Acceleration |
45 Pace |
Physical |
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Acceleration is the increment of a player’s running speed. The higher the value, the shorter the time needed to reach maximum speed, no matter what that is.
It needs to be considered alongside the Sprint Speed stat. On a player with high acceleration but low sprint speed, his sprint evolves really well, but his maximum speed is pretty low. In this case, acceleration becomes almost irrelevant – it’s no good getting to your top speed really quickly if that top speed really isn’t very quick. In another hand, a player who has high sprint speed but low acceleration is able to run fast, but it takes longer for him to reach his top speed.
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Aggression |
20 Physical |
Mental |
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The aggression level of a player measures the frequency and the aggression of jostling, tackling and slide tackling. It is the attribute which determines the player’s power of will or commitment to a match.
A typical aggression-based action is when you go “shoulder-to-shoulder” against someone, with high aggression our player has the initiative to push the opponent strongly (as far as his strength allows him to) and this determines the winner of the challenge. Another important moment for aggression is when you jump in order to dispute a header. If you play football you know exactly what this is, you jump placing your body against the opponent (if you’re a defender), if you manage to hit the ball with your head, great, if you don’t at least you’ll have to displace the other guy so he can’t perform the header correctly. In this case, aggression needs to work alongside jumping and strength. Players with high aggression offer some risk while inside the area because they can cause a lot of penalties without you pressing a single button, and that could possibly end with you smashing a controller, so be careful when you choose centre backs like this.
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Agility |
10 Dribbling |
Physical |
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Agility measures how agile the player is while moving or turning. In other words, how fast and graceful a player is able to control the ball.
Players with high agility can perform acrobatic shots or clearances, and agility also affects dribbling ability. If you’re a player who likes to run with the ball, agility is one of the stats to keep an eye on.
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Balance |
05 Dribbling |
Physical |
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Balance attribute is the ability to maintain balance after a physical challenge.
This is another attribute that influences a player’s dribbling skill and, more generally, how responsive the player you’re controlling feels. If you have high stats for agility and balance then you’ll move fluidly and you’ll be able to get in or out of tight spots. Also, even if you have 95+ for acceleration and sprint speed, your player could feel sluggish and a little unresponsive if they lack agility and balance.
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Ball Control |
35 Dribbling |
Technical |
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Ball control is the ability of a player to control the ball as he receives it. The higher the value, the less likely the ball is to bounce away from the player after controlling it.
It’s associated with the player feeling comfortable with the ball, like when the ball binds to his feet in a way that he doesn’t need to keep looking to know where it is. It’s an important attribute for when you receive the ball but also for dribbling, including the no-touch dribbling. It has an influence on how well the player can keep possession of the ball when the opponent tackles.
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Composure |
00 Dribbling |
Mental |
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This attribute determines at what distance the player with the ball starts feeling the pressure from the opponent. This then affects the chances of the player making an error when he shoots, passes and crosses. The higher the value, the better the player performs when under pressure from an opponent.
Composure is not as new as most players think. It was used in several past editions of FIFA and made a return in FIFA 18.
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Crossing |
20 Passing |
Technical |
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This attribute measures how accurately the player crosses the ball during both normal running and free kick set pieces.
This is basically the attribute for the players who play through the wings, but it also has an influence over free kick set pieces and it also determines how easy it is for a player to get the ball in the box in the first place. If your winger keeps getting blocked when you are expecting him to whip the ball in, there’s a good chance he has a poor crossing score.
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Curve |
05 Passing |
Technical |
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Curve is used to measures the player’s ability to curve the ball when passing and shooting. The higher the value the more curve/curl the player is capable of putting on the ball.
It’s a good attribute to have for any set piece takers; curling corners can be a nightmare to defend against, and curling free-kicks can be tough to save.
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Defensive Awareness |
30 Defending |
Technical |
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Previously known as marking, it is the ability to track and defend an opposing player. In other words, it is your player’s ability to stay close to an opposing attacker and stop him getting to a cross/pass from a teammate. Also contributes to tracking runs.
AI players will do this off the ball, and when you’re in control of a defender their Defensive Awareness stat will affect how good they are at containing.
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Dribbling |
50 Dribbling |
Technical |
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Dribbling is the player’s ability to carry the ball and past an opponent. A higher value means the player will be able to keep better possession of the ball whilst dribbling because he will keep the ball closer, making it harder for the opponent to win it off of him.
