Fifa 14 Scouting Guide

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Posted on October 13, 2013 by Alex B
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FIFA 14 scouting guide

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FIFA 14 is out, weve all had a go at it, and its pretty good, right? Lots of nice changes, some big, some small. Those new skill games
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are pretty cool. I quite like some of the new animations. But come on, thats not why we play it we want to scout. The next Messi isnt
going to find himself. So here it is, the FIFA 14 scouting guide.
Contents
1. Choosing a scout
2. Where to look
3. Spotting a great player on your reports
4. After youve promoted players & the May update
5. Other tips and info
6. Summary
1. Choosing a scout
Once again EA have stuck with what they know and kept the scouting system largely similar to last years effort. There are a couple of
changes here and there, and Ill run through them in this article. But first of all, lets have a look at what you can expect from scouts, as
well as the basics of hiring a scout and packing him off to look for emerging youth talent.
To hire a scout, go to the Office tab, then click on Youth Staff. There will be three slots available for hiring new scouts, so click on one
of these and you will be presented with a list of five scouts to choose from, all of varying prices and abilities.
Like last year, you will have a couple of scouts from the nation in which your team plays (e.g. Spain if youre doing a Real Madrid
career). There will also be a few other scouts, all of which will be from a similar part of the world. If you dont like the look of any of the
scouts, advance to the next Sunday and they will have changed.
However, this is where its slightly different to previous years. The scouts will almost always be from your home region. That is, if your
team is from Spain, you will have a selection of scouts from southern Europe defined in the game as including Croatia, Greece, Italy,
Portugal, Spain and Turkey. If you hire one of these scouts, they are replaced by a scout from the next region in a pre-defined cycle.
The regions rotate by a specific order, namely: Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, Oceania,
Africa, South America, North America, before returning to Northern Europe. In previous versions of the game the regions would simply
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rotate every week; now you have to buy a scout to make this happen.
Furthermore, the process can get reset when you get to a Sunday. If you start with Southern Europe and want to get a scout from
North America, youll have to have start on Monday and have two scout vacancies to hire and fire scouts. Hire two scouts, then fire
them as soon as they arrive and hire the two new scouts who replaced them (they will be from the next two regions in the list). You
need to start early in the week because when you get to Sunday the process resets if you hire a South American scout on Friday, by
the time hes arrived and ready to be fired on the Sunday the order will have been reset, so his replacement will be from Southern
Europe (if thats your home region). Annoying, but something to bear in mind.
Yet unlike the previous two years, sending a scout to his own country doesnt seem to give you any tangible bonus (or if it does, its so
minor as to make no real difference). So if you want to find the next Brazilian superstar, you shouldnt need to worry about rotating the
scouts to get a Brazilian one; a high-rated one from any nation should still be excellent and youll save money on hiring scouts. And
although you cant send two scouts to the same country at the same time, because there is no home nation bonus you wont lose out
if all your scouts are from the same place.
What does matter, however, is the scouts rating in both experience and judgement. But what do each of these mean? Last year user
Lelouch pointed out that a scouts judgement rating affects his chances of finding the best players in the following way:
S TARS
BRO NZE
S I LV E R
G O LD
P LATI NUM
75%
17%
5%
3%
67%
22%
7%
4%
50%
36%
9%
5%
30%
52%
11%
7%
20%
53%
17%
10%
Heres what I said about it last year:

This table refers to a scouts odds of finding good players based on his judgement rating (as opposed to the odds of
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finding good players in any given region). The first number represents the number of stars the scout has for his
judgement rating. The next four numbers show the percentage of player qualities each scout will find (bronze being
the worst players, platinum being the best). So a scout with 1 star for judgement will have a 75% chance of finding
bronze players, a 17% chance of finding silver players, a 5% chance of finding gold players and a 3% chance of
finding platinum players. I dont know exactly how good a bronze player is compared to a platinum player (i.e.
where the boundaries are set), but platinum players will certainly be much, much better.
Experience, on the other hand, refers to how likely the scout is to find the type of player youre looking for. So if you just specify Any
as the player type then the scouts experience rating doesnt even matter!
Another thing to bear in mind is that sending better scouts on trips will now cost you more money than sending lower rated ones out.
Here are some example figures for scouts of varying abilities:
5*/5* scout
3 months: 102,000
6 months: 204,000
9 months: 306,000
3*/3* scout
3 months: 82,000
6 months: 163,000
9 months: 245,000
1*/1* scout
3 months: 61,000
A range of scouts to choose from
6 months: 122,000
9 months: 184,000
So there is a bit of a difference. However, I would definitely advise you to get the best scout you can afford to. The higher the scout
rating, the more players he will bring back for you and therefore the better your chances of finding a great player. 1*/1* scouts are not
exactly great thats not to say that its impossible to get good players with them, but you could be waiting a very long time, seeing as
they find fewer players (two or three new players per month as opposed to four, five or six for a 5*/5* scout) and those that they do find
are, on average, of an inferior quality. It also takes a lot longer for lower-rated scouts to pin down a players type and position.
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Ultimately, you could very well find the next Ronaldo with a 1*/1* scout it is definitely possible but you have to have a lot of patience.
2. Where to look
One of the first things youll notice when deciding where to look for talent is that trips to different regions will cost different amounts.
For example, this is how much a three month trip would cost by region:
Northern Europe: 48,000
Southern Europe: 97,000
Central Europe: 97,000
Eastern Europe: 48,000
Asia: 16,000
Oceania: 16,000
Africa: 97,000
South America: 97,000
North America: 48,000
However, I wouldnt necessarily say this simply means that the most expensive places will produce the best talent. In the last two
versions there was actually an algorithm the game used to determine this, which user MTGowns pointed out. Ive posted it below:
And about the country output, you can access the file that dictates the chances of finding certain tiers of players
there are four: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Naturally, Platinum are the best youngsters out there. Each set
of regions have different probabilities for each kind of player. As found in youth_scout.ini the odds are:
YOUTH_PLAYER_PLATINUM_0=15
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Where each number is:
// 0 = SUBREGION_ARGENTINA_BRAZIL,
// 1 = SUBREGION_REST_OF_SOUTH_AMERICA,
// 2 = SUBREGION_NORTH_AMERICA,
// 3 = SUBREGION_NORTHERN_EUROPE,
// 4 = SUBREGION_ITALY_SPAIN_PORTUGAL,
// 5 = SUBREGION_REST_OF_SOUTHERN_EUROPE,
// 6 = SUBREGION_CENTRAL_EUROPE,
// 7 = SUBREGION_REST_OF_EUROPE,
// 8 = SUBREGION_JAPAN_CHINA,
// 9 = SUBREGION_REST_OF_ASIA,
// 10 = SUBREGION_AUSTRALIA,
// 11 = SUBREGION_AFRICA,
So it can be seen that Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Portugal and every Central European country (including
Switzerland and Austria!) is where youre the most likely to find elite youngsters. On the other hand, its quite
unlikely youll find an EPL star in Australia, Asia or North America and youll be better off looking elsewhere!
So the higher the number after the = sign, the better your chances of finding top players. Interestingly, even though Southern Europe is
one of the most expensive regions to scout, results from Italy, Spain and Portugal should be markedly better than from the rest of that
region because those three nations have a rating of 14 on the above chart, whilst Croatia, Greece and Turkey only have a rating of 8
(i.e. Subregion rest of Southern Europe). Dont be put off too much, though you can get great players from anywhere, but as this
list shows, some regions are more likely to produce top talent than others.
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Because the scouting system in FIFA 14 is based on the same core as the FIFA 13 scouting system, this should still apply. However, I
dont have direct access to the game code for FIFA 14 so I cant confirm whether this is still the case, but I suspect it is. Perhaps
someone who does have access to it would be able to confirm it if you do know, be sure to leave a comment below.
However, what I am sure of is that, like previous years, certain regions do not specialise in certain player types. I sent three scouts to
Spain, a country renowned for its technically gifted players, but the best player I found there was actually a goalkeeper, and I found
very promising players with a wide variety of player types.
So if you want a good defender, dont go looking in Italy because you think they traditionally produce good defenders; rather, send your
scout to one of the top countries listed above. You may well find good defenders in Italy, but thats because the game says they will
produce good players of any type, not because they specialise in defenders.
Of course, you can find great players in any country; you just have less of a chance of doing this if you look in, say, Serbia than if you
look in Brazil. But it is totally possible to find a real gem in a minnow country, so dont give up on them totally.
3. Spotting a great player on your reports

