Discover what’s new in FIFA 20 Ultimate Team: FUT Friendlies, Season Objectives, New Customization Options, New Squad Management, Squad Battles Changes and much more.
What’s New in FIFA 20 Ultimate Team?
The new features and some key improvements that are coming to FUT 20
There are several changes in FUT 20, including the addition of the FUT Friendlies, more objectives, new customization options and a redesigned squad screen. Let’s see in detail what’s different in FIFA 20 Ultimate Team.
FUT Friendlies
Kick back and relax against your mates or the wider FUT Community with a range of new and more social ways to play FUT.
FUT Friendlies is a new hub to play FUT with your friends locally or online, as well as head to head online in traditional 11v11 gameplay, with or without House Rules.
Matches within FUT Friendlies do not consume contracts or fitness, or count towards your club record and they do not carry over injuries and red cards making them the perfect place to experiment with your new players. EA has also paired the mode with deeper stats tracking in Friendlies, so that you’ll have a one stop spot to know which of your friends is truly the best at Ultimate Team.
The mode features 11v11 Classic gameplay, but the true fun in FUT Friendlies comes when you branch out into some custom House Rules. In FUT 20 select House Rules modes launched in FIFA 19 (Headers & Volleys, Survival, Long Range, No Rules, and Classic Match) – and 4 new modes designed specifically for FIFA 20 – will be available for you to choose from:
Max Chemistry
All players have maximum individual chemistry. Were taken the restrictions of team building away and added a full boost to players’ Chemistry, regardless of their position in the squad or their links. Each player will play at 10 chemistry and the team will have 100 team chemistry, allowing you to experiment with new squad combinations with the full power of chemistry styles.
Swaps
Three players are randomly swapped from your team with the opposition. You could gain your opponent’s star player, but also lose yours. At the start of each game you’ll have 3 players randomly swapped from your squad with your opponent. Will you get your opponents best 3 and replace them with some of your bronze starters? Or will you just get to experience what it’s like to play with some different players you have never used before? As an additional benefit, if you manage to score on your friend with one of their players you’ll be awarded 2 points for that goal. Each match in Swaps will bring some fun opportunities to use your friends’ players against them.
Mystery Ball
Brings the element of surprise each time the ball leaves play as it comes in as a new mystery ball type. Each ball has a custom goal value that ranges from 1-3 goals and boosts the player in possession with over the top effects that take their Shooting, Dribbling, Passing, Sprint Speed, or the all powerful All Ball, which brings each of the other effects at the same time.
King of the Hill
Combines the power of dribbling in a control zone with a goal value meter making the focus of the game different than ever before. A control zone will spawn in the attacking zone which you will have to get the ball inside and then continue to control it as the space shrinks and your goal meter starts to fill. Balance your chances between retaining possession and pushing for a max goal value of 3, and then work your way up the pitch and try to score.
In FUT Friendlies you can build your own playlist by selecting a range of House Rules for your own custom playlist or select the exact type of match you want to play. These new ways to play, stats tracking. and the potential to combine with Season Objectives are sure to bring new fun and casual ways to play with your friends and opponents in FUT 20.
Season Objectives
Transform the way you play FUT with a redefined Objectives System and Season Objectives. Progress and personalise your club with a range of time-limited and grouped tasks, providing more complex and rewarding objectives throughout the year.
Season Objectives are part of the wider redefined Objectives system in FUT 20, which will allow you to progress towards rewards for your Ultimate Team beyond a daily or week to week window. The first Season of FIFA 20 will kick off on 19th September, allowing anyone playing FIFA 20 through the EA Access Trial to begin their progress ahead of the worldwide launch on 27th September. The first season will run until the end of October.
When you login to Ultimate Team after creating your Club, you’ll find the new Objectives Hub accessible from the FUT Central menu. Inside this hub, you’ll be able to track your progress towards Season Rewards, jump to the next season objective that you choose to complete, as well as see your progression against Milestones and Foundation objectives.
