Seven Times FIFA Ratings Made Us Gasp

It’s the time of year when footy addicts leave the crowds for their consoles, and dive into the world’s most popular sports sim; FIFA 20 is a go!

 

 

The game is, obviously, world-famous as the pinnacle of gaming greatness, but it’s not infallible. In fact, on occasion they’ve been outright wrong in their work behind the scenes when it comes to rating the great and good of planet football. And so, as we take a break from mashing buttons on the new VOLTA football mode, we look at some of the occasions when player ratings were off the mark. Got to do better for us there, Clive…

 

TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD

FIFA 19

 

While the swashbuckling Liverpool wing-back is beginning to get his due, it’s been a tough road; last year, he was rated no better than 78. Mind, that represented a leap of a full 10 points from the year before – and he’s still ranked outside the top 20 defenders in the new version! His day, eventually, will come…

 

DIEGO GODIN

FIFA 20

 

The long-time Atletico Madrid stalwart – now plying his trade at Inter – has quite the CV; captain of his country, and the winner of La Liga and the Copa America. It’s also a CV compiled over a fair while, making his 88 player rating this year a little bit much; time waits for no man, but apparently FIFA ratings do!

 

ROBBIE BRADY

FIFA 16

 

OK, so there’s no doubt there’s a bit of homerism here – but c’mon now. FIFA 16 saw the Baldoyle man rated at an utterly ludicrous 65; a few months later, he was rising to nod Ireland into the knockout stages of Euro ’16, and whoever reckoned he wasn’t fit to land in the 70s was left with egg on their face!

 

MANUEL NEUER

FIFA 18

 

Look, we love the German giant – not least because he seems incredibly eager to play as an outfielder whenever the chance arises. But when he was handed a 92 rating – well, come on now. As long as the bloke only has two arms, he can’t be that hard to score against; even Shane Long managed it, after all!

 

GIANLUIGI BUFFON

FIFA 05

 

In keeping with the same theme – albeit going back to a time when the rating system was a lot more generous across the board – we arrive at the highest-rated keeper of all time; on FIFA 05 he was awarded a 97. On the basis that 100 is impossible, and 99 would be a reinforced concrete wall…yeah. Thank goodness they saw sense in the years after!

 

WAYNE ROONEY

FIFA 18

 

Nobody can argue with the fact that the striker was once one of the most impactful operators around – but times change. While his days of rating in the 90s were long gone, they still threw a little bit of a curveball two years ago with a rating of 81; a few months after the game was released, he was packing his bags for the MLS, which isn’t quite the move a score like that would suggest!

 

ADAM LALLANA

FIFA 17

 

Another Anfield bombshell, the FIFA 17 ratings might just have caused a few raised eyebrows in the changing room as their attacking midfielder garnered an 82 – comfortably ahead of Sadio Mané, and on a par with Roberto Firmino. Mind, the aforementioned Alexander-Arnold and his 68 (yes, we’re still stuck on that!) probably dominated the head-scratching!

 

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