Player's condition and fitness, and how they relate to one another?

I have some issues about player's conditions and fitness.

What is the difference between condition and fitness in the game?

How do they relate to one another?

Which makes more influence in terms of helping to win matches?

Condition relates to how 'fresh' a player is. If your player is well rested, and uninjured, they should start every match at 95-100 condition (Superbly fit players will start at 100 if they're ultra-fresh, players lacking match fitness might not get above 95, more on this below).

Condition degrades as they get more tired, and when they get knocks or injuries. The game's actually tracking these things in detail - when a player gets a 'knock' (perhaps a collision, or a fall), assuming it's not too bad you'll see their condition drop down instantly by a number of points, then it might recover as they 'run off' the effects of the knock, but then decline again as the match progresses and they get tired.

Fitness relates to how 'match fit' your players are. If one of your players is not playing matches of any kind, whether first team or reserves (or youth if eligible), he will be 'severely lacking in match fitness'. This means that he'll tire quicker in matches, and there may be performance impacts as well. In contrast, if a player is 'in superb condition', you're probably playing him regularly, and his body is used to getting through matches. You can also see if a player is 'tired' - usually meaning he hasn't yet recovered from a match. The other indicator of a player being tired is that their condition will be well below 100, probably below 90. Avoid starting a game with these players if you can, they can get injured easier.

Hope some of that is helpful!

As for winning matches - you want your key/first-team players to be fresh (high condition) and match fit, for when you're playing the competitive stuff. Squad management is important too. Keep rotating players in at every opportunity, there are times when you want to play backup players even when your first team player might be fresh and fit, because squad fitness and freshness is the difference that gets you through those periods of fixture congestion (and injury crises as well).

Condition relates to how 'fresh' a player is. If your player is well rested, and uninjured, they should start every match at 95-100 condition (Superbly fit players will start at 100 if they're ultra-fresh, players lacking match fitness might not get above 95, more on this below).

Condition degrades as they get more tired, and when they get knocks or injuries. The game's actually tracking these things in detail - when a player gets a 'knock' (perhaps a collision, or a fall), assuming it's not too bad you'll see their condition drop down instantly by a number of points, then it might recover as they 'run off' the effects of the knock, but then decline again as the match progresses and they get tired.

Fitness relates to how 'match fit' your players are. If one of your players is not playing matches of any kind, whether first team or reserves (or youth if eligible), he will be 'severely lacking in match fitness'. This means that he'll tire quicker in matches, and there may be performance impacts as well. In contrast, if a player is 'in superb condition', you're probably playing him regularly, and his body is used to getting through matches. You can also see if a player is 'tired' - usually meaning he hasn't yet recovered from a match. The other indicator of a player being tired is that their condition will be well below 100, probably below 90. Avoid starting a game with these players if you can, they can get injured easier.

Hope some of that is helpful!

As for winning matches - you want your key/first-team players to be fresh (high condition) and match fit, for when you're playing the competitive stuff. Squad management is important too. Keep rotating players in at every opportunity, there are times when you want to play backup players even when your first team player might be fresh and fit, because squad fitness and freshness is the difference that gets you through those periods of fixture congestion (and injury crises as well).

I agree with pretty much everything hugo says except the bit in bold... I will start with players who are under 90% condition if they are key players and they rarely get injured, certainly not easier than the other players in my squad. Apart from that, good work

I use players who are match fit, fully fit or in superb condition no matter their condition. If I have to use those ones who severely lack match fitness or lack match fitness then I will take pressure of 'em through team talk.

Hugo is bang on. Obviously, you have to use the players at your disposal, and you might make other choices. For example, if I'm favourite for a match i might start with one or two unfit players to give them match experience; otherwise they'll come off the bench. If they are key players you have to decide but at least hugo helps the OP to know where he stands. My players are generally 95-96% fit before a match; they're non-league and don't have the facilities of a top club.

What we could do with is an at-a-glance system on the team selection screen that can tell us whether a player is match fit or not. A player who is on 90% conditioning could be tired, match fit or needing match fitness. It's cumbersome having to check the player profile everytime. For that reason if the condition of a key player is about 88% or above I'll sometimes play him without checking match fitness to save time.

What we could do with is an at-a-glance system on the team selection screen that can tell us whether a player is match fit or not. A player who is on 90% conditioning could be tired, match fit or needing match fitness. It's cumbersome having to check the player profile everytime. For that reason if the condition of a key player is about 88% or above I'll sometimes play him without checking match fitness to save time.

Go to the main squad page, use the drop down in the top right, and choose fitness

Fair enough that there's drop down menus but I think I'd like fitness info to be shown on the condition screen which I think summarises the squad well. Can you add columns?

Fair enough that there's drop down menus but I think I'd like fitness info to be shown on the condition screen which I think summarises the squad well. Can you add columns?

After all these years, last night I finally got round to making a custom squad screen. I added assman's current star ratings and fitness. Looks sweet.

All the players in my squad plays a roughly equal amount of matches during a season, once the squad is consisting of players I like to keep match fit. The best players are normally selected for more important (and difficult) matches, though. The A and B teams normally play separatedly, so I switch all 11 every second game unless there are two difficult matches in a row. This way I always start with 100% fit players, every player is happy and develop well.

Often, I am enourmous favourites for a match (like 1.15) and this would normally lead to difficulty in motivating the players when on a winning streak. However, when I field the B XI they are often a lot easier to motivate than the established A XI, and I often get the feeling that if there is a too big difference in player quality on the field, you create so many chances and so big a pressure that it is difficult to make the chances count... as if you become too powerful. It isn't the matches where you have 65% possession and 20 shots on target you score 5-6 goals (it happens, just more rarely than when you create 10 chances and score on nearly everything). So when I field my B side, they dominate - but not that much - and I win easily precisely because the match is more even. I very rarely get punished for fielding a weaker side than I could.

Maybe I am just superstitious though