In FUT 20, Objectives can be grouped together by themes and tasks. Individual Objectives you complete will earn you XP and Rewards, as well as help progress towards completing the Objective group it is in. Completing groups of Objectives will be key to you unlocking larger rewards to help you grow, customize or advance your Ultimate Team.
Season Objectives will be released in 4 ways: Daily, Weekly, Season, and Dynamic Objectives:
Daily Objectives
Simple tasks which are released each day and contribute XP to your Season Rewards. They will automatically release each day and expire after 24hrs.
Weekly Objectives
Groups of objectives which have rewards and XP associated with the completion of the individual objectives release each week. In case you miss one week’s objectives they will stay active in the game for a 2nd week, with the exception of the last week of a season which will expire when the Season does.
Season Objectives
Longer term challenges to finish and from the time they are put live they will remain live until the last day of the season.
Dynamic Objectives
Special time-limited release Objective Groups which will not have a regular release schedule and will end after a set period of time determined by the dynamic objective group. These could be tied to campaigns or real-world events that are happening in the game during the course of the Season.
Completing Objectives and earning XP will progress your Level on the Season Rewards tab. In our first season, there will be 30 Levels, each with its own Season Reward or Reward choice. There will be a diverse mix of rewards available in the objectives feature ranging from packs, players, club customization content or other items to help progress your club such as match coin boosts. As you level up throughout the Season, the bigger both the challenges and rewards will become. You’ll be able to track your overall progress and see all level rewards in the Season Rewards screen for the duration of the season.
There are also two other ways to unlock rewards for your play with Foundation and Milestones Objectives.
Foundation Objectives
The place for new players to learn the ropes of FIFA Ultimate Team, with organized learning objectives grouped together by subjects such as trading, team building and Chemistry. It replaces the old Starter Objectives.
Milestones Objectives
Long term objective groups which are not tied to any Season. Once a Milestone objective group is created in FUT 20 you’ll be able to continue making progress against these objectives, unlocking their rewards at your pace.
New Customization Options
New ways to personalize your club and truly show off your unique style on the pitch
In FUT 20 EA is going to take things to a new level with eight Club Customization options to mix and match; you’ll be sure to find options that help you show off your club in a more unique way. By adding new Stadium Themes, Tifos, unique custom balls, new crests, and custom celebrations to the game there are going to be thousands of combinations to personalize your club.
If you’re a football purist interested in finding authentic customization options, or someone who’s style isn’t as traditional, FUT 20 got lots of new customization options that will give you an opportunity to create your own environment that feels unique to your club.
Both Stadium Theme’s and Tifo’s are new additions in FUT 20. Your Stadium theme will feature on the sidelines and in the crowd throughout the match. Your Tifo will feature in the pre-match intros and after goals there will be some replays which feature your Tifo in the background.
Celebrations you assign to your club are assigned to the
It’s important to note the ball selection you make will only be seen on your own screen. This is done to ensure that we do not create any visibility issues for other players. Also, not all stadiums in FUT support all customization features. Be sure to check our stadiums page to know which types of customization each stadium supports to ensure you have a location that contains support for the customization types you want to see (coming soon).
FIFA 20 Squad Screen
Squad and player management has been redesigned for an easier and more seamless experience.
The Squad screen has always been one of the key experiences when playing FIFA Ultimate Team. As FUT has grown and expanded through the years EA’ve added lots of new and useful functions to the squad, but fundamentally the overall experience of using the squad screen has become a bit too complex.
Selecting a player in FUT 20 and pressing
By pressing
The player actions menu has been completely redesigned as well, now pressing <☐ / X> on a player brings up a radial menu with quick options to apply consumables, jump to player tactics, or just to quick sell a player.
And for anyone looking for the manager on the squad, he hasn’t been removed, just added to the dock with your subs and reserves.
Squad Battles Changes
Squad and player management has been redesigned for an easier and more seamless experience.
