5 world football superstars and their debut FIFA cards

With every annual release, the FIFA franchise revises player ratings to accurately portray every player’s performances in the bygone season. This accurate summary of a player’s attributes and capabilities combined with an excellent gameplay engine make FIFA the complete football gaming experience.

FIFA rankings are pretty accurate summations of a player’s talent and such ratings can also be used to chart a player’s progress through the years. This list attempts to do the same with some now household names who were only youngsters trying to make their mark in world football some years ago.

Read on to find out some of world football’s top players’ first ever FIFA card ratings compared with their current FIFA 17 cards featuring four Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola recruits.

*FIFA Cards started from the 2010 edition

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#5 Dele Alli

Dele Alli is now a fixture in the England national team

The Spurs midfielder was rated at 80 when FIFA 17 was launched but EA soon realised their massive underestimation of his talents. In their annual Winter Ratings Refresh, they corrected their error and gave Alli a rating 84 which was befitting of the man’s performances for club and country.

Alli’s rise to the top of the footballing pyramid has been a relatively recent one. Playing for MK Dons, his breakthrough performance came in MK Dons 4-0 win over Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United in the Carling Cup in the first year of the Dutchman’s reign.

Alli had been instrumental in that win without getting on the scoresheet and has gone from strength to strength since. It is easy to forget that Alli made his first FIFA appearance three years back, rated at only 54 with MK Dons in League Two.

#4 Paul Pogba

Pogba returned to his boyhood club in a world record transfer deal

With snazzy haircuts, a world record transfer deal which was announced via a rap video featuring Stormzy, a social media following of millions and the performances to back it all up, Manchester United’s Paul Pogba is the quintessential modern-day sporting superstar.

Pogba’s performances on the field were exceptional during his four seasons for Juventus which saw his overall rating rise to 88 on FIFA 17. Exceptional pace, power and shooting attributes make him a dynamic box to box midfielder.

The 23-year old’s rise after he first left Manchester United was meteoric. When he left the Red Devils, EA had released FIFA 12 and Pogba was a highly underrated but promising youngster rated at only 55. It was Pogba’s first appearance in the FIFA series and has risen by 33 points since then.

#3 Kevin De Bruyne

Kevin De Bruyne is now one of the Premier League’s best attacking midfielders

Shunned by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea for apparently not working hard, the Belgian midfielder is now talented enough to command a starting spot alongside David Silva in the Pep Guardiola edition of Manchester City. So highly rated are his talents now that EA rated him at 88 for FIFA 17.

In FIFA 10, when De Bruyne still played for boyhood club Genk, he was a centre-forward rated at 64 and had only just begun to attract the attention of Europe’s big spenders. He has since lived up to the hype and has been a major part of Manchester City’s best performances in the past couple of years.

#2 Thibaut Courtois

Another Genk academy graduate, Thibaut Courtois’ imposing performances in goal saw Atletico Madrid winning the La Liga in 2014. Jose Mourinho called him back from loan after that at Chelsea and replaced Petr Cech as the Blues first choice keeper during the successful Premier League run in 2015.

Now one of the world’s best shot-stoppers, Courtois’s performances are again leading Chelsea’s title charge under Antonio Conte. With his imposing size and cat-like reflexes, the Belgian is given a rating of 89 in the game which makes him on of the best goalkeepers on FIFA too.

Courtois made his FIFA debut in FIFA 10 as a fresh-faced youngster from Genk rated at 58 with his reflexes being his best attribute at 63.

#1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has brought his trophy winning habit to Manchester United

The Swede has scored 15 goals for Manchester United at the age of 35, backing up his over-the-top rhetoric with performance on the pitch. Coming to Manchester United after a 50-goal season with Paris Saint-Germain, he was rated at an overall of 90 in FIFA 17.

Zlatan has been operating at an elite level for years now and his FIFA debut card is a testament to his quality. When FIFA 10 released, the man who doesn’t do auditions was playing for Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona where he was being treated like a ‘Fiat instead of the Ferrari’ but still rated at 90.

We mentioned in the beginning of this article that it would contain players who were trying to make their mark on world football but that obviously doesn’t apply to the “God of Manchester” who has won 5 League titles in his past five club seasons.

Watch: What happens when you play Zlatan Ibrahimovic in goal in FIFA 17