With FIFA 17 out now in the North America and tomorrow across the globe, EA has shared some genuinely fascinating information on how attributes for the game as are decided – including the adm♛ission that Lionel Messi’s abilities would be rဣeduced if he joined a lesser league than Spain’s top flight.

"If Messi were playing in the Irish league, his attributes would drop simply because he's not on the highest level anymore," database producer Mi𒅌chael Mueller-Moehring admits to . "We want to base our ratings on actual performance data.” 

Attributes cover 300 data fields and 35 attribute categories, meaning the database team’s biggest challenge, as suspected, is when an unknown player is bought by a side represented in the game late in a tra﷽nsfer window. He immediately has to be added to FIFA – even if the database guys and girls know exactly zero about them.

"There's always a player from the se𒁏cond division in Switzerland who gets bought on transfer deadline day," says Mueller-Moehring, "and all you know about this player is his name, date of birth and his position - and his position may be as precise as, 'Oh, he's a midfielder.’ "An🌊d this player has to go into the game.” 

FIFA 17 is out𓄧 now in North America, and September 29 in Euroꦡpe.

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