Basic introduction

In Dugout-Online, all trainable skills of your players have training points associated with them. When a particular skill reaches 1,200 training points, the player can potentially improve in that skill - depending on his talent.
If the player has enough talent, the skill level increases, and 1200 points are deducted, allowing him to begin training toward the next improvement.
However, if the player lacks the required talent, there's only a 1 in 8 chance that the skill will increase, when the 1,200-point threshold is reached.

An example:

A midtalent player's Shooting skill is currently at 24, and he has accumulated 1,100 training points in Shooting so far. During the next training update, he receives 230 additional training points in Shooting, bringing his total for that skill to 1330 - which exceeds the 1,200 threshold.
What happens is the following:

1. The Player's talent allows advancement, so his Shooting skill increases to 25.
2. 1200 points are deducted, leaving him with 130 points toward the next improvement cycle.

Coaches

On your Training screen, you'll see the overall training quality of your team across seven key areas:

• Goalkeeping (GKC)
• Defending (DFC)
• Midfield Play (MFC)
• Attacking (FWC)
• Physical Training (PHY)
• Tactics (TAC)
• Youth Team Training (YTH)

Whenever you reassign a coach, the impact on these training areas is updated immediately.

How Coaches Affect Training

• A coach assigned as a General Coach contributes to the four main training areas — Goalkeeping, Defending, Midfield Play, and Attacking — by adding 15% of their available training points (based on their individual skills in those areas).
• A coach assigned to a specialized training area (e.g., Goalkeeping) contributes 100% of their training points to that specific area (based solely on their skill in that discipline).
• Coaches not assigned to Youth Training also contribute to both Tactics and Physical training. How much they contribute depends on their Tactical and Physical skill levels.
• Coaches assigned to the Youth Training area contribute 100% of their training points (based on their Youth skill) exclusively to the youth training program.

Gathering training points

With each training update, a player receives training points in all skills related to the area they are currently focusing on (see list below).
The number of training points gained depends on several factors:

1. The quality of training in that specific area
2. The player's talent (except when training physical skills)
3. The player's Teamwork attribute
4. Any relevant club improvements:
   
   • Training Ground – boosts 1st team training
   • Youth Academy – boosts youth training
   • Fitness Centre – boosts physical training
   • Research Facility – boosts all training areas

Contribution Breakdown

• The most training points come from having a high-quality coaching staff
• Next in importance: the player's Talent (if applicable), followed by their Teamwork
• Facility improvements apply their effect percentage-wise to the final total, after the base training points are calculated

Training focus

You can choose from 11 different training areas for each of your players. Here's what each focus does:

General

Goalkeepers will receive most of their training points in goalkeeping skills, and some in outfield skills. Outfield players receive most points in outfield skills, with a small amount going to goalkeeping skills.
Note: Players training under the General setting lose about 15% of their training points across all affected skills due to the broader focus.

Goalkeeper

Trains in: Reflexes, One on One, Handling, Communication, Positioning.

Defender

Trains in: Tackling, Marking, Heading, Positioning, Communication.

Fullback/Wingback

Trains in: Tackling, Positioning, Marking, Communication, Crossing.

Central midfielder

Trains in: Passing, Creativity, Positioning, First Touch, Long Shots.

Defensive midfielder

Trains in: Passing, Marking, Tackling, Positioning and Creativity.

Attacking midfielder

Trains in: Passing, Long Shots, Dribbling, Creativity, Shooting.

Winger (midfielder)

Trains in: Crossing, Creativity, Passing, Positioning, First Touch.

Forward

Trains in: Shooting, Heading, Dribbling, Positioning, First Touch.

Winger (forward)

Trains in: Shooting, Crossing, Dribbling, Positioning, First Touch.

Fitness training

Trains in: Speed, Strength.

Additional Notes on Training Quality
When training a specific position, the quality of your club's training in each area affects the skill gains. Keep in mind:

• Some skills are influenced by multiple training areas. In those cases, the main relevant training area is used:
  
  • A defender's Heading uses Defending quality
  • An attacker's Heading uses Attacking quality
  Communication and Positioning are often influenced by Tactics quality

Youth Training Works Slightly Differently:
For youth players, training is first based entirely on your club's Youth Training quality, then, coach-based bonuses are added.
For example, a youth central defender will:

• Receive initial skill points based on Youth Training quality
• Gain a bonus to Tackling, Marking, Heading from the highest Defending training among youth coaches.
• Gain a bonus to Positioning, Communication from the highest Tactical training among youth coaches.

However, if you assign a youth player to Fitness Training, they will train with the first team, regardless of their squad status
Note: There is no youth bonus applied to fitness training.

Other training modifiers

Several additional factors influence how effectively your players train in Dugout-Online. These modifiers help simulate realistic player development—and decline.

Player's age

Once a player turns 27, he starts losing a percentage of his gathered training points with each update. The older he gets, the more his development slows.
At age 32, the decline becomes more serious:

• The player will lose training points in 4 random technical skills and 2 physical skills during every training update.
• This means that beyond just slower growth, players effectively go into "negative training points" (not a technical term, but it gets the idea across).
• The decline is much more noticeable in physical skills (Speed and Strength) than in technical ones.

Number of players in the first team

Having too many players in your first team negatively affects training efficiency. The more overcrowded your squad, the fewer training points each player will gain.
A coach can effectively train 7 salaried players

• So, 5 coaches can fully handle up to 35 salaried players
• 3 coaches can handle up to 21 salaried players

If you have more salaried players than the coaches can effectively handle, their effectiveness will decrease as follows:
Training Efficiency Penalties (per extra salaried player):

Extra Players	Coach Efficiency
1	99%
2	98%
3	96%
4	92%
5	88%
6	82%
7	76%
8	68%
9	60%
10	50%
11	40%
12	28%
13	16%
14 or more	10%

Youth training

Once a youth player's skill reaches 15 or higher, they begin receiving a penalty if they continue training in the youth setup.
For each skill above 14, the player loses 5% of gathered training points in that skill.

Player's positional Rating

A player's overall positional Rating can only be improved by playing matches.
The amount of progress depends on:

• The player's Talent
• The number of minutes played

Restrictions:

• A player's positional Rating cannot exceed their highest technical skill by more than 2 points
  
  • For outfield players, this refers to outfield technical skills
  • For goalkeepers, this refers to goalkeeping skills
• Speed and Strength are not included in this comparison
• All matches (friendly, cup, league, etc.) contribute equally to rating development

Maximum Speed and Strength

Each player has a hidden cap for Speed and Strength — representing their natural athletic ceiling.

• As a player gets closer to this cap, the training points earned for that skill gradually decrease
• Once the cap is reached, the player will no longer gain training points for that stat, even if assigned to Fitness training