Introducing a new feature that could directly influence your squad’s success within Matchday Champions: Boosts!
Boosts link real-world player performance directly to the ratings of our officially licensed footballer cards. This means that if the star striker on your team hits a run of form in real life, you could see your squad OVR soar!
Matchday Boosts are a temporary skill boost that raises both the OVR (Overall Rating) and the secondary stats (the core four) of a given card. Every week we select the top 5% of players based on our proprietary in-house scoring. The footballers that make it into the top 5% get boosted for one week.
How much each player gets boosted is connected to their existing OVR and secondary stats. Basically, the lower ranked the player, the higher the boost and vice versa.
To ensure the weekly boosts aren’t dominated by a single position, we consider every player’s role and positional demands, organising them into specific ‘Boost Position Categories.’ which we then spread over DEF, MID and FWD positions.
Our main aim is to equally weight contributions on the pitch, moving beyond the traditional focus on goals. We understand the complexity of capturing the essence of a player’s influence on the run of play, and although it might be impossible to truly grasp every nuance, we’ll give it a damn good try.
‘Games are meant to be fun, not punishing.’ (yeah tell that to Elden Ring’s DLC). Fear not if your midfield lineup have a dip in form, your goalkeeper gets sent off and your forward misses a crucial penalty, they will not be penalised. As the name implies, boosts are for boosting! Your OVR can only go up, and would only ever drop if a previously boosted player's rating later returns to its previous value.
They’re already up and running! Let’s take a look at some of the previous players that have been delivering excellent performances on the pitch recently. Especially against the backdrop of the recent European Championship and Copa America.
France ducked out in the semis. But magic Mike was great in the group stages. His OVR was already an impressive 89, but his performances saw it kicked up to 91 for a week.
Mike Maignan
Before: OVR: 89
After: OVR: 91 (+2 Boost)
Boosts have a bigger effect when the player’s OVR was not as high to begin with. Let’s take a look at Facundo Pellistri, the young Uruguayan playing at Manchester United. Previously sitting at an OVR of 69, he was identified as one of the top 5% of players and saw a massive bump to his ratings.
Facundo Pellistri
Overall: 79 (+10)
Attack: 81 (+13)
Possession: 81 (+8)
Defense: 67 (+4)
Pressing: 71 (+9)
First thing, check your squad. Every player with an active boost will have their stats appear in green. Secondly, check out our Instagram where every Tuesday evening (CET), we list boosted cards for that week. Thirdly, watch the pitch! Recent stunning performances from Euro 2024 and Copa America players has sent their regular OVR soaring. Yamine Lamal's wonder goal and Bellingham's last-gasp scissor kick miracle will no doubt make them prime candidates for a boost. It could well be that you have your best rated players on the bench instead of in your starting XI some weeks!
Others who’ve got boosts recently thanks to great tournament performances include England’s Bukayo Saka and the scouse Dutchman (and everyman) Cody Gakpo. Both got bumped up to 90 OVR ratings thanks to their Euro 2024 form.
Boosts are designed to be fun, reward regular Matchday Champions players and provide some depth for the football fans who enjoy keeping up to the minute with the beautiful game
We’d love to hear what you think of them, even if it’s simply outrage that your favourite player got overlooked. Come and join the conversation on our Discord.
