Career Mode is one of FIFA 16‘s more popular game modes behind the likes of Ultimate Team. In Career Mode you control one team with the existing players on it from real life. During transfer windows you can add and drop players from your team depending on what you decide you need. You can be fired from your club if you do not meet the goals the board has set out for you, but there are always openings at other clubs around the world. As the season progresses you will also be able to manage a national team on top of your club team.
To start off with, you can choose any team in the world to manage in Career Mode. Many people opt for the biggest clubs with the largest transfer budget, but I prefer choosing smaller teams and building them up from scratch. Both methods can be very satisfying, and it just depends on your personal preference. Many things remain the same no matter which size club you choose.
Now let’s get started with some FIFA 16 Career Mode tips.
Picking a Team
At the beginning of your manager career you will have to pick a club to start with. As I mentioned above, you have a variety of options. You have to decide if you want a smaller team with a smaller transfer budget or a larger one with tens of millions dollars to spend. You can even pick many teams in the middle of that. Overall you want to pick a team that suits your play-style. Remember that you can be fired from your original team though, so do a good job if you want to stay. You can also choose to accept offers from other teams if you want to switch to another club mid-career. The better you do as a manager the more teams that will want to hire you.
Keep in mind that if you pick a lower level squad and try to acquire top players, many of them will not want to transfer to your team because it is not a top club. As you develop and become a stronger club, they may just want in.
Young Players
Buy young players. This rings true in all sports games. Even if they are only 70 rated now, they can only go up. Give them playing time and they are soon to be one of your stars. players who are below 25 years old or so will be more valuable than older ones, but they will be worth it. Players can climb 10 ratings in a couple years, and you can even turn a profit when raising young players if you do not want to keep them for yourself.
Inversely, I would not recommend dropping large amounts of money on players over 30. This can be different for keepers, but it is a general rule of thumb. Players over 30 will decrease in rating over time, and even more quickly if they are not getting regular play time. Your money is better spent on younger players who will shoot up in ratings given some playtime.
Scouting
Starting with last year’s edition, you no longer can see every players rating without scouting them. You can still see the top players’ ratings, but anyone around and below 80 you will have to scout further to understand their rating and value. You should invest some of your transfer budget into good scouts. You do not have to buy the 5-star scouts, but the 3-star scouts at least give you a good idea of many players statistics. Scouts can cost a couple million dollars, but they are worth it to be able to accurately scout young talent.
Buying and Selling Players
When buying and selling players, the computer will often low ball you with offers. For example, if I have a player worth 5 million, a team may make an offer for 4 million and hope I accept. You should almost always counter with at least a slightly higher amount so you can get the most money possible.
This works similarly for buying players. If you inquire about a player and are told that they will accept 15 million for a player, you should give an offer of 12.5 million, and see what they say. Worst case scenario you just submit another offer for a slightly higher amount. This may seem insignificant, but when you are picking up 3-4 players per transfer window you can end up saving 10 million dollars easily.
Free Contracts
Every year some players contracts will expire, and they will choose not to say at their existing clubs. If you see any players with less than a year left on their contracts you can pick them up for free. This is most commonly done in the January transfer window, but it can happen anytime. Once their contract expires they will be sent to your team and you will work out wages with them. But you will not have to pay a transfer fee. You can pick up some amazing players this way, for a very small amount of money. You generally will not be able to get the best players this way, but you could easily snag someone 83 rated or better if you play your cards right.
In career mode just pick a team you can have fun with right off the bat and build from there. It isn’t highly competitive like some of the other game modes in FIFA 16- its just about putting a team together that you enjoy playing with. Let us know some of the things you guys do in your career modes that we missed here.
And as always follow us on Twitter and YouTube to stay up to date on FIFA 16 news.