If you haven't played FIFA Ultimate Team before, it can be a bit overwhelming when you first start out.
We're here to help, so if you've just got FIFA 22 for Christmas and are looking to get on it straight away, use this little guide to manoeuvre your way through the game mode.
Read on for a brief explanation of what you need to know when playing Ultimate Team, as well as some helpful tips to get you started and some silly mistakes to avoid!
Game modes
One of the first things to decide on Ultimate Team is where to spend your playtime.
You will end up playing in all of the modes, but here is a brief rundown:
- Squad Battles - Playing against the computer, with weekly rewards
- Division Rivals - Playing against humans, with weekly and seasonal rewards
- Champions/Weekend League - Put yourself to the test playing competitive games against human opponents, 20 matches, the more wins the better the reward
- FUT Friendlies - Playing against humans with restricted team selections, usually used to complete objectives
- Draft - You can play against the computer or humans and will draft random players to assemble your side, the more wins the better the reward
- Squad Building Challenges (SBCs) - Trade-in players from your club to complete specific tasks and gain instant rewards
We would advise getting used to playing in the FUT Friendlies mode, where ranking isn't involved and players don't lose contracts.
(Contracts apply to players and managers - if you use them in matches their contracts will run down. You can add more contracts using consumables - apart from on loan players)
Squad selection
One of the key differences between Ultimate Team and other game modes is getting links between players in your side, making sure they have good chemistry.
Players who are from the same team, league, or nation will link well with one another, and get in-game boosts.
Individual chemistry ranges from 0 to 10, if nearer 0 players will get decreased stats, nearer 10 then it will be increased stats.
Player positioning also affects this, and if you are playing someone out of position they may not be able to reach maximum chemistry.
If that is the case, you can change their base position (within limits) with consumables available in packs and on the transfer market.
Goalkeepers and centre-backs can't have their position changed, but all others can.
As a brief guide, here is how you can change player positions:
- LB/RB < LWB/RWB
- LM/RM < LW/RW < LF/RF
- CDM < CM < CAM < CF < ST
Get ready to see strikers like Cristiano Ronaldo lining up as a CDM, just to get the right chemistry and links!
Find a formation and tactics that you feel suits your playstyle, and build around that.
If you've not played much against human opposition before, we recommend keeping your full-backs to Stay Back While Attacking - you're not against the computer anymore, and if your players are bombing forward you will be caught on the counter.
Having the right manager adds the finishing touch to your side, again, if players have a shared nationality or league, they will get additional chemistry.
There is also team chemistry to look out for, which can reach 100.
This isn't as necessary to worry about as individual player chemistry, and you will find the better individual chemistry, the better the team chemistry.
Again, the closer to 100 you reach, the better your team will perform in-match.
Objectives
If you check under the objectives tab, you will see there are various tasks to complete, which offer varying rewards.
- Season Process - As you gain XP from other objectives, you will rise through the levels up to 30. You will gain pack rewards and vanity items on the way and at levels 15 and 30 a player pick choice (refreshes around every six weeks)
- Objectives - The go-to for everyday play, new objectives come on a daily and weekly basis, with Silver Stars and tasks for promo players the events to look out for (objectives refresh at the end of the season if not otherwise stated)
- Milestones - Longer-term objectives that you will complete the more you play the game, also offers player rewards (doesn't refresh with new season)
- Team Events - Coming at irregular intervals, you have options to pick from which will then give you more objectives to complete relating to the team/player you have chosen
Make sure you are completing objectives to get you free players, it's always worth it even if you just end up using them to complete SBCs.
Meta play
Meta players are certain cards that are prominently used, so you will encounter them a lot.
Getting used to who they are, and how they are used, will help you out with not just competing with the opposition, but seeing what cards you should be going for yourself.
The main factor to think about is speed.
Not everyone likes this aspect of the game, which can lead to a very arcade-y type feel, but it's best to match the meta otherwise you will be overrun.
You may also come across players using full-backs as centre-backs, this is another aspect of the meta.
With better players being introduced through promos, centre-backs become less relevant as they can't keep up with play, so full-backs will start taking their place.
Beginners Tips
Tip 1
Before you even kick a ball, a great place to start is completing the foundation Squad Building Challenges.
This will not just teach you about SBCs, but how to make a team with good chemistry in general.
The rewards you gain are also tradeable (many rewards are untradeable), meaning if you pack a top player you could choose to sell them on the transfer market, and use the funds to invest in a great starter squad.
Tip 2
If you check in the objectives tab, you will find tasks that offer players as rewards, whether that is the weekly Silver Star, a player celebrating the latest promo, or Squad Foundation or League Players in the Milestones.
Complete these objectives!
Prioritise ones with a short expiry (those in regular objectives, not Milestones), and build up your club.
There are plenty of cards that you can build a squad around, and even if you don't end up using them in-match, they can be SBC fodder.
Tip 3
If you want to build up your coins from nothing, then get ready to grind out the Bronze Pack Method.
Effectively, it involves buying the cheapest pack available and selling the contents of it for profit.
It may not appear that this will make you millions, but you will be surprised if you decide to go down this route.
Silly mistakes
When you're new to a game you are bound to make silly mistakes or not realise simple methods that have become second nature to others - here are a few examples to watch out for:
Don't use loan players in competitive matches!
You will notice a loan player will have the number of contracts (games) remaining on their card image, and this can't be increased (unless you pack another loan version of their card).
You can get some of the best players in the game on loan, so keep them for playing in FUT Friendlies, where their contracts won't run down and you can use them indefinitely.
You can have multiple squads!
You aren't limited to how many squads you can make, so don't keep changing your first one about to complete objectives.
Once you've found a formation and tactic you like, it may be worth making a 'base' formation and then copying that each time you create a new team. It will keep all your tactics, and you can always change it up depending on the new team.
Duplicates can be swapped!
It won't be long before you are getting annoyed by all the duplicate players you are packing, especially if they are untradeable.
Don't forget to switch the duplicate with the copy from your club (you will see an option for this at the bottom of the screen), then if the one from your club is tradeable you can add it to the transfer list.
Sort your outstanding players!
Whilst we're on duplicates, if you leave them waiting around in limbo, you won't be able to open any more packs.
Our advice, use them up in an SBC straight away before quick selling/binning them.
If you happen to get a top-rated player duplicate it may be worth keeping them in limbo for a bit to use in a quality SBC.