Special abilities

Special abilities are the gold labels on a player profile. They complement skills in named situations; they do not permanently raise Current or Potential, and ordinary skill training does not teach them. There are 16 kinds. Current generation gives a player zero, one or two different abilities.

The goalkeeper pool contains Lightning, Ice Cold, Dead-Ball Expert, Velvet Touch, Skyscraper, Unbreakable, Mind Reader, Conductor and Crowd Favourite. Outfield players can receive any ability. The role and action still decide which effects can apply.

Useful when choosing a flank or finishing against a goalkeeper who has read the attack.

• Open-play passing: removes the wrong-foot multiplier of ×0.9 on the opposite flank. Passing 70 therefore stays 70 instead of 63.
• Shoot from distance: permits the order from either flank. Through the centre the ordinary rule already allows either preferred foot.
• When the goalkeeper reads the finisher, the extra Goalkeeper Positioning calculation becomes min(20, 1.5 × shortfall × 0.5), instead of min(20, 1.5 × shortfall). The shortfall is the positioning gap minus the control margin in the qualifying duel. The halving happens before the cap, so a large shortfall can still reach 20.
• Automatic selection for corners and crossed free kicks still checks the preferred foot shown in the profile. This ability alone does not make that selector treat the player as having both feet.

Helps a defender recover against an escaped finisher and helps a goalkeeper resist deceptive attacking orders.

• A box defender facing a completely free finisher has a 50% chance to reduce that finishing advantage to almost free. With Cover breakthroughs as well, the chance is 75%. The action is not stopped outright.
• A goalkeeper facing an active Wrong-foot the keeper order loses 6 Goalkeeper Positioning instead of 12.
• Against an active Improvise order, when the entry pass already favours the attack, a goalkeeper halves the extra assistance shift: the additional 50% becomes 25%. The original favourable pass effect remains.

A crowd-facing ability with a penalty-taking trade-off.

• Each Showman adds +3 to Fun Factor for a whole match, or a share of that for the time he actually plays. At most four count at the same time, for up to +12. Substitutes count from the minute they enter; players who leave stop contributing.
• For a match penalty or shootout kick, a Showman taker contributes −4 percentage points to conversion before the final limits.

Allows the player to supply Extra Effort without committing the effort foul that the duel would otherwise test.

• The foul chance for this player in that check is 0%. This applies when the extra effort comes from either the attacker or the defender.
• The effort bonus can still be used. The ability changes the foul risk, not Tackling, positioning or the probability that the effort itself is triggered.

Raises weekly sponsor income when the player has spent enough time on the pitch.

• A player must play at least 30 minutes in a match counted for sponsor bonuses.
• The first eligible favourite adds +10%, the second +5%, and the third +2.5%. Further favourites add nothing. The combined multiplier is at most ×1.175.
• The multiplier applies to the whole weekly sponsor payout, including its applicable bonuses. It does not affect the main sponsor or directly add attendance. Within a sponsor cycle, the best qualifying match multiplier is retained; the percentages are not repeatedly added for every match.

Has separate effects as a taker, a player contesting a set-piece delivery, and a goalkeeper.

• Corners and crossed free kicks: +15 to the taker selection score Passing + 0.3 × Ball Control + 0.3 × Scoring, and +15 to the Passing used to deliver the ball. It is not +15 to every component of that delivery.
• Direct free kicks: +15 to the automatic selection score and to the resulting free-kick shot score. This ability bonus is added on top of the ordinary distance-shot bonus.
• Set-piece aerial challenges: the participating holder gets +10 to Aerial. It applies to the attacker or defender who has the ability; it does not give the whole team +10.
• Goalkeeper defending corners or crossed free kicks: +15 to Organisation when organising against the delivery. Interceptions receives no ability bonus in that calculation.
• Penalties, including shootouts: the taker contributes +4 percentage points to conversion; a goalkeeper with the ability contributes −4 percentage points to the opponent’s conversion. These contributions are applied before the final limits.

Improves the way the team builds opportunities, rather than adding a universal passing bonus.

• Midfield domination: add +15 to the Passing input. Under Technical freedom, that input starts from the higher of Passing and Ball Control. Calculate the adjusted offensive and defensive pairs with that input, take the lower pair average, then raise it to at least half the boosted Passing.
• The player’s domination contribution is (boosted Passing + resulting pair value) ÷ 2, then fatigue applies. The final team value still selects its usual midfield pool. The whole contribution is not simply doubled.
• When choosing an eligible player to start a midfield opportunity, his selection weight is ×2. The other candidates still matter; this is not a guaranteed touch or a doubled final selection probability.
• If an active goalkeeper has Conductor, the team can have at most 2 goalkeeper-source counter-attacks instead of 1. If an active defender has it, the defender-source limit likewise rises from 1 to 2. Multiple holders in the same source do not keep increasing the limit, and no counter-attack is guaranteed.

Strengthens power shots, including those selected by Driven finish.