When your scout brings back his report, you will see a list of potential players to sign to your academy. They will most likely be 15 or
16; it now seems to be impossible to find 14 year olds. They will have an OVR range (e.g. 44 58) and a potential range (e.g. 67 89).
There are also similar ranges for a few of the players stats. These ranges basically mean that your scout is estimating how good the
player is, and how good he could potentially grow to become. The same is true for the attribute ranges if a players strength range is
43 85, this doesnt mean it is currently 43 and can grow to become 85; what it means is that your scout thinks the players strength
value is somewhere between those two numbers. The longer your scout watches a player, the narrower these ranges become. As
time goes on your scout is also able to pin down his position and player type, but beware other teams can move in and sign these
players to their own academies. So if you like the look of a player (and have the 21,000 signing fee) then move quickly for them!
Anyway, good players will have an upper potential range (e.g. the 89 in 67 89) in the late 80s or 90s. The very best players will have a
minimum potential value of at least 70 (e.g. 73 94). These are the ones you should move for straight away. But if youre not sure
whether a player will be good enough, simply find the middle of the potential range so for this example, the middle of 67 89 would
be 78. This isnt a foolproof way to work out a players actual potential, but its a simple way to get a rough estimate. If that middle
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number looks good enough for your team, sign the player.
Lets have a look at some examples of players I would and would not sign to show you what I mean:
See full image

This players OVR doesnt look very good (especially compared to FIFA 13), but look at his potential. We can take a rough guess that
his actual potential is around 83, which is very good. What I would do in this case is sign the player and then wait until the May update;
chances are his OVR will go right up and he will be well worth the investment. Now lets have a look at a player who I probably wouldnt
sign:
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See full image

His OVR range is actually higher than the last player, but his potential range is nowhere near as good we can assume his actual
potential is around 74. Come May he may not actually grow that much (at least, compared to the last player) because his potential is
probably lower. Of course, you may find that this player would fit in well with your team and could make a real difference; if thats the
case, definitely go ahead and sign him. But you can expect to (hopefully) find better players than this.
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See full image

Now I dont think I need to tell you whether to sign this beast or not! When you find a player like this and the minimum potential value is
already so high, it quite often goes higher. So while we could guess his potential is around 85, in next months scout report his
potential range may have changed to 81 94 or something similar. These are the very best players out there and are not to be
missed.
If you want to find players like this, its actually fairly straightforward: as with the past two years, you can still reload scouting reports.
Just save the day before the scouting report is due to arrive, then advance to the next day. Open up the scouting report, and if theres
no one there that looks good enough, just quit the career and reload it. Advance again and the players on your scouting report will be
different. You may not want to do this, and thats fair enough. You will still be able to find great players without doing this, it will just
save time.
Last year there were five or six sets of scouting reports, so if you reloaded enough you would get the same set of players come up
more than once. This year (Im almost certain) this no longer happens, and that scouting reports are random (or if there are sets, there
are a lot more than five or six).
4. After youve promoted players & the May update
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As with FIFA 13, youth players only grow once per year (1st May), so it is vital that you wait until then in order to maximise your youth
players growth. If you promote a youth player in April then you essentially lose an entire years worth of growth. If you wait until May, he
often ends up growing a massive amount. Whilst this was true for FIFA 13, it is even more the case this year because it seems to be
much, much harder to find youth players with 65 OVR or higher right off the bat you usually have to wait until May for them to reach
this sort of OVR.
For example, in my test career I had three particularly promising players (the first was found by a 3*/3* scout, the second two with a
4*/5* scout). Below are their stats when they were first scouted:
One was rated 52-70, potential 76-94
As a test I promoted them as soon as possible, and they came out rated 54, 54 and 51 respectively, which was pretty disappointing to
be honest. However, I then went back to before they were promoted and this time waited until the May update. I promoted them
straight after, and this time they came out rated 67, 65 and 65, which was an incredible jump. So if you find a player with a great
looking potential but weak OVR range, dont discard him. Keep him in the academy until May and you could find that he grows
phenomenally well.
What does this mean for your scouting reports? Look for good potential ranges, not OVR. I cant stress that enough. Funnily enough
this is actually the opposite of how I did it in FIFA 12 back then I would look for OVR instead of potential, purely because player
growth was so poor. Now that EA seem to have fixed that, you need to start focussing on potential, as thats what will matter in the
long run.
Once youve promoted your players, there are three key statuses to look out for that give an indication of how good your player might
become. Go to the Squad Report page (under the Squad tab) and look to see if your players have one of the following:
Showing great potential potential 80 85
An exciting prospect potential 86 90
Has potential to be special potential 91+
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Note that some players have Has that special something as their status, which is different to Has potential to be special; the former
means a player has the flair trait and can do extra flicks and passes, it doesnt relate to his potential. It should also be noted that you
wont see these statuses if your players OVR is less than 60 (but he could, of course, get one of these statuses once he reaches 60
OVR), nor will you see it once your player reaches age 22.
However, heres some big news youth player potentials can change if you
reload around the May update. For example, save the day before the May
update. Advance, promote a youth player and his status may be An exciting
prospect. Reload and do it again and this time it might be Has potential to be
special. Ive actually had a player who had Showing great potential one time,
Has potential to be special another and then nothing at all on a third attempt.
Usually its only going to be a small change his potential going up or down by
one point, most likely but its interesting that it can be manipulated.
Now y ou see it
The impact of all this may not be massive players can exceed their potential,
after all, so he could reach amazing heights regardless of what his status is
but still, its something Ive never seen before and is a fascinating thing to see.
Youth player values have also changed and there is potential for confusion. They are, generally, much lower than on FIFA 13. So if you
go to promote a player and his value is only 50,000, for example, dont despair. It doesnt mean hell turn out to be useless, EA just
seem to have toned it down a little this year.
Heres a good example. In my test career I found a GK who came out of the
academy rated 62 at age 16. Whilst in the academy he had a very promising
potential range, yet when I went to offer him a contract he was only worth
110,000. However, I then went to the squad report page and, lo and behold, he
had the Has potential to be special status, meaning he could reach OVR 91+.
On FIFA 13 players with that kind of potential would be valued at several million
pounds when promoted, so EA have clearly reined that in a bit. So as I said, if
you played FIFA 13 last year, forget everything about youth player valuations.
This year its clearly different, so dont release a load of youth products if their
now y ou dont
value is lower than you expected!
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Interestingly, I found that goalkeeper with a 4*/5* scout whilst searching for playmakers! So you can get some nice surprises from
time to time.
5. Other tips and info

