FIFA 23 Celtic Career Mode Guide - Starting lineup, who to sign & more

Celtic reclaimed their crown from a resurgent Rangers last season, and the board expect the same again in FIFA 23 Career Mode.

There are some decent young talents coming through, but the squad needs some additional depth and improvement too.

On a tight budget, can you give the team a big refresh and start challenging in Europe too?

Team Rating

Celtic has a three-and-a-half-star rating in FIFA 23.

The breakdown of the ratings is as follows: ATT 74, MID 73, DEF 72.

Starting Lineup and Formation

Celtic’s default formation is a solid 4-3-3 Holding and we're keeping it like this as it provides different attacking variations in the game to adapt to your opponent when needed.

We've changed things a little up top, bringing Georgios Giakoumakis into the mix as a target for the speedy wingers of Kyogo Furuhashi and Jota to hit.

The midfield three are all decent box-to-box players, with Aaron Mooy and David Turnbull as the CMs, and Callum McGregor at CDM as a deeper playmaker.

Full-backs Josip Juranovic and Greg Taylor will be getting forward at any opportunity, with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt the centre-back partnership.

A familiar face is in goal with former England number one Joe Hart between the sticks.

Tactics and Instructions

As with the formation, we're keeping the tactics the same, which will lead to a very attacking style.

Defensively it is Press After Possession Loss with a very high line, intended to trap the opposition in their own half.

Offensively it is Slow Build Up and Possession, letting you work the ball around while overloading the box with players until the time is right to play a killer pass.

Both the wingers are on Stay Wide and Get In Behind, ready to make a darting run past the opposition defence.

Giakoumakis is told to Stay Central and given the default Mixed Attack for his runs, so he can get in behind or operate as a target man depending on the situation.

The midfield three keep their set instructions, which means Mooy will Get Forward, Turnball will Free Roam, and McGregor will Stay Back While Attacking and be a Deep Lying Playmaker.

Both the full-backs are told to Join The Attack and are set to Inverted, overloading the centre of the pitch to give more passing options, which will give the wingers more space to operate in.

Training

Celtic has a crop of young players to develop that will take their squad to the next level over the years.

Make sure that Jota (POT 83), Matt O'Riley (POT 81), Liel Abada (POT 81), Alexandro Bernabei (POT 80), Carter-Vickers (POT 80), Sead Haksabanovic (POT 80), Turnball (POT 79) and Reo Hatate (POT 79) all reach their potential, as they will be at the spine of your team as you build.

You can also train up Taylor (POT 77), Dane Murray (POT 76), Oliver Abildgaard (POT 76), Scott Robertson (POT 75), Anthony Ralston (POT 75) and Stephen Welsh (POT 74), who could all be decent squad players for the side.

Transfer Market

Starting budget: £25 million

Who should go?

There are plenty of players that can be let go of over the years of your FIFA 23 save, but we will be a bit conservative in the first transfer window, in order to see how the side copes with the schedule.

However, feel free to get rid of Stephen Welsh, James Forrest, Benjamin Siegrist, Yosuke Ideguchi, James McCarthy and Scott Bain.

That will give you around an extra £6 million to play with.

If you can find better and more promising replacements, you could also offload Furuhashi, Ralston, Mooy, Starfelt and Daizen Maeda, which would bring in around £20 million.

Loans

Celtic has eight players out on loan, but none of them has the potential to add to your first team, so feel free to sell them all upon their return.

Moritz Jenz is also on loan with the side, so be aware of his departure at the end of the season.

Who to sign?

The Celtic squad is decent enough to be dominant in the Scottish league and cup, however, you will need a lot better quality to start getting further in Europe.

We would look to invest only in relatively cheap young players, which will pay off in the long run.

This also means you can bring in a few new faces on a small budget.

The main place to add to is a CB, and if you can bring in a couple of players there it would be great.

Transfer Options (CB)

A promising striker can also elevate the side, and we would look to bring in someone who can play as a target man, although this is a personal preference.

Transfer Options (ST)

If you have the budget left over then a wonderkid goalkeeper and right-back can be added to the side.

Board Expectations

The board has one expectation of critical priority in FIFA 23, and that is Domestic Success, where you must win the league and also the Scottish Cup.

Brand Exposure is a high priority, where we needed to get a streak of scoring in 10 home games, and also sign two players born in Europe.

Youth Development is next with medium priority - which should be easy with the pre-order Homegrown Talent perk - needing to sign a player from the Youth Academy in the first season and play them in 50% of games the following one.

Continental Success is also of medium priority, where the board expects you to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League!

Finally, there is the very low priority of the Financial objectives, where we were tasked with selling two players and replacing them with two crucial players, while also finishing the season without any unspent transfer budget.

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