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Training

Every week you get to choose what kind of training you want your players to concentrate on in training sessions. The effects of the weekly training always appear on Thursday or Friday, depending on your country. The training type selected when the update starts is the one that will be trained that week. Changes in players' current form and background form also occur at this time.

Player age and skill level

Younger players are in general faster learners than older players, but how much your player will learn from training also depends on the skill level he's at – the lower the skill level the faster the training. Training on very low skill levels is many times faster than on medium skill levels, and training on very high skill levels is slower than on medium skill levels.

Apart from age and skill level there are four factors deciding the effects of training: the intensity of training, training type, the amount of stamina training, and the coaching staff (head coach and assistants).

Training Intensity

The harder you train, the better the squad's form becomes in general, and effects from training increase. You decide the intensity of training by supplying a number between 0 and 100. The drawback of a high level of intensity is that risks for injuries increase. You'll have to decide yourself what level of intensity will suit you - do ask other managers on the forums.

Significantly decreasing intensity can provide a 'one-time' boost to team spirit. Once you order your players to train with more intensity again, their team spirit will understandably drop with this news. If you want to change the training intensity please keep in mind that the new value must have been entered at the latest one update before the training update.

Training type

There are 11 types of training to choose from. All of them make your players better at something. The different types of training are shown in the table below.

Coaching staff

If you have a good coach, training will be more effective than if you have a bad one. Assistant coaches also increase the effect of training.

Stamina training

Stamina must be trained every week, as a percentage of the total training of the team. Its efficiency will drop at higher intensity levels – it's better to train a little every week than a lot now and then. Older players will need more training every week to maintain a certain stamina level, which in turn means that managers will have to find the appropriate stamina training share for their particular squad and ambitions. Players that have played for at least 90 minutes for your team during the week receive 100% of the team's stamina training effect. Players playing less than 90 minutes (subs for example) receive 75% of the effect, plus a share for each minute they've played. Other squad players who have not played for your team during the week, but who are healthy enough to train (including bruised players) receive half the effect. Injured players don't receive any stamina training.

Stamina training affects the overall form of your team negatively; the more stamina you train the more the negative effect on form. It should be noted that only current form, not background form, is affected by stamina training.

Basic principles

The amount of training a player receives depends on how many minutes he has played for your team in a trainable position during a competitive or a friendly match. Matches played for other teams will only count for the purposes of the form update, and no training will be received. If a player has seen no 'live action' or has not played at least 1 minute, he will not train at all. A player can receive 90 minutes training during a week. Playing more than 90 minutes in a trainable position will not give him more training. Playing less, for example 50 minutes, will give him less training – in this case 50 minutes out of 90.

If a player has played in two or more different positions during the week, the 90 minutes that give him the best training effect will be chosen at the training update. Individual player behaviours during matches do not affect training.

Players on a winger position will only receive half of the training when trained in playmaking. The same goes for wingbacks when trained in winger.

It doesn't matter if the player plays in a friendly game, a cup match or a league game - they are all just as effective from a training point of view.

However, if you do not have enough players in the squad to fill up a lineup for a competitive game, you will give away a walkover victory. In this case, you will only lose training for that specific game and not all training for the week would be lost.

On the other hand, if you show up for a competitive match, but your opponent doesn't, you will win by walkover and the starting XI will receive training as normal, but will earn no players experience.

Brackets indicate small effects. Double brackets indicate very small effects.

Training type	Improves	...for...
Set pieces	Set pieces	All players playing match, 25% bonus to the set pieces taker and goalkeeper
Defending	Defending	Defenders ((All players playing match))
Scoring	Scoring	Forwards ((All players playing match))
Winger	Winger	Wingers (Wing backs) ((All players playing match))
Scoring and Set Pieces	(Scoring)	(All players playing match)
Scoring and Set Pieces	(Set pieces )	((All players playing match))
Passing	Passing	Inner midfielders, wingers and forwards ((All players playing match))
Playmaking	Playmaking	Inner midfielders (Wingers) ((All players playing match))
Keeper	Goalkeeping	Goalkeepers
Passing (Defenders + Midfielders)	Passing	Defenders, inner midfielders and wingers ((All players playing match))
Defending (Defenders + Midfielders)	Defending	(Goalkeepers, defenders, inner midfielders and wingers) ((All players playing match))
Winger (Winger + Attackers)	Winger	Forwards and wingers ((All players playing match))
Individual (Youth Academy only)	Valuable skill(s) for the position played in match	(All players playing match)

Example

The team trains "Winger" this week. Please note that your actual match day may vary - Sunday refers to the weekend league match, while Wednesday is the midweek friendly/cup match.

Adam Adams played 90 minutes as a winger Sunday but missed the Wednesday game. He receives 90 minutes full winger training.
Bert McBert played 90 minutes as a winger Sunday and 90 minutes as a forward Wednesday. He also receives 90 minutes full winger training.
Carl Carlson played 50 minutes as a winger Sunday and 90 minutes as a wing defender Wednesday. He receives 50 minutes full winger training and 40 minutes winger training with small effect.
David Davis played 40 minutes as a winger Sunday and 90 minutes as a forward Wednesday. He receives 40 minutes full winger training and 50 minutes winger training with very small ("osmosis") effect.
Freddie Fredericks plays 90 minutes as a wingback both Sunday and Wednesday. He still only receives 90 minutes winger training with small effect.
Gus O'Gumby didn't play on either Sunday or Wednesday. He doesn't improve his skill at all.

Skill decrease

When a player gets closer to the age of 30, he loses a little of his skills each week. How big the decrease is depends on how old the player is and the level of skill he is at. The higher level of skill the player is at, the bigger decrease. Older players also suffer from bigger decreases than younger ones.