Scout a Future Star: user Patrick W pointed out that I had forgotten to mention the Scout a Future Star feature which you can buy from
the EASFC catalogue. This basically sends out a scout to automatically bring back a player with extremely high potential, the type of
player you only occasionally find in scouting trips. Patrick gave some great information so Ill post what he said below:
When you use a Scout Future Star catalogue item, you will absolutely have to wait until 1 May of that season. The
first one I used, I got a German ST, 55-59 OVR, 89-94 POT, who wanted out almost immediately. I signed him to
the first team, and of course he was pretty bad, 58 OVR and extremely slow. Several seasons of loans later, and hes
still only a 68. My second Scout Future Star, however, I got a German RB, 42-44 OVR, 89-94 POT, who I kept in
the youth squad all year. Come 1 May, he leapt up to 69-73 OVR. When signed to the first team, he was 72 OVR
with 95+ sprint speed, accel, agility, and crossing. Three seasons later, hes an 82 OVR complete forward who would
be rated much higher if his position werent listed incorrectly (his low defending stats and high attacking stats
suggest he definitely should be a RW or RM). So while its important for most youth players to keep them in the
youth squad for as long as possible, its absolutely VITAL if you use Scout Future Star.
So it seems like a good idea to purchase the Scout a Future Star option sometime after January so that theres not much time
between the scout finding the player and 1st May. This means theres less time for your future star to demand to be promoted early
and therefore miss the May update!
Now heres a roundup of some other useful information and ideas when scouting in FIFA 14:
Regens do still exist, but of course you cant see their OVR until youve sent a Global Transfer Network scout to go and
have a look at them. This means its much harder to decide whether or not to sign a player; you cant instantly see their
OVR and know that they are worth signing. What Id recommend is that you sort the free agents by position, then get your
scouts to look at any positions that you feel you need strengthening
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If you get a message saying a youth player wants out of the academy, quit and reload (this is one reason why its important
to save regularly). Next time, advance one day at a time (saving each time you advance and dont get the message), and
after an in-game week of doing this he may not ask to be promoted. This can require a lot of patience sometimes it will
take several goes but eventually there will be a time when you dont get the message and so shouldnt risk losing him
Playmakers can still have amazing mental stats and poor technical stats,
but this seems to be rarer than in FIFA 13 (although it still happens
annoyingly often)
Youth players have different birthdays I scouted one player who was 16 in
the first report, then by the second report he was already 17. No other
players my scout was looking at had increased in age. Not massively
important, but its better than last year, when every youth player ever found
would coincidentally be born on exactly the same day.
EA seem to have finally addressed the wrong-footed issue with scouted
players (hallelujah!). In FIFA 13 you would very often find that your left-sided
scouted players would be right-footed, and vice versa. This was extremely
common and very annoying, especially when their weak foot was also
poor. Thankfully EA seem to have cleared this up now you can still get
right-footed left-wingers, for example, which may be a good thing if thats
your playing style but its much less common, making things much more
See? Didnt believ e m e, did y ou?
realistic
EA also seem to have sorted out the weight/height matching. I used to
regularly find 65 beanpoles who weighed 145lbs, or 55 200lb players who had clearly been fed too much ice cream.
Thats pretty much non-existent now
Finally, youth players can now have multiple positions. I know, it doesnt mean much in practice (look at his stats to work
out where hes best, not his listed positions), but its a nice touch. The only slight hiccup is that goalkeepers can have
multiple positions. Yep. Goalkeepers. I have one whose listed positions are GK/LM/ST. Good one, EA
6. Summary
Lets have a look at what all this means to scouting in FIFA 14:
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Get the best scout you can. All scouts can find good players, but there is a noticeable difference between a 1*/1*
scout and a 5*/5* one
Some countries will give you a better chance of success than others, but all are capable of producing world-beaters.
Bear in mind, though, that countries still dont specialise in player types
It is now absolutely essential to look at player potential before OVR when reviewing your scouting reports. Players
can grow enormous amounts in May, and if you have a player with a great potential range but poor OVR then you
could be pleasantly surprised
Reloading still works, so dont despair if a scouting report brings back no notable players. Of course, you may feel
this is cheating, so dont do it if you dont want to
Wait until the May youth squad report to promote your youth players, otherwise you risk losing a years worth of
growth
If you have any useful tips or want to share some of your scouting experiences, dont forget to leave a comment below. Thanks for all
your support and happy scouting!
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This entry was posted in FIFA 14, Scouting guides and tagged FIFA 14, scouting, scouting guides by Alex B. Bookmark the permalink.
116 THOUGHTS ON FIFA 14 SCOUTING GUIDE
Patrick W on October 13, 2013 at 8:24 pm said:
Super informative stuff, thanks for doing this man. The only thing Id mention that I
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didnt see here is that when you use a Scout Future Star catalogue item, you will
absolutely have to wait until 1 May of that season. The first one I used, I got a
German ST, 55-59 OVR, 89-94 POT, who wanted out almost immediately. I signed
him to the first team, and of course he was pretty bad, 58 OVR and extremely slow.
Several seasons of loans later, and hes still only a 68. My second Scout Future
Star, however, I got a German RB, 42-44 OVR, 89-94 POT, who I kept in the youth
squad all year. Come 1 May, he leapt up to 69-73 OVR. When signed to the first
team, he was 72 OVR with 95+ sprint speed, accel, agility, and crossing. Three
seasons later, hes an 82 OVR complete forward who would be rated much higher if
his position werent listed incorrectly (his low defending stats and high attacking
stats suggest he definitely should be a RW or RM). So while its important for most
youth players to keep them in the youth squad for as long as possible, its absolutely
VITAL if you use Scout Future Star.
Reply
Alex B
on October 13, 2013 at 8:43 pm said:
I knew Id forgotten something haha
Excellent point, Ill add it to the guide
(with credit of course), thanks for letting us know about it

Reply
Andres on October 13, 2013 at 8:39 pm said:
Fantastic guide, Alex. Ive been waiting for this article for a while and it is obviously
the best guide out there. I found the differences between the trip costs especially
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intriguing. There are some counter-intuitive relative costs. It is still a little

disappointing that May 1 is still growth day, but I suppose that tames the temptation
of promoting a prospect too early. Thanks for the write-up.
Reply
Alex B
Thanks man, that means a lot
its funny you mentioned that, because I
realised Id actually missed something out and put a table in the wrong place!
So its all sorted now
I agree about the trip costs though. Its interesting that Southern Europe is
one of the most expensive scouting regions but half of Southern Europes
nations (Spain, Italy and Portugal) have a much better chance of producing
the best talent than the other three nations (Croatia, Greece and Turkey).
I also agree about the May 1st growth update. To be honest Im not sure why
EA have decided to do it this way a few years ago you would get player
growth after each game (not necessarily OVR increases, but small growth).
Then they changed it so it happened on the first of every month (this effected
both youth and real players). Now theyve kept that the same for
real/promoted players but youth players in the academy have to wait until
May for an increase. Its like theyre moving it backwards.
Reply
Andres
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Glad I could help a little bit. I am glad you finally had to to write it with
your busy schedule.
The relative percentage increase is what really surprised me. I could
understand a small percentage difference between regions where
more talent appears, but it does seem to provide an incentive for
scouting certain countries/regions if on a stringent budget.
What I would really love to see is a bit more realism in the game
(ways to interact with players besides just increasing wages). For
example, an option of offering an older player a coaching position if
he keeps playing for decreased wages to prevent him from retiring; or
a way to promise younger players playing time in the future when
they say they want out; or even a way to bribe academy players to
stay in longer to prevent having to reload when they want out. One
last thing Ive always wanted is a way to have a club partnership
could be anything from what Udinese has with Granada to Barca and
Barca B or even Sporting KC and Orlando City (if you follow MLS). I
think this system could be implement in place of the national team
managing screen (instead of going to a national team menu, it could
take you to the affiliate club menu where you would have limited
control of that teams management).
Reply
Alex B
on January 25, 2014 at 10:32 pm said:
Sorry its taken so long to respond! Yeah Id definitely love

that, especially when players demand more playing time. You
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should be able to explain to them whats going on or promise

them more time soon, etc.
I like the idea of affiliated clubs and I think it would work really
well as a way of guaranteeing your players get loaned out. It
seems like people are having a lot of trouble with that so there
should be a simpler way of making sure your players get
loaned, and this could be it.
Reply
Gustavo on October 14, 2013 at 10:17 am said:
Does anybody know which youths have commentators names and which dont? On
FIFA 13, the Spanish names had many commentator names and this year they
seem to have been removed. Names like Sanchez, Alvarez and Gonzalez for youth
no longer are commentator names. English names seem to have the majority that I
have seem so far.
Reply
Alex B
Sorry its taken so long to respond! I dont actually know. When you create a
pro you can choose his commentary name from a list, but I dont know if that
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corresponds to the list of names that can be read out in career mode. Youd
think itd be the same, but Im not sure, but its probably worth having a look
at that name list to see what names are (probably) read out.
Reply
Mads on October 14, 2013 at 5:44 pm said:
Very helpful stuff!