Since the launch in FUT 18, Squad Battles has proven to be one of the most popular modes. In FUT 20, you’ll see a new interface which puts a better emphasis on the details of the squad you’re about to face. You’ll see the top three players from each squad, some details on the current tactical setup and formation, the kits and stadium, as well as the ratings for the squad and their chemistry displayed more clearly. Those opponent squads will feature their customization as well, with Tifo and stadium themes carrying into each match.
In addition to the improved interface for opponent selection there are some changes to the fundamentals of squad battles, which should improve things for people by enabling easier access to playing your matches on your schedule. To start, EA’ve removed the timed refreshes in Squad Battles for FUT 20. You will now be able to refresh 4 new squads whenever you want, until you hit your maximum of 10 refreshes for the weekly competition (up 40 games per week). While those first 10 refreshes are the only squads which will count towards your weekly competition standings, you will be able to continue to refresh and get new opponent squads to work on completing objectives or just for some fresh opponents to play.
EA’ve also included the Team of the Week as a recurring Squad Battles opponent. Which, along with the Featured Squad Battle, you’ll now be able to replay if desired to try and improve your final score. You’ll need to balance risk and reward when you re-match and replace your previous score in an attempt to earn more points, push yourself higher up the leaderboards, and gain better rewards.
Other Changes
Pre-Match Setup
Now in FUT 20 you’ll see new options when it comes time to select your kits. You’ll have the option to select playing against your opponent in your other kit for a guaranteed match experience, or to play against your opponent in one of their chosen kits. The kits your opponent is using will not be displayed before the match starts. Behind the scenes EA’ll use logic to evaluate the colour of the kit you are wearing and choose the kit your opponent is wearing which has the least similar colour patterns to your own.
Bulk Quick sale of consumables
When browsing your club consumables you’ll have the option in the quick sell menus to quick sell multiple items at the same time. This will greatly reduce the time and effort for players when you’d like to turn some of your excess consumables into coins for your club.
FUT Champions
To kick things off, in FUT 20 EA will ensure that the Champion SBCs are in the game from launch. There will be a SBC to submit any 5 Champions items for a 83-86 rated Champions player. Additionally, EA will have a SBC with requirements to submit an 81 rated squad of Champions players to receive a player pick 86+.
Division Rivals
EA’ve changed some of the skill rating requirements for divisions in FUT 20. Additionally, they’ve also changed the functionality of matchmaking in the upper tiers of skill rating. As a player who exceeds 2200 skill rating in Division 1, your matchmaking will have hit a cap. This change is targeted to improve the overall likelihood of matchmaking in upper skill tiers and ensure that players find games both quicker and with more regularity. You will continue to calculate skill per your exact skill rating and your skill rating can exceed 2200. This change is only applied to finding an opponent in Division Rivals.
FUT Stadiums
In an effort to reduce the variance experienced match to match in lighting and shadows, EA’ve made a choice to lock in specific time of day settings for each of the stadiums in FIFA Ultimate Team. Before each match, the game will select between day and night and will use the predetermined time of day and weather conditions to ensure a priority on minimizing the impact of shadows in each stadium.
Companion App
In FUT 20 Companion App EA’ll add the ability to create Custom Tactics for your active FUT Squad. Similar to on console, you’ll be able to tweak your tactical set up for 5 different presets ahead of you going into your next match. On top of tactical changes you can also switch up your look with the full Club Customization options that you find on the console. Check in on your progress in Season Objectives and see how far away you are from your next objective, potentially even being able tick off one or two of the tasks through the App itself. On the Companion App you will be able to add SBC Protection onto players in your Club, to help ensure that you don’t submit a star player into a SBC by accident. If you do try to submit a player with SBC Protection enabled you will receive a prompt asking you to confirm that you are happy to submit this player. We’ll also be adding to the search functionality within the Companion app to exclude Active Squad members from Club search results, making squad building and SBCs easier to do.
Icons
FUT 20 features 15 new icons, including Zidane, Drogba and Pirlo, to help you to create your dream squad with superstars from past and present.