Quality of newgen players in minor leagues

[Grobbel]

I was playing a game with Rosenborg (Norway) over the course of several seasons. Have done fairly well, qualifying for the champions league on a regular basis, even reaching the knockout stages. After 5-6 seasons I have maxed out youth facilities, comparable to the European greats. I figured I could produce a few world class Norwegian players every once in a while... but sadly the potential ability of these new players rarely went above the 150 mark. I tried testing a bit via save scumming, and it seems certain seasons you will not produce quality newgens at all, while other seasons these come rather easily. I thought this might be tied with old timers like John Arne Riise finally retiring, creating room for a new 150+ PA player...

Is there some sort of hidden cap on overall player quality in a nation? I was hoping I could through time and devotion (15+ seasons) create a Rosenborg with world class norwegian players, sort of what I have seen others do with minor nations like San Marino (!) in previous iterations of the game but I don't seem to generate the desired quality of players. So what gives... is it possible to increase the number of quality newgens in a nation? If so, how?

Cheers

[mack4ever]

It is perfectly possible for a smaller nation like Norway to end up producing players who are up their with the best in the world. I've done it on FM17 with Finland, although it took probably 40 seasons to get to that point. It didn't start happening until I was having a huge amount of success and started to drag the quality of the league up with me, and we had started to become one of the stronger leagues in Europe. By about 2060 we had a national team that was up there with the best of them.

However I think you need to change your expectations, and especially change what you think of as "world class".

Let's take your 150 PA example. If we say that a player reached that potential let's take a look at how they would fit in to various squads.

 

Man Utd - He would be the 8th best player in the squad.

Arsenal - He would be the 11th best player in the squad.

Chelsea - He would be the 10th best player in the squad.

Tottenham - He would be the 7th best player in the squad.

Liverpool - He would be the 11th best player in the squad.

Man City - He would be the 10th best player in the squad.

So for the six biggest clubs in England, a player of 150 CA would be in their starting XI without a problem.

A 150 CA player could be comfortably able to hold their own in the squad of almost any club in the world and wouldn't look out of place at any level of international football.

 

[Cougar2010]

1 hour ago, Grobbel said:

Is there some sort of hidden cap on overall player quality in a nation? I was hoping I could through time and devotion (15+ seasons) create a Rosenborg with world class norwegian players, sort of what I have seen others do with minor nations like San Marino (!) in previous iterations of the game but I don't seem to generate the desired quality of players. So what gives... is it possible to increase the number of quality newgens in a nation? If so, how?

Cheers

Each nation has a nation youth rating which affects the quality of youth that come through.

Nations that historically produce better youngsters have higher ratings meaning more chance of good youngsters from clubs in that nation.

I'n not 100% but I think it was changed a few years ago so that the value could change during a save but it takes a long time. 

[Grobbel]

@mack4ever

Don't get me wrong, I know a player of 140-150 skill is great, but I consider players with a PA over 150 to be something exceptional. I just noticed that through save scumming that certain seasons I would create a 150+ PA player almost every time, but other times not a single one. It seemed like Norway as a nation had hit a hard cap somehow.

Thanks for your report on Finland. Perhaps its the combined youth/academy/training facilities of a nation that helps determine the scope of this "cap" I described above. And as @Cougar2010 says, the youth rating  of a nation influences things.. perhaps as some sort of multiplier?

Lastly, If I may ask, how did prize/tv money change in the Finnish league? It has slowly been increasing in the Norwegian league, but at this rate, it will still never even come close to the money being thrown around in the English Premier. The game doesn't seem to support leagues suddenly taking a step or two up, with loads of money being injected, like what happened with the Russian league some ~15 years ago.