Will there be a guide about the new Global Transfer Network?
Reply
Alex B
Sorry its taken so long to respond! And thanks

I did intend to but Ive been so busy that there just hasnt been time. Im doing
a postgrad course at the moment and could try to make a guide after I finish,
but thats not until early June and I dont know if people would still be
interested then. Ive just got so much work on that I dont have enough time at
the moment (hence why its taken me so long to get back to you!).
If anyone else feels like this is something theyd like to have a look at then I
would be hugely grateful, but unfortunately Im struggling to respond to
comments at the moment, never mind get research and writing done for a
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GTN article
sorry.
Reply
Luke M on October 15, 2013 at 2:51 am said:
also i noticed when using the scout future star that you can reload before the end of
the month that you buy the option, and get a different one each time, i settled for a 62
ovr potential to be special LM from argentina
Reply
Stuart Graves on October 15, 2013 at 8:08 pm said:
Thank you so much Alex regardless of whether Im coaching my beloved Leicester

City FC with their pretty decent budget, or Morecombe, I go for the scouts and free
agents with my wonga.
(I am yet to commence a CM with LCFC was waiting on you).
My Morecombe 1 Star found a Has Potential To Be Special in Season 2, but since
then absolute bobbins.
Hey, hes earned his money for life that manthe player in question is developing
quickly.
Regens at the start of Season 3 I discovered 2 Showing Great Potentials and an
Exciting Prospect defenders and midfielders, no attackers.
I have also noticed that the cost of scouts now values Judgement over Experience
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considerably.
I pick up so much great information from you and the posters on the comments
section really makes Career Mode that much more enjoyable.
Once again, my gratitude and I hope the studies are going well.
(ps from sofifa I picked up Tyler Harvey from Plymouth, an apparent hotbed of
young and potentially great strikers he is not listed as Showing Great Potential,
despite sofifa rating his potential as 81. And he is developing as a player rated that
highly would.)
Reply
Kay on October 22, 2013 at 8:05 am said:
Great scoutingtips, thank you so much for these guides, it has helped me a lot (been
following them since FIFA 12). I just have one question. Do you know how the
EASFC catalogue works? Ive purchased one scout future star item and it worked.
But when starting over with a new career Im unable to use it again. Shouldnt it be
possible, since its possible to use it once every season?
Many thanks!
Reply
Alex B
Unfortunately EA seem to have worded it really badly. There are (I think) four
pdfcrowd.com
Unfortunately EA seem to have worded it really badly. There are (I think) four
different scout a future star options that you can purchase from the EASFC
catalogue, all at different levels, and all say they can be purchased once per
season. But what this actually means is that you can only purchase each
one once, and thats it. Its not once per season, but once total, so you only
get four chances at it throughout the entire time you have FIFA 14. So you
wont be able to purchase that scout a future star option again, but if you level
up you should eventually unlock another one.
Like I said, its really badly worded it shouldnt say once per season
because its not correct!
Hope that makes it a bit clearer
Reply
Bubba
on November 4, 2013 at 3:52 pm said:
Hey Alex, are you sure?

When I purchase this catalogue item it displays a number in tick
block, just like it did in FIFA 13. I assumed it meant once per season,
I never really tried to buy the same scout future star item again
though. But its different from purchasing another item in the
catalogue which simply gets a tick.
Reply
benjiwade
pdfcrowd.com
Alex is correct. You get one crack at each of these Scout A

Future Star items until the next years FIFA.
Reply
benjiwade on October 23, 2013 at 7:42 pm said:
Excellent work on this article, thanks Alex. Great to see this site alive and well!
Reply
Alex B
Thanks! The first So You Want A article should be out by the end of the
week/weekend, so keep checking back for that
Reply
Lelouch on October 29, 2013 at 2:20 pm said:
Hello Alex, great guide this year again, really impressed by your will to share all these
informations to Youth Academy lovers
pdfcrowd.com
Im here to provide some updated info on FIFA 14.

You have noticed that really good youth players are fewer this year, there is a simple
reason found by datamining this years game code.
The knowledge matrix have been modified by EA to reduce the rate at which scouts
can find good players.
Knowledge Modifier Matrix by Player Tier : (in percentage %)
Stars|Bronze|Silver|Gold|Platinum
1|82|15|2|1
2|70|25|3|2
3|60|33|4|3
4|40|50|6|4
5|23|63|8|6
The repartition of players by tier in countries is still the same as last year.
Reply
Lelouch
Bytheway, the player type (Physically Gifted, Attacker, WInger) differs with
countries.
YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_ATTACK_MINDED]
PLAYER_TYPE_ATTACK_MINDED_0=20
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[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_DEFFENSIVE_MINDED]
PLAYER_TYPE_DEFFENSIVE_MINDED_0=5
[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_GOOD_HANDS]
PLAYER_TYPE_GOOD_HANDS_0=100
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[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_MENTALLY_STRONG]
PLAYER_TYPE_MENTALLY_STRONG_0=5
[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_PHYSICAL_POWER]
PLAYER_TYPE_PHYSICAL_POWER_0=5
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[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_PHYSICAL_SPEED]
PLAYER_TYPE_PHYSICAL_SPEED_0=30
[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_SKILLED]
PLAYER_TYPE_SKILLED_0=30
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0 to 11 corresponds to countries id, each value is the percentage.

You see that Africa (id 11) has 35% players with Winger type
(PHYSICAL_SPEED) and 35% players with Physically Strong type
(PHYSICAL_POWER).
(Sorry my game is in French so i dont have correct names for player types)
GOOD HANDS = Goalkeeper
ATTACK_MINDED = Attacker
DEFENSIVE_MINDED = Defender
MENTALLY_STRONG = Organisator
PHYSICAL_POWER = Physically Strong
PHYSICAL_SPEED = Winger
SKILLED = Skilled
Reply
benjiwade
Excellent information, thanks for that. So Im lead to believe EA are

rather racist by saying that Mentally Strong players basically dont
exist in Africa?! They also seem to think the fastest players in the
world come from Asia. Fascinating.
Reply
Juan
pdfcrowd.com
Are you entirely sure about this? It is excellent information but where
did you get it from?
Reply
Lelouch
on November 4, 2013 at 12:07 am said:
Yes, im sure about this, i extracted these data from FIFA 14

PC version s .big (database) files.
Its been the same file data structure for years. Simply
updated by EA since their devs are too lazy to redo the game.
Reply
Cereberto
@Lelouch
Is it really the knowledge rating of the scout, that
affects the quality of found youth players or is it, like
before, the judgement rating?
Dee
@Lelouch Can you provide the a list of regions for
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0-11? is this the same as FIFA 13? In which case am

i reading it correctly when you say the fastest players
are from Asia and the Southern Europe region (Italy)
has only a 5% chance of producing a defensive
minded player?
Stuart Graves on November 4, 2013 at 12:11 am said:
My godthis is great info!

Reply
Lelouch on November 4, 2013 at 12:29 pm said:
EA names judgement as knowlegde in game files but its effectively knowledge

which affects players quality.
Reply
Bubba on November 4, 2013 at 3:47 pm said:
Great guide dude. Always helps, I just wanted to throw this out therewhat is the
oldest age that anyone has been able to keep a player in their youth academy?
pdfcrowd.com
I almost got a youth up to age 19 before he wanted out

Reply
benjiwade
Thanks, Bubba. Ive been waiting for somebody to mention this because I
hadnt any data to support one way or the other. I thought all youth would
automatically leave before their 18th birthday. However, Im also interested to
know if a player can still progress in the academy past their 17th birthday.
From memory of FIFA 12 and 13, you might be able to keep them past 17
but theyd stop developing.
Reply
Bubba
Sorry dude I meant to say 18 not 19. But it would be interesting to

know if that were possible. It would also mean if your youth was going
to turn 18 during a season and that this would happen before May, its
advisable to promote them?
Reply
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interwebme on November 6, 2013 at 3:04 am said:
Amazing guide yet again!

