on-pitch performance and in-game utility. With that in mind, we’re exploring the possibility of testing a similar tiering system for crafting across Limited, Rare, Super Rare, and Unique scarcities.
We believe this could improve the overall crafting experience and reduce some of the tier-related friction we currently see. Naturally, such a test would also come with a full review and adjustment of odds, and special draws.
Taking advantage of this gameplay update window, we want to give you an early heads-up: we’re considering running this test in the coming months, before the end of the season, across crafting for all leagues. This would allow us to gather data and community feedback to help shape the best possible experience for Sorare 27.
We’ll share updates as we get closer to this.
From L15 to L10
As announced in our Gameplay Update Part 1, we will transition from L15 (average score over the last 15 games) to L10 (average score over the last 10 games) as the reference football performance indicator.
Unlike what we shared in Gameplay Update Part 1, the new L10 average will include only the last 10 matches in which the player actually played (unlike the current L15, which includes matches even when the player didn’t feature). Aligned with the approach used in NBA gameplay, this method better reflects a player’s performance level across their last 10 matches played. It also significantly reduces edge cases where players returning from long injuries end up with an L10 of 0, creating an unintended advantage in capped competitions.
Under this new rule, a player will have an L10 of 0 only if they haven’t played a match in more than 12 months.
This change will have no significant impact on gameplay: caps, lineup bonuses, and all related mechanics will remain exactly the same, the calculation simply switches from L15 to L10.
The transition will take place on February 13th, after the Game Week deadline.
Please note that when the switch happens, all lineups already submitted in capped competitions before that date (using L15) will remain valid, and any lineup already benefiting from the Cap Lineup Bonus will keep that bonus. However, once a lineup is edited, it will automatically fall under the new L10 indicator and must comply with the L10 cap to remain eligible, including for the cap Lineup Bonus.
We hope you’re excited to dive into all these updates and experience what’s next for Sorare gameplay.
To walk you through these changes in more detail and answer your questions live, the Sorare team will be streaming on our Twitch and YouTube channels tomorrow Wednesday, January 28th in English and French.
We can’t wait to celebrate the arrival of these new leagues with you and for you to experience their new gameplay firsthand. As always, we’ll be closely monitoring your feedback and adapting along the way, with one clear goal: to keep delivering the best possible gameplay experience, while building toward the strongest version of Sorare 27.
See you on the pitch. ⚽
*Rewards may be offered in cash, SOL, ETH or other digital assets of equivalent value. Availability and types may vary, subject to applicable law