In FIFA 16, the Pro Clubs mode is one of the most popular modes in the game. We give you some tips on how to lead your club to glory and honor.
What is Pro Clubs?
For many fans of the FIFA series, Pro Clubs is the only true mode to play the football simulation right. In most other modes, you have to rely on ten AI players while you can only control one player yourself. In Pro Clubs, you and your buddies each take on a position, meaning that each person only controls one player – their Virtual Pro. This allows you to team up with up to 10 other players, making thrilling 11vs11 matches possible. Of course, in reality, there are usually fewer human players on the field since you don’t always have eleven people to play with.
Pro Clubs requires you to have enormous tactical teamwork. This likely explains the fascination of this mode. Currently, there are around 470,000 clubs on PlayStation 4 alone. Considering that each club has numerous players involved, it shows just how popular the mode is. In a leaderboard, you can always track who the best in the world are and what place you currently hold.
My Virtual Pro – Size, Weight, Attributes
It all begins with the creation of your Virtual Pro. In character customization, you have various options: the face is freely adjustable, you have numerous hairstyles available, some even modern, and in the end, some nice shoes await you. However, many philosophies clash on what kind of shoes to wear. Ultimately, though, it doesn’t really matter for gameplay what kind of hair or shoes you have.
The size, weight, attributes – and also the decision of whether to be right- or left-footed have significant effects.
As for size, the following rule generally applies: the taller, the slower. However, you do have some advantages when a cross comes sailing towards your head. How you want to utilize your size is up to you. The best advice is probably: on the wings, you need pace dribblers; if you play with a central striker who is waiting for high balls, make him tall! You can read more about pace, acceleration, and speed here.
The relationship between size and weight is somewhat more complicated. This can best be explained with the following example:
Assuming your Pro should be 173 cm tall (a very commonly chosen size), then his weight additionally affects his attributes. Let’s focus here on speed: a normal weight of about 75 kg results in standard values of 86 acceleration and 86 speed, which is quite balanced.
However, if you think that the lighter the player, the faster he will be, that’s not quite true. If the Pro weighs, for example, 56 kg and is visibly underweight, this adversely affects his attributes: he only has 82 acceleration and 82 speed.
If the body weight is 82 kg, acceleration decreases compared to 75 kg (84), but speed increases (88).
All other attributes react similarly; depending on weight and size, they increase or decrease. You need to play around a bit to create your desired Pro. In my opinion, you can play quite well with a wing striker of 173 cm height and a weight of 71-81 kg. Just try out different settings and discover your preferences. After all, you can also enhance all your attributes by completing achievements. How to unlock them is always indicated with the respective achievement.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that over time you unlock traits such as bicycle kick, driven pass, or second wind. You can only select five traits at a time. Which ones are best for your play style depends on the position you play. Since I have never scored a bicycle kick goal in countless games, I can confidently advise against this trait.
The right formation makes the difference
Once you have passed the first hurdle of creating your character, you need to form a lineup with your friends in any formation. While a five-defender formation was almost game-changing in FIFA 15, nowadays a four-defender setup is often sufficient.
In FIFA 16, 4-3-3 formations are very popular; you encounter them in many game modes. Up front, this provides a broad, variable play style, but you must also work back particularly hard. It should be mentioned that you still encounter opponents with a five-defender formation. Here it is usually harder to find gaps. However, these opponents do not often come in front of your goal.
The formation always depends on how many players you are, whether only attacking positions can be filled, or if you also have human defenders who can clean everything up on their own.
Over time, a diamond formation (4-4-2) has crystallized in my club. Up front, two strikers open numerous attacking options, the CAM distributes the balls diligently, and additional players provide a secure, defensive support.
There is unfortunately no “perfect” formation, you have to find the one that suits you and your friends the best. Which one do you play with?
The formation also depends on whether you play with an “Any” or not. We want to explore what this looks like on the next page, among other things.
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