Fitness was used to be one of the most important aspects of this game. However, EA made deep changes to the way it works. We’re here to explain what’s new and to help you out with this FIFA 21 fitness guide.
FIFA 21 Fitness – Definition and Basic Concepts
The basics of FIFA 21 Fitness
Fitness is an English word that means “being in good shape”. It is directly related to one’s agility, speed, body balance and motor coordination.
In FIFA 21 Ultimate Team, just like its predecessors, the fitness is numerically measured on a scale of 1 to 99. The higher, the better. 99 corresponds to a player’s ideal physical condition. It’s the highest fitness possible. 1 corresponds to a critical state you’re not going to want to be familiar with.
There are three ways to visualize a player’s fitness:
1) In-Game (blue bar above the player name);
2) Pause Screen (green bar above the player name);
3) Team Management Screen (pause – team management – squad – select a player).
During a match, each player has two fitness bars: the instant bar, represented by a blue bar that goes red in extreme situations; and the accumulated, represented by a white bar overlaid by the blue bar. The first decreases during the sprints, ball disputes or other efforts, and then it regenerates. The second will gradually reduce over a game and serves as a ceiling for the instant fitness bar.
A careful analysis to the following image helps to clarify any questions. The game runs from 1 to 5 and, as you can see, the biggest of the bars is getting smaller. In 1, the bar is almost complete. Unlike what happens in 3, in 2 the player is running and therefore is momentarily more tired, ie, less able to continue to make efforts. However, the white bar is bigger which means that with a little rest he will be in better condition than in 3. In 4 he is very close to having to leave the game because he can not make efforts for a long time anymore. He gets tired easily. Finally, in 5 the player reached the limit situation. He has to leave or he will get injured.
What’s New
Fitness still exists
We have seen many people saying that Fitness doesn’t exist anymore. That’s not true. The only (big) difference is that all players start matches with the maximum chemistry possible. In other words, you no longer need to use fitness squads, apply fitness items or give a rest to your players. They will be always ready to play. As a result of this change, fitness items and fitness coaches were removed from FUT.
Fitness is still in FIFA 21 and it affects the performance of your players. A player with very low fitness will have poor performance. His movements will be slower and obviously, he won’t be able to keep up with the teammates and opponents. Besides, he’s more likely to get injured.
How Fitness is Affected
How FIFA 21 fitness goes down
In general, it’s safe to say that the fitness level will be higher or lower according to the following factors:
Playing Time
A player’s spent fitness is directly proportional to how long he’s on the pitch. Generally speaking, if he plays just for one half, he’ll have spent half the fitness he would’ve spent playing 90 minutes.
Stamina
Stamina is different from player to player. It says to you how fast a player’s fitness deplete. It is easy to understand that players with high stamina lose less fitness during the game than the ones with low stamina. For that reason, they finish the game less tired, ie, with a higher fitness level. If you want to see your players running at the end of the matches as they do in the beginning, you should check that they have a good ‘stamina’ IG stat.
Effort Made
Players get tired as they make effort. This effort rate is measured in FUT 21 by the number of meters traversed and the intensity and frequency of the body’s work. Players such as goalkeepers tend to move less around the pitch and usually don’t challenge the ball, therefore spend less of their fitness. This way they’re able to keep on playing for much longer than the average player without having their fitness drastically decreased. Anyway, the effort made by a player depends exclusively on who’s controlling. In that case, yourself.
Injuries
There are two types of injuries: the ones that make players get substituted during the match and those that just lower their fitness. In the second case, it’s up to you. You can keep him on the pitch or not, knowing that he’s not going to be playing at his best. Even if he stays still on the pitch, the moment he gets into a challenge he’ll have his fitness harshly lowered, especially if that’s against a strong defender. You may want to avoid the most aggressive ones. Normally what causes this kind of injury is sliding tackles from behind. When you abuse a player’s fitness making him travel the same exhausting path every time, you’ll be providing him what’s necessary for a muscular injury to happen.
Work Rates
A player’s work rate, which can’t be altered in FIFA Ultimate Team, affects decisively the number of fitness points he’s going to lose. It defines the predisposition a player has concerning the different field zones he’s going to occupy. That is how he’s going to behave when you’re not controlling him. It’s independent of the effort made because that one is up to you. Even if you wanted to spare a single-player some work, you can’t do anything because the work rate is what determines if he will run or not while he’s not being controlled by you… and you can’t control only one during a match, right?! Players with high work rates, defenders or attackers, are the ones more likely to get tired faster.
