Cole Palmer Twitch Ban: Star Streams EA FC 27 Early

The Cole Palmer Twitch ban saga began quietly enough. On Tuesday afternoon, September 15, Chelsea's number ten went live on his Twitch account 'colep10' and spent more than an hour opening Ultimate Team packs and playing matches on EA FC 27, according to SportBible. The game was not yet released.

Thousands of viewers tuned in. Then the game's publisher turned up in the chat. The official EA Sports FC account wrote: "Errr Cole, weren't we going to do this a bit later? We'll be live at 6pm UK!" as reported by Football London.

EA had planned to give fans their first look at the gameplay that evening, but Palmer's broadcast had gone out hours early, as reported by The Sun. The stream was cut short, Palmer's Twitch account was banned, and his EA FC 27 content was removed following a copyright request.

The ban did not last long. By Tuesday evening Palmer was back on stream. In between, he had taken to Instagram to plead his case, telling followers he was "only giving the people what they wanted" and signing off with "unban me pls", tagging Twitch and EA Sports FC. When Fut Sheriff, a popular FC content page, posted about the suspension, Palmer commented: "We back soon," with laughing emojis.

Palmer's broadcast lands in a busy season for streamer news. Recent streaming coverage includes Kai Cenat's VIVET fashion-week debut, QTCinderella opening Streamer Awards 2026 applications and Jynxzi's Worlds co-stream backed by Riot.

The stream that broke the embargo

The problem was the calendar, not the hobby. EA FC 27's early access period begins on September 18 for buyers of the Ultimate and Ultimate Plus editions, with the worldwide launch following on September 25. Palmer's stream went out a full ten days before the global release and several days before even the early access window opened.

High-profile players and streamers typically receive the game early, but they are not allowed to broadcast it until a set time. Palmer's impromptu broadcast ignored that embargo entirely. The stream had already circulated in clips and screenshots online by the time it was taken down, and footage continued to spread after the ban.

Palmer's Twitch presence has grown alongside his rise as one of the Premier League's most exciting attacking players, and plenty of top footballers stream regularly. This was not a case of a footballer playing games being treated as unusual. It was simply a matter of going live too early.

The 85 rating and the "one leg" admission

Inside the chaos of the stream was a second storyline that Palmer seemed to care about more than the ban: his own rating. EA FC 27 lists him as an 85-rated CAM, a two-point drop from his 87 rating in FC 26. His passing and dribbling had declined by the same margin.

Palmer protested the downgrade on air, telling viewers that he had played through much of last season effectively injured. The 2025/26 campaign was his worst for fitness. He missed two months with a groin injury shortly after it started, then fractured the small toe on his left foot after stubbing it on a door at home. He was absent for all but three of Chelsea's opening dozen Premier League fixtures and did not return to fitness until December, according to Football London.

Speaking during Chelsea's pre-season tour of Australia, he admitted he had rushed himself back too soon. He told reporters in Sydney that the first few months were bad for him personally, with injuries limiting how he could play, but that he felt good again after seven weeks of rest and was ready to go.

He also questioned the details of his card, wondering aloud how Chelsea teammate Morgan Rogers had ended up with a 76 pace rating above him. Despite the drop, Palmer remains Chelsea's third-highest-rated men's player in FC 27, behind Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo on 86, according to ratings confirmed on the club's own website.

A preview of the September 25 launch

The timing is what gives the whole episode its staying power. EA FC 27 arrives worldwide on September 25, which means Palmer's embargo-breaking stream effectively became an unsanctioned public preview of the game, delivered from his own setup days before anyone else could touch it.

His real-life form suggests the rating drop has not slowed him down. Palmer started the new season strongly, registering four goals and two assists in the early weeks, according to SportBible. His complaints about the card were the grumbles of a player who felt his numbers no longer matched his performances.

The Cole Palmer Twitch ban did not last long, and nobody involved seemed to take it too seriously. But with FC 27 launching on September 25, it will be remembered as one of the more entertaining early-access blunders of the season: a footballer, a game he was not supposed to show yet, and a publisher politely asking him to stop.