The Biggest Problem is not EA. It's You.

Now now. Don't get your panties in a twist before you've read this post.

You may have a slim chance of not feeling addressed. If rightfully so, kudos to you. If not, then let go of the trigger button for once and listen.

This is a "sequel" to my first ever FIFA post I shared last year, before the release of EA's latest edition:

FC26: Yet Another High-Speed Collapse of the Beautiful Game

There, I explained my beef with the evolution online gameplay (Clubs, basically) had been going through, the state of that gameplay in FC25, and my prediction about how EA's changes for FC26 would ruin the online experience further, teasing us with their revamped "Competitive Mode".

It can be aptly summarized as follows:

If you reduce stamina as a limiting factor in an already pace-heavy game… you don’t get better football — you get faster nonsense.

So I'm not coping for EA. What you’re about to read is ultimately made possible by EA.

But let's not kid ourselves. Why is EA facilitating it?

The answer is clear: the biggest culprit is you. Yes, you — you know who you are.

After standing silently at the sideline for about 15 years, I'm taking out the big guns and aiming them at the player. I’m talking about a very specific breed of player. And sadly enough, it's this specimen whom EA increasingly seems to placate and curry favour.

You’ve seen them. You’ve played with them. You’ve probably have one in your own Club screaming for the ball at the gain of possession while R2-ing out of bounds.

The ones who treat sprint as the default movement state.
The ones who think stamina is decorative.
The ones who believe positioning is something only the AI should worry about.
The ones who think “jog” is just what happens when your controller disconnects.
The human fast-forward button.

And I'm not just venting a frustration because I keep losing. Far from it. I have the stats to back it up. Or should I say THE STAT. The data that is so devastatingly revealing that I'm certain all the football afficionados at EA with their abundant goodwill will no longer be able *not* to do something about it.

(By the way, I'm still playing Clubs on FC25, not 26).

The stat in question is:

Distance Covered — and more importantly — Distance Sprinted.

In real life, professional players run about 10 km on average (a bit more for midfielders and less for defenders). EA has that somewhat correct, achieving a similar average distance in their online 6-minute halves format. The in-game average for Pro Clubs is generally between 11 and 13 km.

However, that statistic is skewed upwards by the players. The incessant sprinting by players in turn makes the AI run and sprint more too.

Moreover... in real life, out of those 10 km on average, a player sprints roughly 200 meters.

Not 2 km.
Not 5 km.

200 meters.

That's 0.2 km if you're bad at math.

Keep this in mind as we move forward.

Here are some of the samples collected out of a mere 4-game session:

In contrast, here are my stats:

While my sprint distance is still about 12 times higher than a real football player, it's significantly lower than that of my opponents.

And if you're suspecting I'm just being salty because of a losing streak, think again. We've won all 4 games in spite of the inexhaustible turbo goblins we faced. One example of a 6-3 victory:

As you can see, victory is achieved despite sprinting 4 to 5 times less than the opponents on display. But this superior efficiency doesn't always translate in our favour. 

The most absurd statistic I gathered that evening, but was unable to screenshot, from 2 players from the same Club, is as follows:

18 km total distance — 11.3 km sprinted
19.2 km total distance — 12.3 km sprinted 

Read that again.

Over 60% of the match… at full sprint.

More sprinting in a single game than the average football player moves!

That’s not just unrealistic.
That’s not "a bit arcadey.”
That’s a physiological impossibility unless your striker is powered by a small nuclear reactor.

And suddenly, everything makes sense.

Of course:

• Positioning doesn’t matter.
• Shape doesn’t matter.
• Roles don’t matter.

Why would they?

When everyone is permanently sprinting, the game stops being about where you are and becomes entirely about how fast you can get somewhere else, first.

That’s how you end up with:

• Strikers joining defence (because they’ll still get back upfield first).
• Midfielders playing both CB and CF for 90 minutes without slowing down.
• Entire teams compressing and expanding like accordions on fast-forward.

Not because that’s how you're supposed to play a football simulator.

But because the system says:

“Go on. Sprint again. Nothing will happen.”

And may I remind you that this data is from FC25, not FC26?

Meaning, EA had the ability to notice this issue and had two paths forward:

Punish it.
Or build around it.

We all know which one they chose: the not-so-quiet removal of stamina as a meaningful constraint to appease the players who are anathema to anything resembling real football.

I remember a time, probably about a decade ago (Fifa 15 or 16?), where EA implemented an injury mechanic for players exploiting stamina:

Abuse sprint without juice → pull a muscle → no more sprinting.

It wasn't perfect — the numbers were still off.
But it at least tried to punish stupidity without compromising skill.

And then… they removed it.

Why?

If anything, EA should've improved it. Expanded on it.

But they didn't.

Why??

Because the game isn’t being designed around creating a football sim anymore.

It’s being designed around you:

The always-sprinting, never-thinking, full-throttle competitive player who just complains the loudest on forums. While sprinting 60 times more than an actual football player, he still complains the game isn’t fast enough.

So EA adjusts:

• Less punishing fatigue.
• More recovery speed.
• More responsiveness at full sprint.

And just like that, the problem doesn’t get fixed — it gets rewarded.

• More players adopt it.
• The numbers get worse.
• The gameplay drifts further from reality.

And this is where it has led us:

The online (competitive) mode is being balanced around the most unrealistic players instead of correcting them.

So congratulations.

You — who sprints 60 times more than an actual football player while still calling the game "slow" — you’ve turned a football game into a sprint simulator…
and convinced the developer to meet you there.

Don’t worry though. You can keep EA. Next year, you’ll be even faster and more tireless.

The rest of us will wait for a Competitive Mode in the football game market.

And the moment EA gets outpaced and out-stamina’d by another developer, we’ll happily make the transfer to where the grass is greener, where they still have an idea what real football is all about.