Major Update 1.22 gives every team more personality on the pitch and makes VAR reviews more interactive than ever.
Teams now have their own playing identity, can adapt during matches and attack in more varied ways. VAR has also received another major upgrade, with tablet reviews, conversations between referees and even stadium announcements.
⚽ FOOTBALL WITH MORE PERSONALITY, VARIETY AND EXCITEMENT
We’ve improved team intelligence so the differences between teams are much more noticeable on the pitch. Expect more combinations, different attacking approaches and teams capable of adapting their football during the match. Knowing your opponent is now more important than ever.
🎯 5 STYLES THAT DEFINE HOW EACH TEAM PLAYS
Every team combines five different playing styles that shape its football identity:
Possession: focuses on passing, control and quick combinations to build attacks.
Vertical: tries to reach the opponent’s goal quickly through speed, long passes and powerful shots.
Wide: stretches the pitch and gives more importance to full-backs and wingers, using pace, dribbling and long passing.
Compact: focuses on solidity, positioning, tackling and strength to make life difficult for the opposition.
Balanced: provides a versatile foundation without one clearly dominant skill group.
🎮 YOUR TEAM, YOUR WAY TO PLAY
The team editor now lets you adjust the percentage of each playing style in addition to selecting the team’s general strategy. You can create a possession-focused team with a vertical touch, rely heavily on wide play without sacrificing defensive solidity, or build any combination in between. Existing teams already have their own initial personality, and you can also define the identity of any new teams you create.
🔄 AN IDENTITY THAT EVOLVES DURING THE MATCH
A team’s style defines its tendencies, but doesn’t force it to play the same way all the time. During a match, teams can change their approach, use different solutions and adapt to what’s happening on the pitch. Playing against the same team no longer means getting the same kind of match every time.
🏃 MORE NATURAL FOOTBALL
We’ve improved decision-making on the ball, passing patterns and player movement to create more believable actions. Jumping, ball contact and many different match situations have also been refined to make the overall flow of football more natural.
📺 MORE CHALLENGES AS THE VAR REFEREE
We’ve increased the number of controversial situations that can reach the VAR Room, giving you more opportunities to intervene. Watch the incident, identify the possible mistake and help the main referee make the correct decision.
🔥 VAR COMES TO LIFE
VAR reviews are now much more interactive and authentic. The main referee and the VAR Room communicate, analyze footage and react to what they see, with new voices and subtitles.
📱 CONVINCE THE REFEREE FROM THE VAR ROOM
When playing as the VAR referee, the main referee can ask you to send a replay to their tablet. Choose the angle and moment that best demonstrate your correction. If the footage is clear enough, the referee will accept your proposal; if it isn’t convincing, they may stick with the original decision. Clear situations are resolved quickly, while tighter calls may require an additional angle.
👨⚖️ REVIEW THE FOOTAGE AS THE MAIN REFEREE
If you prefer to wait for the VAR report, you can now ask to see the incident on the tablet afterwards. The VAR technician will play the footage and you can request another angle using your voice or a button before making your final decision. You’ll also see new animations of the referee using the tablet, talking through the earpiece and reacting to the VAR conversation.
📢 LET THE WHOLE STADIUM HEAR YOUR DECISION!
When a tablet review results in a changed decision, you can now announce it over the stadium PA system. Use your own microphone and hear your voice echo around the stadium, or choose an automatic announcement. Disallowed goals, penalties, red cards... every major correction now gets its moment in front of the crowd.
🚑 NEW INJURED PLAYER MANAGEMENT
When refereeing and a player gets injured, you can now check on them in a much more natural way. The player can receive medical treatment and tell you whether they’re able to continue or need to be substituted.
✏️ FASTER PLAYER EDITING
You can now paste a player’s shirt number and name directly from the clipboard while editing teams. For example, paste 10 Messi while editing a player and both the shirt number and name will be updated automatically.
🔍 NEW REFEREE ZOOM OPTION
Automatic referee zoom can now be disabled from the options menu.
🛠️ IMPROVEMENTS & BUG FIXES
As always, we’ve also fixed several issues reported by our Discord community.