Players
Attributes
The most important characteristics of a player are his attributes. Each player has nine basic attributes: Goalkeeping, Defense, Midfield, Offense, Shooting, Passing, Technique, Speed and Heading. Each of these attributes has its quality, which is inborn and does not change throughout the career. You can only see exact values of the quality of attributes for players who have been scouted by the scouts from your human resources and economic department. The quality of the attribute determines the ability of a player to improve the given skill. The maximum value of any player attribute is 655.
A - The value of the attribute used to determine the current abilities of the player.
B - The quality of the attribute used to determine the ability of a player to improve in the given attribute.
Players in different positions use different combination of skills. The combination of skills used by players in the centre of the field is slightly different from the combinations used on the sides of the field. Some attributes are more important for a player on the side of the defense than for a player in the middle and vice versa.
You can see the precise value of the attribute to two decimal spots by moving your mouse over the attribute in the player's profile. The quality of each attribute is displayed in grey color next to the value of the attribute. If a player is scouted, the qualities displayed are precise and green-colored.
The performance of a player is mostly influenced by his primary attribute - goalkeeping for a goalkeeper, defense for a defender, midfield for a midfielder and offense for forward. The other attributes influence the performance of a player to a various extent based on his position on the playing field.
Attribute descriptions:
Goalkeeping: This attribute is only used by the goalkeepers. It represents the ability of a goalkeeper to stop the shots from going into the net. High value of this attribute helps the goalkeeper keep a good save percentage.
Defense: This attribute is used by all the players (except the goalkeeper) to stop the opponents from scoring by not letting them create scoring chances. It is used mainly by defenders but it is also useful for midfielders and forwards. Midfielders use it more often than forwards.
Midfield: This attribute is used by all the players except the goalkeeper. Strong midfield is often the difference between winning and losing. It is used mainly by midfielders but it is also useful for defenders and forwards.
Offense: The offense attribute is needed for the players to be successful in the offensive aspect of the game. It represents the ability of players to create a scoring chance and it also represents the ratio of how often the player will shoot in a good scoring chance. Players with lower offense attribute often choose to pass even if they should rather take a shot. It is used mainly by forwards but it is also used to a certain extent by midfielders and defenders. This attribute is more important for midfielders than it is for defenders.
Shooting: The shooting attribute is important for all the players who find themselves in the situation to shoot. The higher the shooting attribute, the higher the possibility that the player will capitalize on his scoring chance. The most frequently shooting players are centre forwards. However, the shooting attribute is also important for free kicks and penalty kicks. To a certain extent this attribute also influences the quality of the cross passes as well as crosses from free kicks and corner kicks.
Passing: You cannot play football without good passing. Every player, including the goalkeeper, must be able to pass the ball. This attribute is most important for centre midfielders. On the other hand, it is least used by goalkeepers and centre forwards. Players use passing also for crosses, free kicks and corner kicks.
Technique: This attribute has a number of uses. It is needed for all players including the goalkeeper. Technique represents the ability of a player to dribble with the ball or to deceive the opponent with fake moves. It also represents the kicking technique of players which is important mainly for free kick and to a certain extent for penalty kicks. Goalkeeper needs technique to be more effective at stopping the ball. The kicking technique is also important for a player who plays the corner kick or a cross pass.
Speed: Speed is a critical part of the game. In general it can be said that the players positioned on the sides of the playing field use speed more than players in centre positions. Speed is also used by the goalkeeper in order to quickly react to crosses or shots. Speed is important for a player who delivers the cross pass and to a certain extent it is also used by the player who is on the receiving end of that cross.
Heading: It is hard to imagine football without heading. This skill is used in offense, defense and sometimes it is used in midfield too. Centre backs use this skill most often to neutralize dangerous crosses of the attacking team. On the other hand, the attackers are trying to score from these crosses and they often use their head to achieve this. Centre forwards have the best position to score with a header. For goalkeepers this attribute represents the ability to react to opponent's crosses. It is certainly not a good idea to underestimate practicing this attribute for goalkeepers.
Secondary attribute usage
The table below shows the usage of secondary attributes based on the positions. The table shows only approximate influences and two attributes in the same column don't necessarily have to have the same influence. It is also important to note that every player on the pitch moves around and if he finds himself out of his usual position, he uses the attributes needed for the position in which he finds himself at that moment.
| Position | Big influence | Medium influence | Small influence |
| Goalkeeper | Technique, Speed | - | Passing, Heading |
| Full-back | Speed | Passing, Technique | Heading |
| Centre-back | - | Heading, Passing, Technique, Speed | - |
| Wide midfielder | Speed | Passing, Technique | Heading |
| Central midfielder | Passing, Technique | - | Speed, Heading |
| Wide forward | Speed, Technique | Passing | Heading |
| Centre forward | Speed | Technique | Passing, Heading |
In the next table you can see the approximate influences of attributes in the individual types of plays.
| Type of play | Big influence | Medium influence | Small influence |
| Shot | Shooting | Technique | Speed, Heading |
| Penalty kick | Shooting | Technique | - |
| Free kick | Shooting, Technique | - | Passing, Speed |
| Cross - Goalkeeper | Heading, Speed | - | - |
| Cross - Passer | - | Passing, Speed, Shooting, Technique | - |
| Cross - Shooter | Heading, Shooting | - | Speed, Technique |
| Corner kick | Passing, Technique | Shooting | - |
Preferred side
Some players have a preferred side, depending on which side of the pitch they like to play. Others - universals, play equally well on the right, left and in the centre. The universals are the best choice for the positions in the centre because the players in the central positions influence the play on both wings. If, for instance, you put a player who prefers to play on the right into the centre, his influence on the left wing will be somewhat decreased.
