Fifa career mode: tips for the youth staff.
Youth scouting and the youth academy have been available in Fifa for many versions. The recently neglected career mode has at least now, as of Fifa 23, received a proper update. In connection with this, there have also been some changes in the area of youth scouting.
The Fifa career mode is certainly by far the most underrated mode of the well-known EA Sports series. Numerous players regularly use the career mode to promote their own team to the international top within a short period of time. How nice it would be to see Saarbrücken or Meppen in the big stadiums of the world in Madrid, Milan or Turin after a few seasons. But it’s a long way to get there. The key to success lies in our own young talent. And here it’s a matter of setting the course for success early on, right at the start of a new career mode session.
Right from the start, it’s a case of: don’t waste any time!
We know: After 15 seasons, you automatically retire as a coach. If you now play several seasons with the core team without reinforcing yourself with your own young talent, you will most likely be treading water for a long time. Even poaching and transferring other players (transfer market) only leads to limited success. A youth player you scout yourself may have the potential to become a new Ronaldo or Messi. But even if you could lure Mbappé or comparable star players to Saarbrücken, they would not reach the potential that a player from your own youth could reach.
Youth scouting, youth academy and youth players
Fifa first distinguishes between youth staff and youth academy. The youth staff always consists of a maximum of three scouts, who you can hire for money and send to countries of your choice. No country can be visited twice. The scouts can be classified according to two main characteristics: Experience and Assessment. A star rating (1-5) gives you an idea of how good the scout is. If your scouts have finally found players for you, you can take over these young players into your academy. Here you should first train and observe them.
Successful youth scouting: Selection of scouts
Here it must start immediately! Navigate directly to your scouts and send three scouts with five stars in experience and also five stars in their evaluation. This way you have the best chance to scout a very good player and at the same time you can be sure that the scout will go home with some players in his luggage.
Tip: Avoid at all costs to choose scouts who have a worse quality. If the financial resources are not enough, you can set a cash injection of several million euros at the beginning before each season in the career mode. Of course, this can be used for hiring the top three scouts.
Optimal staffing of the youth scouts: Three scouts with 5 stars each in experience and assessment.
Scouts with five stars are not always available. However, the scouts who provide your services change periodically. It’s best to check in every few (calendar) days and hire any scout who has the top ratings.
Where to scout?
A Dutch scout is naturally more successful in the Netherlands than in Ghana. Of course, this cannot be measured across the board, as the results always vary a bit. However, if you send a local scout to your own country to search for talent, the hit rate increases by a few points. Of course, scouts can be sent to any country. We recommend: France, Spain, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden only in a second step. Very low hit rates, despite incredibly good scouts, can be expected from experience in England, in the USA, in Portugal or in Australia.
Procedure: Monthly scouting update
Once a month the scouts come back and provide you with a scouting report. This information will be sent to you by mail in the „Office“ section. By clicking on it you can see which players have been found and how they are rated. If you want – as quickly as possible – to create your own professional team, which in a few years will consist exclusively of world stars and excellent ball artists, you should proceed as follows:
– Open monthly scouting update
– View POT (Potential): The final value must be 94
– Directly sort out all players with a final potential lower than 94
– Transfer 94 players to the youth academy
– Do not let the scouting report „lie“ unnecessarily, but always process it immediately when it arrives. This way the scout can go on the road again and deliver new players.
Here we see exemplary and „very typical Fifa“ Mr. Fritz Lang from Germany. He is 15 – the youngest possible age. In addition, he has the potential of 79-94. Not bad for a start. He should be immediately transferred to the youth academy.
Note: „Monthly Scouting Update“ means that the scout is still under contract with you (3 months, 6 months or 9 months) and we are in the middle of that period. If the subject reads „Youth Scouting Report Available“, it is nothing more than the normal monthly scouting report, but the scout’s work is finished after this. This should be considered as a signal to send the scout on the road again immediately after the procedure (1. to 5.) – if necessary then in another country.
Monthly report of the youth academy
Now it gets exciting! At the end of each month you will receive a report about the development of all players who are currently training in the youth academy. At this point, take a look at the individual values and potentials of your 94 players. Some of them have a decreasing potential, so that you can only reach a maximum of 91 or 88, for example. These players should be sorted out immediately. Experience shows that they will not develop further in future updates, but will tend to get worse. All players who hold the aforementioned „94“ will remain in the academy for the time being.
Fifa Career Mode – Youth Scouting: Training the Academy Players.
Players currently in the academy can be trained just like your starting eleven or bench. You should do the same, because the faster and the earlier a potential world-class player develops, the more likely he is to be helpful for your team. So the training plan should be rebuilt step by step so that only junior players are trained, regardless of whether they are already in the professional squad or are currently still playing in the youth academy. It is almost ineffective to continue to train a regular SV Verl player. In principle, no more great leaps can be expected here. However, a youth player who is trained several times a week at the age of 16 or 17 can significantly increase his total points (GES) in a short time.
Transferring youth players to the professional squad
Not every player should be taken over directly into the starting eleven, even if the performance expectation looks very high with 88-94 or 91-94. However, if a player has reached 88-94 in potential, he can certainly be taken over into the professional team. If the current overall strength is not yet sufficient and would drag down the squad average, the player is welcome to sit on the bench for the time being – the main thing is that you have him in the team for the time being! All players with a value worse than 88-94 (e.g. 84-94 or 82-94) can be observed in the academy for a few months, but should rather not be considered. Here is the risk that the maximum values are not reached after a few years on the pitch unfortunately.
Fifa 23 career mode: Youth scouting is the be-all and end-all
If you proceed as discussed in detail, it won’t take 2-3 seasons until you already have players in your team who have between 70-78 GES. And at the latest then it is only a question of time until the development picks up speed.
Constantly watch the current players
Additionally, take a look at how Fifa evaluates your players: In the team center you can read whether your players have the chance to belong to the future stars.
– Has the potential to become something special
– Shows great potential
– An exciting man for the future
These texts give you an indication of whether the player is developing well. Only players with the attribute „Has the potential to become something special“ should play a role in your long-term squad planning. However, players rated „Shows great potential“ or „An exciting man for the future“ should by no means be directly removed from the team – after all, you have painstakingly scouted them and watched the 94 GES for a long time. Here, however, it may be that the development deteriorates over time. These Fifa assessments often have their cause in lack of playing time, competition on the position, no consideration in training or failed salary expectations or other desires. Of course, the overall package also plays a big role.
