Career guide

by RenoV

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| FIFA 2005 |
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Author : RenoV
Platform : Microsoft Xbox
Version : 1.41
Last Updated : 2/26/05
E-Mail : [email protected]

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| DISCLAIMER |
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This document is copyrighted (c) 2005 to Saul Delgado.
This FAQ/Walkthrough is exclusively for personal and private use. It CANNOT be
reproduced, modified, edited, published or used for any promotional or
commercial purposes.

FIFA 2005 (c) EA SPORTS, 2004. All rights reserved.
I'm not in any way affiliated to EA SPORTS or any companies that were involved
with this game.

This guide can be found currently at this sites, which are the only ones with
my explicit permission:

www.gamefaqs.com
www.ign.com
www.neoseeker.com
www.supercheats.com

If you want to add this guide to your site feel free to contact me and I'll be
more than happy to grant you the permission to use it as long as you respect
the disclaimer above.

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| CONTENTS |
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* Version history
* Introduction
* Email policy
* Contributions
* Frequently Asqued Questions (FAQ)

* Walkthrough
- Starting a career
- Picking a team
- New team...
- Job security
- The season
- The Squad
- Transfer market
- Career example

* Final words

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| VERSION HISTORY |
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v1.41 2/26/05

A new site with permission to host this guide has been added. Also added some
colaborations. No career example update :-(

v1.4 2/20/05

More contributions added and continued the career example as well.

v1.3 2/05/05

Added some contributions and continued the Career example (finished the first
season and just started the second).

v1.2 1/30/05

The FAQ section has been added. Also done a lot in the Career example.

v1.11 1/29/05

Just had this guide added to another site, so that means that the list of sites
with permission to host this guide has to be updated. I'm longing for another
update next week though.

v1.1 1/28/05

New sections added. Also started the "Career example" section, which isn't
finished yet, but will be very soon...

v1.01 1/23/05

Still basics, just updated the sites where currently you can find this guide.

v1.0 1/15/05

First version, basics of career mode covered here.

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| INTRODUCTION |
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Ok, first of all my primary language is spanish, not english, so you may find
some grammar mistakes or typos through this guide. I live in Guatemala,
latin-america, and I'm writting this guide because I love the FIFA series and
I just can't believe that there wasn't any guide for the Career mode in the
FIFA 2005 at GameFAQs, so I thought that it would be right the time for
writting one, since it's not the first time I write a FAQ/Walkthrough, even
though the previous one has nothing to do with FIFA series.
This guide was written for the Xbox version of FIFA 2005, but it can be used
for the PlayStation2 and GameCube too.
And before we get our hands on the Career Mode for the FIFA 2005, just let me
tell you that I'll be trying to update this guide as soon as I have more cool
things to add, but be patient, I'm in school, have a beautiful girlfriend, a
car to take care of, so I don't spend the whole day playing around with my
Xbox. But still I try to make some time to writte this, so I hope you enjoy
it. Keep in mind that right now I'm playing along with FIFA some other games
(right now "Burnout 3", still "Halo2" and "Fable"), so that could make the
updates not pretty often as you may suppose.

Ok, I think that's pretty much all I have to say right now. Keep playing.

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| EMAIL POLICY |
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Any comments, suggestions, corrections that you may have are very welcome.
If you want to ask something, please make sure you read the entire FAQ, and if
you still believe that your question is not answered yet, then you can drop me
a line, I'll do my best effort to answer your question, even though I need to
warn you all that I may last a couple of days in replying the emails, since I
have already told you that my life is not just gaming and browsing the web,
if you know what I mean...

Anyway, my email is:

reno812[at]intelnett[dot]com

(No SPAM please, or your email will be permanently blocked and you will
receive all your trash back)

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| CONTRIBUTIONS |
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I've been starting to receive some feedback and questions, so I figured out
that now the guide is pretty much complete and this section will be
focused to give the credit to the guys that have helped me with something or
just asked for help. If I missed someone please let me know!

(This goes in the order I got the emails from them)

T Kelley
Huang Qiliang
Louis Brenton
Julian Rios
GLast
Aniket Shinde
Craig Piersma
David (?)
Wahaz (?)
XEDGEFREAKX (?)
Aaron

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| FAQ |
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Well, I'm going to answer the most common questions about the career mode and
the game in general, this way you could save some time instead of being looking
in the entire guide.

Q/ Is the FIFA 2005 career mode like the FIFA 2004 career mode?

A/ No. Even though the basic goal is still the same (become the most
succesfull manager of the world), many things change. It's not a 5-year
career, now it's a 15-year career! And you are not stucked with the same
team all that time, you can sign with as many teams you want.

Q/ Why I can't get a job with a five-star team?

A/ You can't start your manager career with a five-star team. You must
start building your reputation and a few years later you will be able to
manage the team you want. If you want a specific team, put it as your
favorite team and sooner you will have an offer from them.

Q/ What's the job security? Do I get fired if it goes low?

