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What to expect from Team of the Year in FIFA 21 Ultimate Team
When it happens and what we get from the year's biggest FUT promo.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas -- Team of the Year in FIFA Ultimate Team! EA Sports drops a squad of the most juiced-up cards of the whole game cycle, supported by floods of Squad Building Challenges and Lightning Rounds, and we all grind ourselves to pieces trying to pack one to set ourselves up for the rest of the game. So what should you expect from TOTY in FUT 21?
When is Team of the Year in FIFA 21?
EA hasn’t announced the timings yet, but traditionally Team of the Year starts in the second full working week of January, which would make it Monday 11th January. However, EA surprised FUT fans by dropping this year's Headliners promotion earlier than expected, and that is scheduled to continue for at least one more week, so it now looks as though TOTY will begin later in January.
What to expect in FUT 21 Team of the Year
FIFA 21's FUT Team of the Year is nearly upon us
© EA
While the Team of the Year itself is the focus of the promotion, most players can’t afford these ultra top-end cards unless they opt for a defender or the goalkeeper -- or have been saving fiercely since day one -- but there is still a ton of other content we can all enjoy. Here’s a summary of what to expect, after which we’ll get into the breakdown:
- Team of the Year - The 11 best players of 2020, as voted for by players, influencers and EA Sports.
- TOTY 12th Player - Introduced in FIFA 20, EA invited players to vote on a final 12th TOTY player, and this may return.
- TOTY Nominees - Also introduced in FIFA 20, there has been no sign of these at the time of writing, but they may reappear.
- Objectives - Players and packs to earn by grinding.
- Squad Building Challenges - Flashback and Moments players, plus the addictive League Upgrade SBCs.
- Lightning Rounds - Daily pack offers allowing you to blow loads of money in super quick fashion, you loons.
- Inevitable market crash - The decline in meta gold player prices surges before TOTY before recovering slightly.
FUT 21 Team of the Year prediction
A glimpse of a FIFA 21 FUT screen... are you excited?
© EA Sports
While Team of the Year is voted for by a mixture of players, influencers and EA Sports personnel, the reality is that the squad often resembles a cross between the European and Premier League champions, with the world’s most famous players in attack, whatever their fortunes. This year will likely be no different.
This is our FIFA 21 TOTY prediction:
- GK: Manuel Neuer
- Defenders: Alphonso Davies, Virgil Van Dijk, Sergio Ramos, Trent Alexander-Arnold
- Midfielders: Joshua Kimmich, Lionel Messi, Kevin De Bruyne
- Attackers: Neymar, Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe
We are assuming the 12th Player vote will return, allowing EA to crowbar Cristiano Ronaldo into the team again. With Messi’s domestic and European achievements falling short of his high standards in 2019-2020, it may be that he and CR7 trade places and the Argentinian is the 12th Player, but either way, we expect those two and the famous PSG pairing of Mbappe and Neymar to make the cut, as usual.
It may be tempting to rule out Lewandowski, who isn’t a super meta player, but his performances and Champions League victory surely crash the attacking party. It will be intriguing to see what EA does with his pace, because a Lewandowski card that can reach max pace with a Hunter or Engine card could be incredible. It’s also strange to think of the attacking group without any of Liverpool’s front three, but most of their strongest on-field performances came during 2019 matches, so we think it’s probably justifiable. If TOTY Mane or Salah makes it in somehow though, we won’t be too upset!
As for ratings, EA usually gives Ronaldo and Messi 99-rated cards, and we expect everyone else to range from 94 to 98 overall. Midfielders like KDB and Kimmich will be particularly desirable because their boosted attack and defence stats will be good enough for virtually any position on the pitch. If you can afford one of those, it will never leave your team.
Team of the Year 12th Player vote
Neymar won the vote back in 2019
© EA
Last year, EA Sports broke with tradition and added a 12th player to the Team of the Year squad. Cynical observers might argue they did this purely so they could justify throwing Cristiano Ronaldo into the mix after his muted success with Juventus meant he wasn't a shoo-in for the main squad, but ultimately nobody minds when EA releases an overpowered Ronaldo card, do they? Depending on which of CR7 and Messi misses out on the main squad, we'd expect that player to be offered as a choice alongside four others.
If the system works like last year, then voting will be handled outside FUT on a temporary website. Last year the choice was CR7, Lewandowski, Ziyech, Sterling or Hazard. Keep an eye on EA's socials for that.
If EA does revive the 12th Player vote, there may be an interesting new implication. Last year, EA offered a loan version of the 12th Player as an unlockable Objective card. This season EA has been asking players to grind matches in Live FUT Friendlies to obtain Objective players, and Live FUT Friendlies allow you to use loan players without reducing their loan total, which is why we still see so many loan Mbappes popping up months into the game cycle. So if EA does offer the 12th Player loan card, you can look forward to using -- and playing against -- a loan version of the 12th Player for the rest of 2021!
The return of TOTY Nominees?
Who will be the Team of the Year player voted in by the public?
© EA
One of the more controversial aspects of Team of the Year in FIFA 20 was the addition of TOTY Nominee cards. In mid-December, EA released 55 new cards with dynamic images, blue "Nominee" designs and minor stat increases (+1 to most face values). These cards were sold in packs and available until the start of Team of the Year.