Dribbling has no connection with the ball receiving factor whatsoever, that only has to do with ball control, but as soon as you have the ball ahead of you that’s when dribbling counts, allowing you to get past the opponent using dribbles. If you enjoy dribbling, your players must have good numbers on this attribute. However, good dribbling doesn’t necessarily mean the player will have many stars of skill moves. You can find players with 4 or even 5 stars of skill that have low dribbling. Skill moves stars simply qualify the player to perform certain special moves with the ball, whether it’s for dribbling or not, so although these two have similar objectives (dribbles), they aren’t directly connected. It’s also true that when we do choose players with 4 or 5 stars of skill moves, it’s because we actually want to dribble, with or without special moves, so it isn’t enough to choose a player just for his skill moves stars. If you wish to have a skilled squad, you’ll also have to check dribbling, ball control and balance.
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Finishing |
45 Finishing |
Technical |
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Finishing is the accuracy of shots using foot, inside the penalty area.
Not everyone knows, but finishing has no influence over headers or finishes from outside of the area. Being a great finisher doesn’t necessarily mean being able to beat the goalkeeper, but shooting on target more easily. An analogy would be thinking that having high finishing will affect the ball’s magnetism, so when the ball would have normally hit the post for a bad finisher, a great finisher would have this force push it towards the goal, or when it would’ve normally gone wide the ball would at least hit the post.
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Free Kick Accuracy |
05 Passing |
Technical |
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Free Kick is a FIFA attribute used to measures the player’s accuracy for taking Free Kicks. The higher the value the better the accuracy of a direct free kick on goal. Ideally, you should pick a free-kick taker who has a good score for free kick accuracy and curve.
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Heading Accuracy |
10 Defending |
Technical |
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This stats measures the heading accuracy of the player for either a pass or a shot. In fact, this stats does two things: affects your player’s ability to get their head on the ball, then how accurate that header is going to be. It applies to headed passes as well as headers at goal.
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Interceptions |
20 Defending |
Mental |
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Interception determines the ability to read the game and intercept passes. This applies more to AI controlled team-mates rather than the player you’ve selected. If you’ve seen players stick out legs or do something unexpected to prevent a pass, it’s likely they’ll have a high score for Interceptions.
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Jumping |
05 Physical |
Physical |
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Jumping is the player’s ability and quality for jumping from the surface for headers. The higher the value is, the higher the player can jump.
Like many others, this one is fairly useless without its related attributes. For example, for a player to be really good in the air, he needs to have high jumping, strength aggression and heading accuracy stats. Obviously, his height may also help a lot. A very tall player does not need to have a high jumping attribute to connect to the ball.
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Long Passing |
15 Passing |
Technical |
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This stat is used to classify how well a player performs a long pass in the air to his teammate. It doesn’t affect long ground passes.
This also determines how quickly the ball gets to him – the higher the score, the faster and more accurate the pass will be.
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Long Shots |
20 Finishing |
Technical |
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This attribute measures the accuracy of shots from outside the penalty area. This is a great attribute for midfielders to have.
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Penalties |
05 Finishing |
Technical |
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This attribute measures the accuracy of shots from inside the penalty area.
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Positioning |
05 Finishing |
Mental |
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Positioning is the player’s ability to take up good positions on the field during a game. The higher this stat, the more likely a player is to make enough space to receive the ball in dangerous areas.
This attribute deals with a player’s ability to spot open space and move into good positions that offer an attacking advantage. However, it doesn’t affect where the player will be when taking a free kick or a corner.
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Reactions |
00 Dribbling |
Physical |
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Reactions measures how quickly a player responds to a situation happening around him.
It has nothing to do with the player’s speed. A player can be really fast but at the same time have low reaction capacity. It’s the time in between the moment he sees where the ball is at and the moment he gets in position to receive it. Many people think this attribute only has importance over the players that are being controlled by the computer because the reactions of the players you’re controlling would depend only on your button-pressing reaction capacity, but this is not true. In several different situations, the player you’re controlling might or might not control or even reach the ball. When he receives a pass it’s not necessary to have a high reaction, he’ll be expecting to receive the ball, but when there’s a chance to score off a rebound, for example, or an unexpected turn of events some players just get hit by the ball, but the ones with high reaction have better chances to control it even in difficult situations. Suppose the opponent’s goalkeeper has just saved a powerful shot, you get a rebound, press shoot but your player doesn’t shoot, he just bluntly hits the ball, that happens because that player didn’t have enough reaction to getting both his body and foot in position properly to shoot. Reaction also influence dribbling, although it doesn’t quite make a player a better or worse dribbler, it allows your player to have the right reaction when the opponent goes for a sliding tackle, try and win the ball from you, and eventually it even gives your player the ability to jump over a tackle attempt.