A/ Yeah, you are right. The Job Security meter tells you if you are doing
well or if you are about to be fired. Louis Brenton tells us what
happens when you get fired: "Hey, I was just reading your walkthrough,
and you said you didn't know what happened if your job security gets
low. If you get all the way to zero, you get fired immediately, and the
game cycles through the rest of the season. It then begins the second
year of your career, and you pick another team, much like before".

Q/ Why I can't sign X player?

A/ You must know that a player won't sign with you in specific conditions.
Specially if we are talking about world-class players and you are not in
a very respectable team. Read the Transfer Market section for a more
detailed explanation about this and other facts that makes some players
don't want to sign with your team.

Q/ Do I have a budget every year to spend in transfers?

A/ No. This year things have changed. Now you don't get a budget every
year to spend in transfers. Now you EARN your budget. Every game you
win will get you some points (not cash, points). When you have enough
points you can start to trade players (at the transfer windows of course)

Q/ What are the upgrade points and how do I use them?

A/ As manager, you have a staff that will help you with many tasks that you
can't do on your own. Depending on your results, your board of directors
will give you some upgrade points (after every match) and you have to
decide which areas will you improve with them. Read the walkthrough for
more detailed information about this.

Q/ How many matches do I have to play to finish the Career mode?

A/ There's not a specific number. It depends on the leagues you play.
Some leagues have more matches per season than others. An average number
of matches would be around 900 to 1000+, so it's up to you if you play
them all or simulate some.

T Kelly asks the next question:

Q/ What is the significance of "form" rating? I guess that the higher the
number, the better, but so what? What does it mean? Is it how close a
player up to his potential? I just don't get it.

A/ Ok, the thing is that as you said, the higher, the better, but what we
want to know is what is and what does it mean. From my very own gaming
experience with FIFA 2005 (this means that I may be wrong) I've noticed
that a player that plays several matches (and do things well) has a much
better form rating than a player that is in the bench. But why?
Here I can just figure out and guess a little. If you are a professional
player, if you get to play important matches and keep a REGULAR activity
in the team, you will be in good form. If you are a bench player, and
just play a couple of minutes a week, obviously you won't be in form.
That's why some players with 7+ form rate and below 90% fitness do better
than 5- form rate players and 99% fitness. If a player is 8+ form rate,
his performance will be very good (according to his skill). Now, keep in
mind that low-skilled players usually won't get more than 6 or 7 form
rating.
What's the highest form rate I've reached? 9.1 with Tierry Henry.

Huang Qiliang asks the next question:

Q/ I was wondering if you know there is any way to get back retired players.
After a player retire, does he

a) reappear at a later stage in the game as a younger version of himself
b) reappear at a later stage in the game as another name
c) not appear at all

This is a pity because by the time I reached Manchester United there was
no more Roy Keane or Paul Scholes.

A/ I had the same question when I was around 2011 in my career. What happens
when a player is too old? It was a mistery to me. I looked at that year
for old players, and found that they were not anymore in their teams, but
surprisingly I found that new players with the same number and pretty
equal skills took the places of the retired players!
They are not younger versions of the retired players, they don't have the
names of them, they don't look like them. They are just random players
the game creates, but they perform as the retired players do, but
definitely they are not the same retired players.
The only question I still have is at what age a player gets retired in the
game? (I know that it's about 35 or so, but I just don't know if it's a
standard age for every player to retire or depends on their skills...)

Next is the translation from spanish of the email I got from Glast:

"I read your FAQ, and I think it's very well explained. I just think that
it would be good if you comment that you can't sell or buy a player if his
team has only 18 field players.
If you are feeling comfortable with that player and you want to take him
with you, make sure you have more than 18 players."

Huang Qiliang asks again something about retired players:

Q/ In career mode, will a young player of age 18 or so increase his stats in
the years to come? Or they are fixed?

A/ Don't worry, this players increase their stats with the years. Of course,
don't expect that in one or two years you will have back the same 'crack'
that just get retired, but with the time they increase their stats (in a
very impressive way I must say).
From my very own experience, I got retired a player with 95 skill. And
I got this 63 skilled player. The difference was too much, but I decided
to go on with this player, and by the end of his first year he was 70!

Aniket Shinde asks the next question:

Q/ How do I win the playoff cups? I played an entire season in the Italian
Serie B with Genova, and in the Italian Serie A with Inter, but still I
don't get the playoff Championship. Also tell me how do I get the EFA
Trophy.

A/ First. You just found a glitch that I think everybody has experienced
with this game. We hope that EA Sports noticed it and FIFA 2006 won't
come with this kind of mistakes! No matter what country you win the
playoffs, it just seems that the game never ever will give you the
credit for it (just read the career example below, it happened even in
the making of this FAQ!).
Second. The EFA Cup is a tournament that is played by teams ranked from
4th to 6th in their respective leagues (in Europe of course). I'm not
quite sure if it's the same case for every country (having three teams
in Champions League and three in EFA Cup), but that's what I can say
right now. If I'm wrong, please let me know!

