FIFA ratings do not matter to Chelsea or N’Golo Kante

The top 100 FIFA 20 ratings are out and N’Golo Kante is Chelsea’s only representation. The club and player will not care for arbitrary numbers.

The FIFA series has both been the best and worst thing to happen to football. On the one hand, it has introduced a new generation to the game with it not being unusual for someone to become a fan of a team because of the game. On the other hand, it has killed the understanding of the game to the point of a player’s numbers mattering in real life.

FIFA 20 is coming out soon which means it is time for the annual uproar about the arbitrary numbers assigned to players. It always starts with the top 100 and this year Chelsea only has one player in that bracket: N’Golo Kante.

Really think about that. Chelsea may not be on top of the world like before, but name any list of 100 top players and it is almost impossible to name only one Chelsea player. And while the uproar will continue, Kante and Chelsea will not care because the game is what it is and the numbers only matter virtually.

For reference, Lionel Messi has been rated at 94 (out of 99) since 2015. Cristiano Ronaldo was rated at 94 since 2016 and is going down to 93 this year. Now, of course those two are still the best two players in the world. But is Messi as good as he was four years ago? No, not really. Age catches everyone.

Kante is rated at 89 which is very good but the breakdown of his stats is silly. A pace of 78, which as many will harp on is the be all end all of real player traits, is barely faster than Pedro or Michy Batshuayi but miles below Willian. One would be hard pressed to find someone willing to argue that Kante and Batshuayi just as fast as one another.

But that is the problem. FIFA is not the real game; it is an arcade version of it simplified to such a low level that anyone could understand it. And while that has introduced many to the game and its tactics, it has also made their understanding of it far too simplistic.

That bleeds into people thinking three at the back formations are too defensive or a slow player is no player at all. It makes them look at young players with low ratings and potential and deem them not good enough before even giving them a look in real life. The ratings are there to spark debate, not to be accurate.

But Kante will not care about that. He is still one of the world’s best midfielders and Chelsea’s best player. Chelsea will not care much about only having Kante in the top 100 either. Because the game is fiction. The numbers are fiction. And debate based on FIFA logic is fiction.

Enjoy the updated roster version of the game, but do not let the numbers bleed into the understanding of real life. The real game of football is so much more nuanced than FIFA will ever make it and to have only Kante in the top 100 is a pretty clear indication of that.