FIFA 20

FIFA 20 – The Game That Brought Street Football Back (For Better or Worse)

Attribute	Details
Publisher	EA Sports
Developer	EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Release Date	September 27, 2019 (Standard), September 24, 2019 (Champions/Ultimate Edition early access)
Genre	Sports Simulation
Platforms	PC (Windows), PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (Legacy Edition)

So, What Exactly Is FIFA 20?

Let me take you back to 2019. EA Sports had a problem. Fans were getting bored. The core gameplay felt stagnant. Ultimate Team was making them billions, but the actual football? People were complaining.

So EA did something different. They brought back street football. Proper street football.

FIFA 20 is the 27th installment in the series, and for the first time, it didn’t release on PS3 or Xbox 360 . Those old consoles finally got left behind. The big headline? VOLTA Football. It’s basically FIFA Street reborn inside the main game . Small-sided matches. Walls. Fancy skill moves. No offside. Pure chaos.

The cover stars are a mixed bag. Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard on the Standard Edition. Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk on the Champions Edition. And Zinedine Zidane on the Ultimate Edition . Three generational talents. Not bad.

But here’s the thing. FIFA 20 is weird. Some people LOVE it. Some people HATE it. The gameplay changes split the community right down the middle. And the Career Mode? EA promised big changes. They delivered… sort of.

Let me break it all down for you.

How Does It Actually Play?

I’ll be honest with you. FIFA 20’s gameplay is a mixed bag. Some things are better. Some things are worse. A lot of it depends on your playstyle.

The Core Gameplay – Slower and More “Realistic”

EA wanted to make FIFA 20 feel more like real football. Less arcade-y. More tactical. They changed the positioning system so that one-on-one situations happen more often . Attackers have more space to dribble. Defenders have to actually think.

The new “Strafe Dribbling” lets you move more agilely with the ball. You can beat defenders with close control instead of just pace abuse . Controlled Tackling gives defenders a better chance to win the ball cleanly without fouling.

In theory? Great. In practice? It feels clunky at first. Your players have weight. You can’t just turn on a dime. It takes getting used to.

Set Pieces Got a Complete Overhaul

Free kicks and penalties are completely different now . You aim a targeting reticule, choose your power, add spin, and time your strike. It’s more skill-based than before. The margin for error is bigger, but so is the reward for getting it right.

Penalties? Controversial. The reticule is sensitive and tries to recenter itself. You can aim perfectly and still miss because the game decides you put too much power . The computer AI is also bad at penalties, so it evens out. But it’s frustrating when it happens to you.

Crossing got nerfed into the ground. In FIFA 19, crosses were overpowered. In FIFA 20, they’re almost useless . Players overhit the ball constantly. Headers are weak and usually go downwards into the ground. Corners are basically a waste of time. EA said fans complained about crossing being too strong, so they made these changes and refused to tweak them .

VOLTA Football – The Big New Mode

This is the star of the show. VOLTA (which means “return” in Portuguese) is street football. Three versus three. Four versus four. Five versus five. With or without walls. Futsal rules if you want .

You create your own character. Customize everything – clothes, shoes, hats, accessories, tattoos, even gender . Then you play through a story mode called “The World Championship.” You join a street team called J10 led by legendary street footballer Jason “Jayzinho” Quezada. You travel the world – Amsterdam, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, New York City – playing tournaments and recruiting former teammates .

Alex Hunter from “The Journey” makes a cameo. His agent Beatriz Villanova shows up. There’s drama. There’s betrayal. There’s a weird bug where the female goalkeeper Syd plays for literally every team, even after multiple patches .

When VOLTA works, it’s genuinely fun. The small-sided matches are fast-paced. Skill moves matter more than tactics. You can do flair shots and elaborate passes. The 17 real-world locations look great .

When it doesn’t work? The AI in story mode is random. Sometimes your teammates defend. Sometimes they abandon the goal to try scoring. The opposition wears the same colors as you. And losing a tournament means replaying five matches in a row .

Ultimate Team – More of the Same (But Different)

FUT is back. 88 Icon players, including 15 new names – Zinedine Zidane, Didier Drogba, Kaká, Andrea Pirlo, Ian Wright . That’s cool.

Two new game modes were added to FUT: King of the Hill and Mystery Ball . King of the Hill has a random zone on the pitch. Control that zone, and your next goal is worth more. Mystery Ball gives your attacking players random attribute boosts after every stoppage – passing, shooting, speed, dribbling, or all of them . It’s unpredictable and chaotic.

The problem? You need a constant internet connection. Lose connection during a single-player match, and you’re kicked out with a 3-0 loss. Your contracts still expire. You get nothing . It’s brutal.

Career Mode – The One Fans Were Waiting For

After years of neglect, EA finally gave Career Mode some attention .

New additions include:

Fully interactive press conferences where your answers affect player morale
One-on-one player conversations
A dynamic player potential system – young players can exceed their potential if they perform well
Customizable manager appearance, including female managers for the first time
New negotiation environments
Live news screenshots

Sounds great, right?

Here’s the problem. At launch, Career Mode was BROKEN. The best teams were fielding their weakest lineups and getting relegated. Fixtures were scheduled on consecutive days (a bug that had existed for YEARS). The Champions League stopped working after a few seasons. Players were getting sacked for renewing contracts .

EA eventually fixed these issues, but the #FixCareerMode hashtag was trending on Twitter for weeks. Not a great look.

The License Situation – It’s Complicated

Juventus is gone. They signed an exclusive deal with PES, so in FIFA 20, they’re called “Piemonte Calcio” . Generic kits. Generic badge. Generic stadium. Same players, though. So Cristiano Ronaldo is still there, just wearing a fake jersey.

Boca Juniors and River Plate are also missing. They’re called “Buenos Aires” and “Núñez” . Bayern Munich is in the game, but the Allianz Arena is exclusive to PES, so you play at a generic stadium .

On the plus side, FIFA 20 added the Romanian Liga I for the first time . The Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana were added via a free update in March 2020 . So South American football fans finally got some love.

Nintendo Switch – The Legacy Edition

If you’re playing on Switch, you need to know something. The Switch version is NOT the same game. It’s a “Legacy Edition” – basically a roster update with none of the new features . No VOLTA. No Frostbite engine. No new gameplay mechanics. Just the same game as FIFA 19 with updated kits.

Don’t buy the Switch version expecting the full experience.

What Are the System Requirements for FIFA 20?

Good news. FIFA 20 is from 2019, so the requirements are very reasonable.

The FIFA 20 download size is about 50 GB on PC .

Minimum System Requirements

Here’s what you need at the very least :

Component	Requirement
OS	Windows 7 / 8 / 10 (64-bit)
Processor	Intel i3-2100 / AMD Phenom II X4 965
Memory	8 GB RAM
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 / AMD Radeon HD 7850
DirectX	Version 11
Storage	50 GB available space

Recommended System Requirements

For the smoother experience :

Component	Requirement
OS	Windows 10 (64-bit)
Processor	Intel i3-6300T / AMD Athlon X4 870K
Memory	8 GB RAM
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 / AMD Radeon R9 270X
DirectX	Version 11
Storage	50 GB available space

Important Notes:

The game uses the Frostbite 3 engine on PC, PS4, and Xbox One . The Switch version uses a different engine.
The Nintendo Switch version has no separate system requirements – it runs on the console.
The PC version supports both keyboard/mouse and controllers. Controllers are strongly recommended.

Will it run on my laptop? Yes, if your laptop has a dedicated GPU. The GTX 660 minimum is an older card, but it’s still dedicated. Integrated graphics might struggle. Most gaming laptops from the last 5-6 years will run this fine.

What about modern Windows 11? The game runs fine. No compatibility issues reported.

What Makes FIFA 20 Special (For Better or Worse)?