Craig Priesma has something to say about retired players and things that should
be fixed for FIFA 2006:

"I just read through your FIFA 2005 online guide. Thanks for putting it
together. Last night I completed my second year in career mode and
managed to land a contract with ManU. I played a couple games before I
noticed there was no Roy Keane! It was driving me nuts. There was some
17 year old kid on the roster named Andrew Kean, but no Roy Keane.
It never dawned on me -- until I read your guide -- that the game would
actually retire players.
The real Roy Keane recently refused to set a retirement date, so
EA Sports may need to make some adjustments for the 2006 version. :)"

David asks the next question:

Q/ I wanted to know how can you change the language in FIFA 2005? In spanish
the game sounds much better.

A/ Well David, as far as I know the only way you can change to spanish the
language of FIFA 2005 is buying the spanish version!
At least that there's another version I don't know, my FIFA 2005 disc has
only the english language with it. I know that it would be possible to
include two languages (since the discs can hold up to around 9GB of space),
but for some reason EA Sports didn't think it was a good idea.
My personal opinion about the spanish version, I don't think it's better
than the english, I'm still not convinced that the commentators are better
than the english version (they have less than half of the names in the
game if we compare with the english version!). Anyway, if someone has
something to add here, I'll post it for sure.

Glast also makes this question:

Q/ Is there a way to reach 100% in job security? I've done two perfect
seasons (not even a lost or draw game) in world class and I've never
been beyond 99%.

A/ No, there's no way to reach 100%. 99% is the highest rate you will ever
have.

XEDGEFREAKX makes this question:

Q/ In career, when you play it and get stars can you coach an International
team later on?

A/ No, it's exclusively for club teams. But now that I think about it, it
sounds like a great idea for FIFA 2006 career don't you think?

Glast has a very valuable adding for those who wants to play in World Class:

"The formation that makes easy play in world class (according to me)
is 5 defenders, 3 midfielders and 2 strikers. In tactics, contention
in defence, wing attacks, and offensive mentality. Try not to break
the defence, if you run with a defender, don't take him out of the
box (better use a mid) and you're done. Keep in mind that if the cpu
has a chance, it will score, so keep focused with your defence, and
don't get nervous".

Aaron makes the next questions:

Q/ When you get to level 10 for finance coach, can your transfer budget
ever increase again?
When you get to level 10 for striker coach, and you then buy a new
striker can get that srtikers's ability ever increase?

About the first one, not very sure. I haven't noticed that (actually
I never thought about that). All I can say about reaching level 10 on
finance is that you gain the ability to see the stats of the player
you are buying, something you can't do before you reach level 10.
Second. Yes, they can increase their stats. It has to do a lot with
the players' age of course. Don't expect to have a 33 year old striker
increasing his stats, that would be silly! If you got a player retired
or you buy a player that is the substitute of a retired one, he will
increase his stats until he reach the skills the retired player has.

If you have a question that needs to be answered, send it to me, I'll do my
best effort to answer it and I'll have it posted in this section.

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| WALKTHROUGH |
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Ok, many people may think that starting a 15 season journey through the world
football is just ridiculous. It's not an easy journey by the way, it takes
many time, specially if you consider that a single season takes about 60 to 70
games, it makes about 1000 games! Right now I've moved to Chelsea FC since I
completed two years managing Barcelona FC, and I'm in the later stage of the
career mode. Played around 750 matches so far...

Anyway, if you just read those numbers and think that you want to enter this
journey, then keep reading.

For practical purposes, I'm going to divide this into several sub-sections, so
I can keep some order around here...

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| STARTING A CAREER |
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So you thought that you could be a good manager huh? That's fine, you'll find
out soon that it's not that easy. There are more things that makes a good
manager than just winning games and scoring many goals.

First thing you have to do before you start your Career is to choose a file
name. It can hold up to a maximum of 7 characters (alphanumerical). This is
not your manager name, it's just the name of the file in the Xbox hard disk
(or in your memory card, if you have the PS2 or GC versions).

After you create the file name for your Career, you enter the Create a
Manager screen. Here you have three things to do. First one, choose a pic
that is supposed to be you... yeah, I know, none of this guys looks like Brad
Pitt or something like, but you have to choose one.
Second, you have to write the first name. Be creative or just put your real
life name. And third, the surname. Again, put whatever you want.

All above was just general info on your manager profile. Now comes what we
really are interested in here. We have to pick our very first team.
I know that many of you want to be signed by Manchester United or Real Madrid
as our first job, but trust me, that's not going to happen, at least not at
this time.

It just happens that since you are a new manager, the job offers aren't as
good as you thought they would be, but you have to start somewhere, so it's
your call.

The football world is divided into five regions. You have to choose in which
region you want to start working.

