FC 25 ULTIMATE TEAM HISTORY
The Ultimate Team mode in FIFA/FC is currently in its seventeenth edition.
FUT – The Beginning
Do you remember when EA Sports held the image rights for the Champions League? If you don’t know who Ravelli or Forest Gump is, you probably don’t. This happened over 15 years ago and only lasted two years, but it laid the groundwork for what would become the most famous game mode in the history of the FIFA series. It was from ‘UEFA Champions League 2006–2007’ that Ultimate Team was born. Back then, it was exclusive to Xbox 360 users, as Microsoft was favored. This was merely a test, and since the results were underwhelming, the idea was shelved—but not for good.
On March 19, 2009, Ultimate Team officially launched. For most people, it seemed like a new concept. In reality, the changes were so significant that it felt more like a new beginning rather than a revival. The growing transfer market and FIFA’s need to innovate accelerated its development. The potential was clear—they just needed to tap into it. Combining simulation with a passion for football was an irresistible concept. The rules were set, the game mechanics improved, and Ultimate Team came to life.
FUT 09
EA Sports knew they had a diamond in the rough but needed to proceed sustainably. It was no surprise that the release of Ultimate Team in FIFA 09 came as a paid DLC (downloadable content). Those wanting to be FUT Founders, a title EA awarded the first players as a gesture of gratitude, had to pay. Priced at no more than ten dollars, it convinced around one million players to try the promising new game mode. This was a significant number of registrations, considering FIFA 09 was nearing the end of its cycle. Expectations were so greatly exceeded that the Ultimate Team debut was marked by server crashes due to high traffic—something that would repeatedly happen throughout its history. Some things never change.
If you think the game was much different from today’s, you’re mistaken. Chemistry, contracts, stadiums, player categories, coins, and much of what you see today were already present. You could build your dream team through the famous market transactions or by opening one of three kinds of packs: gold, silver, or bronze. There weren’t tournaments or seasons, but you could play offline or online. The basics of Ultimate Team remain the same, with only a few new features added and small improvements made over time.
FUT 10
The second edition of Ultimate Team wasn’t released alongside the game. Announced in December 2010 and available as DLC two months later, it was exclusive to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Founders were rewarded with two gold packs, a tradition that continued annually for many years.
FIFA 10 introduced new features to make Ultimate Team more appealing. The price was halved, premium packs with triple the rare cards were added to the store, and tournaments were introduced for more variety. FUT 10 also made several small improvements based on feedback from the previous edition. For example, instead of discarding players who ran out of contracts, you could now apply a contract card to continue using them. This version also moved away from the sticker album feel, allowing for unlimited storage of players, staff, club items, badges, and stadiums, and introduced the ‘watch list’ for tracking cards of interest.
However, the biggest innovation in FUT 10 was the introduction of In Form cards, with the first Teams of the Week being released. This brought a dynamic element to the game, linking real-life football with the virtual game, and increasing engagement and possibilities.
The most exciting innovation was the FUT Web App, which dramatically increased market transactions. This feature allowed players to manage their teams from a PC with an internet connection, making Ultimate Team more than just a console game and enabling team improvements away from the console.
FUT 11
After two years of partial testing, EA made a pivotal decision in Ultimate Team history – at least for their own financial benefit. They realized that making the game free would attract more fans, many of whom would spend money on packs. And that’s exactly what happened. The game was released as downloadable content much earlier than in previous years, with November 2010 marking the start of this successful series. By the end of that year, Ultimate Team had tripled its number of players and saw a significant increase in revenue. It was no longer restricted; everyone could build their dream teams, including unstoppable players like Messi on the right wing (the first player to achieve four TOTW cards) and the formidable attack line of Drogba and Wayne Rooney.
The introduction of TOTW cards, now with a distinct black color, added realism to the game. FUT 11 continued this trend with player transfer updates, providing new cards for every transferred player, a feature that remains today. This increased the number of possible team combinations and kept players engaged for months.
But what’s the point of building your dream team if you couldn’t show it off to friends? EA Sports addressed this with two new features. First, they expanded the ways to play challenges with friends, allowing players to choose their opponents online for the first time in FUT history. Additionally, the new Leaderboards section clarified club values, teaching prideful players a lesson while adding transparency to the game.
FUT 12
The year 2011 was a milestone in FUT history. Unlike previous years, it was integrated into FIFA 12 itself. For the first time, you didn’t need to download any extra content to play Ultimate Team; it was part of the game. This accessibility attracted many new players. But EA Sports aimed for more and introduced Ultimate Team for PC, reaching an impressive 6.7 million players worldwide.
