Under 16s in the game

[chewinggums]

Hi everyone!

Just curious on the topic of having players under 16 years old in the game. I understood that FM is not allowed to add players under 16 into the game database. The only public exception was in FM15 where Martin Odegaard's dad gave FM permission to add him in when he was 15. I was just wondering if this is being extended to all players who wants to be in the game or just the publicly known talents as at that time (of course alongside their parent's approval). Any idea?

Thank you!

[XaW]

I don't remember the exact cutoff date, but the player has to be 16 at some specific date to be included in the game, I think it might be Sept 1, but I'm not exactly sure. Players below that age will not be included in the game, because of child protective laws. I very rare circumstances it can happen, but SI will not seek it out, as far as I can tell. For Martin Ødegaard, the reason was because on of the friends of his father was a huge fan of the FM series and wanted Martin Ødegaard in the game, so he got the father to hold up a paper that said he would allow it and then tweeted Miles the picture.

Do remember Martin Ødegaard was already in competition for a starting spot on Norway's national team and was headhunted by just about every club in Europe at the time too, so he was quite something out of the ordinary. I doubt any random person can Tweet Miles and say "My 14 year old son who plays for the youth team of Random Town in the 13th tier can be in the game". I think it needs to be a special talent, as well as this coming from the players family too.

Would be my guess, at least.

[Robbles Quin ®™]

Yep it is September 1

[EvilWolf1980]

I installed the retro mod for 1998 and my strikers are a 14 year old fernando torres and a 14 year old david villa 

[DarJ]

20 hours ago, EvilWolf1980 said:

I installed the retro mod for 1998 and my strikers are a 14 year old fernando torres and a 14 year old david villa 

Keyword being “MOD” these are fan made and not officially done by SI

[kevhamster]

7 hours ago, DarJ said:

Keyword being “MOD” these are fan made and not officially done by SI

Not to mention them now being adults so no longer subject to said child protection laws, even if it being a mod wasn't a thing.

[Iggy Hassan]

Tbf, there is a decent amount of good 15yr old players in the game already at the start of a new game. Skye Vink, Lorran, Endrick, Ricardo Solbes, Rodrigo Cezar, Daoida Traore, to name a few...