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| PICKING A TEAM |
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| REGION 1 |
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* FA Premier League
* Football League Champ
* Football League One
* Football League Two
* Scottish Premier

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| REGION 2 |
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* MLS
* K-League
* Brazilian League
* Mexican League

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| REGION 3 |
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* Spanish Primera
* Spanish Segunda
* Italian Serie A
* Italian Serie B
* Portuguese SuperLiga

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| REGION 4 |
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* German Bundesliga 1
* German Bundesliga 2
* French Division 1
* French Division 2
* Dutch Eredvisie

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| REGION 5 |
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* Belgian League
* Swedish Allsvenskan
* Norwegian Tippeligaen
* Austrian Bundesliga
* Danish Superligaen
* Swiss Axpo Superleague

I'm not suggesting any region or any team. It's up to you which one you're
going to choose. Just let me give you a free advice. Don't get disappointed
because of the teams that you'll see the first time you sign a contract.
Usually they will suck. Keep in mind that there are 15 seasons!
so what this is all about is that you are supposed to spend at least one
season in every region. I know that what you want is to get in control of
any of the top five teams in the world, but I'm sure that the intention of
creating such large Career mode was to don't get bored with the same team
through a certain number of seasons (like in FIFA 2004).

Remember that if you choose to use the same team for several seasons, you
won't get one of the goals of the Career mode, which is unlock the Trophy
Room in the "My FIFA 2005" option. Each cup you win will be inmediatly
unlocked in the Trophy Room. So it's up to you where to begin...

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| NEW TEAM... |
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Ok, so you have choosed a team and everybody seems to be happy about that.
You can see that by reading the newspaper of your team's city. Yeah, there is
the picture you picked before, so I hope that by now you're not regreting
having picked the wrong dude picture!

But not everything is peaches and cream, you have a board to please and they
inmediatly inform you of what they expect from you. It varies depending on
the team you picked. If you picked a lower division team, like say a Football
League Two team in England, your goal will be finish the season in the top
three of the table. Or if you picked a better team, like an Italian Serie A
team, your goal will be to win the league and win the EFA Cup.

After you read the board expectations for you in the season, you'll be
introduced to your staff. Yeah, you won't be alone in this journey, there are
eight dudes that will make your manager task easier (or harder).

Each member of your staff has a 100 point system that needs to be filled.
Every time you fill those points, you will advance one level, until you reach
the level 10 (it's not that easy too). At the beginning you will be given
with 100 points to share between these eight categories. I suggest you to
don't give them all to one category. My advice is that you share them
equally between them all. This way you will have a well ballanced staff.

The points to fill this categories are awarded by your results. The better
your results are, the more points you get. You will get some points for
winning a regular league game. Winning a cup game will get you some more
points. If you draw you won't get many points. And if you lose you won't get
any, so this is all about results.

Your staff is formed by:

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| STRIKER COACH |
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By giving points to this member of your staff your strikers will improve their
skills. General overall of all of your strikers will raise after every level
you reach here.

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| MIDFIELDER COACH |
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By giving points to this member of your staff your midfielders will improve
their skills. General overall of all of your strikers will raise after every
level you reach here.

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| DEFENCE COACH |
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By giving points to this member of your staff your defenders will improve
their skills. General overall of all of your defenders will raise after every
level you reach here.

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| GOALKEEPER COACH |
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By giving points to this member of your staff your goalkeepers will improve
their skills. General overal of all of your goalkeepers will raise after
every level you reach here.

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| FITNESS COACH |
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This member of your staff is responsible for the recuperation after games of
your players. If you don't give this category enough points, you'll notice
that your players will be tired after games and they won't be ready for
important matches. Be aware of that.

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| MEDICAL STAFF |
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This dude is the responsible for the injured players. The more points this
category has, the better time of recovery your players will have. If you
forget this category, every time a player gets injured you will have a bad
time waiting for him to get recovered.

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| FINANCE DEPT. |
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The higher level you reach here will mean that you will have a better chance
to do well in the transfer market.

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| SCOUTING STAFF |
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If you don't manage to reach a decent level here, you will have problems with
your players morale. If your level is low, the communication between you and
your players will be a serious problem. If your level is not that bad, your
players will be happy and that means that they will do better in the field.

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| JOB SECURITY |
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Just as in real life, if your results are good, you will have your board happy
and you will be sure that you won't lose your job. But if things are going
bad... you can figure out what's going to happen.

When you just sign with a new team, usually you job security will be around
40% - 50%. The only way to improve that is by your own results, so there's no
need to long explanations about this.

It's obvious that if you are around 90+% you don't need to worry. Now, I'm not
sure about what happens below 40%, since I've never been below that. I know
that eventually the board will get rid of you and you will lose your job, but
it is still a mistery for me what happens after you get fired.

Good advice is to just keep winning...

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| THE SEASON |
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Well, now that we have done all the signing-a-team job, we have to start the
main goal in the game, which is of course, become the greatest manager ever.

At the main menu (which is called "Career central" in the game) you have the
next options:

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| PLAY NEXT MATCH |
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I think I don't need to explain too much here. When you are ready to face the
next game, hit this option and you will see your squad and choose the kit your
team is going to wear and you'll enter the next game... not a big deal really.

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|SIMULATE NEXT MATCH|
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If you decided that your team is in good shape and your previous results are
good enough, you can use this option. This saves time when you are already
the league champion and still have to play many matches. It's not like the
match simulation in other games. You will be informed of what's going on in
the match, and if your team isn't doing well, you can enter and save the
match.