• Adds +15 to the completed power-shot quality score, before accuracy and goal resolution. Normal shots do not receive this bonus.
• If the keeper saves the power shot, its Control penalty is 20 instead of the ordinary 10, making retention harder.
• A goalkeeper with Velvet Touch ignores that power-shot Control penalty. The shooter still keeps the +15 shot-quality bonus.

Removes specific disadvantages of long deliveries. It does not itself add points to Passing.

• With Go direct, the ordinary order adds +5 Offensive Positioning and +5 Ball Control in the midfield reception. Deep Range does not increase those bonuses.
• For the midfielder using Go direct, the ability removes the restriction that otherwise prevents a clear-margin win and caps the reception margin below the almost-free band. Advanced follow-ups can then qualify normally.
• For the passer using Go direct, and for a starter forced into a long delivery, the ability allows a good pass to improve assistance. Without it, that delivery can worsen the balance but cannot improve it by drawing defenders away.
• The pass still has to be good enough and the duel still has to be won. The Fun Factor cost of choosing Go direct remains.

Helps in the preparation test, avoids rushed receptions and improves rebound finishing.

• When testing whether the defender is prepared for the challenge, multiply the holder’s relevant positioning by ×1.25 at midfield or ×1.5 in the box: Defensive Positioning for the defender and Offensive Positioning for the attacker. Only this preparation comparison uses the multiplier; the ordinary positioning duel is not multiplied.
• A receiving attacker with Lightning cannot suffer the rushed-action penalty from that reception. The current calculation does not add a separate multiplier to the opponent’s rushed-action risk.
• A shooter following up a saved rebound gets +15 to the rebound shot score. The same bonus applies to a taker following up a saved match penalty, if that rebound reaches him.
• As a goalkeeper at a match penalty or shootout, the ability contributes −2.5 percentage points to the opponent’s conversion before the final limits.

Makes execution more dependable and adds a separate advantage at penalties.

• Adds +20 effective experience, capped at 100, for execution mistakes and experience-related effort-foul risk. It does not add career experience to the profile.
• Higher effective experience lowers both the probability and maximum depth of an execution mistake. It does not produce a positive random skill bonus.
• Penalties, including shootouts: the taker contributes +3 percentage points to conversion; a goalkeeper contributes −2 percentage points to the opponent’s conversion, before the final limits.

Adds +15 effective Constitution in the stamina calculations that use this ability.

• Fatigue starts 15 played minutes later with all other conditions equal. Half-time and extra-time recovery are still applied normally; the player can still tire in a long match.
• The +15 Constitution is also used for the Constitution contribution to assistance, the relevant pressing resistance and flank-defender opportunity checks.
• Injury resistance does not receive this bonus. The Constitution value on the profile is unchanged.

Strengthens the challenge after the defender reaches the attacker.

• Adds +15 to Tackling used in the control challenge. On a high delivery it also adds +15 to the Aerial input used for that challenge; the usual aerial combination and limits still apply.
• It does not add +15 to Defensive Positioning or guarantee that the defender reaches the attacker in the first place.
• With Ground angles, against a low delivery after a perfect positioning win, the chance of creating a bad shooting angle rises from 60% to 90%. This is a +30 percentage-point change, or ×1.5 of the original chance.

Improves receiving the ball; on a goalkeeper, it improves keeping hold of a save.

• Outfield reception: +15 to the Ball Control input. A high pass still combines that value with Aerial, including the usual box cap, so the final aerial reception is not automatically 15 points better.
• Goalkeeper after a save: +15 to Control when deciding whether the ball is retained or spilled.
• The goalkeeper also ignores the Control penalty of power shots, including Cannonball. This does not remove the shooter’s shot-quality bonus and does not add to Reflexes or Goalkeeper Positioning.

Rewards an aerial mismatch and helps goalkeepers claim high deliveries.

• An attacker receiving a high pass against a defender without Skyscraper gets +15 to Aerial in the box, or +7.5 at midfield. That value is then combined with Ball Control; it is not a flat bonus to the finished reception score.
• A marking defender with Skyscraper cancels that attacker bonus. In open-play reception duels, the defender does not additionally receive his own +15 from Skyscraper.
• In a set-piece aerial challenge, either participant gets +15 to Aerial if the opponent lacks the ability. If both have it, neither receives this mismatch bonus.
• Call for a high ball normally carries a 30% risk of a bad angle from forcing the pass. For a Skyscraper attacker that particular risk is 0%; other causes of bad angles remain.
• A goalkeeper gets +15 to Interceptions when trying to claim an interceptable high delivery into the box.

Prevents match injuries and doubles the holder’s qualifying Constitution assistance bonus.

• The match-injury check for this player is skipped: its injury chance is 0%.
• For eligible players, the Constitution assistance factor is normally 1 + max(0, Constitution − 50) ÷ 200. Unbreakable doubles only the above-50 bonus, not the whole assistance contribution. Engine is included in the effective Constitution used here.
• LB, RB, LWB and RWB are excluded from this Constitution assistance factor. With Constitution at or below 50 there is no above-50 bonus to double.