I do have a question:
I had a goalkeeper in my youth team with POT of 85-94. I promoted him and he has
not got the potential to be special it only says At the club since 2015. Hes 18 with
an OVR of 63 but hasnt progressed in half a season. So what is his real potential?
The thing is I have two other keepers both that had potentials in the youth team of up
to 89 which have the messages showing great potential (AGE 17 OVR 61 +1 this
season) and an exciting prospect (AGE 18 OVR 61 +2 this season).
Id appreciate any thoughts.
Sorry for the repost but it didnt seem to get through.
Reply
Luuk on November 6, 2013 at 7:28 am said:
Hey Alex, I need some help.

I never can find any good players this year, while I found the best of the best previous
year.
Reply
TS on November 6, 2013 at 7:33 pm said:
Once you get the YOUTH PLAYER WANTS OUT email, how long do you have until
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he actually leaves. Just got 2 at the end of March and Im wondering if I can hold out
until May 2nd.
Reply
Alex B
I think its unlikely, its usually only a week or two. Can you reload to a slightly
earlier save and try advancing again? The message may not come up if you
do that.
Reply
TS
Just simmed it through 4 times. 3 out of 4 times they were still on the roster
on May 2nd.
Reply
interwebme
Ive had a player stay for a year. Ive had a player stay for two weeks.
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Reply
TS
Yea Im sure its just a gamble. Thanks guys for replying. Ill report
back when Ive played it through.
Reply
TS on November 7, 2013 at 12:18 am said:
This is a great resourceful site btw. Thanks for putting it together.

This may be one here somewhere, but are you aware of the roster/ objectives
exploit? You can essentially dictate what your objectives will be for the next season.
Reply
Alex B
Possibly is that where you change your starting lineup at the end of the
season so that its full of all your worst players, then your board thinks your
team is worse than it is and gives you easier objectives? Thats one thing Ive
heard about anyway!
pdfcrowd.com
Reply
TS
Yup, thats it. Great for stocking up your lower division teams with
Youth Squad guys before the competition gets oppressive.
Also, regarding Free Agents- Ive noticed that some of the good and
great free agents start to show up in years 2 and 3. Easy trick to
figure out, any time I see an FA with anything thats dark green I
approach to sign and their value is already in there, so if his salary is
over 10,000 youll know you most likely have a decent player. Saves a
scout slot and some time. Youll still have to do some scouting if you
are trying to determine which mid 60s players you want, but at least
this helps with the easy ones.
P.S. Update today finally fixes the roster screen lag!
Reply
Nato on November 7, 2013 at 9:32 am said:
Ive found it very easy to get 5 star scouts this year compared to FIFA 13. Like 2
within two months, its crazy last year I would have to reload for ages. Also my first
scout report gave me a 71 94 rated player, found this odd but very cool as well.
Need to play more and will check your guide out though.
Thanks for the guides you do an awesome job.
pdfcrowd.com
Thanks for the guides you do an awesome job.

Reply
deshine on November 7, 2013 at 7:31 pm said:
hey Alex the greatest guide i ever found really nice
i have only one question i
search a player ala ibrahimovic or crouch tall strong and striker
how i can find him
the best way?

Reply
Alex B
Thanks very much!

In terms of scouting its quite difficult. You can search for physically strong
players and that would find the type of player you want, but the problem is
that the players your scout finds could be in any position. You may end up
finding lots of strong centre backs but no strong strikers. The other option is
to search for players with the attacker type, but most of these players are
the more standard type of striker that you get through scouting great
finishing and heading, but not amazing strength. You can find physically
strong strikers this way, but like the other method, its hard!
Alternatively, Ill be publishing an article either tomorrow or on Saturday
detailing promising young target men (that is, strong strikers like Crouch and
Ibrahimovic) who dont cost very much, so if you wanted a real player instead
of trying to scout one then you could try having a look at that
pdfcrowd.com
Reply
deshine
thanks alex! i hope i will find a good one:) oh yes i see great guide
again;) really nice!
Reply
Shashank Venugopal Koppuravuri on November 8, 2013 at 4:57 am said:
Hey Alex,
Thanks again for an amazing guide. Your blog is literally my bread and butter when it
comes to FIFA 14 CM! ^_^
That being said, I call upon you once more regarding confusion with respect to
player status in the Squad Report page.
Some of the players statuses changed after season one.
Pogba from Exciting to to be special
Veratti from Exciting to great potential
Goretzka who grew like an Exciting has Great potential
and Nick Powell who grew like an Exciting has At the club
pdfcrowd.com
Why did their statuses change? Im always welcoming of progressive changes, but
despite Veratti growing +2 since joining in Jan, he got demoted??
Reply
Alex B
Thanks very much!

Regarding player statuses, it seems to be really flexible this year. If a player
has a particularly good (or bad) season then their potential can easily
change, which is what youve been seeing.
The problem is that sometimes you can have a player growing well but
having his potential go down. I honestly dont know why this happen, as it
seems quite illogical. The only thing I can really say is that, because
potentials seem to change so readily, they may very well regain the status
that they lost.
Ill put a tweet out this evening to see if anyone else has experienced this and
if they have any advice, so hopefully someone else may be able to shed
some more light on this.
If anyone else knows more about this issue, please feel free to leave a
comment
Reply
pdfcrowd.com
TS on November 16, 2013 at 5:11 pm said:
What does scouting for Mentally Strong players get you? Is it worth it?
Reply
Andrew Mertig on November 19, 2013 at 10:22 pm said:
Thanks for this incredible guide. I just thought Id offer a couple tips regarding youth
academy players and other thoughts in general. First, I echo your sentiments
regarding leaving players in the youth academy until after May 1. Some naysayers
say to get them out of your squad ASAP and play them. I still dont think they grow as
fast as they would post-May 1. I would go one step further and say to leave them in
there as long as possible. If you can wait until July 1, theyll advance a year and are
more likely to be loaned out. Ive had players make it through TWO May 1 periods.
They come out with 70-75 OVR and 90-94 POT at times. The May 1 time period is
also amazing for boosting their ratings. I jotted down my players overall ratings
before and after May 1, and they were vastly different. Some went from 39-51 OVR
to 67-71 OVR! It isnt that uncommon for a players rating to go up 10-20 points after
May 1. You want to get players who have a high potential. Dont even worry about
their overall rating range before May 1.
Be careful not to send out a scout on the 28, 29, 30 or 31st of the month. Youll get
screwed for a few months especially February.
Another thing Ive noticed regarding GK lack of growth is that theres a way to speed
it up a bit. During the games, if you are dominating your competition your GK will
have a lackluster rating. Try lob passing the ball from your GK to a defender and
heading it back to the GK. This give the GK a save. Do this 10-20 times, and your
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GK Rating will be 9.0+ typically. This is a way to make them grow faster.
If you get five star perfect scouts and scout hard in good countries (Spain, Brazil,
etc.) at the start of your third season you should have an absolutely incredible youth
academy. It takes time for them to grow and increase in ratings. At the start of my
third season, I had a full youth academy squad with guys rated from 65-75 all
potentials over 90. Its a pain to constantly save so they dont terminate their
contracts but well worth it in the end.
These are just some ideas I had mulling around in my head.
Reply
Andrew Mertig
One more thing

As for:
Showing Good Potential, An Exciting Prospect and Has Potential to Be
Special, I think sometimes they are inverted or incorrect. I always write down
what my youth players Potential rating ranges are. I have lots of players who
have 90-94, but periodically they come out with the title of Showing Good
Potential. On the other hand, Ill get a player rated 81-87 potential that says
Has Potential to be Special.
Has anyone else noticed this? Im not sure if I should go by their Potential
rating OR this phrase.
Reply
pdfcrowd.com
Paul Gunslinger Smith

