Those who are currently playing FIFA 20 before its release and still playing FUT 19 see many extremely strong teams. A lot of players have reached ratings over 90 – indeed more than ever before.
This is how it looked at the beginning of the season: If you look at the Top 100 ratings at the release of FIFA 19, you can see: Only from rank 15 onwards do players have a rating of 90 or higher. Here, Icon cards are of course not included, only the base cards. Nevertheless, it can be noted: The number of cards with a rating of 90 or higher – and thus of absolute world-class players – was manageable.
However, already in winter it indicated that FIFA 19 would bring many new top players. Thanks to various special cards, the number of 90+ players has increased extremely – what is the status now, at the end of the season?
FIFA 19: Player ratings higher than ever
So strong were the players in FIFA 19: The Reddit user “ballaman200” took the effort to statistically collect how many players in the past FIFA installments achieved a rating over 90. Comparing the numbers results in the following distribution:
- FIFA 15: 96 players with 90+
- FIFA 16: 168 players with 90+
- FIFA 17: 257 players with 90+
- FIFA 18: 461 players with 90+
- FIFA 19: 553 players with 90+
This is how the ratings are distributed in detail: The number of 90-plus players in FUT has steadily increased over the years and reached its preliminary peak in FIFA 19. The user also noted that these numbers are primarily due to new players in the lower ranges, namely 90 to 91.
In comparison: In FIFA 18 there were 95 players with a rating of 90 and 85 players with a rating of 91. In FIFA 19, however, there were 134 and 128, respectively. This shows: More players than ever have broken the 90 barrier for the first time.
In the really high ratings, the figures are comparable to FIFA 18 – in the case of the 97 ratings, there are actually noticeably fewer players in FIFA 19. However, in FIFA 19 there were also seven cards with a rating of 99 – in FIFA 18 there were only four.
A lot of events and special cards
This is why the players are so strong: Why are there so many more top players at the end of a FIFA cycle than at the beginning? The answer: a multitude of special cards. In addition to the weekly TOTW cards, there were many promos that released very strong player cards. Thus, players who were previously less useful became quite good.
For instance, the Future Stars promo highlighted some promising talents among the absolute top-card circle. With the Prime-Icon Moments, legends were introduced that were even stronger than before. Events like Carnival, Ultimate Scream, or FUT Birthday also changed the stats of many players – not to mention the dynamic Champions League- and OTW cards, by the way – here, by the way, the first candidates for FIFA 20 are already known.
TOTY and TOTS set extreme values even higher. The many events ensured that it became quite difficult to get the right card on the transfer market.
What was well received by the community?
The top cards are very popular: The topics of special cards, events, and high ratings are controversially discussed in the community. Because: There are both pro and con arguments.
What fans like about special cards: Especially events that made previously weak cards useful were popular. Like the Future Stars – these brought players with them who were absolutely top early in the game and who especially were not already present in every second team: “Future Star Cutrone is the best striker I have used all year,” says a Reddit user.
It allows for new variations in Ultimate Team. Furthermore, players could also afford special cards during the season that were not overly expensive, as there were so many different ones.
Dynamic cards tied to performances are also popular. The strong Champions League cards had a connection to reality and were therefore in demand. They also allowed for skillful trading with a bit of luck.
Where should FIFA 20 improve?
What players did not like: Some fans criticize especially events like Carnival, which have no connection to reality. Future Stars also do not fare well with these players, as players get extremely high ratings without deserving them. For instance, the Cutrone mentioned above scored just three goals and provided two assists in 34 league games last season.
A major criticism in the forums is that the TOTW is devalued by the many special cards. The Inform cards with a rating of 83, 84, or 85 are no longer as useful as they used to be due to the large number of even stronger cards.
Partially, it is criticized that the special cards are still too one-sided. Whether there really needs to be more than ten different Van Dijk cards that are more or less comparably strong is viewed critically in the community.
Another major criticism is the fear of some players that EA is only aiming to encourage players to buy packs with the special cards and the abundance of events. The game itself will be devalued, as suddenly every player has a world-class team simply because so many special cards are available. And getting the cards from the packs remains a somewhat expensive gamble.
Will the players be even more extreme in FIFA 20?
How good will the cards be in FIFA 20? So far, it cannot be said how many 90-plus cards FIFA 20 will have. After all, possible events are spread throughout the entire game cycle and we are not even at the beginning.
Based on the developments of recent years, one could suspect that the number of top players in FIFA 20 will continue to rise. It is possible that more events will be added. How the community would perceive this is also difficult to determine: While some players want even more promos, others hope there will be fewer.
How strong the first players in FIFA 20 will be, we should find out in September. These ten could definitely be favorites for the top of the list:
