How you level up your Pro
There are two ways in which to improve your Virtual Pro’s stats – VP Experience and Skill Points:
- Virtual Pro Experience (XP) – Your Virtual Pro earns experience (XP) after completing Drop In, League, and Cup Matches. Earning XP increases your Virtual Pro’s Attributes and their overall rating. There are two kinds of XP that can be earned, Base Match XP and Bonus XP.
- Skill Points – Skill Points are used to obtain Traits to improve your Virtual Pro. Your Virtual Pro starts with 15 Skill Points and can continue to earn them by playing League Matches and Cup Matches. You apply and use your Skill Points within the Pro Attributes section of the game (Pro Clubs > My Pro (first tab) > Player Growth >Traits).
You can find more information on both in our FIFA 21 Virtual Pro Levelling Guide. If you’re new to Pro Clubs, I highly recommend you start by reading that. Done? Ok, lets press on.
It doesn’t matter which side you pick
Your Virtual Pro will have the same attributes whether you select Right or Left; when creating a Pro. This applies to the following positions:
- LF / CF / RF
- LW / RW
- LM / RM
- LWB / RWB
- LB / RB
There are two notable exceptions – this is not the case when selecting central defenders or midfielders – Full Backs (LB/RB) have a fundamentally different attribute profile to Centre Backs (CB); and the same is true for Centre Midfielders (CM), who also differ from RM / LM builds.
Positions with the same Primary attributes may have different caps
In particular, this applies to Wing Backs vs Full Backs; and Wingers vs Wide Midfields. For example, see below the max attribute caps for a LWB and a LB below. Both have the same height and weight build.
| Attribute | LWB | LB | LB CAP Δ |
| ACCELERATION | 91 | 89 | -2 |
| SPRINT SPEED | 90 | 89 | -1 |
| JUMPING | 76 | 77 | 1 |
| STAMINA | 84 | 83 | -1 |
| STRENGTH | 56 | 61 | 5 |
| REACTIONS | 98 | 95 | -3 |
| AGGRESSION | 78 | 80 | 2 |
| VISION | 74 | 72 | -2 |
| BALL CONTROL | 87 | 86 | -1 |
| CROSSING | 91 | 90 | -1 |
| DRIBBLING | 83 | 80 | -3 |
| FREE KICK ACCURACY | 79 | 76 | -3 |
| HEADING ACCURACY | 69 | 70 | 1 |
| PASSING (LONG) | 79 | 76 | -3 |
| PASSING (SHORT) | 89 | 86 | -3 |
| MARKING | 89 | 90 | 1 |
| TACKLE (STANDING) | 80 | 84 | 4 |
| TACKLE (SLIDING) | 87 | 89 | 2 |
| CURVE | 88 | 83 | -5 |
The Left Back position’s attribute caps are 3 points lower for Short Passing and Dribbling, but it has +5 points for both Strength and Standing Tackle, a big shift depending on whether you’re an attacking or defensive player. For this reason, it is crucial to compare between positions to prioritise and maximise the attributes which suit your playstyle.
Pace is the most expensive attribute to improve
If you’ve spent any time playing FIFA in the last few years, you’ll know that when it comes to attacking – pace conquers all. For this reason, upgrading the pace attributes of your Virtual Pro (Acceleration and Sprint Speed) costs more than any other attribute class.
| Attribute | Max Attribute Points | Max Skill Point Cost | Cost per Attribute |
| Heading Accuracy | 6 | 4 | 0.67 |
| Ball Control | 9 | 7 | 0.78 |
| Penalties | 9 | 7 | 0.78 |
| FK Accuracy | 10 | 8 | 0.80 |
| Interceptions | 9 | 8 | 0.89 |
| Dribbling | 9 | 8 | 0.89 |
| Jumping | 9 | 9 | 1.00 |
| Stamina | 9 | 9 | 1.00 |
| Sliding Tackle | 9 | 9 | 1.00 |
| Short Passing | 7 | 7 | 1.00 |
| Long Passing | 9 | 9 | 1.00 |
| Crossing | 6 | 6 | 1.00 |
| Volleys | 8 | 8 | 1.00 |
| Agility | 10 | 11 | 1.10 |
| Balance | 10 | 11 | 1.10 |
| Curve | 10 | 11 | 1.10 |
| Strength | 9 | 10 | 1.11 |
| Long Shots | 9 | 10 | 1.11 |
| Finishing | 9 | 10 | 1.11 |
| Standing Tackle | 7 | 8 | 1.14 |
| Shot Power | 7 | 11 | 1.57 |
| Sprint Speed | 9 | 27 | 3.00 |
| Acceleration | 8 | 27 | 3.38 |
For this reason, to maximise your Pro’s overall skill set, we recommend prioritising your player build with a bias towards Pace (generally smaller and lighter), so that you can invest your skill points more efficiently in their other physical and technical attributes.
The true impact of height and weight
Instinctively you would assume that building a short, lightweight player would have a hugely detrimental impact on your Strength and ability to defend the ball. In fact, there are multiple attributes which are significantly impacted:
| 5’3 – 5’4 | 5’9 – 5’10 | 6’7 | |
| 100-119 | 150-174 | 225-253 | |
| ACCELERATION | 91 | 81 | 65 |
| SPRINT SPEED | 90 | 81 | 66 |
| AGILITY | 86 | 74 | 57 |
| JUMPING | 76 | 78 | 62 |
| STRENGTH | 56 | 68 | 85 |
| HEADING ACCURACY | 69 | 79 | 92 |
| SHOT POWER | 65 | 75 | 91 |
Strength is significantly impacted for shorter and lighter builds, another nerf to offset the power of speed builds. This trend is also reflected in Heading Accuracy and Shot Power attributes. With heading at goal much more effective in FIFA21 than FIFA20, this is something else to consider for attacker builds. Conversely, we see significant gains across Acceleration, Sprint Speed and Agility for small/light builds.
One other trend to note – Jumping actually drops as you reach the taller builds – to offset tall players being too overpowered in aerial duels.
Pick the position which suits your playstyle (not the position you play)
Start by identifying the attributes that are key for your playstyle and select the player build which best suits those. In other words, just because your position on the pitch is going to be centre-mid, don’t automatically default to a CM / CDM build – if you value a combination of pace, tackling and passing – a L/RWB build may actually be better suited. There is no negative consequence of playing a pro build out of position, all it impacts is your Pro’s core attributes.
General trends to be aware of
- Pace Attributes (Acceleration, Sprint Speed) and Dribbling Attributes (Agility, Balance, Ball Control, Composure, Dribbling, Reactions) tend to be the most impacted by height and weight. For example, as a Striker, there is a 50 point difference between the fasted and slowest builds. Five-zero. Fifty!
- In some positions, there is a huge variance in the max attribute total between different size builds. For example, if you were to max your CB build at 5’3” & 115kg, your Attributes total would be 129 higher than a 6’7” & 200kg build.
- Despite being classified as “Primary”, the Attributes for some positions are very low. For example, a 5’8” & 170kg CDM has a max Strength stat of 72, despite this being one of the position’s 12 Primary Attributes.
Now you know the intricacies of the Pro Clubs progression system – time to create your Pro! Start here to begin comparing different positions and to get a deep dive into their respective strengths: FIFA 21 Virtual Pro Position Guides.
If you’d prefer to follow our recommendations, click here for our Quick Start builds for Defender, Midfielder and Striker positions: FIFA 21 Virtual Pro Position Guides.
