The ratings in FIFA 21 were quite surprising in some places. Especially the Bayern values caused criticism. How did this happen?
What are ratings? The ratings are the player values in FIFA 21. The overall value is composed of various attributes, such as shooting power, speed, passing values, and many other factors. For example, Lionel Messi has an overall value of 93, which is the highest player value of all standard players (excluding icons).
However, the ratings caused some major surprises. A fan even started a petition against the ratings, and even real footballers complained.
And especially the Bayern ratings seemed simply too low for many players. After all, the Munich team had just won the treble of the championship, DFB-Pokal, and Champions League – yet some players even received downgrades compared to FIFA 20.
Many wondered: How do these ratings come about?
Rating chief explains how the evaluation works
This is how the ratings are determined: The ratings in the FIFA series result from the work of a lot of people. The assessments are then compiled in the “Data-Collection and Licensing” department, which has been led by Michael Müller-Möhring since 2008. He explained in an interview with Bild.de: “We obtain the reference material for EVERYTHING that is visible in the game.” This applies from the ball to the stadiums to the players.
The ratings are collected in an online database, which is managed by around 400 editors worldwide: “They don’t do this full-time, but as a hobby. The Swedes take care of the Swedish clubs, the Koreans take care of the Korean ones, and so on,” Müller-Möhring said. Everything is recorded: From name and nationality to position and preferred celebrations to clothing style on the pitch.
In addition, there are also the attributes from which the ratings are ultimately composed.
In detail, the main attributes are examined and assessed by the editors before weighing the players against each other: “One tries to create a ranking,” Müller-Möhring said. “Then the whole thing is tried to be balanced out so that it doesn’t look wrong.”
Besides the editors, there are several thousand database reviewers worldwide who can provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
The ratings are constantly being adjusted – one can see this, for example, when activating live squads in the kick-off mode. In Ultimate Team, however, this does not apply directly. There are special cards like the TOTW, which can have different values. But the standard cards usually remain unchanged until the winter upgrade.
What happened to Bayern in FIFA 21?
Overall, the process seems very detailed. So how did the strange Bayern ratings come about? One reason was Corona, Müller-Möhring explained in the interview: “We were under a lot of time pressure due to unforeseen circumstances and had to go out very early. Unfortunately, some of the matches from the last season could not be included in the assessment. If we had included performances from those, some values would definitely have been higher.”
Additionally, matches from the league final and the Champions League should count. These matches were temporarily suspended due to the pandemic and were only played significantly later. The insane 8:2 victory of Bayern against Barcelona took place only on August 14, and the Champions League final against Paris was held on August 23.
Müller-Möhring explains that they want to make the ratings as objective as possible but also knows that some players will complain: “It is important: We do not want to hurt anyone. However, if players come and want to have specific things changed, we do not react to it – unless it is really grossly wrong.”
So it looks like the ratings are here to stay for now. If you’re looking for players with good values in Ultimate Team whose price isn’t too high, we have here a good Bundesliga team for starting in FIFA 21 for you.
