FIFA Ultimate Team Beginner's guide

How to build your team, find players, choose the best chemistry styles and more.

If you just started playing FIFA or if you recently converted from PES (eFootball) to FIFA, then don't worry. In this Beginner's guide you will learn the fundamentals of FIFA Ultimate Team so you can build the best possible team.

This guide contains the following information:
1) How to choose a league
2) How to find players
3) Player attributes
4) Objectives
5) Squad Building Challenges
6) Consumables
7) Chemistry styles
8) How to build your stadium
9) Division Rivals and other modes

1) How to choose a league
When you first play FIFA Ultimate Team you will have to choose your league. This will determine the first packs of players that you are going to receive. In FIFA Ultimate Team, your players should have chemistry, so that is why you must buy players only from a certain league or create a hybrid squad with successful chemistry links (i.e. players of the same club or the same nation have good chemistry between them).

You can even buy players from different leagues in the process, but if you decide to change the basic league then you will have to sell several players and buy players from another league. It is important to note that players' value is dropping by the day, because EA Sports releases improved player cards all the time. Since those cards have higher stats, users are prompted to sell old player cards, which causes a price drop every day. The ideal scenario is that you must choose your league carefully from the beginning and stick with it forever. 

Personally, I tend to choose Premier League because it has a lot of fast players in all positions. Italian league has players in very good prices (so you can build your team very fast), as well as good defenders. Spanish league has players with good technique. The German league relies mostly on Bayern and Borussia Dortmund and less on other teams, while the French league relies mostly on Paris Saint-Germain. 

If you are caught in a dilemma between the different league options, then first check FUTHead.com and player values in FUTbin.com, to help you make decisions. Bear in mind that in the beginning you will have to spend a few thousand coins on each position to create a decent team. Players come in the form of cards and are divided into Bronze, Silver and Gold qualities. There are even inform cards which consist of famous players and carry a higher rating and Icons, the rarest cards in the game which depict veteran players with very high quality (may be rated 90 or above). Teams are required to have players of a minimum Gold rating in order to be competitive in multiplayer.

To view your Squad in-game hold the left analog stick downwards. You will see your starting eleven, your substitutes and your team's chemistry score. Your goal is to have 100% chemistry between your players. If you don't, their communication on the field will be lacking. If your players come from the same league, they will be signified by a yellow chemistry link. If they play for the same team (in real-life) or if they come from the same country, then they will have a green chemistry link. The yellow chemistry link between all players is enough to achieve a score of 100% for your team's chemistry.

2) How to find players
After opening your first packs (i.e. cards which contain players) and having placed several players of your chosen league in your starting eleven, it's time to start selling players that you don't want and at the same time buy some players in order to cover the positions that you need most. Select 'Transfer list' to buy players and open FUTHead.com in a browser, click on the 'Players' menu and then filter results by selecting 'Position'.

On FUThead, the default sorting is done according to player ratings, but you can also sort players according to their pace, shooting, passing and several other stats that you can choose depending on your team's formation and game style. Check player prices either on FUTbin.com or directly in-game by Selecting Transfer Market, then searching for a specific player by typing his name and choosing "Max Buy Now".

When you find a player's minimum Buy Now price, the next step is to choose a card which contains a chemistry style, the symbol of which is located at the bottom  of each card. If the chemistry style is the icon of a football shoe, then this player has Basic Chemistry (meaning, in fact, that he has no chemistry applied). It is advisable to choose any other card except this one so that you have at least one chemistry applied (more on chemistry styles later).

