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A new football season is underway, which means there isn’t much longer to wait until we can get on a new football game! With FIFA ditched from the scene, EA Sports FC 24 will drop soon, and fans couldn’t be more excited.
Ahead of the EA Sports FC 24 release date, the community will be guessing and discussing what the player ratings should be for the title. Of course, everyone has their own opinions on the matter, but in the end, it is down to EA and its team of data collectors.
FC 24 is the start of a new era for EA’s flagship football franchise. But it isn’t just the game that is going through a change. It seems like we have come to the end of an era of the Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi domination! With CR7’s move to Saudi Arabia and Messi’s to the USA, they won’t be showing up in the most competitive leagues and competitions around. This is important for FC 24, as it could have a major impact on their ratings.
We love comparing the two best players of their generation, and potentially of all time! Who is the GOAT will always be up for debate, but with a World Cup win the Argentine may just edge it. There has been a battle at the top of the FIFA ratings between the two for over a decade. But who will come out on top this time?
Rating updates throughout the FIFA 23 cycle have seen seeing Ronaldo’s overall drop from 90 to 87. Messi is still sitting on 91, so this may feel like a no-brainer. However, that might not be the case come FC 24’s release! This is because of one aspect that comes into play when EA ranks player ratings.
Of course, attributes play the biggest role when it comes to a player’s overall rating, as does international reputation. But players are also weighted depending on the quality of the opposition they are up against.
When Ronaldo moved to the Saudi Pro League he was the highest-rated player there. The closest to his rating was Anderson Talisca, with an 82 overall. In the MLS, Messi’s closest competition was an 82-rated Lorenzo Insigne in FC 24. The general quality of both leagues used to be fairly comparable, however, that has changed this summer!
An influx of players going to the Saudi Pro League has seriously raised the standards! So much so that CR7 could find himself behind Karim Benzema and Neymar in the rankings, sharing the third position with N’Golo Kante, and Sadio Mane. Chuck into the mix the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Franck Kessie, Kalidou Koulibaly, Fabinho, Marcelo Brozovic, and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who will likely be rated 84+ overall, and the Saudi league clearly has better quality than the MLS. Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba have since joined Messi at Inter Miami, but that is it for quality signings in the USA.
With better opposition in the league, and more signings likely, the Saudi Pro League won’t be seen as the walk in the park it used to be. It wants to be thought of as one of the top leagues in the world, and the money is certainly there to make it happen. That means players going there should see less of a downgrade to their ratings than they might once have seen. The same can’t be said of the MLS, which will still be thought of as a retirement home for senior players.
This new imbalance between the leagues could see Cristiano Ronaldo maintain a higher rating, with Messi seeing his slashed. This would give CR7 the upper hand! Of course, Messi has always been given a more than favourable treatment ratings-wise from EA, and could well keep his 91 overall. We will have to wait and see!
