patch notes
0.61.0

GOALS is getting one of its biggest updates this year!

We’ve dropped a big one with version 0.61.

New tournaments to grind. New formations to master. New celebrations to flex after you bury the ball. Gameplay’s been tuned across the board; smarter standing tackles, cleaner ground passes, tighter turns, and deeper through balls that reward timing and vision. Training drills now hit with more variety so you can level up faster.

Jump in, push the limits, and tell us where it breaks.
This is how we build the best football experience out there together.

New through balls:

New through passes allow you to deliver the ball into spaces where you want it to be

Check out the full version 0.61 Alpha Patch Notes below:

Gameplay:

New Implementation:

• New physical tackles to dispossess opponents through physicality even when the ball can’t be reached. Contextually triggers when appropriate instead of a lunge. A higher Strength player will have more success in winning the ball via a Physical Tackle, and a higher Strength/Balance dribbler will have more success of withstanding Physical Tackles.
• New through pass system to allow bigger freedom in gap selection
• Added gameplay scenarios with rewards for completing each scenario and category
• Added support for dynamic bot team generation
• Early execution on passes - allowing passes to start executing during the charge for better responsiveness
• Added new formations: 4-2-2-2, 4-4-1-1, 4-1-2-1-2, 4-3-3 ATK, 4-3-3 DEF, 5-2-1-2, 5-2-3

Adjustments & Improvements:

• Reworked how deceleration works to make it based on the current speed of a player for better grip at low speeds.
• Improved ground pass speeds and trajectories
• Improved driven pass speeds and trajectories
• Increased the importance of charge level for shooting dispersion
• Increased min. shot power for all stats
• Updated the ratings and stats of all players in the onboarding squad
• Goalkeeper improvements
• Bot behavior improvements
• Improvements to rolling physics calculations (ball)
• Bots now auto-forfeit if they fall 5 goals behind
• Improved 5v5 restricted area on throw-ins/kick-off
• Re-enabled command of area stat for goalkeepers

Animations:

• Improved 180 turn animation triggering
• Improved GK movement when in “set position” mode
• Improved IK system for foot contact
• Better animation selection on GK saves
• Dribble speed transition animations added

Meta:

New Implementation:

• New Tournaments game mode. Fight through the brackets with various squad requirements to reach the finals and earn rewards. Available online and against AI.
• New Practice Scenarios. Work your way through 30+ scenarios featuring different mechanics and challenges to master the game.

UI/UX/Audio & Quality of Life:

New Implementation:

• New flow for first time users, introducing them to their squad and opt-in practice match
• Polished flow for account linking for cross-platform players
• New and improved pack opening sequence
• New 3D preview for packs in the store
• Main Menu has received visual polish and features an animated background
• Squad and Collection screen has received visual polish
• Bot matches now features a more polished match flow similar to online matches
• Lobby kit selection now prevents you from selecting identical kits on both teams
• Visual polish on the match intro flow
• When completing a match in Ranked, users are now returned to the Ranked hub instead of to the main menu
• Improved how XP is displayed to avoid rounding errors in UI
• Added haptic feedback to claiming scenarios

HUD:

• Match state widget visual polish
• Match state widget now displayed the primary color of each teams kit
• New goal celebration UI animation
• Player indicator has been polished and is now green
• Player status widgets visual polish

Other:

• Fixed an issue with Challenges jumping around after being claimed
• Fixed visual issues with the matchmaking widget when entering the practice arena
• Fixed an issue where skill rating and rank would sometimes show incorrectly in Ranked
• Fixed an issue where progression visuals would sometimes update incorrectly at the end of match
• Fixed an issue with the “match resuming” counter sometimes getting stuck on screen

Core:

New Implementation:

• Updated to use Unreal Engine 5.7
• Supporting Technology behind Celebrations
• Facial animation technology based on MetaHuman
• Additive facial features based on etnicity templates
• New Blendshape based bodies
• Improved Kits customization (sleeves, tucked-in)
• Companion App updates (Progression, PSN login)

Other:

• Various Bugfixes
• Network bandwidth optimizations
• Sound system crash on windows due to removing PS5 Controller
• XeSS, FSR, DLSS upgraded to UE 5.7 and bugfixes
• Matchmaking found notification, when game is out of focus
• Improvements to fake shadow
• Crowd optimization