Yes Ive noticed this. Im tempted to go by their description after being

promoted. Ive found they tend to grow according to this and not
according to what their overall potential was in youth academy. I
could be wrong of course.
Nice tip on the keepers!
Reply
herbski
on December 20, 2013 at 6:48 pm said:
Yeah I believe that is correct, the description is more

important as far as growth. Im not 100% certain but it
seemed that way in my experience.
You can just save before you promote the player, and reload
the player until he gets potential to be special though.
Reply
just want beast players

pdfcrowd.com
regarding the GK rating every match, do you lob through pass to a defender
then regular lob to gk? i tried it but i tend to have an own goal
Reply
Andrew Mertig
What I do is hold LB (xbox) and press Square to do a subtle lob pass

to my defender. Then I Hold LB and press X or Square to head it back
to the keeper. This counts as a save. It takes a while to get good at it,
but once you do, your keeper will have a very high rating.
Occasionally Ill get an own goal, but you can still get a very high
rating. Doing this in conjunction with loaning your GK for a day or two
during the winter transfer period then getting him back will help
expedite his growth. Ive noticed that GK still progress much slower
than any other position. If I can get a GK to go up 3-4 points a year,
thats a success. In year 2023, all of my guys were rated 90 and my
GK was around an 82.
Reply
just want beast players on November 21, 2013 at 9:57 am said:
has anyone manage to get good young players with potential to be special using the
global transfer network? as in getting these players from other teams youth squad
who have been promoted to the main team.
pdfcrowd.com
Reply
Gustavo
I have not and I also have not read about anybody being able to do it. The
exact opposite actually. Many people complaining about this problem that the
GSN is broken on the EA forums.
Reply
Dustin
I have found some exciting prospects but not potential to be special. I

personally love the gsn as it ads a lot to the depth of the mode. I use it most
the first two seasons to kick start young player growth until my youth squad
develops. Its also nice to use if you have specific needs.
Reply
herbski
I dont think there arent any potential to be special players in the game other
than Neymar or Gotze from the start. All the 91+ potential players are over 21
except Neymar and Gotze. Of course a few years in you may find a regen or
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a CPU scouted player (not even sure if CPU scouts or just uses regens)
that could have that status.
Although you can get a player and improve him to that status. The first
season the status is always player just arrived. The potential of that player
can go up/down the following season. Or you can loan a player out and when
he returns his status can change.
Reply
herbski
As for the May update whether to wait or not, I tend to think that you
absolutely need one May update. Especially for the mispositioned
players. If they are showing a really low OVR, they will jump huge
after their first May update.
But any more than that? I would say would depend upon whether you
plan on playing them as a starter or not. I have yet to find any
ridiculous growth from a player in a 2nd May update.
Id say if they are good enough to start pull them out after the first May
update. This will also help you keep a bit more room in your academy
for scouting other players if you have a full academy. If you dont plan
on playing them a ton, Id say leave them in.
Reply
pdfcrowd.com
just want beast players on November 22, 2013 at 7:09 pm said:
hey guys what are some ways of finding regen players? i know you could keep track
of their retirement but most of the time you cant really tell. should i just put age 17-23
on global transfer network and with promising checked?
Reply
Luis Taglianetti (@Lou_Taglianetti)

do ages 17-20 then check the promising, and first team quality boxes then
sign whatever players your scout brings back. they will definitely be good.
scout places like spain italy germany england and brazil. the players turn out
to be really good and most cases are fast. they only cost 2 to 3 mill got a
spanish striker that was 71 or 72, after 2 years he was 80 and has 87
speed
Reply
Unknown on November 24, 2013 at 2:16 am said:
However, heres some big news youth player potentials can change if you reload
around the May update. For example, save the day before the May update. Advance,
promote a youth player and his status may be An exciting prospect. Reload and do
it again and this time it might be Has potential to be special. Ive actually had a
player who had Showing great potential one time, Has potential to be special
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another and then nothing at all on a third attempt. Usually its only going to be a small
change his potential going up or down by one point, most likely but its interesting
that it can be manipulated.
You dont need to wait till May to try to change their potentials, I just tried in February
and his potential changed from an exciting prospect to has potential to be special.
Reply
Andrew Mertig
I also had a GK who came out as An Exciting Prospect when I initially

signed him to the first team. He had excellent form, and I loaned him out.
When he came back to my team his new status was Has Potential to be
Special. I wonder if potentials can fluctuate based on how the player is
performing/form?
Reply
jymz on November 29, 2013 at 5:46 am said:
ANY IDEA: does playing a scouted youth squad player ON YOUR NATIONAL TEAM
before signing them to your first team screw with their potential?
Reply
Alex B
pdfcrowd.com
I dont think so. As I recall, on FIFA 13 you could actually sign 15 year olds to
the national squad and make them grow even though they were still in your
youth squad. So as far as I know, playing them in your youth squad before
promoting them essentially just gives them a boost
Reply
Andrew Mertig
Somebody should try this. Heck, maybe Ill try it. On Fifa 13 Id always
put my 15 year olds still in my Youth Team on the national team. I
cant recall if this makes them grow faster?! Thats a great question.
If they do grow, I wonder if their OVR range or POT range fluctuates?
Ill look into this.
Reply
Andrew Mertig on December 2, 2013 at 4:35 pm said:
Two other things Ive noticed. A good way to get better youth players is to save the
game a day before your scout comes back with the youth players. Then if you get a
bad crop of players, simply quit and reload until you get a good batch of guys. Also,
and I dont know if theres any merit to this, but Ive noticed that when I have a match
the day before my scout comes back with his list of players, if I do very well and
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absolutely dominate the match, Ill get better players. For instance, I only had a 2-star
scout, and I was getting garbage. A few times, I blew out the competition 5-0, 6-0 the
day before the scout came back with the report. When I did this I had abnormally
good youth players. Not sure if this is something, but it looked like a trend.
Reply
Reed on December 3, 2013 at 2:49 am said:
Awesome guide you have here! But I do have a question regarding players being
sent out on loans and their potentials. I have a youth player I promoted in May and I
sent him out on a loan. Hes rated a 78 and age 17, and his potential was 90-94! It
said he had a potential to be special before he left for the loan. Once he returned
from his short loan, it now says that he is a exciting prospect. Does this mean he
no longer has the superstar potential?
Reply
Alex B
Thanks
Potentials are very strange this year. They can change very easily if you
promote a player, then reload and promote him again, he could have different
potentials each time. So the fact that they can change so much probably
means you dont need to worry his potential has gone down, but it could
just as easily go up with good playing time.
pdfcrowd.com
And bear in mind that he is already almost 80 OVR at just 17 hes got loads
of years of growth and will only need to grow 1-2 points per year to get to 90!
So Id stick with him if I were you.
Reply
Andric on December 6, 2013 at 2:59 am said:
This helped me a lot. I was quite shocked to why the players overall are quite lower
than what it was during FIFA 13. I didnt knew FIFA 14 made it quite harder and that
Potential is now more important. Thank you so much.
Reply
Alex B
No problem
Reply
interwebme on December 15, 2013 at 8:44 am said:
I have a defender that came through my academy. Rated as Potential to be Special

and is now 22 with an ovr of 81, Most of his stats are good but not in the key areas
for a CB. He is really slow 54 has fantastic heading 95 but is average at jumping 68
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and 511. Good stand tackle at 88 but marking is only 71. I would employ him as a
defensive mid but his attacking stats are average, short pass 75 and long pass 61
but his vision and att positioning are in the 80s.
Any thoughts? Should I just sell him on and get someone more suitable or move him
to defensive mid?
I do have a defensive mid that would fit in at CB very well only hes not so good a
heading and his passing is too good. What a dilema!
Reply
Alex B
on December 15, 2013 at 11:27 am said:
Sounds like that guy would be better at CDM. With CBs you really want them
to be good in the air. If they arent tall then they need to have a good jumping
stat, otherwise opposition strikers are going to be having a field day when
crosses come in. So Id take him out of the danger and put him at CDM. Hes
got potential to be special so he could turn out amazing, and the good bit is
that if you dont want him his high potential means youll be able to get loads
for him.
Reply
interwebme
Thanks Alex. Ive taken him out of CB and got some others playing
there, its working better. I have a flood of superstars at CDM (3
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potential to be specials and 1 exciting prospect!) so Ill probably have

to move him on. As a defender hes not work a huge amount.
Reply
herbski
Generally speaking I find that Defensive minded or physically strong

