Unless you have an unlimited supply of FIFA Points, are one of the best FIFA Ultimate Team players on earth, or have insane pack luck, chances are you will never play with some of the most popular and expensive of the recently released Ultimate Team of the Season. For those who are not in the loop, the Ultimate Team of the Season combines the best cards from the entirety of the Team of the Season releases into one single squad.

This year, the Ultimate Team of the Season included cards such as Rafael Leão, Vinícius Júnior, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo. To put things into perspective, the combined cost of the aforementioned players at the time of writing is over 15 million coins on the Playstation transfer market; an unattainable amount for the majority of gamers, even those who have played the game since the beginning of the cycle.

Putting the most elite Ultimate Team cards aside, there are several FUT cards that received Team of the Season honors that every FIFA player should consider buying based only on in-game statistics. The following list, dubbed “The Forgotten Team of the Season”, includes eleven low-cost players with impressive stats that could easily slot into many teams, along with possible links and suggested in-game positions. Remember, just because a player isn’t in a top 5 league, it doesn’t mean his card is useless. Enjoy!

*Team selection is based on the popular 4-2-3-1 formation, which could be turned into 4-2-2-2 or 4-3-3 fairly easily.

Goalkeepers

Goalkeepers and defenders are some of the positions where you might be able to buy Ultimate Team of the Season (UTOTS) cards without breaking the bank, since the only shot stopper available in the squad is AC Milan’s Mike Maignan. At approximately 50,000 coins, the Frenchman is a safe bet in goal, especially comparing him to other players who received Team of the Season cards in his same position.

Alisson Becker, for example, is worth approximately more than twice what Maignan goes for. Same goes for Thibaut Courtois, Hugo Lloris, Manuel Neuer and even fellow Ligue 1 talent Alban Lafont. But even though Maignan might be a safe investment to secure the goal of hybrid teams with plenty of French center-back options, we are here to look at cheaper alternatives.

Almost all of the UTOTS keepers are around the same price point as Maignan, with some dropping to around 35,000 coins on the Playstation marketplace. Out of the other options, why not go for Antonio Adán, from the Primeira Liga. The Spanish keeper is currently extinct in the PS market with a maximum price of 32,500 coins, and is statistically fairly similar to Maignan, with only 30 less Total Stats.

Your first question is probably: why would I use Adán if I have to snipe him on the market and even then, there are other better keepers out there? Well, because it’s mid-June and it’s the best time of the year to experiment with different leagues and unique teams, combining top-rated players for a cheap price.

Who to link to Adán? How’s Prime Icon Moments Carles Puyol, at less than 250,000 coins, or Team of the Season Pedro Porro, who with the Shadow chemistry style could be a 93-rated center back with 99 pace on 7 chemistry? Other options include 89-rated FUT Captains Pepe, Team of the Season Sebastián Coates, 94-rated Team of the Season Aymeric Laporte and even FUT Birthday Sergio Ramos.

Savings thus far: 18,000 coins.

Mike Maignan and Antonio Adán comparison — Mike Maignan and Antonio Adán FUT22 stats comparison (Courtesy: Futbin)

Left-back

There are two left-backs in the UTOTS: AC Milan’s Theo Hernández and Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo. Hernández is valued at around 600,000 coins, while Cancelo is only 315,000. They have similar in-game stats (Hernández’s total is 2617 while Cancelo’s is 2612) and similar work rates (both have High/High), but what sets Cancelo apart as the better options is his weak foot. The skillful Portuguese has a five star weak foot and four star skills, while the Frenchman has four star skills and four star weak foot.

Those who tried Cancelo’s Team of the Year card know just how versatile he can be in game, easily playing in every single position in-game bar center attacking midfield and striker, but let’s say you don’t want to spend 315,000 coins on him. The best Team of the Season alternatives are without a doubt Alphonso Davies and Nuno Mendes, going for around 100,000 coins each, with very similar stats if you’re playing them at left-back. But a good cheap alternative is Guilherme Sityá.

