In FIFA 22, the Weekend League mode has been restructured. The new system leads to rewards that are easier to achieve and gained faster – but it also has a crazy side effect.
This is how the Weekend League works now: Those who qualify for the new Weekend League must complete a total of 20 matches over the weekend. That’s already ten less than before.
Additionally, there is a new points system.
- Wins bring 4 points
- Losses also bring one point
This is an important innovation compared to the usual Weekend League of recent years. Previously, only wins counted – there was nothing for losses.
As another change, players can already look forward to their Weekend League rewards as soon as they have completed their 20 matches (or the weekend is over). Previously, you had to wait until the following Thursday for rewards.
Now you are in control of when you receive the rewards. And this suddenly leads many players to simply give up their matches.
Good rewards – Even if things go wrong in the Weekend League
What is happening in the Weekend League? If you take a look around in the FIFA subreddit, many players intentionally lose part of their matches over the weekend (via reddit). There are multiple reasons for this.
One reason is that there are still decent rewards even for winless Weekend Leagues.
- Rank 6 in the Weekend League requires only 8 points. However, it still brings 500 Champs points, 3 decent packs, 5,000 coins, and even one of the coveted Player Picks.
- Rank 5 requires 20 points from you. Here, you even get 2 Player Picks, 2 packs, 5,000 coins, and 500 Champs points.
Both ranks can actually be reached without a single win.
It gets a bit more interesting for the better rewards for Rank 4 (4 wins and 16 losses suffice) or Rank 3, which is enough for re-qualification to the playoffs (8 wins, 12 losses). Nevertheless, even here, a large part of the necessary points can be collected simply through losses.
This is the role of early rewards: The willingness to lose is further increased by the fact that you receive the rewards immediately after your 20 matches. This leads to some players, who have already reached their desired rank, simply losing the remaining matches by quitting. Then they receive the rewards sooner than waiting until the upcoming Monday.
And what about the opponents? If a player quits the game at 0:0, there is no victory for the opponent. However, an interesting development seems to be emerging here as well: Players in the FIFA subreddit are calling for people to first score an own goal before leaving (via reddit).
This means that the opponent gets wins essentially for free and can enjoy 4 extra points in their own Weekend League.
However, caution is advised here. While there are currently no reports of bans for this behavior in FIFA 22, players in the past (in FIFA 21) stated that giving away wins in the Weekend League could lead to such (via reddit).
Is the Weekend League now completely easy?
This is the situation: Comparing the Weekend League itself to earlier, it is clear that it has become easier to earn rewards. At least if you are more in the lower ranks. It looks somewhat different if you want top rewards every week – then you do need the wins. However, the whole thing is a bit more relaxed since you only have to complete 20 matches.
What you must not forget is the qualification through the playoffs. To even get into the Weekend League, you must first collect enough points there during the week.
The magic number here is: 5 wins, 4 losses – that’s enough for the necessary 24 qualification points. Therefore, you can’t afford too many losses. This leads some FIFA fans to consider qualification for the Weekend League as tougher than the weekend itself (via reddit).
This is especially true because if you fail in the qualification, you have to collect 1,500 Champions points again to get back into the playoffs. And depending on the division, that can take a long time.
It becomes really difficult, especially if you are not winning any matches in Division Rivals. However, some players seem to have this problem, landing in divisions where they are no longer able to compete. This was also caused by a change in the usual Rivals system.
You can read more about this issue in Division Rivals with the new system here.
What do you think of the new Weekend League? Do you consider the new system an improvement? And how do your weekend matches go? Let us know in the comments!
