After the 99-rated highs of last year’s endgame, the start of FIFA 23 Ultimate Team will be a shock to the system. But a bit of experience and foreknowledge can go a long way, allowing you to build up a usable team and coin balance with minimal stress.
In this guide, we break down how to build the best starter team for FIFA 23, including what to look for in different positions, how to take advantage of the new chemistry system, and how to avoid losing coins as the market fluctuates. We’ve also picked out some players who will make a good addition to starter teams without breaking the bank.
Whether you plan to grind Division Rivals and FUT Champions (Weekend League), or you just want to have some fun with Squad Battles, Moments and Objectives, it’s important to have players that bring out the best in the game. Follow our advice and you should be off to a strong start in FIFA 23 Ultimate Team.
On this page:
If you’re interested in Ultimate Team, we have pages on Squad Battles, Milestone rewards, FUT Champions and FUT Coins and trading.
After more than a decade using much the same thing, FIFA 23 has a brand new chemistry system that is going to confuse the hell out of pretty much everyone for at least a few weeks. (It even confused EA, who launched the web app with several Squad-Building Challenges that could not be completed due to contradictory chemistry requirements. GG!)
The game will explain it better than we can (we hope), but in terms of its importance to starter teams, there are a few things you should consider when building squads:
These changes allow for different combinations compared to past FIFAs, and this will be particularly useful in the early stages of the cycle as we try to lead a ragtag band of starter players to some semblance of glory!
Three-at-the-back formations were popular in the previous FIFA, but we always recommend starting a new cycle with four at the back in something like a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. This is because the slower centre-backs on day one are less capable of handling pacy attackers than the max-pace monsters in our previous endgame squads. Full-backs will help cover more ground and are often a bit quicker than centre-backs, too.
Pace is the most important factor for your early defenders, followed by defensive stats, particularly aggression and defensive positioning. Passing is pretty much irrelevant on centre-backs; you just need them to stop attacks. We also recommend building your squad so that your centre-backs have three chemistry points (the maximum possible under the new system) and a pace-orientated Chemistry Style card (ideally Shadow, although Catalyst is a cheap alternative if you’re starved of coins). 3-chem with Shadow will provide an 8-point boost to acceleration and sprint speed, which is huge.
For your goalkeeper, you can use pretty much anyone who provides chemistry. Until we know more about goalkeeper performance in FIFA 23, it is difficult to recommend specific stats, but reflexes have often been key in the past. (If pushed, we’d say David De Gea looks very good based on pre-launch stats alone.)
Here are some defenders we’re quite excited about in the early part of FIFA 23, selected for what we hope will be their potent combination of modest pricing and in-game skill!
If you are coming into FIFA 23 off the back of the last game, then you are probably used to having a midfield full of all-rounders who can attack, defend, play the ball off either foot, and then throw in a rainbow flick when backed into a corner. There won’t be many players like that in FIFA 23 for a while, so for now it’s best to focus on specialists.
In our starter 4-3-3, we plan to have one defensive midfielder flanked by a pair of creative players. Stats like interceptions, defensive awareness, stamina and aggression are valuable on the defensive player, and while pace isn’t critical, it will also be helpful. For the more creative players, ideally we’re looking for good passing and dribbling, including high agility and balance stats. Competence on both feet is also a plus.
Here are a few players we’re thinking about as we contemplate starter teams:
Decent attacking players are often the most expensive cards at the start of the Ultimate Team cycle, so don’t go into the game expecting to pick up Ousmane Dembele and Vini Jr in time for your first Weekend League, unless money is no object and you don’t mind losing coins by the boatload once the market adjusts.
Fortunately there are plenty of other attackers who can carry your goal-scoring burden. In news that will surprise no one, pace will be paramount, followed by shooting stats, while good dribbling is a ‘nice to have’. Don’t worry so much about passing. A four-star weak foot helps too, but isn’t essential.
Here are a few attacking players that we wouldn’t mind having in our early teams:
If you’re just getting started in FIFA 23, check out our Ultimate Team best starter teams page. You can improve your team by trading and spending FUT Coins – some of which can be earned by completing Milestone Objectives. It’s also a good idea to learn how Squad Battles and Champions work in FIFA 23.
Chemistry has been completely changed in FIFA 23 too and don’t forget about the wide variety of Skill Moves.
Finally, if you need help building the perfect team, we have pages on the best players overall, best Premier League players and fastest players. Along with FIFA 23’s wonderkids, best strikers, best wingers, best midfielders and best defenders.
It’s the far-too-many-thousand-coins question: How do you avoid losing coins when the transfer market starts fluctuating wildly in the opening weeks of FIFA 23? Last year was a mess, as changes to card supply meant the Rare Gold market nosedived in unprecedented fashion, leaving players who bought high-rated cards with huge losses. But on balance the changes were positive for the game, making Rare Gold players and promo cards more affordable across the cycle.
It will take a few weeks to see whether the market follows a similar pattern, and then there is the added curve ball for FIFA 23 of the shared transfer market across consoles. In theory this should not make a massive difference – the Xbox market was only a quarter the size of PlayStation’s, so it’s not a doubling of supply or anything like that, and prices will probably just reflect PlayStation patterns. But who can say for sure?
If you want to avoid losing coins in the early weeks of FIFA 23 Ultimate Team, then, there are two tips we recommend keeping in mind:
The bottom line is that FIFA 23 Ultimate Team is designed so that you will leak coins, pretty much whatever you do. If you buy players, they will probably depreciate week by week, and you will be taxed 5% of the price when you sell them. If you do SBCs, even using untradeable players, you will remove value from your club. This is how EA keeps you playing (and, they hope, paying). Exercise a bit of restraint and balance, though, and you can avoid being caught out in ways that go beyond general wastage.
Hyper Three Studio intends to put Tiny Lands 2 on Switch, the developer confirmed today.…
Horror comic fans will get a windfall this October with Through Red Windows, a new…
Posted in: Focus Features, Movies | Tagged: nosferatu, robert eggersFocus Features has released the first…
In this article, I’ll give you my Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Review, with…
You always want to give her a lot of Crit and ATK or Elec. DMG.…
Tim Burton's Beetlejuice hit theaters way back in 1988, introducing moviegoers to the otherworldly character…