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| SQUAD |
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Ok, this is where we have to put most of our attention. Our success or
failure will be decided by the way we manage our team. If we want to do well
in a game, we have to come here and check our players status and replace them
if they are not in good shape. Read the "SQUAD" section below for more info
on how you can improve this area.

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| OPTIONS |
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You can access the game options. We'll focus on the "TACTICS" and "TRANSFER
MARKET" later. All the other things here belongs to the game settings, so we
are not going to talk about here.

___________________
| SAVE CAREER |
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Never forget to save your career before you turn off your Xbox or you open the
disc tray. Usually the game asks you if you want to save your game when you
make changes to your Squad, but it's better to be sure...

___________________
| THE SQUAD |
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As I said before, we have to take care of this area. The best way to do well
in all the matches is planning your games. I know that sometimes it becomes
annoying, but in order to get good results and a team in shape we need to
check our player status after EVERY game.

Before you check your player status for the first time, choose the formation
that fits your style the better. Personally I use the 3-4-3, because I like
to have the ball all the time that I can, and this formation lets me have 4
man in the middle, and three strikers, which is kind of risky, but that's
the formation I think suits me better.

After you have picked your formation, check how many players you have for
each area. The number of the player is within a globe, and the color of the
globe varies depending on the natural position of the player. Light blue is
for goalkeepers, dark blue is for defenders, light brown is for midfielders,
and brown is for strikers.

You will want to have at least the double of players your formation says.

For example, in my case, with the 3-4-3 formation, the things goes this way:

Goalkeepers: 2 or 3.
Defenders: 6 or 5
Midfielders: 8
Strikers: 6

I know that the first season this is not an option, since you can't buy any
player in the transfer window, so the first season you will have to work the
things out with what you have.

This is very important since you have to play two matches per week, and even
though some players seems to be in good shape you don't want to abuse of that!

When you are preparing your team for the incoming match, put the players that
has not only a good shape but a good form too. A player that is at 97% of
shape but has 5.5 form is not a guarantee that will do better than a 8.8 form
player with a 88% of shape. Although if the player with better form is below
80% shape, choose another player if you can, since he's already tired and
won't be at his better condition during the game.

___________________
| TRANSFER MARKET |
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Let's face it, you need reinforcements for every season. At least that you
signed with a five star team you will need to buy a star player. Thank God
that the transfers are not like in FIFA 2004, when you had to sell two or
three low-skilled players to get a really good player. And even if you had
the money to buy the player, that doesn't mean the team wants to sell you the
player... but we're not in FIFA 2004, we're in FIFA 2005, and things are a
lot easier.

There are only two transfer windows in the season. One is at the beginning
of the season, during June. And the other one is at January.

The money for the transfers is earned by you! Don't expect to have thousands
of points at the beginning. You will earn this points by your own results,
or by selling players to other teams. If it's your first season, I suggest
you to don't buy any player at the June window, you should better save that
money and if you are planning to change team at the end of the season, use
that money to buy a good player with your new team. What I do suggest you is
to sell a player or two with your first team (players that you usually don't
use, and sell them at the January transfer window!), since you can accumulate
that money even if you change team.

___________________
| TRADING PLAYERS |
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The way to trade players is pretty easy. Once you make your first trade you
will get used to it. Remember that you only have two transfer windows per year
so don't waste that time!

To buy a player, enter the "Transfer Market" section in the Options menu.
First you will see here is your own formation. If you want to sort any team
by position, name or skill, just press Y.

To cycle through leagues around the world press right/left trigger. Once you
are in the league you want, press white/black button to cycle through teams
in that league. When you get to the team you're interested, navigate through
the players and when you find the man you are looking, you can see his bio by
pressing X, and negotiate with the team by pressing A. Fortunately the value
of the players is given by their skill, and this means that no matter who the
player is, their value will be the same with every player that is skilled the
same with him. When you negotiate with the team, you can't see their skill at
the time, but you can have an idea about it. Highest prices won't get above
40,000 points (and at this price we are talking about world class players).
You can either accept the offer or refuse it and keep looking for another
player.

Sometimes you don't need to look for players, other teams will offer their
players to you. You will be noticed of those offers when you return to the
"Career central" after a match or after navigating through the options. But
to be honest, most of the players you will be offered sucks. I can't remember
of buying even one of this players. But it's up to you. This is useful
specially when you are at a low division team and you can't afford world class
players. As usual, you can either accept or refuse the offer. By the way,
when refusing an offer, the team that offered you the player will get
dissapointed, but honestly, who cares?

Sometimes other teams are interested in one of your players. And here you will
be informed too when other team wants to make an offer for any of your players.
If you are interested, you can sell your player. Otherwise you just need to
refuse the offer.

___________________
| HINTS |
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There are some rules and hints you need to know about before selling or
buying a player to other team:

First.
It sounds stupid, but happens sometimes! Before even thinking on buying a
player you need to make sure you have enough money to buy him! You can see
how much points you have by watching it at the bottom of the "Career central"
window.