While some of the cards looked great, the impact on gameplay was fairly minimal due to the minor stat increases (equivalent to the old way EA handled UEFA Champions League cards before it simply gave them equal stats for FIFA 20/21) but the impact on the price of the original gold card for each player was considerable. Players who had been expecting to sell their teams just ahead of Team of the Year to avoid a market crash found themselves losing out to an unexpected extra crash triggered by the Nominee promotion.
At the time of writing, there is no sign of TOTY Nominees for FIFA 21, and EA hasn't mentioned them as part of what to expect from the current Freeze promotion, so we can probably assume that Nominees have been consigned to the dustbin of FUT history. But if you're nervous about your coin total, you might want to go liquid sooner than later to avoid any potential losses. It's not a bad thing to do before Team of the Year anyway!
What Objectives will we see in FUT 21 TOTY?
Fulfilling Objectives is a quick way to bolster your team
© EA
Assuming EA follows the pattern it has established in recent years, Team of the Year is likely to be accompanied by a few unlockable Objective items. Last year we were offered Player Moments Ziyech, a Flashback Andres Iniesta card and a loan version of the TOTY 12th Player, none other than a 99-rated Cristiano Ronaldo.
As mentioned above, the latter should be well worth acquiring if it is offered again, because loan cards can be used in Live FUT Friendlies in perpetuity without reducing their loan game total. And even if the Moments and Flashback cards are relatively unexciting, they may be worth grabbing anyway as high-value fodder -- or as cards useful for when the next round of Icon Swaps returns and demands more teams full of First Owner players.
What SBCs will we see in FUT 21 TOTY?
Paying attention to SBC markets is a smart thing to do
© EA
As with the other big promotions on the FUT calendar, Team of the Year is accompanied by a slew of Squad-Building Challenges, which essentially fall into three buckets:
- Puzzle challenges - Simple squad-building challenges based on specific nations, leagues and player ratings, which offer packs as rewards. The packs are often untradeable, which is irritating, but it's worth completing these anyway. After all, every pack opened during TOTY is another chance to pack a TOTY player! Albeit a very small chance.
- Player SBCs - Expect Flashback and Moments players. Last year we were offered a bunch of both. Flashbacks were David Luiz, Manuel Neuer and Marcelo, while Moments were Bernardo Silva and Eden Hazard. That Bernardo Silva card was extremely good, so there may be a gem among this year's too.
- League Upgrade SBCs - These SBCs allow you to exchange a squad of gold or rare players for packs that guarantee to give out players from particular leagues. While the rewards are untradeable, it's possible to grind these repeatedly in a way that gradually reduces the volume of players in your club but, of course, increases the chance of packing a Team of the Year player without spending money. A lot of FUT players really attack these SBCs with a vengeance.
Will there be Lightning Rounds during FUT 21 TOTY?
Team of the Year often comes with some interesting bonuses
© EA
Absolutely! This is one of EA's most lucrative promos of the year. Expect Lightning Rounds for the first few days, then another slew of them over the weekend. The pattern we saw last year was Rare Player Packs at 6pm GMT, Jumbo Rare Player Packs at 7pm, Ultimate Packs at 8pm and either Jumbo Rare Player Packs or Ultimate Packs at 9pm.
Should you open these? That's another question. The odds of packing a Team of the Year player are very small, and these packs are expensive. We would recommend tuning in to watch your favourite content creator burn through thousands of dollars opening packs instead, and focusing on the SBC grind for your own club.
If you do go in on the Lightning Rounds though, first of all good luck, and second of all, make sure you are there right when the clock strikes the hour, because they go quickly. Skipping the pack opening animations so you can open more of them before they run out is a good tactic for the big-spending TOTY hunter.
When is the Team of the Year market crash?
Be prepared to play some good games in the new year
© EA
By the time you read this, the decline in prices for meta golds has already begun. You may have noticed that even the high-end cards like Neymar, Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo have all dropped significantly in the last month. This is partly due to more coins flowing around after Black Friday pack splurges, but also partly due to the pre-TOTY selloff as players try to reduce their exposure to market forces by selling off what's in their club and using untradeable players in the interim.
If you've seen your cards lose value and you're hoping they will rebound, the bad news is that by now they probably won't hit the prices you paid for them. They may rise slightly on Thursday afternoons heading into the Weekend League squad-building period, but a Neymar floating between 800 and 850k is never going to be worth 1.2m again. So you have a choice to make: accept the devaluation, sell and then buy back at Team of the Year when the price is lowest, or hang onto them and just accept the ongoing decline.
What would we do? We try to have a squad built around strong untradeable players by this stage of the cycle, then finish it off with a few meta golds that don't break the bank. We want to have a team that is still fun to play with, but we want to stay mostly liquid to avoid being subject to the unpredictability of the pre-TOTY market.
If you're looking to buy, meanwhile, the sweet spot is likely to be somewhere around 10th January as TOTY hype reaches fever pitch. This is when we're going to rebuild our main team and look to enjoy it for the next few weeks after that.
