FIFA 22 Ultimate Team: Ryan Pessoa's ultimate trading tips

How to quickly build an efficient and affordable team in FIFA 22 Ultimate Team – the best tips from Red Bull athlete and FIFA pro Ryan Pessoa.

FIFA 22 is here and that means a new – Season of FIFA Ultimate Team is upon us. As always, it’s all about building a team with some of the best cards. Because if you want to play at the highest level in the Weekend League or FUT Champions, you need the best meta players – and they don’t come cheap!

If you want to have Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi in your squad at some point, you should accumulate coins quickly. Here are the best trading tips from FIFA athlete and Red Bull athlete Ryan Pessoa.

Play via Early Access

EA Play subscribers can get their hands on the 10-hour trial as early as September 22. © EA

Everyone starts with zero coins in FIFA Ultimate Team. In addition to learning the new game mechanics, generating coins is essential – the sooner the better.

“If you buy the normal version of FIFA 22, you’ll be able to play from October 1,” Ryan tells us. “But with the Ultimate Edition, you can start as early as September 27. And if you’re an EA Play member, you’ll be able to play in the trial for 10 hours starting September 22.

The market fluctuates considerably during Early Access, and players with a few coins in hand can multiply them greatly in a few weeks. Ryan recommends that:

Squad Battles – As an EA Play subscriber, you should play as many Squad Battles as you can starting September 22 to get high-value packs the following Monday – even before most players have downloaded the game.

Division Rivals – Start the grind of Division Rivals as soon as you feel like it. Because unlike the last FUT, there will be constant advancement with regular reward checkpoints and not scored depending on placement like before – hours of playing for tradeable rewards that is.

Web App – The app should be available a day before EA Play and will allow you to trade early. No one has coins at this stage, so you should hold on to metacards you can buy (e.g. cheap beasts like Adama Traoré) because prices will go up during Early Access. Also, using the app, you won’t waste any of the 10 hours of game time on trading and club maintenance.

Foundation SBCs – Complete squad-building challenges as soon as possible for tradeable reward packs. Almost every card will be overpriced in the Web App phase, but the usable ones increase greatly in value during the first week of play.

Use FUT Champions to your advantage

FUT Champions represents the pinnacle of competitive play in FUT for most players. EA has changed this format for FIFA 22 so that playoff matches are played during the week and FUT Finals are played on the weekend. This changes when and how reward content reaches the transfer market. Still, familiar trends from FUT Champions should remain the same.

“We know from experience that the price of meta cards collapses after the first Weekend League. It’s a great time to buy the players you want for your team,” Ryan said.

Rewards will not be released at a specific time on Thursdays as they have been in the past, but there will again be tightly-packed days and phases where players will want to sell their cards from the packs. “Learn the rythm and buy cheap so you can sell at a profit towards the end of the week when most players are building their next FUT Champions team.” Chemistry Style cards are also more sought after towards Friday and Saturday.

Sells during the hypes

EA typically uploads new content at 5 p.m., so look for it there. © EA

The rule of thumb when collecting coins is to sell during a hype.

“Every week new content hits the game, especially in the Objective Player area and the SBCs, there are certain prerequisites to meet,” Ryan said. “That determines the prices of some cards. For example, if an SBC asks for an 80-rated Barcelona Squad, any players that fit the profile will be scarce. If you have them on the team, that’s the perfect time to sell.”

New content is usually uploaded by EA around 5pm. That’s when you should log in (game or app) and look around.

To avoid falling on the downside, don’t buy tickets during a hype. While it’s tempting to want to complete SBCs like the Marquee matchups right away, after a few days demand dies down and the cards drop in price. Then you can complete the SBC in question.

“There are definitely times when it pays to be glued to the transfer market screen.”

Bids on cards from large supply

“Hopefully we were able to show that you don’t have to be logged in 24/7 to accumulate coins,” Ryan grins. “But there are definitely times when it pays to be glued to the Transfer Market screen. Weekend League Rewards Day is one of those, or the big promo events like Black Friday and FUT Freeze, where you can save a lot on bidding.”

Most of the time, you buy the player you want by going to the cheapest card and selecting “Buy Now.” But you can also bid for the card. Often you hardly save anything this way, but in periods of sufficient supply, the combination of bidding mechanics and sluggish sellers can be very valuable.

To illustrate, EA sells tens of thousands of packs in minutes with a Lightning Round. Players open the packs and put them on the auction list, but without putting a price on them. The market is flooded with cards during this time – from SBC fodder to meta players – at a minimum bid offer of 700 coins. After an hour, the auction ends and you can succeed with the minimum bid. Simply bid on many copies of the same card about an hour after EA releases the packs.

At these times it is convenient to watch the market transfer:

Squad Battles Rewards – On Mondays at 02:00 (CEST) the Squad Battles Rewards go live. Especially in the first weeks of the FUT cycle, the Squad Battles provide a lot of supply. These cards will be heavily discounted at 03:00 and will still be open for bidding.

Black Friday Lightning Rounds – Usually held around mid-late November at 19:00, 20:00 and 21:00 (CEST) on a Friday and Saturday.

Future Lightning Rounds – Whenever EA hosts a new promo event á la FUT Freeze, Team of the Year, FUT Birthday or Team of the – Season , expect Lightning Rounds on Friday and Saturday.

Buy SBC Fodder and be patient

If you’d rather get on with the actual game and get a guaranteed return by means of minimal effort, we have a tip for you that has worked in FUT for years:

“If you already have a good team and want to save up for future investments, just buy SBC fodder,” Ryan says. “In past – Season s, 86-rated gold cards were purchasable for less than 10k in October after the game’s release. Then when the big promo events come later and demand increases, you can expect to pay a good 30k for the same card. The only thing you need for this sure way of earning is, patience.”