FIFA 21 Career Mode Changes: Wishlist, New features, Gameplay, Concepts, Next Gen, PS5, Xbox Series X & more


FIFA Career Mode is for the purists.

Not fussed about building an Ultimate Team online, Career Mode players have patients as they grow their squad to one of the best in the world.

We take a look at any changes we could expect in FIFA 21 Career Mode.

Improved communication with the Board

Board objectives are sometimes unattainable, unbalanced and non-negotiable.

For example, there is no scope to inform the board you’d rather focus on Premier League success, but you’ll be sacrificing your FA Cup run to save player fitness.

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ONE WAY STREET: Currently the board share their demands, but you can’t respond

Also, transfer funds requests could be more in-depth, allowing you to promise certain achievements if the board were to allow you to sign a certain player.

READ MORE: Everything we know about FIFA 21 Career Mode

Evidently, there are so many features that could improve board communications.

FIFA 21 doesn’t need to go after all aspects of it, but a step towards better communications with the board would be very helpful.

In PES 2020's "remastered" Master League - their version of Career Mode - you sit down with the board to decide the objectives for the season.

Even on old versions of Career Mode, your targets were reflected in your budget. Something along these lines needs to return.

Customisable Kits & sponsorship deals

There’s no better feeling as a Career Mode player than when you’ve taken your League Two club all the way to the bright lights of the Champions League.

However, it’s a bit frustrating when you’re matched up against the likes of Real Madrid and you have to walk out at the Bernabeu in an outdated kit.

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NEW SEASON, SAME KIT: Currently you’re stuck with the same set of kits no matter how many seasons you play

The ability to customise and update your club’s kits each season would be an exciting addition to the game mode.

Perhaps this is a feature we could see with the higher processing speeds of Next Gen.

READ MORE: Will FIFA 21 be cross platform?

EA could even go one step further and allow sponsor partnership negotiations which could help your club raise funds.

Concept Kit Creator

FIFA fanatic infinitybykeo, developed a YouTube video showing off his Career Mode concept for the next game.

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BESPOKE - A kit creator for FIFA 21 Career Mode is a must from us!

I featured a kit creator which would surely go down a hit with fans.

EA Sports has a great relationship with Adidas, so perhaps any teams with Adidas sponsorship could use the feature.

In-Depth Transfer and Loan Deals

Career Mode’s transfer system is much in need of an update – the current system merely allows you to sign players through offering a fee or player exchange, or loan a player by paying part of their wage.

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SIGN HIM UP – Matteo Kovacic’s loan deal to Chelsea was made permanent last summer

This is far from the reality of the transfer market. Primarily, the ability to include add-ons in transfer deals would add another layer of immersion. 

READ MORE: FIFA 21 Career Mode Wonderkids predictions

For example, rather than paying a flat fee, you could break down a deal into instalments, and include extra payments if and when the player has made a certain number of appearances.

In terms of loans, being able to add an obligation-to-buy is an omission that EA somehow hasn’t rectified. It’s a must-have in next year’s game. 

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ON THE OTHER SIDE - PES Master League has an option to buy

There did use to be an option-to-buy in previous games, but this was removed – it would be great to see this feature re-added also.

Youth Academy

Signing and developing new talent is crucial for long-term Career Mode success, especially if you’re managing a smaller team.

However, under the current system, you are required to essentially micro-manage your youth academy if you want to help players reach their potentials.

This is simply unrealistic.

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MICRO-MANAGE: Currently you have to manually train any young prospects

A revamped youth academy system could consist of delegating the training of the youth squad to a youth manager - another feature that existed on previous iterations.

Moreover, your youth squad could play in a simulated youth league, further aiding their overall growth.

Training tweaks

Moreover, the fact that you can only train five players in a week is incredibly unrealistic.

EA could keep the current system in which you can focus on five players, but add a weekly or monthly training report on player improvements.

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BRING IT BACK - Staff upgrades mysteriously disappeared

This would give you an idea on who’s working hard and deserves minutes on the pitch.

You can then extend this to pre-season to keep tabs on everyone’s fitness ahead of the campaign.

VAR to be implemented?

There’s a giant question that needs to be answered – will VAR be implemented in FIFA 21 Career Mode?

It wouldn’t be the first time that video technology was seen in FIFA.

After all, EA Sports added goal-line technology into their title back in FIFA 15.

FIFA Goalline Technology
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NO GOAL! Goal-line technology was first seen in FIFA 15

Whilst this was a significant addition when it was first released, it’s probably safe to say that the addition of VAR would be on a different level completely.

READ MORE: Everything we know about FIFA 21's Gameplay

There’s no doubt that VAR would create a more realistic football experience, but would FIFA fans really want that sort of stress in the game?

Football Manager games already have VAR, but it will be way more complex, and heartbreaking, on FIFA 21.

Head here to find out more about VAR in FIFA 21.

Next Gen?

Ultimately, these new features would be conducive to an incredibly immersive Career Mode experience.

After years of small additions being drip-fed into new instalments of FIFA, a complete refurb would massively improve Career Mode’s enjoyment factor and would lead to a massive buzz around the release of the new game.

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SLEEK – The new controller is the only taste we have of PS5 so far

With the release of both Sony’s and Microsoft’s next-gen consoles later this year, it is likely that EA will be looking to hit the ground running with FIFA 21 and thus the next game may be a massive jump forward for the sporting title.

READ MORE: What will the PS5 controller mean for FIFA 21?

It’s unlikely we would see any significant change on FIFA 21 from PS4 and Xbox One to Next Gen, especially in Career Mode, but expect way more significant alterations for FIFA 22.

For more articles like this, take a look at our FIFA and FIFA 21 page.