Second.
Now, this happens more often. It's when a player refuses to sign a contract
with your team. Yeah, that sucks, I know. So that's why you have to consider
a few things when trying to get a new star for your team. Don't expect to sign
a high-skilled player (I would say above 90 skill points) if you are in a low
division team. Or even if you are at a top league but you have a weak team,
this players still will refuse to sign with you.
Sometimes other players will refuse to sign with you because they don't want
to sign with a rival team. Let's say you are Barcelona's manager, and you want
to buy Ronaldo from Real Madrid. Even if you have enough points to get him, he
will refuse to sign a contract, and he even won't be available for the rest of
the transfer window! Why? because players don't want to sign for rival teams,
even when in real life sometimes happens (any of you remember Figo being
transfered from Barcelona to Real Madrid years ago?).

Third.
You can't trade a player that has just been signed during the season. You have
to wait until next season to trade a player. Sometimes you are not satisfied
with a player performance, but you have to wait the rest of the season since
there's no way to undone that.

Fourth.
Finally, there's two other things that might happen when trading players.
Sometimes when you try to sell a player, your board will tell you that you
can't sell him. That sucks because sometimes you really want to get rid of
that specific player and you just can't, no matter what you do. The board
says that you are trying to sell an "emblematic player" (or something like
that). You can only wait until next transfer window and try to sell him
again... sometimes works, some other don't.
And sometimes, when you try to buy a specific player, he will refuse to sign
with you because he's not feeling up to... pretty stinky. They will say that
they are very happy with their teams and since you can't offer more points, you
just can wait until the next transfer window, and MAYBE you will be lucky and
he will not be very happy with his team after all...

___________________
| CAREER EXAMPLE |
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I decided to start a new career to explain all I've been talking during this
guide. I won't play any of this games though, I will just simulate them all,
so I don't know how is it going to end. Even simulating all the games takes
time, so I'll be updating this section according to my progress in the sim of
the matches.

And the first thing I'm doing is to pick a name, so our star manager will be
named PABLITO MAN. Yeah, nothing special or spectacular, but this is the least
important thing to do here. So, good luck PABLITO MAN!

And since is our first job, I won't try to get in a high class league. I'd
rather to choose a low class league.

___________________
| SEASON 1 |
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REGION: 2
LEAGUE: MLS (USA)
TEAM: Los Angeles Galaxy

TEAM INFO:

Formation: 4-3-1-2

Players:

POSITION NAME SKILL

GK - K. Hartman 80
D. Popik 68
DEF - T. Marshall 66
D. Califf 74
C. Aloisi 61
R. Suarez 65
C. Albright 73
R. Lewis 66
H. Bo 75
S. Thompson 60
MID - C. Jones 72
M. Saragosa 65
S. Victorine 70
A. Herzog 79
P. Vagenas 64
N. Grabavoy 67
G. Gonzalez 65
P. Broome 59
J. Gardner 56
FWD - C. Ruiz 83
J. Kirovski 78
A. Moreno 72
A. Torres 61
J. Ngwenya 69

As you can see, at the beginning of my first year here I have 24 players. My
star player will be Carlos Ruiz, since he's got the highest skill of the entire
team (83). I won't sell any players at the beginning. I'm not planning to buy
any though. I think that 24 players is a good number to face a season, so I
won't start messing up with transfers right now.

TACTICS:

Mentality: ATTACK
Attacking: WINGS
Defense: CONTAIN
Offisde Trap: OFF

And with this everything is ready to start the season. Note that my job
security at this point is 44%.

SEASON:

4/16/2005
NY/NJ METROSTARS - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 0-1
Job Security: 47%
League Position: 7th

4/23/2005
L.A. GALAXY - D.C. UNITED
Result: 1-1
Job Security: 48%
League Position: 3rd

4/30/2005
L.A. GALAXY - KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
Result: 1-1
Job Security: 50%
League Position: 2nd

5/07/2005
L.A. GALAXY - NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
Result: 0-0
Job Security: 53%
League Position: 5th

5/14/2005
CHICAGO FIRE - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 1-2
Job Security: 57%
League Position: 3rd

5/21/2005
DALLAS BURN - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 1-2
Job Security: 62%
League Position: 3rd

5/28/2005
COLORADO RAPIDS - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 1-2
Job Security: 65%
League Position: 1st

6/04/2005
SAN JOSE - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 2-2
Job Security: 67%
League Position: 2nd

6/11/2005
COLUMBUS CREW - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 0-0
Job Security: 68%
League Position: 1st

6/15/2005
L.A. GALAXY - DALLAS BURN
Result: 4-1
Job Security: 70%
League Position: 1st

6/18/2005
L.A. GALAXY - NY/NJ METROSTARS
Result: 1-0
Job Security: 73%
League Position: 1st

6/23/2005 (MLS OPEN CUP)
L.A. GALAXY - DALLAS BURN
Result: 2-1
Job Security: 78%
L.A. GALAXY ADVANCE TO QUARTER FINALS

7/02/2005
L.A. GALAXY - SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
Result: 0-2
Job Security: 73%
League Position: 2nd

7/09/2005
L.A. GALAXY - COLORADO RAPIDS
Result: 0-0
Job Security: 75%
League Position: 2nd

7/16/2005
NEW ENGLAND - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 1-0
Job Security: 70%
League Position: 2nd

7/23/2005 (MLS OPEN CUP)
L.A. GALAXY - NY/NJ METROSTARS
Result: 3-2
Job Security: 75%
L.A. GALAXY ADVANCE TO SEMI FINALS

7/30/2005
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 0-0
Job Security: 75%
League Position: 2nd
* A. Moreno was severily injured during this game (he was expected to return
January 2006!), so I had to sell him. Bought Jamil Walker from San Jose
Earthquakes.