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Short Passing |
35 Passing |
Technical |
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This attribute ranks how well a player performs a short / ground pass to his teammate. In other words, it determines a player’s accuracy and speed of passing over a short distance.
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Shot Power |
20 Finishing |
Technical |
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Shot Power evaluates how hard the player hits the ball when taking a shot at goal. It is the amount of power a player can put into a shot while still keeping it accurate.
It affects how fast the ball travels when struck from any distance. A player with a low shot power can still hit the ball hard into the back of the net but the longer you hold B/O the more likely he is to miss.
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Sliding Tackle |
10 Defending |
Technical |
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This stats measures the ability of the player to time sliding tackles so that they win the ball rather than give away a foul.
What really counts for a good centre back is having high Tackles, both Standing and Sliding Tackles. These movements are risky, they might cause free kicks, booking or whatever, but they’ll shut the attacker most times, and if used carefully the results are excellent. Remember that the definition of Tackle is: a player’s ability to win the ball without causing a free kick by using his body strength, being the contact shoulder-to-shoulder or by foot. In game this also translates into being able to taunt the opponent with shirt pulling, grabbing and other not-so-fair moves without being caught by the referee if your player’s Tackles attributes are high.
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Sprint Speed |
55 Pace |
Physical |
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Sprint speed measures how fast the player runs while at top speed.
We already explained in ‘Acceleration’, what sprint speed is. However, if you still need help to understand the difference between acceleration and sprint speed, here is a good example. A race between a man, a car and a plane, who wins? It depends. If it’s a 30 meters long race the man wins, and it would take him only 4 seconds to finish. However, if the race had been longer, around 150-200 meters, the car would win, and then the plane would be the winner at anything beyond that. That happens because the man’s acceleration is greater than both the car’s and the plane’s, but when it comes to maximum speed capacity he naturally loses.
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Stamina |
25 Physical |
Physical |
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Stamina determines the rate at which a player will tire during a game. It evaluates how tired your player gets as the match approaches half time or full time.
Don’t think that your player is tired only when he stops to catch his breast. When he gets to this point it actually means he’s stopped playing, his performance starts being affected way before this happens. Stamina is also responsible for your player getting injured more easily in any challenge, not necessarily in the last minutes of the match. This attribute also determines how quickly a player recovers between matches and the amount of time a player can sprint before slowing down.
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Standing Tackle |
30 Defending |
Technical |
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This attribute measures the ability of the player to time standing tackles so that they win the ball rather than give away a foul. If the stat is low, he is more likely to miss time the challenge or kick the ball away.
What really counts for a good centre back is having high Tackles, both Standing and Sliding Tackles. These movements are risky, they might cause free kicks, booking or whatever, but they’ll shut the attacker most times, and if used carefully the results are excellent. Remember that the definition of Tackle is: a player’s ability to win the ball without causing a free kick by using his body strength, being the contact shoulder-to-shoulder or by foot. In game this also translates into being able to taunt the opponent with shirt pulling, grabbing and other not-so-fair moves without being caught by the referee if your player’s Tackles attributes are high.
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Strength |
50 Physical |
Physical |
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Strength is about the quality or state of being physically strong. The higher the value, the more likely the player will win a physical challenge.
Your player’s strength stat will decide how they cope with any physical battles, so a good score in this area is important for anyone with defensive responsibilities. It’s also a desirable attribute to have for at least one of your strikers, just to give you a chance in 50-50s with defenders.
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Vision |
20 Passing |
Mental |
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Vision ranks the player’s awareness of the position of his teammates & opponents around him. It is the attribute that increases (or reduces) the possibilities of a successful long pass.
When we’re playing looking at the screen we usually have an above view of the game, just like when we’re watching football on TV. However, a player has quite a different view, a first-person pitch view, and it’s very hard to see where his teammates are. Without seeing where they are, a long pass will have a random destination, it might be a teammate or an opponent that receives the ball. The better the Vision attribute, the wider your player will see in order to locate his teammates and therefore the bigger the chances of a successful long pass. It doesn’t matter how high is the long passing stat of a player if he doesn’t have a decent vision.
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Volleys |
05 Finishing |
Technical |
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This attribute measures the accuracy and power of volleys at goal. It affects the technique and accuracy of shots taken while the ball is in the air. This tends to be coupled with the balance trait if he is not fully facing the goal. Volleys stat is responsible for some of the most beautiful goals.
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