With EA Sports FC 24 releasing this week, one of the most popular game modes, Clubs, is back with some new features added this year.
Previously known as Pro Clubs, it appears EA Sports FC 24 is opting for a shorter name, by just referring to the mode as ‘Clubs’ in their Deep Dive series. Simply put, this mode allows you to play with friends, or random online players, in one team. Taking control of your own player and playing together to try and win matches. You create your player, make a new club, invite all your friends and play matches. This is as close to playing in the park with your friends, in an online capacity. The more games you play, you earn skill points which can then be spent on increased attributes to improve your pro as you move up the leagues.
This mode has always had the potential to be one of, if not the best in the game but has always managed to fall short, will it be better this time round with some new features?
What are the new features added to Clubs?
In EA Sports FC’s Official Clubs Deep Dive they have gone through several additions, as well as prior features that have been altered in an attempt to improve them.
In FIFA 23, the only true features were season matches and cup matches and as a result, the game could get very repetitive. These combined with a kit creator and skills tree for upgrades, the mode was very surface level as a whole.
So what have they added to try and add some more depth?
Cross-Play
Simply put this is a very simple addition, but one that improves the mode a lot. The ability to play with friends on other consoles creates the chance to make bigger teams and get closer to more eleven vs eleven games.
The only thing that may let this down is that last-gen consoles can only play together and new-gen can play together. Meaning if your friend is on Playstation 4 then they can not play with you if you are on PS5.
In years gone by a club was locked to the console that was being used by the club creator, but that will no longer be the case. Public clubs are now going to be available to be joined by players from any console of the same generation.
This feature will be available for any match types, which we will discuss.
Clubs League
The whole match aspect of Clubs is changing for the first time since the mode was added to the game in FIFA 09. Now there are going to be Clubs League seasons which are then split off into different stages.
Each season will last six weeks and will start with the League Phase. This is similar to how the mode has worked in previous years, accrue points by winning games and earn promotion through different divisions.
These divisions start with five and move on up through until the Elite Division. The more games you win, the higher division you will be in and as a result the rewards you can achieve are improved.
Two big changes are no match limits and no relegation. Typically, you have seven games to play to achieve a set number of points for relegation safety, promotion and champions. Now you can play as many games as you want to aim for promotion with no risk of relegation.
To earn promotion between divisions now, you will have to win a set number of games of your ‘Promotion Matches’. You will be given a number of games and will have to win a certain amount of those in order to move to the next division.
In the final week of the six-week season, there is a ‘Playoff Phase’ which sees you play against the best teams in your division to try and top the table.
As the playoffs begin, your club will be assigned a set number of matches to see where you will rank on the table. There are no draws, just wins or losses so there are high stakes in each game.
After the Playoff Phase is complete your club will earn rewards based on your final position in the table which will earn you trophies and other cosmetics, as well as additional Fans and Reputation.
Fans and Reputation
This is a brand new feature added to Clubs this year. For the first time, there is a progression system, other than seasons, which everyone contributes to and allows your club to grow.
The reputation increases at different levels, which unlocks:
- Increased overall AI teammates
- Bigger stadiums
- More vanity items
In a similar vein to how Ultimate Team stadiums have worked in recent years, the more your reputation grows, the size of your stadium will increase and you can customize it to your personal tastes.
With pitch trophies, animated tifo’s, and several other vanity items there is plenty to make your club stand out.
PlayStyles
PlayStyles are a new addition to this year’s game and are taking over from traits in previous games, but it appears that this year, they will have much more of an effect. Each style that you build towards and add to your pro, it adds a unique ability to improve them at certain aspects.
PlayStyles+ is the next level of this which makes a player world-class at whatever that trait is, for example, power shots become even harder for goalkeepers to save, but you will have to earn a large amount of skill points in order to afford these.
Every player will have slots for six PlayStyles and two Playstyles+ and these will be unlocked through progression, the more you play and increase your XP, the slots will open up.
For each position that you set for your pro, the PlayStyles will be different to improve them in relevant areas to where they are on the pitch.
There are some interesting new features coming to the new game, with the new seasons and crossplay, especially, since it is an exciting time for the mode.