What is possibly the most difficult area of the pitch to play, defenders have the task of keeping the frontline of the opposition firmly at bay. They stop your goalkeeper from being exposed to the opposing strikers, and they can help create plays from the wingback and fullback positions by crossing from the byline or cutting inside to drag the defense out of position.
It’s often a thankless task, but if you do things right as a defender, you will be noticed for your talents because it’s so difficult to do it right over 90 minutes. That’s why the center backs and wide defenders on this list are some of the best in the world, and it’s been reflected in their FIFA 21 rating.
It should be noted that the stats for player cards detailed here will be the same found in Ultimate Team, but if you’re playing the Career Mode for the game, they may start with these but can change quickly depending on training progress and age amongst other factors.
Excluding icons, here are the best defenders in FIFA 21 by rating and stats using the data from the EA Player rating database.
The top 10 center backs
Matthijs De Ligt – 85 OVR – Piemonte Calcio (Juventus)
Marquinhos – 85 OVR – Paris Saint-Germain
Raphaël Varane – 86 OVR – Real Madrid
Mats Hummels – 86 OVR – Borussia Dortmund
Gerard Piqué – 86 OVR – FC Barcelona
Giorgio Chiellini – 87 OVR – Piemonte Calcio (Juventus)
Aymeric Laporte – 87 OVR – Manchester City
Kalidou Koulibaly – 88 OVR – Napoli
Sergio Ramos – 89 OVR – Real Madrid
Virgil van Dijk – 90 OVR – Liverpool FC
The top 3 left fullback/wingback
Alex Sandro – 85 OVR – Piemonte Calcio (Juventus)
Jordi Alba – 86 OVR – FC Barcelona
Andrew Robertson – 87 OVR – Liverpool FC
The top 4 right fullback/wingback
Kyle Walker – 85 OVR – Manchester City
Ricardo Pereira – 85 OVR – Leicester City
Dani Carvajal – 86 OVR – Real Madrid
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 87 OVR – Liverpool FC