3) Player attributes
In order to see player attributes, just search for them on FUTHead.com. You can also see the attributes of a player you own by pressing the right analog stick or in the Transfer market by typing his name and then again R3). Each player has 6 basic stats which are shown on each card and several extra attributes that are located below those stats. 
- Goalkeepers need to have good Handling to keep the ball and good Reflexes to catch the ball when they receive powerful and difficult shots.
- Defenders should have good Defense and Physical stats so that they are hard to beat, perform better headers and be fast. Right and Left backs need more Acceleration and Pace in order to catch up with fast wingers.
- Defensive Midfielders need good Defense and Physical stats in order to cut their opponents but at the same time they should be able to win the ball at the center of the pitch or take a first header after a goalkeeper's volley.
- Wingers (LM, LW, RM, RW) should have high Pace and then statistics depending on your game style. If they cut inside the opponent's area they should have good Dribbling and Shooting. If you play with crosses then they should have a good Crossing attribute.
- Forwards and Strikers require high Shooting and Sprint Speed. Ideally they should have good Dribbling or even Heading (if you play with crosses).

4) Objectives
Ultimate Team has hundreds of objectives, which you accomplish when you score goals, win matches, buy and sell players or unlock new stuff for your team. Objectives can give you coins, XP, XP boosts and player cards. You can always see the rewards for each objective before you finish it. You can collect a reward after completing an objective. When finishing a group of objectives you receive higher rewards.

5) Squad Building Challenges
This is a mode in which you can exchange your unwanted players with player packs or specific players. SBC start from simple card exchanges, like "Give 11 Gold cards and get a pack of cards" and can evolve into challenges which require more complicated combinations. For instance, you will be asked to exchange cards with players from the same league but belonging to different nations (or the opposite), players from a minimum or maximum of nations or leagues or even hybrid squads, meaning that players from different leagues but several should belong from the same country in order to achieve high chemistry.

6) Consumables
These cards can be applied to your players and can be found in the transfer list. For instance, a very common consumable type of cards is 'Contracts'. Contracts are required to renew a player's or manager's contract. When a player or manager is active in a game, his contract loses 1 point. Upon reaching zero, those players or staff won't be eligible to play, thus their contract must be renewed on that day or any time before.

Consumables also include Position change cards, which can convert a player's position in order to a better-fitting one for your team's formation. Also, in the Consumables menu you can find Chemistry styles, which are needed for all your players as they increase their attributes.

7) Chemistry styles
These cards increase your players' attributes and can be bought in the Transfer list/Consumables menu. Depending on each player's position and attributes, different chemistry styles can be applied. For example, a slow striker should have a chemistry style which will give him higher speed (Pace or Acceleration and Sprint Speed attributes). At the same time, a striker with bad Shooting will need a Chemistry style card which will increase his stats in Shot Power, Finishing or Long Shots. You should study each player's attributes and decide which chemistry style card is the best for him.

Check the list of the Chemistry styles according to each player's position.

Club
This menu allows you to change your logo, kits or even stadium appearance. You can apply various effects on the seats and stadium, the background music when you score a goal, what your fans' chants etc. Cards for these purposes are unlocked in packs or can be found spare when completing objectives or in the transfer market.

Division Rivals and other modes
Division Rivals is the most played FIFA Ultimate Team mode. Here, you start with your team in Division 10 and you can gain promotion with -even less- matches this year, starting from FIFA 22 and onwards. You play against other players, promoting your team until you reach Division 1 and in preparation for the championship. If you achieve a minimum number of points within a specified time window, then you can apply to take part in the Fifa Ultimate Team Champions, playing for the official EA tournament and potentially getting various packs as gifts. In the finals, you can even play in eSports stadiums and win real money.

Another important mode is Ultimate Team Draft. In this mode, you can either play solo or against other players. You can't control the players you bought, but you can receive draft players for each position, being given the choice to choose between 5 possible options. You goal is to achieve the highest winning streak possible. However, in order to get into the Ultimate Team Draft (either single-player or online) you need 15.000 coins, collected either through playing or exchanging 300 Fifa points, which are bought with real  money. Note that this mode comes with a risk, as if you don't manage to achieve a certain number of consecutive wins then your investment might be wasted.

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Also, check our first Ultimate Team video and Career mode in Ultimate difficulty.

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