Earn the first contract

Start with role, route and first move

The prospect draft shows three different footballers. A centre-forward begins with a scoring or hold-up picture, a winger with space and acceleration, and an attacking midfielder with passing and technique. The gold portion of each scouting bar is current ability; grey is room to grow.

The childhood route is not a cosmetic biography. Street, school, community and academy football establish different habits and influence which situations the player understands later. The first move gives the youth kit an identity before the first cut arrives.

Train, Show or Gamble

Youth choices say what kind of decision they are before you commit.

• Train is guaranteed development. It builds attributes and identity but usually creates little or no Scout progress.
• Show has a visible success chance. Landing it creates exposure and a larger development swing; missing it has an authored cost.
• Gamble offers the largest Scout upside and downside. The red treatment means high variance, not “never choose this.”

The card prints its real success chance, Scout result and the attributes it builds or costs. Exact values can vary slightly when a year resolves, but the direction never invents an unrelated hidden penalty.

What Scouts and recommendations do

Scouts measure exposure. They are separate from Fame, which belongs to the professional career. The next youth cut has a visible Standing target based on the player’s development and exposure.

A recommendation is earned by passing a cut. It matters twice: it masters the move chosen at that trial, and it unlocks first-contract routes. The contract screen uses these exact gates:

The offer still shows playing-time readiness, wages and immediate effects. Opening a tier gives you a choice; it does not make that choice automatically better.

How the three trials work

Age eleven: prove there is a player here

The first cut asks for a readable football action, not a complete athlete. The move you select joins the permanent match kit whether the recommendation lands or not. Passing the trial makes it stronger.

Age thirteen: build a combination

The next cut offers moves that can connect with what you already own. A setup can feed a finish; a carry can create the passing picture. Repeating a coherent youth identity sharpens it instead of filling the kit with unrelated cards.

Age fifteen: turn development into a contract

The final cut decides whether the professional route remains open. Failing it files the run as a grassroots career rather than handing out a contract anyway. The risk is visible before the decision.

Academy or grassroots?

An academy route gives structured development with an explicit trade-off. A technical academy adds TEC and MEN but can reduce Confidence. A high-intensity academy builds PAC and FIT at a Condition cost. Grassroots football adds Confidence and TEC while reducing Trust because the route sits outside the formal club structure.

None is a secret “correct” answer. The better route is the one that supports the role and moves you want to play.

Read the first contract, not just the club

At sixteen every open offer shows wages, appearance bonus, signing payment, readiness threshold and immediate attribute or career-state changes. Regular minutes often matter more than reputation. A local deal can produce the better long-term player if the elite move leaves you without Trust or Confidence.

Once the deal is signed, the career adds a manager, a partner and a competitor already occupying your position. The youth story becomes a professional fight for a place.