FIFA 22 Ultimate Team: top tips to build a champion line-up

A football match on a pitch surrounded by fans in FIFA 22 Ultimate Team
(Image credit: EA)

FIFA 22 Ultimate Team is an ever-popular mode, but at times it can feel like unless you are pumping in a lot of money, you’ll be falling behind the competition. 

Despite all the hype for FIFA 23, it’s a good idea to revisit everyone’s favorite mode from last year’s edition of the elite football simulator.

It takes a lot of the green stuff to go far in Ultimate Team mode. However, if you’ve got ample time (and a little cash) to put into your team, there are a few nuances unique to FIFA 22’s iteration of Ultimate Team worth noting before you flex those managerial muscles and take on the world in Division Rivals. 

You’re here for tips on how to get the best out of your team, and we’re going to give you the low-down on some vital FIFA 22 Ultimate Team information to get your journey off to a strong start.

Useful for new players and veterans alike, these hints will help you grapple with more confusing elements of Ultimate Team mode. It’s time to become a master of the thorny Transfer Market, get a sizeable leg-up for your Squad Battles, and dominate the pitch when you compete with other superstars teams in FUT Champions.

FIFA 22 Ultimate Team 

FIFA 22 Ultimate Team: Hit Objectives Early

A trophy of a golden ram balancing atop a football in FIFA 22

(Image credit: EA)

It sounds obvious but you're going to want to start grinding through your objectives as soon as you get access to Ultimate Team, especially if you’re not planning to spend any money on FIFA Points. The foundational tasks are especially good for picking up coins and packs when you start out. Some of the rewards may be untradeable, but they’re all going to be useful as you work your way up to a world-beating squad, and those you don’t use will be handy fodder for completing Squad Building Challenges.

It’s also worth playing enough Squad Battles matches to get a decent rank before the rewards reset for a small chunk of coins and packs on a regular basis, especially in the early weeks of FIFA 22. With the market so volatile, you might even be able to pick up a few cheeky deals if you manage to be liquid right at the start, as the credit card brigade floods the market with players.

FIFA 22 Ultimate Team: Play Division Rivals

Division Rivals loadout screen in FIFA 22

(Image credit: EA)

This year EA has brought some changes to its major competitive online Ultimate Team mode, Division Rivals. Now, even if you lose, you’re part of a seasonal progression system that resets every so often, and you gain rewards for just playing matches and meeting milestones. With the addition of checkpoints where you can’t go further back from a certain point, it makes the pain of Division Rivals defeat a little easier and incentivises jumping into online play more instead of just fighting the AI in Squad Battles. Those qualification points add up too.

FIFA 22 Ultimate Team: Vary your players' skillsets

Players rushing to kick the ball on the pitch during a match in FIFA 22

(Image credit: EA)

FIFA 22 is much slower than last year’s game, which is good news if you hate players who abuse pace and skill moves to win matches. It means that more interesting teams are viable, and footballers with high physical or dribbling stats can be really strong going forward. Instead of filling your team with pure speed, think about those footballers that are more well-rounded, as they can be really effective. For example, Mason Mount and Phil Foden are phenomenal in a well-linked team, seemingly able to adapt to almost any attacking situation and curl in a few Finesse Shots where necessary. Mighty strikers like Erling Haaland, Moussa Marega and Romelu Lukaku seem to dominate too.

FIFA 22 Ultimate Team: Use stadium customization

Fans holding up a large Liverpool FC flag on the stands in FIFA 22

(Image credit: EA)

It’s not going to make you a better player, but EA has added a few new tweaks to the stadium customization system in this year’s Ultimate Team, and they’re actually worth digging into. If you can complete the development challenges (which include scoring a bicycle kick that may take a blessing from God to achieve), you’ll start to unlock new areas of your stadium to customize. You’ll also gain the ability to customize the mow of the pitch, the color of the lines, the color scheme of the net, goal fireworks and more. 

If you love a certain team, you can get all of the goods to make your very own theatre of dreams, complete with walkout songs and absurd tifos. In the same way that there’s so much tension at a real-life derby, I can imagine it might be quite daunting for an online player to arrive in your stadium and see how much pomp and fanfare you’ve got going on. It’s worth a look for the mind games alone, even if it might hurt a little more when you’re 3-0 down at 40 minutes.


Jordan Oloman

Jordan Oloman is a journalist and documentarian with experience across the pop culture/tech spectrum writing reported features, reviews. news, guides, op-eds and more for a wide variety of outlets. He is also an affiliate streamer on Twitch and have previous experience in scriptwriting, podcasting, game consultation and creating video content.