Five facilities, ten levels each: what to build first

Alongside the stadium, a club now builds five facilities. Each starts at level 1 — which means not having it at all — and climbs to an elite level 10. Here is what each one does, and how to spend a small budget on them.

What each facility does

• Training centre — from training on the match pitch to an elite campus with eight pitches. Every level above the first adds 3% to your players' development, up to 27%.
• Youth academy — from juniors training with the first team to a reference academy with a residence. The intake arrives once a year, on 15 April, and a higher level brings more prospects in it (from one to six) and a higher ceiling for each of them.
• Medical centre — from a first-aid bag to an imaging suite and a laboratory. Every level above the first makes injuries heal 4% faster, up to 36%.
• Scouting network — from the manager watching clips on a phone to a worldwide network. It sets how many scouting missions you can run at once, from one to five.
• Analysis centre — from a whiteboard to a data-science department. Every level above the first adds half a percent of match preparation, up to 4.5%.

What they cost

Every facility level costs eight weeks of the income of an ordinary club in the division where clubs usually have it. The second level of any facility costs about 1,600 and takes a game week to build; the fifth costs about 32,000 and three weeks; the eighth about 760,000 and six weeks; the tenth about 24M and ten weeks. The early levels are within reach of an amateur club; the last ones belong to clubs that play in front of tens of thousands.

Every level also has to be looked after: each week the club pays 0.3% of the price of everything it has built, and from division 6 down a building grant pays half of one build a season, for a level up to what clubs of the division above usually have.

An order that works for a small club

1. Training centre to level 2 or 3 first. Development compounds: a few percent more every month, on every player, for every season you keep them.
2. Medical centre next. At the foot of the pyramid your squad is thin, and an injured starter is a hole you cannot fill. Faster recoveries are worth more to a small squad than a big one.
3. Scouting network to level 3 once you start buying rather than picking up free agents: two missions at a time lets you compare players before you commit.
4. The academy when you can afford to wait. Prospects take seasons to pay back, and the intake comes only once a year: start the pipeline when the club can carry it.
5. The analysis centre last. Its edge is real but small, and it matters most when your squad is already close to your rivals'.

Keep the ground in step

None of this replaces the stadium. A bigger ground is still the only way to grow your gate, so alternate: a facility level, then a stand, then a facility level. Watch the Club screen, where each facility shows what it does now and what the next level adds.