FIFA 20 new leagues: all the additions to this year’s game

(Image credit: EA)

At the outset of 2019 the Vanarama National League - England's fifth tier - pressed hard for inclusion on the FIFA 20 new leagues list via an online petition, but sadly a series debut for clubs such as Eastleigh, Dover Athletic and Maidenhead United was not forthcoming. All is not lost, however. FIFA 20 does add 14 new sides from the Romanian top flight, and there are other debutants tucked away in the menus too. Read on for all you need to know about the two FIFA 20 new leagues, plus teams added from England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Liga I (ROM 1) - 14 new teams

Academica Clinceni
Astra Giurgiu
CFR Cluj
Chindia
CS U Craiova
Dinamo București
FC Botoșani
FC Hermannstadt
FC Voluntari
FCSB (Steaua București)
Gaz Metan
Politehnica Iași
Sepsi OST
Viitorul

The addition of the Romanian league brings 14 new clubs to FIFA 20, one of whom appears in our FIFA 20 kits guide. Astra Giurgiu’s black-and-white home strip is a perfect stand-in for Juventus’ now-absent threads - for more on why Italy’s most successful side are no longer in the game, check out our FIFA 20 Juventus story.

Intriguingly, the league doesn’t have a single gold card in FUT. Its best-rated player is French forward Harlem-Eddy Gnohere, who leads the FSCB forward line with a silver overall rating of 74.

United Emirates League (UAE 1) - one new team

Al Ain

The United Emirates League, or Arabian Gulf League as it’s officially known, features on the FIFA 20 Ultimate Team leagues list for the first time. However, click on it in-game and you discover that it only includes one club. That team is Al Ain, UAE’s most successful side with 13 league championships and 19 other competition wins to their name.

Al Ain’s current squad contains just one gold player in FUT: 75 rated Brazilian forward Caio Canedo. If the teams list is expanded for FIFA 21, we’d love to see Al Nasr (current home of Alvaro Negredo) and Al Jazira (stadium capacity of 42,000) added.

EFL League Two (ENG 4) - two new teams

Leyton Orient
Salford City

Orient and Salford earned promotion from the Vanarama National League last season, meaning they make the game despite the failure of that league-wide petition mentioned earlier. As explained in our FIFA 20 badges piece, this is Salford’s first ever appearance in FIFA - and the club co-owned by ex-Manchester United stars such as Ryan Giggs and David Beckham looks set for a long run in the series. The pair’s arrival means bidding farewell to Notts County and Yeovil Town, who were relegated last season.

Domino’s League 2 (FRA 2) - three new teams

FC Chambly
Rodez AF
Le Mans FC

A trio of new teams for FRA 2, all of whom were promoted from last season’s Championnat National - a league which isn’t in FIFA. They replace the relegated Ajaccio, Béziers, and Red Star.

Calcio B (ITA 2) - five new teams

C Stabia (SS Juve Stabia)
Chiavari (Virtus Entella)
Pisa (AC Pisa)
Pordenone (Pordenone Calcio)
Trapani (Trapani Calcio)

Serie B is unlicensed. The list above refers to a team’s in-game name, with its real one in brackets. FIFA 19 sides Palermo and Foggia were dismissed from the league for financial irregularities, and both now play two tiers further down, in Serie D. Venezia should also have dropped out after losing a relegation play-off to Salernitana, but were saved by Palermo’s expulsion. However, bottom two clubs Padova and Carpi weren’t so lucky, and are gone.

3 Liga (GER 3) - four new teams

Chemnitzer FC
FC Bayern II
SV Waldhof
Viktoria Koln

Yes, you’re reading that list correctly. Much like Barcelona B in FIFA 18, you can now play FIFA 20 as Bayern Munich’s reserve team, and sign its young players in career mode and/or Ultimate Team. With a budget of close to £5m, they’re an excellent option for the former. The four teams listed above replace Energie Cottbus, Sportfreunde Lotte, Fortuna Koln, and VFR Aelan, all of whom were relegated following the 2018-19 season.

LaLiga SmartBank (ESP 2) - four new teams

CD Mirandes
CF Fuenlabrada
Racing
SD Ponferradina

The famous Racing Santander finally return to FIFA after a four-absence, having won promotion on away goals in the 2018-19 play-offs. Fuenlabrada, like Salford City, are completely new to the FIFA series. Gone from the league are relegated clubs Rayo Majadahonda, Gimnastic and Cordoba, along with Reus, who were disqualified from the competition over financial issues.