EA FC 24 Ultimate Team: 7 tips for a successful season
Ultimate Team remains the most popular game mode in FC 24. Not yet familiar with UT? We'll help you with these tips so you can find your way around right from the start.
Ultimate Team (UT) is once again the number one game mode in EA FC 24. Because some things can be complicated in UT at first glance, we'll help you understand the "UT world" in this guide. With these tips, nothing stands in the way of building your ultimate team!
More tips on EA FC 24
01
Getting started
Ultimate Team not only offers you the opportunity to lead your favourite players onto the pitch in a team, but there is also much more to discover in the menu. For example, you can expect lockable goals, Squad Building Challenges (SBCs) and the new Evolutions feature (more on this later), which expand your options for building your dream team. Ultimately, however, almost everything revolves around earning enough coins. This is the in-game currency that can be used to buy and sell players on the transfer market.
You can obtain these coins primarily by completing matches. After each game, you will receive a small amount, which is around 500 coins. As world-class players such as Jude Bellingham sometimes cost millions of coins, many games are necessary to be able to afford one of the top stars at some point.
The Season Pass
One way to speed up the process of collecting coins and get closer to your dream team is the Season Pass, which is available to every Ultimate Team player free of charge. You can level up to 29 times per season, reaching a maximum of level 30. Each time you level up, you can expect smaller and larger rewards, including coin boosts, packs and a variety of items that you can use to customise your stadium.
The coin boosts increase the amount you receive after each game by a fixed amount for five games. So you shouldn't miss out on these! The packs, which contain a random selection of players, are also a chance to win coins. However, who is waiting for you in the packs is completely random. The chance of finding a superstar is much lower than for lower-rated players.
A little help to get you started
When you start Ultimate Team for the first time, you will receive a starting team consisting mainly of bronze players. Returning players may also receive packs that can provide you directly with your first gold players. Another very useful aspect are loan players. These can strengthen your team for a fixed number of games, giving you the opportunity to try out some very strong players right from the start. The first loan players are given to you right at the start, while others can be unlocked via the Season Pass and objectives.
Goals in FC 24 Ultimate Team
Reaching the next level in the Season Pass is only possible by collecting XP (experience points), which are awarded for achieving various objectives. For example, objectives can require you to win matches in a game mode, score with players from certain leagues or nations or score a goal with a bicycle kick. In addition to XP, there are usually also rewards such as smaller packs or a small amount of coins.
02
The chemistry
Once you have earned your first coins and want to start building your team, there are a few things to bear in mind. In the following, we will introduce you to the chemistry system, which has not changed compared to FIFA 23, but worked differently in the previous FIFA 23 games.
Instead of up to 100 chemistry points as in FIFA 22, you can receive a team chemistry of 33 in FC 24. The team chemistry is made up of the chemistry of each individual card, which ranges from 0 to 3. If each player has a chemistry of 3, you start the game with the optimum team chemistry of 33.
A player's chemistry depends on his team-mates. There are three criteria here: Nationality, league and club. For example, if you line up two players from the same league and the same club, this will have a very positive effect on the chemistry of both players. However, if all nine other players come from other clubs and other leagues and also have a different nationality, the individual chemistry of the two players with the same nationality and club affiliation may still be weak.
You must therefore ensure that there are links between different players in the team as a whole in terms of their origin, league or club. Finally, one more important piece of information: there are no longer any links between players to ensure better chemistry. This means that it is no longer important for players from the same club or league to play next to each other in order to optimise chemistry. It is enough if they are both in the same line-up. So a left winger and a right-back from the same club can also ensure that your chemistry improves.
Do you need recommendations and inspiration for your first team in FUT 23? Here we present two strong starter teams for a small coin investment!
03
Squad Building Challenges (SBCs)
The so-called SBCs are also an important part of EA FC 24 Ultimate Team. In an SBC, you can exchange players from your club for predetermined rewards. These can consist of players or packs. While a pack gives you the opportunity to test your luck, players as SBC rewards are often a one-off chance to get the player on offer. They are always non-exchangeable and only available for a certain period of time. The decision to take out a player SBC should therefore be carefully considered. You can check how expensive such an SBC is on sites like FUTBIN. There you will also find solutions created by the community if you get stuck.
