FIFA 20 Volta guide: tips, controls, and how to play online and climb the Volta League ranks

FIFA 20 Volta Football is the big new addition to EA's football series: it's a FIFA-street style mode with small pitches, small teams and no shortage of step-overs.

It's spread across multiple sub-modes, including a singleplayer story akin to The Journey from previous games, as well as an online multiplayer league where you climb through divisions, similar to the Seasons online section of the main game.

FIFA 20 Volta Football is more than just a scaled-down version of the beautiful game, and you'll have a new set of rules to learn, new controls to master, and a long list of cosmetic items to unlock as you customise the character you've created.

On this page:

FIFA 20 Gameplay and Q&A - New Ball Physics, Penalties, Free Kicks

FIFA 20 Volta Football rules explained

Volta Football doesn't have one set format: rather, you'll be playing 3v3, 4v4 or 5v5 games on pitches of varying sizes. Some of those pitches have walls that you can bounce the ball off, while others have regular white lines, with kick-ins when the ball goes out of bounds.

The full list of formats is:

• 3v3 Rush (no set goalkeeper, small goals)
• 4v4 Rush (no set goalkeeper, small goals)
• 4v4 Street (set goalkeeper, larger goals)
• 5v5 Street (set goalkeeper, larger goals)
• 5v5 Futsal (larger goals, different rule set)

Depending on the rule set of the tournament you're playing, games are either timed matches with three-minute halves, or they're won by the team who scores a specific number of goals first: usually five. If you draw a Rush game, play will restart and the next goal wins. In Street and Futsal, drawn matches trigger extra time, which is one minute each way. If it's still a draw, you go to penalties.

You can't slide tackle in Volta Football, but you can still foul. If you bundle into an opponent, play resumes from a nearby spot, and unlike a normal freekick you're allowed to dribble the stationary ball right away (the exception is Futsal, which we'll describe in a second). In Rush formats there are no penalties, and fouls near the goal will restart play further back up the pitch. Rush games also don't have corners: if the opponent kicks the ball behind, you'll get it back at your goal.

Futsal has its own, slightly different set of rules. Free kicks are the same as in 11-a-side, and you can take direct shots at goal using the free kick system from the main game. Penalties are awarded for accumulated fouls: once you've committed five fouls, the enemy gets a spot kick for every foul thereafter. The count resets at the end of a half.

FIFA 20 Volta sub-modes explained: online Volta Story, Volta League and Volta Tour

You can play exhibition Volta matches from the Kick Off menu, but most of the time you'll be playing Volta in either Story, League or Tour modes.

Volta Story mode

For the singleplayer story, you create a custom character and join a failing street football team that's trying to turn around its fortunes. You'll play through a series of tournaments, recruiting new players as you go. You can read Wes's thoughts on the story in Eurogamer's FIFA 20 review (in summary, it's not great).

Volta League mode

The online multiplayer Volta League is basically another version of FIFA 20's online Season mode: you start in the bottom division, and if you win enough games during a mini season, you get promoted. As long as you can win enough matches to get over the promotion threshold, you'll keep rising through the ranks. You get relegated if you win too few matches.

Volta Tour mode

Volta Tour pits you against other player-made teams in knockout tournaments. It basically takes teams that players are using, and gives them to the CPU. Selecting Volta Tour will bring up one of a number of available tournaments, each with different entry requirements (such as overall player rating) and rule sets. You can also browse the world map and select from a longer list of tournaments if you don't fancy the ones in Tour.

FIFA 20 Volta controls: kneeling headers and Volta skill moves explained

FIFA 20 Volta Football's controls are largely the same as the main game, with a few important changes. The first is that skill moves are simplified: to perform a trick, you just hold the left and right triggers and move the left control stick in any direction. Your player will perform skills dependent on their skill rating. You can also perform skill moves with the right stick as normal, but the new system is a way to get tricky without memorising complex combos.

Volta Football also simplifies flicks: you just need to press in the right stick and choose a direction with the left stick. Depending on the selected player's skill rating, you'll perform one of a number of fancy flicks, potentially lifting the ball over your defender's head. There's an extra-fancy flick reserved for players with five-star skill ratings called the Catch and Spin. To pull it off, Hold the left trigger, press Square/Circle on PS4 or X/B on Xbox One, and then the pass button.

As mentioned previously, there are no slide tackles. That button is instead for 'hard tackles', which essentially make you lunge towards the opponent. They're good for last ditch blocks. Speaking of, your players will generally try to get in the way of shots automatically, so you don't need to worry about making them dive in front of goal.

On larger nets with keepers, shooting works the same way as it does in 11-a-side, but during Rush matches shooting is more or less manual, with very little assistance-in other words, it will go exactly where you're aiming, which can make for some embarrassing misses.

Volta Football also adds taunts to FIFA 20, if you fancy rubbing your opponent's nose in your brilliance. Just tap the right trigger sprint button while standing still, or the left bumper button if you're on the ball. For the ultimate humiliation try a kneeling header, where you get on your hands and knees and head the ball into an empty net on a breakaway. Simply knock the right stick forward while holding down the left and right triggers.

Lastly, it's worth noting that holding the left trigger and pressing pass, shoot or cross will force a flair move such as a rabona, but in Volta players will also try cheeky backheels without prompting, depending on the situation. You can spend skill points on the 'Flair' skill to increase the chances of your player pulling these moves off.