The Konyaspor left-back is valued at only 40,000 coins and is a quite similar card to Prime Roberto Carlos, valued at 410,000. Slap a shadow on him and you have yourself a 93-rated left-back, with the only problem being his links. The simple answer would be Ronaldinho at left wing or Carlos Alberto at center-back, but a creative one could be Fenerbahce’s Kim Min Jae, who boasts an impressive 90 pace, 88 defending and 94 physical, and costs only 40,000 coins on the PS market. Other options would be a Brazilian center-back from any league and at left wing, give Trabzonspor’s Anthony Nwakaeme a shot for only 53,000 coins. The Nigerian has 93 pace, 90 shooting, 88 passing, 92 dribbling and 92 physical, and his high attacking work rate means he would be a threat up top.

Hernández and Cancelo are definitely better cards than Sityá, but if you’re trying to cut costs to complete any of the End of an Era or Prime Icon Moments Squad Building Challenges, the Brazilian is a cheap, goodoption.

Savings: 270,000 – 540,000 coins.

Theo Hernández, Joao Cancelo and Guilherme Sityá comparison. — Theo Hernández, Joao Cancelo and Guilherme Sityá FUT22 comparison (Courtesy: Futbin)

Center-backs

Every decent FIFA player, not including the author of this article, knows that defending is key to winning games, and possibly more so than attacking. The Ultimate Team of the Season includes four elite center-backs: Marquinhos, Virgil van Dijk, Kalidou Koulibaly and Rúben Dias, ranked from most expensive to least expensive. Out of this group, Dias and Kouliably are the only under 100,000 coins, with Van Dijk clocking in at around 180,000 and Marquinhos at around 350,000.

In a strange move by EA, the most expensive Team of the Season center-back (Eder Millitao, at around 480,000) wasn’t included in the UTOTS. So, if you want top-tier center-backs but don’t feel the need to splash the cash, there are several very feasible options available at your disposal. We already touched on Fenerbahce’s Kim Min Jae, but other diamonds in the rough include Milan Skriniar (49,000 coins), Ronald Araujo (50,000 coins), William Saliba (46,000 coins) and Jurriën Timber (43,000 coins).

Out of Skriniar, Araujo, Saliba and Timber, the Ajax defender is by far the best option, but is probably undervalued and underappreciated because of the difficult links provided in the Eredivisie. Timber has more pace than every other defender on this shortlist, more dribbling stats, more shooting stats, more passing stats, and is tied with Saliba as having the highest physical stats. If you used Timber at the beginning of the game or did his FUT Birthday SBC, you know how quick and agile he is.

To put into perspective how valuable the Ajax defender could be to your team, he has almost the same amount of in-game and total stats as Team of the Season Marquinhos (2391 vs 2349) and Team of the Season Militao (2398 vs 2349). Getting Timber into your team shouldn’t be that difficult. At left-back, Team of the Season Owen Wijndal with 93 pace could be an option. At goalkeeper, Team of the Season Lars Unnerstall, or any of the Edwin Van Der Sar versions (his mid icon is approximately 160,000 coins). In the other center-back position, you could even use Virgil Van Dijk or include Future Stars Ryan Gravenberch (110,000 coins) to improve your team chemistry, granted you don’t already have his Team of the Season card.

Savings: 310,00 coins.

Ronald Araujo, Jurrien Timber and William Saliba FUT22 stats comparison (Courtesy: Futbin)

Right-back

One of the better options for Ultimate Team of the Season at right-back, if you have the coins, is to play Joao Cancelo on 7 chemistry. The other only UTOTS option is Trent Alexander-Arnold, at approximately 55,000 coins. A solid option, you’ve probably packed the Liverpool defender more than once in the different TOTS upgrade Squad Building Challenges that have been released. Alexander-Arnold is arguably the fourth or fifth best right-back from the entire Team of the Season release, behind James Tavernier (173,000 coins), Juan Cuadrado (127,000 coins) and Pedro Porro (60,000 coins).

Although the Liverpool fullback isn’t a bad option, for practically the same amount of coins you can get a faster Pedro Porro or an extremely speedy Jeremie Frimpong. It depends on your team’s chemistry needs, but if you want to be original and try different cards, you could link Porro to Antonio Adán in goal and Sebastián Coates at center-back, as mentioned in the previous section.