Look, I’m going to be straight with you. FIFA 20 is not the best FIFA game. It’s not the worst either. It’s somewhere in the middle, and where it falls depends on what you care about.

VOLTA Is a Genuinely Good Addition

After years of the same formula, street football feels fresh. The smaller pitches, the skill moves, the customizability – it’s fun. And the story mode, despite its bugs, has heart. Playing as your own character, traveling the world, recruiting teammates – it’s a welcome change from Ultimate Team grind .

The Gameplay Changes Are Divisive

Some people love the slower, more tactical feel. One-on-one situations happen more often. Skill moves matter. It feels more like real football .

Other people hate it. Crossing is useless. Headers don’t work. The AI is random. Players feel clunky .

Both groups are right. It depends on what you want from a football game.

Career Mode Got Attention (But Not Enough)

EA finally listened to the #FixCareerMode crowd. Press conferences, dynamic potential, female managers – these are real improvements .

But the bugs at launch were embarrassing. And the fixes came too late for many players. If you’re playing Career Mode in 2026, the patches have been applied. It’s stable now. But the launch experience left a bad taste in people’s mouths.

Ultimate Team Is Still Ultimate Team

If you love FUT, you’ll find plenty to do. New Icons, new modes, the usual grind. If you hate FUT, nothing here will change your mind. The always-online requirement is still punishing. Losing connection means losing progress .

The License Losses Hurt

Playing as “Piemonte Calcio” instead of Juventus is immersion-breaking. The generic kits look wrong. The stadium is wrong. EA did their best with what they had, but it’s not the same.

The Switch Version Is a Rip-Off

I need to say this clearly. The Nintendo Switch version of FIFA 20 is a Legacy Edition. No new features. No VOLTA. No Frostbite engine. It’s basically FIFA 19 with updated rosters . If you have a Switch and want FIFA, buy a different entry or stick with what you have.

The Not-So-Great Stuff (Being Honest)

I always try to give you the full picture. So here’s where FIFA 20 stumbles.

Crossing and Headers Are Terrible

EA nerfed them too hard. You can make a perfect cross, and your striker will either control the ball, do a weak downward header, or ignore it completely . Corners are basically useless. It’s frustrating when real football tactics don’t work in a football game.

Penalties Are Overcomplicated

The new reticule system is sensitive and tries to recenter itself. You can aim perfectly and still miss because the game decides you put too much power. It’s not intuitive .

The AI Is Inconsistent

In VOLTA story mode, your AI teammates sometimes abandon the goal to try scoring. Opposition players wear the same colors as you. It’s hard to tell who’s on your team at a glance .

Career Mode Bugs (Patched, But Still…)

The launch bugs were bad. The good news is that they’re fixed now. But if you’re reading old reviews, you’ll see complaints about teams getting relegated with their best players, Champions League stopping after a few seasons, and managers getting sacked for no reason .

Always-Online for Ultimate Team Is Punishing

Lose connection during a single-player FUT match? You get a 3-0 loss. Your contracts still expire. You get no rewards. It’s brutal and unnecessary .

So, Should You Play It in 2026?

Here’s the bottom line. FIFA 20 is a transitional game. It’s the one where EA brought back street football, revamped set pieces, and finally gave Career Mode some attention. It’s also the one where crossing died, penalties got weird, and Juventus became “Piemonte Calcio.”

If you want to play VOLTA – the street football mode – this is where it started. The story mode is fun, the customization is deep, and the small-sided matches are a nice break from 11v11.

If you want to play Career Mode, the patches have fixed the launch bugs. It’s stable now. The new features (press conferences, dynamic potential, female managers) are solid additions.

If you want to play Ultimate Team… honestly, play a newer game. The markets are dead. The player base has moved on.

And if you have a Nintendo Switch? Don’t buy this version. It’s not the same game.

For less than ₹500 on sale? Worth it for VOLTA alone. For full price? Pass.

Now go score a bicycle kick in VOLTA. Just don’t expect your crosses to connect.

Installation Guide