FIFA 16: A Beginners Guide to Career Mode

FIFA 16 is a game bursting with content. From Match Day to Online Seasons, not to mention the new women's football tournament, there is plenty to entertain any football aficionado. However, there are two modes that attract most of our attention - Career and Ultimate Team. FUT is the most popular mode of the two these days, and you can count on an article about FUT coming in the near future, but today we will focus on Career mode.

There are two types of careers. As a coach you will take over the management of the club and the squad, controlling the whole team on the pitch. The alternative lets you start a career as a young player, evolving and improving over the years. You can eventually retire as a player and continue your career as a manager. The guide below is mostly catering to the first option, if you chose to play as a manager.

Starting a Promising Career

After choosing a club and the various settings (difficulty, currency, and financial limitations), you are ready to start your managing career. The first decision you have to make is related to the pre-season tournaments. You can simply refuse to participate, but that would be a mistake, as participating in these tournaments can net you a good amount of money and are a good opportunity to test new players and trial different tactics.

Each tournament has a degree of difficulty determined by the chosen teams, and the higher the difficulty, the more money there is to win. Mere participation already guarantees a good amount, but to ensure the full prize you must win the tournament. Look at the teams in the tournament and make your decision. It's safer to try a tournament that isn't too difficult, since you will have a greater chance of reaching the final, and winning more money in the end.

Your next step will involve the management of the scouts. You can set up a network around the world with a maximum of six agents to spy on players. The better the scout, the more accurate their observations. In the instruction menu you can define up to six specific types of players to look for, but before doing so, you should define your squad.

Squad Management

What kind of football will you practice during the season? A pressing game or counter-attack? Zonal defence or the offside trap? Look at the quality of your squad, compare it to the league you play in, consider this and take to the tactics and formations menu to define what your main formation will be for the season ahead.

The next step is cleaning out and setting up the squad. As a rule, we like a squad with 22 active players, joined by some promising youngsters that might be loaned to other clubs. This means you have two players for each position, and in case of an injury crisis, you can always bring back the players that are out on loan (in exchange for some money). After deciding which players you want to keep, lend or sell, you should look at solutions on the market.

Scouts are essential in this process, since they can find players with the characteristics you seek. The overwhelming majority of searches will have little or no information about the qualities of the players, but you can ask the scouts to examine some players in more detail. This however takes some time, but there is a much faster way to find out the value of a player. If you make an inquiry to a club about how much they want for a footballer, the requested value will give a general idea of ​​what may be the real worth of the player. It's not a foolproof method, but if you're in a hurry because the market is closing, this can be an alternative solution... but save before buying someone blindly.

Another tip that may be important is related to the value of the players. Don't look only to general attributes, but also at their individual characteristics. Even though a player may have a higher overall value, that may not necessarily mean he is the most suitable choice for a position. For example, imagine you need a quick winger with a good cross, and the scouts give you two options - one with 78 and the other with 80. It can, however, be that the player with the lowest overall value may in fact be faster and a better crosser. Just because a player has a higher overall value, that doesn't mean that he is an ideal solution for a position, as he may have strengths that are not essential for the role you want them to play. It is worth investigating and choosing players for their specific qualities, not just their overall value.

Raising Stars

If you plan to play for several seasons, you should start to consider the future of your club as soon as possible. FIFA 16 has two options to find promising players. The first comes down to the normal scouting system that allows you to search specifically for young prospects, but that doesn't mean that all the solutions are of the required quality. Each player has a note indicated by the scout, either in relation to their status at the club or their contract duration, for example. The most promising, however, are often marked with two notes, "high potential" or "exciting promise." The first means that at this point in his career, he is a reasonable player with the potential to become a great player, with training and regular playing time. The exciting promise is guaranteed value, and can be a valid alternative straight away and has the potential to be one of the world's top players.

Another way to find potential, although a slower process, is by setting a specific network to find young players. Contrary to what happens with the market and regular scouts, these players are all very young (14-17 years) and are randomly generated by the game. Here it is worth betting on at least one good scout, who quickly determines the value of youngsters. A potential player with between 70 and 90 is almost always a safe bet for the future. These players, however, need a long time to develop, and should be loaned out as soon as possible.

One of the new FIFA 16 features is the new training system, which allows you to place five players to train them using specific exercises every five days. Any player in the squad can be improved with this system of training, but some may be better suited than others. First it is necessary to take into account the age and the shape of a player. If they are already starting to lose their edge, it will be very difficult to improve their attributes through training. On the other hand, the larger the value of a particular attribute, the slower it will develop. Young prospects also tend to evolve faster, and continue to evolve naturally and with playing time. A young player who plays regularly and trains often can earn up to 10 general points per season (or more). After choosing the players and their exercise, you can perform the training manually or simulate. They also offer good practice for the player, and you have three attempts when training manually, but it's easier and faster to simply simulate.