8/06/2005
D.C. UNITED - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 0-1
Job Security: 78%
League Position: 2nd

8/10/2005
L.A. GALAXY - CHICAGO FIRE
Result: 1-1
Job Security: 78%
League Position: 2nd

8/13/2005
L.A. GALAXY - COLUMBUS CREW
Result: 2-0
Job Security: 82%
League Position: 2nd

8/17/2005
DALLAS BURN - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 0-1
Job Security: 83%
League Position: 2nd

8/20/2005 (MLS OPEN CUP)
D.C. UNITED - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 0-1
Job Security: 87%
L.A. GALAXY ADVANCE TO FINALS

8/27/2005
COLUMBUS CREW - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 0-3
Job Security: 88%
League Position: 2nd

9/03/2005
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 1-1
Job Security: 88%
League Position: 2nd

9/10/2005
COLORADO RAPIDS - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 1-1
Job Security: 88%
League Position: 2nd

9/17/2005
L.A. GALAXY - NEW ENGLAND
Result: 0-0
Job Security: 90%
League Position: 1st

9/24/2005 (MLS OPEN CUP)
L.A. GALAXY - KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
Result: 1-2
Job Security: 87%
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS WIN THE MLS OPEN CUP

10/01/2005
L.A. GALAXY - KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
Result: 2-1
Job Security: 87%
League Position: 2nd

10/08/2005
L.A. GALAXY - D.C. UNITED
Result: 0-0
Job Security: 89%
League Position: 1st

10/12/2005
CHICAGO FIRE - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 2-1
Job Security: 82%
League Position: 1st

10/15/2005
NY/NJ METROSTARS - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 1-1
Job Security: 82%
League Position: 2nd

So, the league ended here and LOS ANGELES GALAXY didn't won the MLS OPEN CUP
and didn't won the league. At least they were at second place and that
allowed them to play the MLS PLAYOFFS.

10/26/2005 (QUARTER FINAL, LEG 1)
L.A. GALAXY - D.C. UNITED
Result: 2-1
Job Security: 85%

11/02/2005 (QUARTER FINAL, LEG 2)
D.C. UNITED - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 0-3
Job Security: 87%
* L.A. GALAXY ADVANCE TO SEMI FINALS

11/12/2005 (SEMI FINAL)
NY/NJ METROSTARS - L.A. GALAXY
Result: 0-1
Job Security: 89%
* L.A. GALAXY ADVANCE TO FINALS

11/19/2005
L.A. GALAXY - SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
Result: 3-2
Job Security: 92%
* L.A. GALAXY WON THE MLS PLAYOFFS

Ok, so the playoffs ended and you may think that I got all the credit, but i
didn't! For some reason, this game will never ever give you the credit for
winning the playoffs, no matter what country you are and no matter which team
you use!

Anyway, as I didn't won the league and I didn't sign for L.A. GALAXY again, in
my statistics it appears as if I didn't won any cup, which isn't totally true,
but there's nothing that can be done (yeah, that's what I call a huge and
gigantic major GLITCH in this game!)

Before I jump to the next season, let's see some statistics for this first
year:

MP - MATCHES PLAYED
GS - GOALS SCORED
GR - GOALS RECEIVED
GD - GOAL DIFFERENCE

(LEAGUE): 2nd

MP W L D PTS GS GR GD

27 11 3 13 46 30 18 +12

BOARD REACTION: 94%

L.A. GALAXY offered a re-sign with them, but since I'm not
staying in the same team, at least not for now, I won't accept
their offer and will look for another team.

And this way my job with L.A. GALAXY finished... 2006 is ahead and I think is
time to move to another part of the world.

___________________
| SEASON 2 |
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REGION: 1
LEAGUE: Scottish Premier (Scotland)
TEAM: Celtic

TEAM INFO:

Formation: 4-1-2-1-2

Players:

POSITION NAME SKILL

GK - S. Hughes 67
D. Marshall 80
M. Hedman 76
DEF - J. McNamara 85
M. Sylla 76
J. Valgaeren 81
D. Bald� 88
J. Kennedy 76
S. Varga 81
U. Laursen 75
MID - J. Morrow 64
D. McFadden 72
D. Agathe 81
S. Petrov 89
A. Thompson 83
R. Wallace 70
S. Pearson 78
D. Fernandez 75
A. McGeady 71
Juninho 79
FWD - C. Beattie 72
S. Maloney 83
C. Sutton 83
J. Hartson 80
H. Camara 78

Ok, I have 25 players and I think it's a nice number to face the season,
but the truth is that I'm going to make some changes around here before
I start any single game. First of all, I think that I have to get rid of
some players and get another ones. I'm getting rid of a goalkeeper,
and two midfielders.