FIFA 20 Volta progression explained: how team and character growth works

As you progress through Volta, you'll improve the stats of your created character and recruit new, better players to your team. Recruiting is easy: after every win, including in online multiplayer, you get to pick one player of the opposing team to join your team. If your squad is full, you can choose one player you want them to replace. You can recruit a handful of street football icons that pop up in the story.

As for your created character, their stats improve after every match, and the better you perform, the faster they'll grow. Their archetype is determined by the height and body shape you chose in the character creator-small, skinny players are generally fast, big beefy ones are good at defending-as well as the skills you pick from the skill tree. You earn skill points by playing in matches, and when you've accumulated enough you can pick different skills that modify your attributes.

The skill tree has three main branches, one each for attack, midfield and defence. You'll have to unlock skills sequentially, moving down each branch as you gain more skill points. You can respec your character at any time, and spend points in all three main branches, if you want.

FIFA 20 Volta Football unlocks: how to earn cosmetics

As you play Volta you'll start to unlock cosmetic items that you can apply to your character or anyone else on your team. Basic cosmetics-think plain white t-shirts and grey shorts-are available from the start, but the flashiest gear is locked behind challenges.

These challenges are organised into groups, and you beat each challenge in a sequence. For example, for the Founders group of cosmetics, the first challenge is to win two Volta Tour matches in a specific arena. Once you've cleared that, you can move onto the next challenge, which is to recruit a specific type of player. You'll have one challenge active from each group at any time, and every challenge rewards you with a single cosmetic. Naturally, the later challenges are harder, and have the coolest rewards.

Instead of playing through the challenges, you can pay Volta Coins to bypass them. You earn these coins after each match: you get some just for playing, but you get extra for winning and for getting a high match rating, as well as for featuring in the end-of-game highlight clip. You'll get bonus coins whenever you win a tournament or a league in Volta League. You can also use coins to purchase duplicate items you've unlocked, in case you want your team to wear matching kits.

Each set of cosmetics is part of a timed 'drop': at the end of the drop, we'll get a new set of items to unlock.

Looking for more on FIFA 20? So far we have the key details on the FUT Chemistry explained and a Chemistry styles list and affected attributes, a detailed FIFA 20 Volta mode guide and details on how to earn Volta Coins in FIFA 20 fast, a list of the top FIFA 20 potential wonderkids: the best young players and hidden gems, the full FIFA 20 player ratings and top 100 players, an in-progress FIFA 20 Ones to Watch OTW players list, and a full FIFA 20 Icons list, too. Finally, check out our SBC pages on the Teemu Pukki SBC solution, Josef Martínez SBC solution and Robert Lewandowski SBC solution, as well as pages on FIFA 20 five star skillers, plus the best FIFA 20 goalkeepers, best FIFA 20 defenders, best FIFA 20 midfielders, best FIFA 20 wingers, and best FIFA 20 strikers for an in-depth look at each position. Finally, check out the latest in-forms in this week's FIFA 20 TOTW, number 40 and our full FIFA 20 Ultimate Scream cards and players list, too.

FIFA 20 Volta tips: how to win vs the CPU or PvP

Playing Volta feels a bit like learning to play FIFA all over again. The tempo is faster, the space tighter, and positioning is more important than ever. Here are some quick tips to get you started:

FIFA 20 Volta tips

• Make sure you control off-ball defenders to cut out passing lanes-otherwise, you're giving your opponent easy goals. Press the right bumper to apply pressure to the ball with another player.
• Learn a few skill moves by heart. The new quick skill system looks good, but the skills are less useful than those from the base game. Practice ball rolls in particular.
• Don't worry too much about being flashy: your players will naturally add flair to their game. The fundamentals are much more important. Don't dive in. Never commit to a tackle unless you're absolutely sure you can win the ball. It's much better to just jockey than to let your opponent run pass.
• Anticipate crossfield balls. It's amazing how many goals you can score by selecting your striker and intercepting passes across the back line. Exploit the numbers advantage. So often, games of Volta come down to which team can create favourable 2v1 or 3v2 match-ups. When you get one, take your time and pick the right pass.
• On larger pitches, lofted through balls are very useful, especially if your opponent is pushing for a goal. Often, your striker will be left alone up front.

• Don't rush. Often, your opponent will be thinking three steps ahead too, and they'll know which pass you plan to make. Lingering on the ball and waiting for them to move is often your best option. Likewise, simply dribbling with the analogue stick and making small turns can work wonders, because opponents will anticipate more elaborate skill moves.
• Linked to that, learn to stop-and-go when you're running down the wing. Most players will anticipate a cross, or expect you to turn backwards, leaving you free to run into space. Simply tap the left bumper to trap the ball, and then carry on-or you can simply turn 180 degrees and then immediately turn back.
• Never bring your keeper out: in Volta, they'll slide uselessly when they leave the box.
• Don't change your mentality until late in the game. Going 'Attacking' will leave you exposed at the back-and even if you're three goals behind, you can score goals quickly in Volta. We've played in matches where both teams have scored more than 10 goals, so don't panic.
• Experiment with your lineups. A player with a lower overall rating might actually boost your team chemistry because they're a better fit for the formation you're playing. Switch between formations to find the best combo.