Career longevity
Another important characteristic of a player is his career longevity. Career longevity indicates for how long the player will be able to improve. Career longevity has seven levels. If a player reaches the lowest level (0/6), he stops improving and his attributes start decreasing. The speed of deterioration of attributes increases with age.
Career longevity is updated once in a season in the main seasonal calculation. The value can never get higher, but it can stay at the same level repeatedly. At higher age it tends to drop faster.
Popularity
Each player has a certain level of popularity, which indicates how popular he is amongst the fans. Popularity rises with his performance and with his position in the league statistics. Popularity rises faster in the higher divisions. The levels of popularity from the lowest to the highest are: Unknown, Known, Popular, Admired, Famous, Celebrity, Worldwide Star and Superstar. There are two main advantages to having popular players on the team. They increase attendance and also souvenir sales.
Popularity of a player may also decrease. The more popular the player is, the more popularity points he loses after a bad performance. This does not apply to friendly and tournament matches which have no influence on the popularity of the players.
Energy
The energy of a player is indicated by two numbers - current energy and seasonal energy. This is displayed in the following format: e.g. 80/100. The first number indicates the current energy of a player, i.e. the energy that a player has at the given moment. The second number is the seasonal energy and it is the maximum energy that a player can reach during that season. The seasonal energy decreases as the number of matches played by the player increases. It decreases faster, if the matches are played with high importance. Therefore the seasonal energy cannot be increased. It is recharged to the maximum at the beginning of a new season, after the main seasonal calculation. The energy of a player is very important as low energy levels harm the performance of the player in the match. Each player, whose current energy has dropped after a match, regains it back to the maximum seasonal energy automatically by a regeneration process.
The decrease of current and seasonal energy of players is based on minutes played. Minutes played in the extra time are included in that.
The seasonal energy of players decreases according to the following table (based on 90 minutes played):
| Match type | Very low | Low | Normal | High | Very high |
| Friendly and tournament matches | 0.02 | 0.05 | 0.10 | 0.20 | 0.30 |
| Competitive matches | 0.10 | 0.25 | 0.50 | 1.00 | 1.50 |
Note: Matches played in the league, National Cup, international cups and national team matches (except friendlies) are all competitive matches.
Experience
The players gain experience by playing minutes in matches. The more difficult the matches are, the more experience the player gains. Experience has a direct influence on the player's performance in the match. Match importance also has an effect on experience gains. The higher the importance, the more experience player can gain from the match.
Rating in match
Apart from the statistics, the match report also contains the rating of each player who has appeared in the match. This rating does not represent the performance of the player in that match, but his abilities and overall suitability for the position on which he played during the match. If a player has changed his position during the match, this will have an effect on his rating. The final rating is the combination of his experience, chemistry, energy and attributes needed for the given position. The rating is intended to help you train and use players properly.
Injuries
In PowerPlay Manager the maximum length of injury recovery is 28 days. However, injuries that last up to two weeks are more common. The frequency of injuries in your team is influenced by a number of factors. A team with a higher number of players will logically have more injuries. You will have less injuries and the recovery time will be shorter, if you have a high level of medical center and if you employ good physicians.
Players who have less than 6 days to full recovery have day-to-day status. These players can play, but the further away from full recovery they are, the poorer their performance in the match. You can set whether your day-to-day players should play or not play matches automatically. Warning! This setting only applies to players who get injured in the future. The setting of the currently injured players has to be changed individually for each player.
Suspensions
If a player gets too many yellow cards or a red card, he will not be allowed to play one or more matches. Two yellow cards in one match are not considered as a red card for the purposes of a suspension.
League (including relegation/promotion round)
| Cards | Suspension length (matches) |
| Yellow cards: 4 | 1 |
| Yellow cards: 8 | 2 |
| Yellow cards: 12 | 3 |
| Yellow cards: 16 | 4 |
| Yellow cards: 20 | 5 |
| Yellow cards: 24 | 6 |
| Yellow cards: 28 | 7 |
| Red card | 2 |
National Cup and international competitions
| Cards | Suspension length (matches) |
| 2,4,6,... yellow cards | 1 |
| Red card | 2 |
If a player doesn't serve the full length of his suspension in one season or edition of the given competition, the suspension will be carried over to the next season or edition. However, his card counter will be set to back zero. Each suspension is only valid in the competition where it was awarded and cannot be served in a different competition.
Player who is currently serving a suspension has an icon indicating this in his profile and on the Line-up page. Moving your mouse over this icon reveals the name of the competition for which the suspension is valid and the number of matches.
Player dismissal
If a player, whose overall rating is higher than 250, is dismissed or his contract is not renewed, he will automatically go on the market. If his overall rating is lower or equals 250, the player will retire. If a manager does not extend contract with a free agent who has not received any offers from the other clubs, the player will retire.
National team players
If a player is in the national team and his club loses its manager, the player will be sent to the market automatically, no matter what his overall rating is.