PLAYERS SOLD:

S. Hughes (GK)
J. Morrow (MID)
R. Wallace (MID)

And to have players according to my strategy, I'm buying a better skilled
defender, and a good striker (well, the best my money can buy!)

PLAYERS SIGNED:

M. Zalayeta (ST) <78> <from Juventus>
A. Rauchbauer (DEF) <68> <from somewhere in Norwegian league...>

Both of this players are very young (Zalayeta is around 19 and Rauchbauer
is 21), and I got them because of their age, because I'm sure that they
will increase their stats with the time.

TACTICS:

Mentality: ATTACK
Attacking: POSSESION
Defense: PRESSING
Offisde Trap: OFF

And with this everything is ready to start the season. Note that my job
security at this point is 44%.

SEASON:

8/09/06
CELTIC - INVERNESS CT
Result: 1-0
Job Security: 48%
League Position: 1st

8/12/06
RANGERS - CELTIC
Result: 2-0
Job Security: 36%
League Position: 7th

8/15/06 (ECC)
CELTIC - LIVERPOOL
Result: 1-0
Job Security: 48%

8/19/06
CELTIC - DUMFERLINE
Result: 5-0
Job Security: 57%
League Position: 2nd

8/22/06
LIVERPOOL - CELTIC
Result: 1-1 (1-2 agg)
Job Security: 65%
CELTIC ADVANCES TO NEXT ROUND

8/26/06
DUNDEE UNITED - CELTIC
Result: 2-1
Job Security: 59%
League Position: 4th

9/02/06
CELTIC - LIVINGSTON
Result: 3-0
Job Security: 62%
League Position: 3rd

9/09/06
ALBERDEEN - CELTIC
Result: 0-3
Job Security: 67%
League Position: 2nd

9/16/06
CELTIC - KILMAMOCK
Result: 4-1
Job Security: 70%
League Position: 1st

9/19/06 (ECC)
CELTIC - AUXERRE
Result: 4-1
Job Security: 75%
1st PLACE ON GROUP 8

9/26/06 (ECC)
ROSENBORG - CELTIC
Result: 1-2
Job Security: 79%
1st PLACE ON GROUP 8

10/14/06
DUNDEE - CELTIC
Result: 2-4
Job Security: 83%
League Position: 2nd

10/21/06
CELTIC - HIBERNIAN
Result: 1-0
Job Security: 84%
League Positon: 2nd

10/25/06 (ECC)
CELTIC - AJAX
Result: 2-1
Job Security: 87%
1st PLACE ON GROUP 8

10/28/06
MOTHERWELL - CELTIC
Result: 0-0
Job Security: 89%
League Position: 2nd

10/31/06 (ECC)
AUXERRE - CELTIC
Result: 1-0
Job Security: 83%
1st PLACE ON GROUP 8

11/04/06
CELTIC - HEARTS
Result: 2-1
Job Security: 83%
League Position: 2nd

11/07/06 (ECC)
CELTIC - ROSENBORG
Result: 0-0
Job Security: 84%
1st PLACE ON GROUP 8

11/11/06
CELTIC - RANGERS
Result: 3-1
Job Security: 86%
League Position: 2nd

11/18/06
DUNFERLINE - CELTIC
Result: 0-3
Job Security: 87%
League Position: 2nd

11/25/06
CELTIC - DUNDEE UNITED
Result: 2-1
Job Security: 89%
League Position: 2nd

12/02/06
LIVINGSTON - CELTIC
Result: 0-0
Job Security: 89%
League Position: 2nd

12/06/06 (ECC)
AJAX - CELTIC
Result: 0-3
Job Security: 90%
1st PLACE ON GROUP 8

And this is where I am so far. I tried to make some time and finish the whole
season for this time, but it was just impossible. I'm almost in the middle of
this season though. I must admit that at this time PABLITO MAN is doing better
than the last season, and that's surprising if we consider the fact that I'm
not playing any of those matches!

Keep coming back and see if there's a new update of this FAQ every week. Hope
to have the second season finished by the next update!

___________________
| FINAL WORDS |
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I appreciate in a big way all the emails I've received since the first version
of this FAQ/Walkthrough. I really would love to have more spare time to write
more often, but I'm afraid that it's not going to happen. School comes first,
and my engineering degree is not going to become true if I don't spend lots of
time studying.

I apologize for the delay in replying your mails. Usually I read them in the
school's lab, but I can't reply until I'm home and done with homework, so be
patient!

___________________
| THANKS |
������������������������������������������������������������������������������

To EA SPORTS for making such great games year after year.
To my girlfriend Monna! Thank you for everything my sweetie!

To you, who's reading this.