FIFA 16's Best Young Players

Electronic Arts released an official list that includes young players with great potential in FIFA 16. It's a long list, which offers many names to research and develop, until one day they become the biggest stars in world football. You can find the full list below.

Goalkeepers
Kepa Arrizabalaga - Real Valladolid (20)
Bartlomiej Dragowski - Jagiellonia (18)
André Moreira - União da Madeira (19)

Defenders
Luke Shaw - Manchester United (20)
Daniele Rugani - Juventus (21)
Niklas Sule - Hoffenheim (19)
John Stones - Everton (21)
Kurt Zouma - Chelsea (20)
Marcos Aoas Corrêa - PSG (21)
Alessio Romagnoli - AC Milan (20)
José Luís Pena - Valencia (20)
Aymeric Laporte - Atlético Bilbau (21)
Jetro Willems - PSV (21)
Fábio Tavares - Monaco (21)
Chancel Mbemba - Newcastle (21)
Jonathan Tah - Bayer 04 Leverkusen (19)
Tin Jedvaj - Bayer 04 Leverkusen (19)
Jose Gimenez - Atlético Madrid (20)
Jairo Riedewald - Ajax (18)
Jesus Lazaro - Real Zaragoza (18)
Samuel Umtiti - Lyon (21)
Matthias Ginter - Borussia Dortmund (21)
Abdul Baba - Chelsea (21)
Tobias Figueiredo - Sporting (20)

Midfielders
Youri Tielemans - Anderlecht (18)
Maximilian Meyer - Schalker 04 (19)
Julian Brandt - Bayer 04 Leverkusen (19)
Riechedly Bazoer - Ajax (18)
Gonçalo Guedes - Benfica (18)
Ross Barkley - Everton (21)
Oliver Torres - Atlético Madrid (20)
Hachim Mastour - AC Milan (17)
Alen Halilovic - Sporting de Gijon (19)
Marco Asensio Willemse - Espanyol (19)
Daniel Ceballos Fernández - Real Bétis (19)
Daniel Silva - Valencia (19)
Mateo Kovacic - Real Madrid (21)
Adnan Januzaj - Manchester United (20)
Ryan Gauld - Sporting (19)
Levin Oztunali - Werder Bremen (19)
Nabil Bentaleb - Tottenham (20)
Bernardo Silva - Monaco (21)
Corentin Tolisso - Lyon (21)
Ruben Neves - Porto (18)
Julian Draxler - Schalke 04 (21)
Gerad Lázaro - Everton (21)
Denis Fernández - Sevilla (21)
Will Hughes - Derby County (20)
Moisés Bordonado - Getafe (21)
Victor Andrade - Benfica (19)
Samuel Azuaga - Villarreal (20)
Sofiane Boufal - Lille (21)
Lucas Romero - Vélez Sarsfield (21)
Godfred Donsah - Bologna (19)
Nathan Souza - Vitesse (19)
François Kamano - Bastia (19)
Gelson Martins - Sporting (20)

Foward
Memphis Depay - Manchester United (21)
Raheem Sterling - Manchester City (20)
Francisco Alcácer García - Valência (21)
Paulo Dyala - Juventus (21)
Breel Donald Embolo - Basel (18)
Ángel Correa - Atlético Madrid (20)
Luciano Vietto - Atlético Madrid (21)
Anthony Martial - Manchester United (19)
Divock Origi - Liverpool (20)
Balde Keita - Lazio (20)
Vaclav Cerny - Ajax (17)
Antonio Sanabria - Sporting de Gijon (19)
Bertrand Traoré - Chelsea (19)
Samuel Azuaga - Sassuolo (21)
Armindo Tué Na Bangna - Real Sociedad (20)
Iuri Medeiros - Moreirense (21)
Anwar El Ghazi - Ajax (21)
Munir El Haddadi - Barcelona (19)
Kelechi Iheanacho - Manchester City (18)
Steven Bergwijn - PSV (17)
Fabían Pena - Real Betis (19)

Finally, one last tip. Although it may not seem like it, you are not required to manage the same club for an entire career. In the office section you can find a option to look for new jobs, which lets you know which clubs are currently looking for a coach. If you like one of the alternatives, you can always try your luck to give your career a new direction.