Ratings

What is with this potential and ability stuff I keep hearing about?

With ability they are referring to the current level a players can be identified with on a scale of 1-200. Having an ability of 1 means that the player is utter crap at the moment, while having an ability of 200 implies that he could match the likes of Zidane and Ronaldo at this point. With potential (ability) they refer to the possible level a player could reach. Again, this is meassured on a scale from 1 to 200. A high potential does not give a guarantee that this player is destined for succes. Because of what cause ever, it could well be that this player is never able to live up to his potential.

What about those -1 and -2 ratings?

For some players it is quite difficult to determine how good they eventually become. Those players are either rated with -1 or -2. A rating of -1 eventually leads to an ability of 100-150, with some rising above that. A rating of -2 eventually leads to a rating of 140-200, with some downwards. The potential of a player is usually more or less at the same height as his ability. A pre-game potential value of 0 means it can go either way with this player, but usually he will become rather crap.

-1 = random potential of around 140 on avg
-2 = random potential of around 165 on avg
0 = random potential of around 80 on avg