However, remember that all players you trade in have a value, whether they are non-tradable or not. So an SBC is never really "free", even if you don't have to buy any additional players.
04
Trading
Once you have earned a few coins and perhaps already invested them in the team, you naturally don't want them to lose their value quickly. Keeping an eye on the market and using possible price fluctuations to your own advantage is now one of the most important skills of a good team manager.
Don't panic
Depending on the Ultimate Team content from publisher EA Sports, it can happen that many players lose a lot of value in a short period of time. However, it is important to keep a cool head here. It often turns out that these price drops are only short-lived, especially with more expensive cards, and that there is a so-called "rebound", i.e. the player regains some value. So even if you miss the perfect moment to sell, never sell your players during a panic phase on the market, but wait until the situation calms down again. You can even use such a phase to your advantage to buy players cheaply - whether for your team or as an investment.
05
Icons and Heroes
Icons and heroes have enjoyed great popularity since their introduction, as their characteristics make team building much easier and strengthen your squad enormously. Icons are former football stars such as Pelé, Lothar Matthäus or Andrea Pirlo. However, they are also correspondingly expensive. To be able to afford an icon, you have to dig deep into your virtual wallet. Or you could be lucky and get an icon in a pack.
An icon still has full chemistry in EA FC 24 as long as it is in its original position, but it only supports the other players chemically if they are from the same nation. For all other players, an icon no longer has any positive effects.
Heroes
Due to the changes to the chemistry system in FIFA 23, the balance of power between icons and heroes shifted slightly last year. Heroes have been around since FIFA 22 and are cards with a unique league-specific chemistry that are linked to the respective Hero moments of their careers. They offer all other players in the team a small bonus for the nation and a larger one for the Hero's respective league. Since squad building often works through a shared league, this is a huge advantage, making Heroes more popular than ever.
Both Icons and Heroes can be valuable options for your Dream Team in Ultimate Team. Having such a dream team remains the ultimate goal, with coins, SBCs and more paving the way.
06
Evolutions
Finally, we would like to introduce you to two new features in Ultimate Team. The first: Evolutions. This is a new system that allows you to improve your UT cards by completing tasks. You can level up your players and increase their overall rating and individual values up to three times during an active evolution. Skill moves, weak foot, work rates, play styles and secondary positions can also be improved or changed.
However, it is not possible to level up every card in your Ultimate Team during an Evolution. There are new slots with certain conditions in each UT season. For example, you can only upgrade players in a certain position.
Nevertheless, Evolutions is a cool new feature overall, which gives you the chance to improve cards from the club with diligence and skill and thus make them (more) playable. It's also great fun to level up!
07
Women's football
Others call it a revolution, we call it the logical step: the first ever integration of women's football in Ultimate Team. The female players have the same rating system as the male players. Five professional leagues are represented: In addition to the German Women's Bundesliga, the Women's Super League from England, the D1 Arkema from France, the Spanish Liga F and the US league National Women's Soccer League. There are also a number of clubs and players from the Women's Champions League. These also include heroes and icons.
The question that many of you are probably asking yourselves: How does the chemistry system work when you mix women and men in your Ultimate Team? Basically, not much changes: you earn chemistry points across genders through nations and clubs. A male and female player of the same origin who are also under contract with the same club award each other chemistry points for team and nation. However, the leagues are separate. In other words, two players from the same league may link up, but not a male and female player who both play in Germany's 1st division, for example.
Basically, it can be said that many women's cards in Ultimate Team are an enrichment for your team. Some of the women play absolutely OP. Sometimes they are also cheaper than comparable men's cards because there is less demand for them in UT.
Our tip: Keep an eye out for bargains on the transfer market from time to time and be open to a mixed team of men and women. Optimal chemistry can definitely be achieved with a mixed team.
Now you're ready for EA FC 24 Ultimate Team. We wish you lots of fun on the way to your dream team and maximum success on the virtual pitch!
About the author
Chris is a former professional eFootball player. He was a German national player, became European champion and competed against the best players in the world at national and international championships. Chris has now been a coach for many years and has also coached esports players in the Virtual Bundesliga - the official German championship in EA FC 24. On redbull.com, Chris accompanies you on your way to becoming a better player and regularly gives tips on EA FC 24.
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