Here is a list of 19 rules that you can use to better manage your Youth Academy and increase your chances of promoting gifted youngsters:

1. Training organization rule:

The type of training that is set at the beginning of the game (both primary and secondary) is taken into consideration.
* Primary training means 100% training for the corresponding skill.
* Secondary training, when different from primary training, is equal in intensity to 60% of primary training.
* Secondary training, when the same as primary training, is only equal to 20-25% of primary training.
* Individual training, when set as primary training, has 40-50% the intensity of other types of primary training, but also has a great disadvantage: the skills that it trains don’t always correspond to the player’s position on the field and it may also train skills where the player has already reached his cap. This type of training should be avoided.
Osmosis training also takes place in the Academy and is probably the equivalent of 16% of primary training.

The original players that are received with the Academy almost always (97%) have very low skillcaps and can thus be disregarded.

Training takes place the same way it does for the senior team: the player’s position, the number of minutes he played and the training you set are all taken into account. Skill growths are visible right after the match ends and the coach sends his training report 24 hours after the match’s final whistle.

You can scout one player and also promote one player during every HT week. For a player to be promoted to the senior squad, he needs to be 17 years and 0 days old and to have been with the Youth Academy for at least 112 days.

A player can stay with the Academy after he turns 19, but he will no longer be able to play.

2. Skillcap and player potential rule:

The skillcap is the maximum level a player can reach in a certain skill. Each skill has a specific, fixed skillcap that the player is born with. Skillcaps also have sublevels: low, medium and high.

Coach this player right and he will reach his potential of solid Winger before you know it!

A player’s potential (or talent) is a player’s capacity of developing his abilities. Basically, it’s the difference between his current skill level and his skillcap in a certain skill. It, too, can be low, medium and high.

I know it may contradict your training plans, but it’s obvious that Andrei Boacă can reach wretched at Keeper.

3. Capping rule:

The closer a player is to reaching his skillcap, the slower he will train. The capping message will not necessarily appear in the coach’s report right after the skillcap is reached. A player that has reached his skillcap will no longer receive training for that skill. When the skillcap is fully reached, the skill bar will turn yellow.

4. Friendly rule:

Friendly match training is between 60-70% of league match training.

5. Double training rule:

When the same training regime is set as both primary and secondary training, the speed of the latter will decrease to about half its normal value.

6. Passable skillcap rule:

The current skill level of an outfielder with a passable skillcap is weak in 95% of cases.

7. Forward with winger potential rule:

If a player’s current winger level is at least weak, he will receive an exaggeratedly high star rating when played as a forward with Normal orders.

8. Overall skill message rule:

An outfielder needs to have at least an “overall inadequate” message to be taken in consideration (excluded keeper). Exception: “overall weak” message doubled by a high skillcap message.

9. Wrong message rule:

A low skillcap message doesn’t necessarily mean the player doesn’t have a high skillcap for another skill.

10. Conclusion from rules no. 8 and 9:

Any 15 year-old player (even with a ‘wrong message’) and with an overall inadequate minim message should be accepted.

11. Star rating rule

After the training update, the following data was noted about the players that had just reached solid: solid keeper (disastrous defending) - 6 stars
solid defender (no useful secondary skills) - 6.5 stars
solid midfielder (no useful secondary skills) - 7 stars
solid winger (no useful secondary skills) - 7 stars
solid forward (winger and passing, poor at most) - 7-7.5 stars

Keepers’ star ratings gain an extra star for every two defending levels.

For multiskilled players who are between inadequate (high) and solid (low) in another useful skill, the star rating rises by one star for every extra skill (Winger for wingbacks and strikers; Playmaking and Defence for wingers; Playmaking for central defenders). If the Passing skill is between the same levels (high inadequate – low solid) it can separately bring an extra half a star, except for defenders.

Favorable weather in regards to a youth player’s specialty can improve his rating by one star.

12. Minimum star rule (for newly brought youngsters):

These values correspond to the limit between weak and inadequate.

keeper (very low inadequate keeper skill if disastrous defending) - 4.5 stars
normal central defender, no playmaking - 4.5 stars
normal wingback, no winger - 4.5 stars
defensive inner midfielder, no defending - 6.5 stars
defensive inner midfidler, some defending - 7 stars
normal inner midfielder, no passing, no defending - 6 stars
normal inner midfielder, some defending - 6.5 stars
offensive inner midfielder, no passing - 5.5 stars
offensive inner midfielder, some passing - 6.5 stars
offensive winger, no playmaking and no defending - 5 stars
normal forward, some winger, wretched/disastrous passing - 5 stars
normal forward, some passing, poor winger - 6 stars
normal forward, some passing, weak winger - 7 stars

Rarely, during 1 or 2 games, there can be a half star variation in a player’s star rating, even though the player’s skills had no actual increase. We advise to only draw conclusions after a minimum of 2 games in a certain position. The maximum skill level for a newly brought youngster is solid (very low).

13. Golfer detection rule:

An outfielder with both a poor current skill message and a poor skillcap message (in different skills) is 100% useless, and a player with a weak current skill and skill cap (in different skills) is 80% useless. For this rule to apply, passing must not be one of the skills mentioned by the scout. This rule does not apply to keepers (see rule 24).

14. Aimed scouting rule:

Scouting is to be made immediately after the weekly update and also from Monday to Friday after 13 HT-time and 17 HT-time in order to increase your chances of finding talented youngsters. You should look for a specific type of player.

15. Pool rule:

Any region could potentially become “rich” in valuable players, as long as the weaker ones are constantly taken out. The regions with the highest number of users have the greatest chance of containing a significant amount of valuable youngsters. Regional pools are refilled at least twice a day. The pools are ‘cleaned’ on a constant basis by removing the youngsters that were refused by managers and were present in the pool for approximately 110 days. Very important: if your last scout finds a player you would normally refuse, you should take the player in and then immediately fire him. This way he will be removed from the scouting circuit, allowing a possibly better player to take his place in the pool.

16. Bonus promotion rule:

When promoted, youth players will receive a bonus in one (or more) random skill(s), regardless of their age. It doesn't matter if the player has already reached the skillcap of a certain skill, the bonus may be granted anyway. The older the player, the larger the bonus.

17. Growth speed rule:

The average growth speed between two skill levels is different for every type of training and it starts to decrease as the player gets older.

18. Specialty rule:

It can be discovered from the very start (scout’s message) or later on (during games, through coach messages or even only after promotion to the senior squad).

19. Keeper detection rule:

A player with a disastrous current skill level in any skill is almost 100% goalkeeper. His winger, playmaking, scoring and passing skillcaps could only go beyond poor in exceptional cases. When accompanying an overall skill message, for goalkeepers, it cannot go beyond inadequate. A message of specialty for a junior excludes the possibility of being a goalkeeper. The maximum defense skill can be reached through training is acceptable.

This player has disastrous playmaking at this point in his career. If he develops well, I would say this chap can emerge with inadequate playmaking before joining the senior squad. 

Your best bet is to promote players when they are 17 years and 0 days old at solid/excelent or multiskill. Therefore: - primary training should target your best player: the 15 year-old with the highest skillcap. When he reaches that skillcap, you reassess the situation of the entire squad; - secondary training can be used as you see fit: either train the aforementioned ‘target player’ in secondary skills or train other players in the squad.