The components that make up a player’s fitness are his condition, match fitness, jadedness and any injury he may have. These will vary over the course of a season as a player spends time training, resting and playing matches. Each component needs to be managed carefully in order to keep a player happy and performing well, as well as to reduce the likelihood of injuries occurring.
The fitness related attributes Natural Fitness, Stamina and Injury Proneness all have different effects on fitness and therefore influence how you should manage the fitness of each individual player.
Viewing Fitness
A player’s fitness status can be viewed on the Fitness panel of his training report. This panel shows his condition level as a percentage, a match fitness description, and a comment from your head physio. For an injured player this comment will provide details of the injury and how long he estimates the player will be out for. Otherwise, it may provide information on one of the player’s fitness related attributes or inform you that he is jaded and needs a rest.
You can also view a player’s match fitness level as a percentage on the Physical panel on his Profile screen. In addition, this panel shows the player’s condition percentage and informs you if he is jaded.
You can view the fitness status for every player in your squad together by using the Fitness view on the Players tab of the Squad screen.
Status Icons
The following fitness related status icons will be displayed for a player when relevant:
Rst – The player is jaded and would benefit from a rest.
Inj (red) – The player is injured and is not able to train or play in matches. (Hovering over the icon will show the estimated time until he is fully healed).
Inj (orange) – The player is injured but his injury has healed enough for him to take part in light training. He can also be selected for matches. (Hovering over the icon will show the estimated time until he is fully healed).
During a Match
During a match the condition of all your players can be viewed on the Overview screen, the Player Ratings section of the Stats tab or your side’s Team Ratings widget. Any injury picked up by a player will be identified by an injury indicator.
Components of Fitness
Condition
A player’s condition represents how much energy and freshness he has. The higher this is the better he will perform and the less likely he will be to get injured, either during matches or in training.
During a match condition will gradually fall as the player spends time on the pitch. The rate of this fall will depend partly on how hard he works, which in turn is affected by his endeavour (particularly Aggression and Work Rate) and his tactical instructions (such as those related to tempo, forward runs, dribbling and closing down). Match fitness, jadedness, injuries and the Stamina attribute also affect how quickly condition falls as will be explained below.
Between matches condition will recover. It will recover more quickly if the player is given a lighter training workload or a short rest from training, but will recover more slowly if he is given a heavier workload. Jadedness and the Natural Fitness attribute also affect the rate at which condition recovers.
However, regular training is necessary to keep a player’s condition high. An extended period without training, such as when a player is on holiday, on extended leave or injured, will see his condition fall. Natural Fitness also affects the rate at which condition falls.
Match Fitness
A player’s match fitness represents his general sharpness when on the pitch. The higher this is the better he will perform and the less likely he will be to get injured during matches. Furthermore, the higher a player’s match fitness is the slower his condition will fall when he is on the pitch.
A player will gain match fitness as he spends time playing matches and will lose match fitness when he is not playing.
Natural Fitness affects the rate at which match fitness is gained.
Jadedness
Jadedness represents how “burnt-out” a player is. A jaded player will not necessarily have low condition or low match fitness, but his performances will suffer and his condition will drop more quickly during matches. In addition, his condition will recover more slowly after matches.
A player’s level of jadedness will increase as he spends time playing matches and training, while it will increase more the heavier his training workload is. His jadedness will fall when he is not playing in matches, when he is resting from training and when he is on extended leave. Natural Fitness also affects jadedness.
Young, developing players and older players who have passed their physical peak tend to become jaded more easily.
Unlike condition and match fitness the full details of a player’s jadedness are hidden. You will only be informed that a player is jaded when his jadedness reaches a certain level.
Injuries
A player can suffer an injury at any time either during matches or in training. An injured player will be treated by your physios and will be unable to take part in matches or training for a period of time to enable the injury to heal. When a player’s injury has healed sufficiently he will be able to take part in light training, while he will also be available for selection for matches.
A player will be more likely to suffer match injuries if he has lower condition or lower match fitness, while he will be more likely to suffer training injuries if he is given a heavier training workload or if he has lower condition. Injury Proneness also affects how likely a player is to suffer both match and training injuries as will be explained below.
During a match, if a player suffers a sufficiently serious injury then he will have to come off. However, a player may simply pick up a knock that affects his performance but does not require him to be brought off. For more significant knocks an injury indicator will be shown and you will be given the option to quickly substitute the player. Such a knock can develop into a more serious injury if the player is kept on the pitch, while it may still result in a post-match injury even if he is substituted. For less significant knocks no indicator will be shown and the knock itself will not develop into a serious injury or lead to a post-match injury, but his condition percentage will fall noticeably which will slightly increase the likelihood of injury. However, his condition will generally recover as he runs off the knock.