CDMs actually make better CBs than scouting for CBs.
Reply
Fireman on January 1, 2014 at 4:29 pm said:
Id like to point out that the physical stats of new Youth Players is typically lower than
in previous games, I got youth players stuck at 88 with 90-94 Potential because their
physical stats didnt grow enough the first 5 years (around 21-22 the physical stat
grow VERY slowly, or not at all). If youre still stuck on 70-80 in physical stats by that
age you can say goodbye to your 90+ players.
Reply
Kshitij (@KronSeptim) on January 3, 2014 at 4:57 pm said:
pdfcrowd.com
Nice guide mate. You forgot one thing though which is new in FIFA 14 the
precontract. When less than 6 months are remaining on a players contract [usually
in January], you can contact that player, give him a nice contract and then he will join
your club for free the next season. Very useful I got Pogba for free from Juve.
Reply
Alex B
Yes, precontract deals are awesome, I got a few players that way
This
article was just about youth scouting though, and you can only do
precontract deals on players aged 23+. Although of course you could do a
deal on a youth player who has grown to that age, but mainly I was focusing
on scouting and promoting youth players.
Reply
DEGOSLIVE on January 3, 2014 at 10:15 pm said:
what happens on player potenthial if I miss May report? a player with 91+ won t
grhow his entire potenthial?
Reply
Alex B
pdfcrowd.com
Hopefully he will grow lots once you promote him. FIFA 14s growth system
seems to be a bit buggy though, so really you need to get the May update
growth if you can. But like I say, I expect he should grow well in the first team
providing he gets game time and performs well. Let us know how the player
does and whether he grows quickly once hes promoted
Reply
Paul Gunslinger Smith on January 7, 2014 at 12:22 am said:
Hi Guys,
I have a slightly off topic question that I cant seem to find an answer to anywhere
else. Ive brought up Fleetwood Town from league 2 to now European Champions.
Ive assembled the best squad in the world through youth development. Only thing is
is that its a little dull now.
My team, Norwich City, were relegated from the BPL in the year 2021 and I want to
take them over and do a rescue job (and maybe take a couple of my young stars
with me
) Anyway any time I look at the potential jobs its the same 5 or 6 clubs
over and over after each game. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can get the
Norwich job?
The only idea I have is simming through my current season and seeing if the clubs
change.
Reply
pdfcrowd.com
Wayne 'Flick' Forrest

What I can say is they usually are randomised, however it can be the same
few over and over again. However As Norwich were already relegated, their
seasonal objectives would have changed, therefore, no high risk. However if
their objective was to acheive promotion, but theyre sitting 10th at the
halfway stage, then you should be able to apply for the job. Kudos for getting
Fleetwood to be European Champions, Im doing a career with Crawley
Town, currently 1st in Prem, just lost to Brighton (my team) in Semis of FA
Cup.
Reply
interwebme
on January 12, 2014 at 1:07 am said:
Is there a way to apply for the job if it isnt in the potential job
openings? Ive looked around and cant find a way to do it.
Reply
Wayne 'Flick' Forrest

No sadly not. As I said, you would have to hope that Norwich

are failing their objectives, then look in the Browse Jobs
section like every 2 weeks or something like that. Theres no
actual way of being able to make it happen. Well without
starting a whole new career with Norwich anyway.
pdfcrowd.com
Reply
Wayne 'Flick' Forrest on January 10, 2014 at 4:06 pm said:
I had no idea about this May Update. So do I literally promote my youth players on
1st May?
Reply
Alex B
No, what it means is that all the players in your academy will only grow once
per year (whereas people in your first team grow on the 1st of every month).
So what you can do is save your game on 30th April and have a look at your
youth player potential and OVR ranges (e.g. 55-59 OVR, 80-86 potential).
Then, advance one day to the 1st May and check on their OVR and potential
ranges again. Youll notice that theyre now different. Thats because 1st May
is the one day in the entire year that players in your youth academy will
improve.
This is important because its usually not just one or two points of growth.
They have their entire years worth of growth on that one day. Ive had players
go up 14 points before. You dont have to promote your players on 1st May at
all, I just meant that this is the day that they grow.
pdfcrowd.com
What it does mean, though, is that you really dont want your youth players
agitating to be promoted before 1st May otherwise you will lose that entire
years worth of growth
So what I usually do is wait until the players have
had the 1st May update, then promote them at the end of the season.
Hope that clears it up for you
Reply
Jim on January 12, 2014 at 12:23 pm said:
Is there any point leaving them in there for two or more seasons, or should I just wait
until after the first May that theyve been with me? Basically, how many years should
they spend in the academy?
Reply
Alex B
I basically leave them in there until they are 17 and have had a May update
for that year (i.e. had a May update while they are 17), then I promote them.
This usually gives me two about May updates for each player. The first
update always seems to be the biggest, with players often growing 10+
points. The second update is usually smaller, around the 4-5 point mark. So
while its essential that you keep them in the academy for the first update, if
you feel they could get more than 4-5 points of growth if you promoted them,
then go ahead and promote them.
pdfcrowd.com
Of course, it all depends if you can give them enough time in the first team
yet. If not, it may be worth keeping them in the academy for another year.
Oh, and I dont usually keep them in beyond 17 because after that they start
agitating to be promoted far more often. Once they get passed their 18th
birthday they can actually quit without even telling you (it seems to be a
glitch). So instead of risking that, I just promote them at 17 (usually at the end
of a season).
Reply
Nino rasta on January 15, 2014 at 10:30 am said:
I bought vilhena and he had Great potential

And he became has that special something.
Did he loose his potential?
Does a random player loose his potential?
How can you locate regents easily?
Nice guide and website!
Reply
Bryan
on March 26, 2014 at 11:27 am said:
If Your player is 22 years old, it would not show his potential.

Reply
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Sean E on January 20, 2014 at 2:28 am said:
Great guide!
However i find it a bit ridiculous that EA still have yet to put out regen faces which is
something that they have done in madden since like madden 10
Reply
Alex B
I know, even just a graphical face would be better than the silhouettes :/
Reply
Sean E
Yeah in my career with chesterfield Im in 2018 and about 75% of my

players are players i scouted and have just a silhouette its annoying
and I start to lose interest in the game
Reply
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Matt on January 28, 2014 at 4:26 am said:
Not youth scoutingbut not sure where to ask. Got Wycombe to the BPL
obviously many seasons inwhen I use the gtn to scout they still return nothing bu
crappy league 2 caliber playerseven w/first team quality checked. Any ideas?
Reply
Alex B
Unfortunately it seems to be a glitch. A lot of people have said that the GTN
doesnt update the quality of the players it returns, even when you improve
the team. Combined with the removal of player OVRs, it makes it extremely
difficult to find new players after a few seasons. Yet another improvement
from EA that doesnt actually work :/
Reply
Swindon Fan. on January 30, 2014 at 2:04 pm said:
Finally, youth players can now have multiple positions. I know, it doesnt mean
much in practice (look at his stats to work out where hes best, not his listed
positions), but its a nice touch. The only slight hiccup is that goalkeepers can have
multiple positions. Yep. Goalkeepers. I have one whose listed positions are
GK/LM/ST. Good one, EA
oh goody. i finally have an excuse for when i take my goalkeeper up field and get the
pdfcrowd.com
standard. oh hello the goalkeepers off on holidays here. you know he might never
come back.
Reply
Brendan Walsh on March 14, 2014 at 10:23 pm said:
I have a 77-82 Overall and 90-94 potential RM from Ecuador should I keep him in the
youth academy until may 1st or should I put him on loan
Reply
Alex B
on March 15, 2014 at 3:33 pm said:
Wow, how old is he? Generally I keep players in the academy until they the
May update after their 17th birthday (if that makes sense). From the sound of
it you may not even need to put him up for loan! Can you post a picture of
him and his stats when you promote him? Sounds like hes going to be
insane.
Reply
HRG
on April 20, 2014 at 9:42 am said:
I also found Ronaldos regen a few days after he retired.Man!!! what

a beast!!!age 18 and overall 84,got him for
$13.5m,speed=acc=99,ball
pdfcrowd.com
control=86,agility=95,balance=98,dribbling=90.No,Im not kidding!

