Rivals is an online seasonal competition with a skill-driven rank system that can be played Solo or Co-Op.
Win matches to climb the ladder, increasing your Rank and Division so you can compete for better rewards.
Earn Ultimate Team™ Champions Qualification Points based on the Division you’re playing in, and use those Points to qualify for the Ultimate Team™ Champions Play-Offs.
You can move up and down a ladder system based on your match results. Each rung of this ladder is a Stage.
When you first start playing Rivals, you will begin in Division 10, but if you played the previous EA SPORTS FC™ title, your legacy placement will be taken into account.
Division 10 will have a number of Stages you need to beat to reach Division 9, and Division 9 will have Stages to reach Division 8, etc.
Some Stages can unlock a new level of Weekly Rewards, and reaching a Checkpoint will protect you from dropping below a Stage if you lose matches in the future.
You start in Division 10 and your match results throughout the Ultimate Team™ Season will determine your final placement.
When a new Ultimate Team™ Season starts, all competitors will be dropped from the Division that you previously finished in. You’ll have the chance to climb back to the top.
There are 11 Divisions in Rivals, with Divisions 10–1, and then the Elite Division.
The Elite Division is where the highest-skilled players in Rivals compete. You can reach the Elite Division after progressing through Division 1. Once you reach the Elite Division, you’ll compete there until the end of the active Ultimate Team™ Season.
With the implementation of cross-play, the Elite Top 200 will have a global leaderboard. You can only view this leaderboard while you have cross-play enabled, and you can toggle between the global leaderboard and the same platform (local) leaderboard as well.
Note: Nintendo Switch™ will have separate leaderboards as EA SPORTS FC™ doesn’t support cross-play on Nintendo Switch™.
Climb through the Ranks to increase your Division. The further you progress, the more rewards you earn.
Once the weekly competition ends, you can claim your Weekly Rewards in-game or on Ultimate Team™ Web and the Companion Apps.
Rewards are released on Thursdays at 06:59 AM UTC
For both Solo and Co-Op Matchmaking for Divisions 10–1, matchmaking is based on three different factors:
Elite Division Matchmaking in Rivals is based on three different factors:
You can matchmake with players on other platforms if you enabled cross-play. You can only play against others in the same platform generation, regardless of your cross-play preference:
If you’re playing on Nintendo Switch™, check out our guide on cross-play on Nintendo Switch™.
The Skills Rating measures your skills or performance in the Rivals Elite Division. Your Skill Rating will change with every match you play.
Your Skill Rating impacts who you match with in the Elite Division. It also determines your overall ranking in comparison to the other players in the Elite Division, with the very best making it to the Top 200 Leaderboard.
When you first enter the Elite Division, you get a default Skill Rating of 500 that will go up or down.
Every match you play in the Elite Division will determine any changes to your Skill Rating. Win a match and your Skill Rating may go up; lose a match and it might go down.
The change depends on your Skill Rating and your opponent’s. If you win a match against someone with a higher Skill Rating, yours will increase more than if you won against someone with a similar or lower Skill Rating.
If you draw, your Skill Rating could go up, down, or not change at all:
Keep an eye on @EAHelp and @EASPORTSFC for the latest game updates.
Check out the EA SPORTS FC™ Forums to get help from other players and chat with the community.
Subscribe to EA Help on YouTube for video walkthroughs and guides.