Alexander-Arnold is the exception when talking about Team of the Season cards; good value for amazing stats. To put things into perspective, he has better overall stats than Prime Icon Moments Cafú, who costs almost 900,000 coins more. The only downside of playing Trent is his pace. At 91 acceleration and 93 sprint speed, it might seem that aspect wouldn’t affect him negatively, but at a time where most wingers are already capped off at 99 pace with chemistry styles, it could pose a problem.

Stats comparison between Alexander-Arnold, Pedro Porro and Jeremie Frimpong (Courtesy: Futbin)

Central midfield

Here is where it gets tricky. The Ultimate Team of the Season has seven impressive options for center midfield, depending on your team’s chemistry and tactical needs: Joshua Kimmich (150,000 coins), Luka Modric (280,000 coins), Kevin De Bruyne (275,000 coins), Jude Bellingham (1.1 million coins), Christopher Nkunku (490,000 coins), Lucas Paquetá (560,000 coins) and Aurélien Tchouaméni (295,000 coins).

All of these cards can perform the functions most cards can perform in the middle of the park at this point of the season: attack proficiently and defend intensely. The only problem is their price point, not to mention those not included in the UTOTS such as Pedri (900,000 coins) and Ryan Gravenberch (400,000 coins). If you want a cheaper alternative in the middle of a 4-2-3-1, how’s Marek Hamsik for 71,000 coins, Marcelo Brozovic for 81,000 coins, or even Club Brugge’s Hans Vanaken for 60,000 coins?

Let’s start with Hamsik. The Trabzonspor player can link to cheaper alternatives outlined above such as Fenerbahce’s Kim Min Jae, and has better overall stats than Gravenberch (330,000 coins more expensive), Tchouaméni (200,000 coins more expensive) and Pedri (810,000 coins more expensive). Furthermore, the former Napoli player is only 43 overall total stats away from equalling Bellingham, one of the game’s best midfielders. The only problem? Linking him.

In comes Brozovic. With an impressive 91 pace, 95 passing and defending, and 94 physical, the Inter Milan player is a perfect link to FUT Fantasy Ivan Perisic (shout out to those who did his SBC), who can be used in multiple positions all around the pitch. Furthermore, Brozovic has strong links to Milan Skriniar in central defense and Lautaro Martínez up top, with the possibility of including Prime Icon Moments Davor Suker for those passionate Croatian supporters at a mere 100,000 coins.

Last but not least, Hans Vanaken, a player most gamers have probably never heard of, but who is very fun to play with. With four star skills and five star weak foot, the Belgian is a 96-rated central midfielder with the Engine chemistry style, a 97-rated left and right midfielder, and a 97-rated central attacking midfielder. Granted, chances are you can only put him into your team if you have one or multiple icons, but giving Vanaken a shot might be worth it for those looking for fun instead of just sweating out Division Rivals and FUT Champions.

Marek Hamsik, Ryan Gravenberch and Pedri FUT22 Stats Comparison (Courtesy: Futbin)

Wingers and Central Attacking Midfield

If you tell any Ultimate Team player the following names, they are sure to tremble: Rafael Leão, Mohamed Salah, and Vinícius Júnior. Worth a combined 5.6 million coins, the three Ultimate Team of the Season wingers are undoubtedly some of the game’s best players. All three can play as wingers and strikers, and Salah can also work as a central attacking midfielder.

But, there are cheaper Team of the Season alternatives out wide, assuming you won’t splash over a million coins on Lionel Messi, almost six million on Neymar and over two million on Sadio Mané. Why not try Domenico Berardi? He’s worth only 110,000 coins and has more total in-game stats than Rafael Leãoand Vinícius Júnior. It might be that having four star skills works against him, since Leao and Júnior are five star skillers, but for one million less than the Portuguese and 3.6 million less than the Brazilian, it’s worth a gamble.

