The free-to-play football / soccer game UFL is about to kick off a new season on Xbox (and beyond) this week, and it's doing so alongside its "biggest update yet" that's making some major changes to how the game actually works.

For those who don't know, UFL follows the Ultimate Team style where you have to build a squad of players and continually improve them over time. Until now, the idea was to buy players on the transfer market and improve them through collectible "Skins", but now they're doing away with Skins and opting for something more like Ultimate Team.

Here's a brief explanation of what's going on:

"The previous system proved overly complex: players could only be acquired on the transfer market at fixed prices and then upgraded through skins and experience, changing their stats over time. That complicated upgrade path is being replaced with a simpler and more transparent model.

Every card now comes with fixed attributes, and squad progression depends on acquiring new cards rather than modifying old ones. Clubs are created with base cards, which can be obtained from packs or purchased on the Transfer Market (now at prices five times lower than before). Higher-tier Mastery cards are also available through packs."

Crucially, the developer says that your progress in UFL will be preserved heading into this update, with "existing skins seamlessly converted into cards while keeping their bonuses under the new system".

Beyond this, we're also getting Legend players for the first time, a new user interface, re-worked passing and much more. Strikerz Inc. CEO Eugene Nashilov has actually described it as a "brand new game":

“We’re pivoting the game: a new core, new meta, new UI, legends, lots of other things. In fact, it really is a brand new game. We invite everyone to try it for the first time or come again — we are incredibly excited to see how UFL will develop next, because this is a living product, evolving right here and now together with our community. We are deeply grateful for the passion and feedback of our players, who help shape UFL every day.”

So, exciting times ahead for UFL! It's free to download on the Xbox Store for Series X and Series S if you're interested, and you'll be able to check out the Season 25-26 update when it goes live on Friday, September 12th.

We'll throw some screenshots related to the new update down below.

Have you played UFL? What do you think of it? Tell us in the comments section.