Well, you should visit fifamania.it site more often
MonkeyDragon was the first, I learned everything looking at one of his patches for FIFA 07 and I became able to do external patches (that is the same of "mode") like MD did. We had different ways to do modes in the past, both me and MD because there is no one single way to do that. There are ways that require more HD space (but that are safer), ways that require some pre-game switching, ways that use a different fat (almost every mode nowadays) and so on...
I started making modes with Holly & Benji (Captain Tsubasa) Patch for FIFA 07, then Classic Patch 07, then for FIFA 08 I made my favourite Patch: Holly & Benji Patch for FIFA 08. Think: that patch is so revolutionary that you can install it one time, run it a first time and then you can uninstall FIFA 08 having the mode working all the same. I suggest you trying that patch if you have still FIFA 08 and you will understand why I call it the more revolutionary ever made
Then for both FIFA 08 and FIFA 09 I made World National Patch (still external or MODE, even if in a rough way), then I made also Classic90 Patch for FIFA 09 as a mode. Do you remember Stylus's Classic90 Patch? Well, how do you think that the patch can work without touching your FIFA files? Because it is a MODE
Like MonkeyDragon, I'm able to make pre-match programs, able to prevent you from going onto some options in FIFA main menu, use not only external files, but also external saved games, etc
Only because there is not written "MODE" in the patch title, this does not mean that no other modes have been made...
Sincerely, the "MODE" term itself has been introduced only recently by MonkeyDragon
And I think Bassio can do the same