Another option is Trabzonspor’s Edin Visca, who can link to Marek Hamsik, mentioned above as a good alternative in central midfield. Visca has 98 pace, 92 shooting, 92 passing and 93 dribbling. Granted, his 78 physical lets him down but End of an Era Lorenzo Insigne and Vinícius Júnior himself are proof that wingers don’t need a high physical statistic to shine. The Bosnian winger has several interesting traits, such as outside foot shot, playmaker, speed dribbler and long shot taker, which make him an interesting choice.

As for central attacking midfield, Christopher Nkunku, Lucas Paquetá, Luka Modric and even Mohamed Salah can work as the middle man in attack in our 4-2-3-1. But, as previously mentioned, we’re here to provide cheaper alternatives. Oscar Emboaba is one of them. At only 114,000 coins, the Shanghai SIPG player is a 95-rated CAM with 93 pace, 93 shooting, 96 passing, 94 dribbling and four star weak foot. Or, if you’re rocking an MLS hybrid, give talented Spaniard Carles Gil a chance. He might not be the fastest at 88 pace, but he can link to other Spanish players and has five star skills.

Our last alternative at CAM is Dimitri Payet, worth only 70,000 coins. Payet can double as your set piece specialist, can link to other Ligue 1 or French players, and has an impressive 93 pace, 92 shooting and 96 passing. He might not be the most exciting player to use because of his stocky body type in game, but his 84 physical stat means he can outmuscle many defenders and hold the ball up while other players run past him.

Oscar, Carles Gil and Dimitri Payet FUT22 stats comparison (Courtesy: Futbin)

Strikers

And finally, the crème de la crème: strikers. The UTOTS included Karim Benzema (1.7 million coins), Kylian Mbappé (4.4 million coins), Cristiano Ronaldo (3.5 million coins), Wissam Ben Yedder (1 million coins) and Robert Lewandowski (170,000 coins). Out of all the aforementioned options, Lewandowski is good value for his stats: 92 pace, 97 shooting, 94 dribbling and 94 physical. The only problem is that he feels a tad slow and clunky, which is why we present the following Team of the Season alternatives.

Let’s start out with Dusan Vlahovic, at only 150,000 coins. The Juventus striker is incredibly fun to use, with his 97 pace and 96 shooting, and is a true threat for every defender in the game. Those who have used Vlahovic know how deadly he is in front of goal, with 99 positioning, 99 finishing and 98 shot power. He might not be as agile as Mbappé, but for 4.2 million coins less, he is well worth his value.

Another option, Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrović, who just had a record-setting season in the Championship for the Cottagers. The Serbian striker boasts a whopping 98 physical stat, and even though his body type is high and stocky, he is a good finisher and has interesting strong links, such as teammate Harry Wilson. Wilson, a right midfielder, is only 63,000 coins and has 95 pace, 94 shooting, 92 passing and 90 dribbling, which are all excellent stats for a player that drifts out wide.

The final alternative in the Forgotten Team of the Season at striker is Valentín “Taty” Castellanos, at only 60,000 coins. The NYCFC striker could be linked to Carles Gil in game, and with his 95 pace, 95 shooting, 93 dribbling and 95 physical, serves as the perfect striker up top in the 4-2-3-1 formation. Granted, Castellanos is only a four star skiller and has a three star weak foot, but can also be linked to Maxi Moralez, Javier Zanetti and even Diego Armando Maradona.

Dusan Vlahovic, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Valentin Castellanos FUT22 stats comparison (Courtesy: Futbin)

This is how our Forgotten Team of the Season could line up:

Antonio Adán;
Pedro Porro, Sebastián Coates, Kim Min Jae, Guilherme Sityá;
Marek Hamsik, Marcelo Brozovic;
Edin Visca, Domenico Berardi, Carles Gil;
Dusan Vlahovic

According to Chemistry boosting app FutBooster, we wouldn’t be able to reach more than 86 chemistry even with position changes, but changing Carles Gil at CAM for a Serie A option and Visca at left winger for a Serie A option as well (wink wink Insigne) would solve the problem for us. Or, there’s always Icons.

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The Forgotten Team of the Season: FIFA 22 Players you should use in your squad