I also found 2 gks,one Manolo Reina with GK/RB/RM/CDM and a
Pedro Reyes with GK/CF.Asst.Manager puts Reina at RB
always!Ovrs. 69 and 67 resp. at ages 21.What to do with them?
Reply
Alex B
on April 20, 2014 at 12:49 pm said:
Yeah you can find some crazy regens on FIFA! That guy
sounds amazing, do you plan on keeping him or selling him
on for profit?
Haha GKs can have some weird positions. As you can see in
the guide, I found one who can play at LM at ST! Do they have
any potential-related statuses, e.g. Showing great potential?
Also, it depends what you want to do with them. If you need
some backups GKs then Id keep them GKs often dont
start growing properly around age 22/23 (though there are
always exceptions), so they should start going up within a
year or so if you want to start playing them.
The problem with trying to grow GKs is theres limited space.
You cant put two out on the field at one time in the way you
can with CBs (although given your GKs secondary positions,
maybe you can!), so Id probably one keep one of those GKs
unless theyre your best to keepers.
Reply
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Bryan on March 26, 2014 at 11:31 am said:
Anyone knows if a players overall rating(not potential) from the youth academy will
continue to grow after the May 1st update even if he is 17years old? Also, is it
possible to get my bakkali from exciting prospect to had potential to be special? Its
weird that Bruma(has potential to be special) in my career mode has higher potential
than bakkali(exciting prospect).
Reply
Alex B
If you loan him out his potential can change. Send him out for a short loan
then save the game. Recall him and see what his status is, as sometimes it
changes. If its not back to Has potential to be special, reload the save and
try again.
Regarding OVR growing after that time, I think it will grow. The first May
update a player gets, however, is always the largest, often around 10-14
points. The next year it is only around 4 points, so I expect it will be 4 points
or so a year later. The problem is that once a youth player in the academy
hits 18 they can actually quit the academy without a warning (happened to
me). If you didnt notice and then saved your game, it means theyre gone
forever, so I always promote my youth players once theyre 17 (and have had
that years May update) just to be safe.
pdfcrowd.com
Reply
Bryan
Hi thx for the quick reply. Do you know if a player, for example bakkali,
can outgrow his 90 potential and show that he ha potential to be
special? I know that players from the youth academy can outgrow
their potential. I had a youth player who had a potential of under 89
who had has potential to be special when I promoted him. And, is it
possible for players who didnt have any potential (been in the clud
since 2012) to get to has potential to be special?
Reply
Alex B
I think they can, yes. If Bakkali plays well enough and grows a
lot then I cant see why he couldnt exceed his potential.
For your second question, Id recommend you do the loaning
trick that I mentioned before. Going from having no potential
status (in other words, having potential under 80) to having
Potential to be special (which means potential 91+) is a big
jump and you may not be able to do it just by keeping the
player in your squad and playing him. However, heres what
you can do with the loaning trick to achieve it: loan him out
and recall him until his status becomes showing great
potential, then save. Then loan him out again and recall him
pdfcrowd.com
until his status goes up to an exciting prospect. Do this

again until you have has potential to be special. I havent
tried this myself yet but I have heard that it works, so its
definitely worth a try!
Reply
Bryan on March 26, 2014 at 11:59 am said:
Will a player continue to grow properly if he is not playing in his preferred position? I
played bakkali in LW and he is 79rated at 19yrs old
Reply
Alex B
Yep they should do, I have a RW playing at LM or RM and hes been growing
really well. I think potential matters more than preferred position.
Reply
Bryan on March 27, 2014 at 5:22 pm said:
pdfcrowd.com
Anyone knows why I find it difficult to loan my players? Ive tried season loans and
short loans but during the transfer window, if I get two loan offers Im considered
lucky.
Reply
Alex B
Unfortunately loaning is tricky in FIFA. Heres what I do (its boring but it

works) put your players up for loan, save, then advance a week. If you get
no offers in that week, reload. Every time you get a new loan offer, accept it
and save the game, then advance another week. Id aim to get 1-3 loans a
week depending on how many players you have on your loan list.
This method takes a long time but its guaranteed to work because you wont
continue until youve got some loans sorted.
Good luck!
Reply
Bryan
Is it possible to loan players at the age of 21? Im currently trying to

loan this player but no team wants to loan him.
Reply
pdfcrowd.com
Bryan on March 28, 2014 at 5:03 pm said:
If anyone needs to know how to heed your players happy if they feel that the
management is bad, you simply just need to praise that specific player before
matches.
Reply
Papah Jahat on April 4, 2014 at 6:59 am said:
Now I know where to find promising youngsters

thx a lot dude
Reply
Alex B
on April 4, 2014 at 8:16 am said:
No problem, glad it was useful

Reply
Aidan Watret on April 13, 2014 at 10:56 pm said:
pdfcrowd.com
I am so glad i looked at this, I lost out on so many good players due to the fact i didnt
wait til may and they were all to awful to play. BTW I also feel like youth players
threatening to leave is kind of an empty threat Ive had multiple requests from
different players (sometimes from the same player) and they never seem to leave).
Reply
Matias on April 19, 2014 at 9:21 pm said:
I want a center back. Do i select defensive minded or physically strong????

Reply
Alex B
on April 20, 2014 at 12:41 pm said:
That depends really. As you might expect, defensive minded defenders have
better technical stats, while physically strong defenders have better physical
stats. Realistically, though, theres not a huge amount of difference. If you
find a high potential defender in either category, wait until the May update,
where they usually get a massive stat boost which often evens out their
stats. For example, I found a physically strong striker, but after the May
update he had great physical and technical stats.
Defensive minded often finds you full backs (but they wont be attacking
fullbacks), while physically strong often finds you CDMs and, occasionally,
strikers.
Reply
pdfcrowd.com
Jared on April 25, 2014 at 5:49 pm said:
Thanks for this guide. Ive now been using it for two years and the CM is so much
more fun as a result.
Ive started with Accrington Stanley with the aim of creating an all youth academy
team. I cheated a bit, putting Aguero on the squad so I could sell him in the transfer
window in summer. I did, to Bayern, for 85 million USD. (they overpaid a lot IMO)
This gave me the budget to scout like a big club. My best prospect was (notice, was)
a CM with 90+ potential. I got him to 83 OVR at 20 years old. Then Barca came
calling. I ended up selling him for 65 million USD, but I wish I had held onto him. Its
funny how I was kind of attached to a virtual player like that.
Does anyone have any information on how to get youth players that start with decent
overall speed and acceleration? Most of my guys are in the 50s to begin. Is there a
player type I should look for or an area I should focus on?
Thanks again, this is far and away the best FIFA site if you are interested in youth
development.
Reply
herbski on December 20, 2013 at 6:43 pm said:
Although the potential status change could be entirely random (like it is when
promoting youth players) when it does change. I really dont know for sure whether
form/playing time impacts it (I Just know that it can change if you buy a new player or
pdfcrowd.com
loan out an existing player on your team). I think it does though

Reply
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The Next Level Gaming

High potential players

High potentials (winter update)

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Alex B

FIFA 14 scouting guide

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Heres what I said about it last year:

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A range of scouts to choose from

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3. Spotting a great player on your reports

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4. After youve promoted players & the May update

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value is lower than you expected!

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5. Other tips and info

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See? Didnt believ e m e, did y ou?

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116 THOUGHTS ON FIFA 14 SCOUTING GUIDE

Patrick W on October 13, 2013 at 8:24 pm said:

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I knew Id forgotten something haha

Excellent point, Ill add it to the guide

(with credit of course), thanks for letting us know about it

Andres on October 13, 2013 at 8:39 pm said:

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intriguing. There are some counter-intuitive relative costs. It is still a little

Thanks man, that means a lot

its funny you mentioned that, because I

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Sorry its taken so long to respond! Yeah Id definitely love

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