The battle for the fastest person on earth is always one of the biggest events at the Olympics every four years, with sprinters looking to beat Usain Bolt's 100-metres world record.
Speed is also a great attribute to have in football, but only one of a number of skills required as Bolt showed when he tried to earn a contract with Central Coast Mariners back in 2018. His failure to make it as a professional footballer means there is a gap open for the fastest football player in the world and this year, there is a new name at the top of the list.
Wolves wideman Adama Traore is the fastest player in FIFA 20 thanks to an acceleration rating of 97 and a sprint speed of 96. This puts him slightly ahead of Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe as well as Leroy Sane and Anibal Chala, who can run as fast as the Spanish wing-back but takes a little longer to reach that speed.
Six players have a sprint speed of 95 in FIFA 20, including Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Athletic Club's Inaki Williams. A lot of players then have 94 as their sprint speed rating, but vary in acceleration ratings. As a result, Manchester City full-back Kyle Walker misses out on the top 20 fastest players in FIFA 20 as his sprint speed of 94 is not matched by his acceleration score, which comes in at 87.
Similarly, Manchester United's Marcus Rashford has the same sprint speed of 94, but an acceleration rating of 89 means he misses out on the top 20 list. New Red Devils signing Daniel James is now the fastest player at Old Trafford, scoring 94 in both categories.
According to Opta, Timothy Fosu-Mensah reached the fastest speed in the Premier League in 2018-19 while on loan at Fulham, but the Manchester United full-back only has scores of 79 acceleration and 87 sprint speed despite reaching a top speed of 35.32 km/h. Walker finished second on Opta's list last season at 35.27 km/h, while Sane was fourth at 35.18 km/h.
FIFA 20: Fastest players
| Rank | Player | Position | Club | Acceleration | Sprint Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Traore | RW | Wolves | 97 | 96 |
| 2 | K Mbappe | ST | PSG | 96 | 96 |
| 3 | L Sane | LW | Man City | 93 | 96 |
| 4 | A Chala | LB | Deportivo Toluca | 93 | 96 |
| 5 | K Nagai | ST | Tokyo | 95 | 95 |
| 6 | Gelson Martins | RM | Monaco | 95 | 95 |
| 7 | J Damm | RM | Tigres | 93 | 95 |
| 8 | I Williams | ST | Athletic Club | 93 | 95 |
| 9 | P-E Aubameyang | ST | Arsenal | 93 | 95 |
| 10 | Kim In Seong | RM | Ulsan Hyundai | 93 | 95 |
| 11 | I Sarr | RM | Watford | 95 | 94 |
| 12 | F Acheampong | ST | Tianjin TEDA | 94 | 94 |
| 13 | T Barkhuizen | RM | Preston | 94 | 94 |
| 14 | M Bolly | RM | Molde | 94 | 94 |
| 15 | J Aguirre | LM | Rosario Central | 94 | 94 |
| 16 | D James | LM | Man Utd | 94 | 94 |
| 17 | L Advincula | RB | Rayo Vallecano | 94 | 94 |
| 18 | P Placheta | LM | Slask Wroclaw | 93 | 94 |
| 19 | A Kiwomya | RM | Doncaster | 93 | 94 |
| 20 | C Barbut | RW | Universitatea Craiova | 93 | 94 |
*Ratings, positions and clubs are taken from the FIFA 20 database used for Career Mode.