New to FUT in EA FC 25? This Beginner’s Guide Covers Everything You Need

EA FC 25 has been out for quite some time now, but it’s never too late to get into FUT. This guide will include everything new players need to know about Ultimate Team, from collecting cards, creating a squad, doing challenges, and competing in different game modes.

What Is Ultimate Team?

Ultimate Team is a game mode in the EA FC franchise where players get “cards” that represent present or past football players to create their dream team and compete against others. There are multiple game modes to compete in, as well as different ways to get cards.

Getting Started In EA FC 25 Ultimate Team

Upon selecting Ultimate Team, the game offers players a choice of a starter pack from an individual nation, which includes enough players to build a squad with good chemistry. The game will automatically build this squad for you and explain the basics of chemistry. This squad will not be excellent, but it is good enough to start playing the game and earning in-game currency.

How To Get Better Players In EA FC FUT

To make a competitive squad, the first order of business is getting better players. There are several ways to get players, including packs, challenges, and the transfer market.

1. Packs are purchased with in-game currency or real money and contain a variety of random players. There are different kinds of packs, and some have better odds at landing good players, but will generally be more expensive.
2. Challenges task the player with completing a task in-game and will give various rewards, including packs, players, items, or cosmetics.
3. The transfer market has individual player cards for sale for in-game currency only. This is the best way to get specific cards. Unfortunately, the transfer market is locked behind a set of objectives included in the screenshot below.
4. SBCs, or Squad Building Challenges, challenge players with building specific squads adhering to very restrictive rules. These are often extremely expensive and difficult, but Operation Sports provides guides to help find the cheapest solutions.

To unlock the transfer market, head to the UT Objectives tab, and then head over to the foundations tab on the far right side of the list. There, find the Ultimate Team foundations. Completing all of these objectives will permanently unlock the transfer market. These objectives include doing squad battles, SBCs, rivals, and completing other various challenges.

Understanding Player Ratings In EA FC FUT

Every player has their own individual attributes and an overall rating. Generally speaking, higher-rated players are better, but this is not always the case. Here are the different attributes and what they mean.

1. PAC: This stands for pace, and refers to how fast the player runs.
2. SHO: This is their shooting value, and determines how well they shoot the ball.
3. PAS: Here is the passing value, and determines how well a player passes.
4. DRI: This stands for dribbling, and displays how good they are at handling the ball.
5. DEF: This is a player’s defensive value, and is responsible for defensive actions.
6. PHY: This is the player’s physical attribute, which contributes to their strength and stamina.

Players also have “skill move” values that determine how good they are at using skill moves, and weak foot values that determine how good they are at passing and shooting with their weak foot.

Earning In-Game Currency

Getting the best players takes a lot of in-game currency. There are several ways to earn in-game currency, including completing daily and weekly challenges, as well as playing Squad Battles and FUT Rivals, and by utilizing the transfer market.

1. Squad Battles are matches that feature several different teams of varying difficulties, and the “Team of the Week.” These matches are against AI-controlled teams, and the difficulty level is adjustable. Each week, players can achieve ranks for squad battles based on how many points they get. Doing battles at higher difficulties awards more points, along with beating the Team of the Week. At the end of the week, players earn rewards based on their final rank.
2. FUT Rivals places players against other players online. Like Squad Battles, players earn rank by winning matches. Performing well in FUT Rivals will grant rewards, as well as an opportunity to play in FUT Champions, which is a tournament that grants even more lucrative rewards.
3. The transfer market is great for making money because players can sell cards there for extra profit. This is especially useful for selling high-value cards that aren’t necessary for certain squads.

Building A Good Squad

After getting some currency, it’s time to head to the transfer market and buy some good players. Building a good squad requires more than just finding and fielding the top-rated players, however. The team needs to have chemistry and a good formation.

1. Chemistry requires players near each other to meet certain criteria. They must either be from the same club, the same region, or the same league. The more criteria they meet, the better their chemistry will be with one another. Squads can get a major chemistry boost by having a manager who follows this criteria as well. Having poor chemistry will result in lower stats for the players, making them less effective on the pitch.
2. Formation refers to how players position themselves on the field. The game will default to 4-4-2, meaning that there will be four defenders, four midfielders, and two strikers. Changing formation allows for different positions as well, for example, 4-4-2 does not include any CAM (central attacking midfielder) player roles. Changing to something like 4-2-3-1 will include different roles. Putting a player in a squad outside of their natural role will incur a rating penalty, so it’s best to play everyone where they belong if possible.

When choosing players to buy, it is important to factor chemistry and formation into purchases. Build around the best available units, and be sure not to waste currency on players that don’t fit into the squad.

For better or worse, certain players, formations, and tactics will always be better than others in FUT. Staying up to date on the meta by watching videos or guides will always be useful, be sure to check Operation Sports for all the latest EAFC25 and FUT news and guides!.