What’s new

A pin on one of their men now says how your man guards him. Tight: he stays attached, so his man finds it harder to drive and to score, and your man fouls more, tires faster and helps less at the rim. Sag off: he plays off him and helps inside, and his man gets open jumpers. Normal plays him straight and changes nothing. With no pin, or a pin at Normal, a match plays exactly as before.

Under the FIBA rule book timeouts now follow the real rule: two in the first half and three in the second, one in each overtime, and at most two in the last two minutes of the fourth. A timeout not taken by half-time is lost rather than kept for later. The live screen says how many your bench is allowed this half.

Under the NBA rule book a team is now in the bonus from its fifth team foul of a period, as the real rule and FIBA both have it, rather than from its sixth, and each overtime grants two timeouts rather than one. No league of the world plays the NBA book today, so nothing about your matches changes.

Six more season badges are awarded: Front runner, top of the table after every round; The great escape, bottom at halfway and in the top half at the end; On the last day, into the playoffs in the final round from outside the places; It’s personal now, a rivalry born while you run the club; Both derbies, both league games against a rival won, home and away; and Every single time, every game of a season against a rival won, playoffs included. The table after every round is now kept, and the seasons already played had theirs rebuilt from their results, so they count too. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

A new badge, Never missed one: a player of yours plays every league game of a season of thirteen games or more, at thirty minutes a night or more on average, with you in charge for the whole season. Playing in a game means minutes on the floor; a night in uniform on the bench does not count. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

A listed player’s page now says what his numbers don’t: his game is public, his body and his character are not. Any club that may bid can order a medical on him for 5 000; the finding is one sentence from your doctors, arrives at the next day opening, inside the auction, and only your club ever sees it. Bids stay binding. The club that buys him gets a free medical on arrival, and computer-run clubs order one before they bid when they can afford it. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

Players can now get hurt in training. Every man who trains on a day carries a small chance of an injury: about a quarter higher in a hard session, lower in a light one, higher when he is tired, older or fragile, and none at all on a day he rests. Most are knocks of a day or two; a few last weeks. An absence that runs past the end of a season now ends on time in the next one. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

After a club’s last game of the season, a week nobody has set becomes a preparation week: two conditioning days and five of practice. While a game is left it is still Practice every day. A week you set yourself is never changed.

Training together now builds familiarity: every training day, each pair of players who trained gets a little more used to playing together, a whole day on Practice, Offence or Defence and half a day on Film or a shootaround. Starters still build most of theirs in matches; it is the bench and a new signing who notice.

A friendly now teaches your scouts about 30% of what a league match does, for both squads, where before it counted as a full match. A computer-run club answering an approach now values its player's potential from the same range you see, not from the exact figure. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

Morning reports by email can now go out faster: up to 120 an hour instead of 50, still waiting their turn rather than being dropped. Nothing about matches, seasons or money changes.

A player at full potential can be reshaped: tick Reshape in the training plan, and the primary focus keeps rising at half speed while the other attributes of its group pay for it, so the overall rating stays where it is. Nothing changes unless a manager switches it on.

Your morning report can now also come by email: tick the box beside its hour in Settings, and every email has a link that stops it without signing in. The game sends at most 50 such emails in any hour, and one that does not fit waits for the next. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

Training has a week now: one session a day for the whole squad, Practice, Offence, Defence, Conditioning, Film, a shootaround or a day off, set on the new week page. A session moves where your players develop, never how much, and some are harder on the body than others. A club that sets no week trains Practice every day, exactly as before.

You can now ask the board for a transfer credit line: it stands behind a fifth of the season's projected income for transfer fees until the deadline, and what you spend past your cash becomes a loan at that evening's settlement. A line that ends with no signing costs 6 confidence. You can also ask the board to expand the scouting network by ten points, paid on the day and built a point a game day. Both need the board's confidence at 60 or more. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

The training screen now says in a word how each focus is moving (rising fast, rising, rising slowly, not moving or falling), counting what age takes, and a player training no longer improves is told what still helps. How players develop and how matches are played do not change.

A season now keeps its full detail while it is played and for one season after; then its daily money lines are summed and its AI decision log is cleared, while results, box scores, replays, honours and records stay for ever. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

A new world can now be born with two seasons already played, run in the background before anybody may join. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

Three game days before a derby it is announced in the league feed with what each side has said, and you get a notice with a link to say your word. Once a morning you get one note when the players, clubs, managers or leagues you follow had news. Nothing about how a match is played changes.

A player who served your club for six seasons or more gets a farewell when he retires: a testimonial match, his number retired for good, or a quiet exit. You can pair a young player with a veteran leader as his mentor for 28 days, which speeds his mental development. Countries with two or more divisions now play a national cup after the playoffs.