I would have to agree this is madness now, I was 3 nil up until second have about 60ish mins my full team had no fitness left at all ended up loosing 8-3 my players bars all empty he just passing the ball round my team and into the net horrible
This is the worst I’ve seen my players get tired quick barely 5 min in the game n they half energy already
They should have left fatigue and stamina as it was ..it’s part of the fun to apply fitness to players after the matches are over it’s more real life than now where every player is 100 like as if in real life every player would be 100 without some Physio etc pfft I dunno just feels wrong !!!!
so annoying. in ultimate team i have put players with good stamina AND THEY LOSE STAMINA WHEN STANDING STILL AND NOT SPRINTING. Absolute joke EA hope you fix this to make the game more enjoyable
Also recovery is slow slow between games I have to totally change the team to second tier players just to get a squad.
In FIFA 21 Ultimate Team, all players start matches with full fitness (100). Are you saying this is not your case? Are you sure you are playing Ultimate Team and FIFA 21?
Yes I’m sure. My players have stamina first half and not more. What should I do? Every match I lose becouse stamina.
I understand that people would love me to explain a secret way to fix it but there is no mystery here. It would be easier for me to just say that it is a bug but it is not. Most of the players on this page have the exact same problem of you but it is not representative of the community. In fact, most of the community doesn’t have any problem with stamina at all. Stamina may expire very quickly depending on 3 factors: stamina attribute of the players you are using; pace button abuse; some tactics and instructions enabled (Overload Ball Side, Team Press…)
Same here my none of my squad can make it to the end of the game with become totally exhausted. the other team are running ring around me. Then it take forever between games to build up fitness again. I play exactly the way I played in fifa 2020 without the same issue.
I have the same issue and i must say the admin comments here are very unhelpful is there anyone else that can shed some constructive comments on how to fix this because it spoils what should be a good game
Almost sure that there is no glitch. There are several players complaining about it but, in 95% of the cases, they are pressing Run button too often or they have ‘Overload Ball Side’ turned on. In the rest of the cases, they are using players with low stamina or ‘wrong’ tactics. There is no much more we (or anyone else) could do. If you already checked your settings and you are OK, then feel free to find an answer in anywhere else. You will not find a better answer.
I have the same problem!!! 50-55min EVERYONE GOT NO ENERGY! Rubbish
We have the exact same problem with the fitness!! Fifa is the biggest con known to man! You spend money to buy the game then money on ultimate team and its still shit!! Teams with shit cards beating the likes of sterling and bale to the ball!!
The game is a load of bollocks, my team dies second half and their team is full of stamina, even the subs die? Something seriously wrong with this wank game.
I’m with you on this one mate
I have Robertson and Telles playing LB both 99 fitness by the 40 minute mark they are both dead like for two players that have 88+ stamina they just die within the first 25 minutes
Try to run only when needed. Most of the times, we press ‘run’ too many times. Some tactics (high pressure, for example) may also affect their shape.
But how is that possible another player run also and they have full stamina all match long? Every fck… Match
Have you double-checked your tactics and instructions?
I’m having the same problem was fine until last week I thought maybe was part of the update
It actually irritates me how much I have altered my team to fix the problem but nothing works I always start games so strong and by the start of the second half the other team is all over me and none of my players have any fitness left absolute garbage! To think I spent £60 on this game!
You should look for players with high stamina and only ‘run’ when needed.
I have kante which has 96 stamina, but in the start of second half he is fckin dead
Stamina may expire very quickly depending on 3 factors: stamina attribute of the players you are using; pace button abuse; some tactics and instructions enabled (Overload Ball Side, Team Press…). You need to double-check the last two.
Same in second half all players are dead
Load of shit, i play on balanced I have no fitness on any players by 60 minutes.
Are you sure that is Ultimate Team?
My teams fitness is woeful by the end of the game my players are dead and the other teams fine
It depends on many factors like how much they have run and their stamina.
Absolute garbage I’m convinced my fitness doesn’t reset after each game
Very unlikely.