A key to its success was EA’s understanding of their audience’s addiction to the game. Ultimate Team players weren’t ordinary gamers; they merged their real-life football knowledge and passion into the game. Hence, EA introduced new In Form cards, including TOTY (Team of the Year) blue cards, highlighting the best players of the year, and TOTS (Team of the Season) blue cards, dedicated to the season’s top performers. There were six teams in total, divided by European regions, with additional focus on the Spanish and English leagues. Orange cards were soon introduced, with Messi receiving one of the best cards in FUT history for charity purposes.
To add more variety, before FIFA 13, a new type of card was introduced: iMOTM (International Man of the Match). Debuting during Euro 2012, they initially appeared as purple and then green cards, but disappeared in FIFA 15. The famous UP (Upgrade) cards also made their debut, bridging virtual and real-life football closer together.
With the introduction of numerous new cards, the game became more complex. Marcel Kuhn, the producer, admitted that explaining Ultimate Team in a sentence was almost impossible. This complexity led to the emergence of specialized websites like FIFAUTeam and the popular former database FUTHead, which gained a more professional appearance during FIFA 12’s era. For the first time, players could participate in multiple tournaments simultaneously and receive instant notifications about auction results.
FUT 13
The beginning of FUT 13 launched on the Web App a few days before the game hit stores, and it couldn’t have gone worse. A security breach allowed coins to be acquired indefinitely, compromising the game’s economy. This incident marked the first time EA Sports failed to defend the game from cheaters, a problem that would recur and tarnish the image of a game that had been nearing perfection.
Despite this setback, 2012 was still a good year for Ultimate Team. The introduction of Ultimate Team Seasons, divided into five divisions, attracted players who previously preferred head-to-head Seasons. The community, which had been limited to single-player games, welcomed the increased competitiveness brought by the influx of new players, which had reached 11 million by then. EA’s primary objective remained attracting more players. Tactics included publicity with professional player card showcases and in-game tutorials that rewarded users with packs (manager tasks). Ultimate Team continued to grow.
More players meant more packs being sold, and thus greater revenue. To simplify pack sales, EA replaced the old payment methods with the more convenient FIFA Points, marking the end of an era for Bid Tokens.
Globalization took on a new meaning in FUT 13. Users could already manage their clubs on a PC through the Web App, but now they could do so on mobile devices. Ultimate Team could be played literally anywhere. Initially, only iOS users had access, but the app was soon available for Android, and a year later, FUT arrived on Windows Phone (not for long).
FUT history is marked by significant innovations and annual improvements. FIFA 13 introduced Team of the Week challenges and EAS FC items for Ultimate Team for the first time. The modern, intuitive menus also became a staple.
FUT 14
2013 marked the birth of a new generation of consoles and an agreement between EA Sports and Microsoft that gave Xbox players exclusive access to some of the best footballers in history—if they had enough coins, of course. Otherwise, these legends simply made opponents’ squads tougher. This edition is also remembered for one of the most successful additions in FUT history: the World Cup mode, which still evokes nostalgia among those who played it.
Another major feature introduced in FUT 14 was ‘Chemistry Styles.’ Whether an illusion or not, this allowed players to choose which attributes received chemistry bonuses. This feature became very popular at the time, though its importance has waned over the years, much like the role of defining a squad captain.
FUT 14 also brought customization options, allowing players to assign kit numbers and free kick/corner takers. Online single matches were removed, and seasons were expanded to 10 divisions, making the Division 1 title a more challenging achievement.
Reflecting a more mature game, FUT 14 saw fewer significant changes. The developer focused on smaller improvements: chemistry calculation was redesigned, manager league cards were introduced, search filters were enhanced to allow finding players by name, and the rules for player upgrades on in-form cards were changed. Importantly, formation cards and player morale were removed, streamlining the game, which the community appreciated. By this time, the player base had grown to over 20 million.
FUT 15
FIFA 15’s Ultimate Team saw its increasing popularity challenged by a pseudo-war between EA Sports and coin sellers using autobuyers. Players suffered the collateral effects as the Web App and Companion App markets were deactivated halfway through the season. By then, the market had already been hit by unprecedented inflation, prompting EA to implement Price Ranges. This move didn’t solve the issue and led to many top players becoming extinct. A new security breach raised fears about the game’s future, but FUT continued to endure.
One of the new features introduced in FIFA 15 was player loans through the EAS FC catalogue. This allowed everyone to try out legendary players like Pelé, Messi, and… Sturridge for five games. The number of quality players increased significantly, not only due to new legends but also because of constant In Form releases. FIFA 15 saw an unprecedented number of Happy Hours and special card releases, including two new types of IF cards: Heroes and FUTTIES.
In FIFA 15, the heading attribute was replaced with physicality, and friendly seasons were introduced, making matches against friends more enjoyable and competitive with a match history system. EA also provided an alternative to squad builders with Concept Squads, allowing players to build their dream teams even without enough coins. Sharing, copying, and liking other people’s squads were lesser-noticed features. New instructions were promising but ultimately underwhelming since they couldn’t be saved.
FUT 16
FIFA 16 was the year EA Sports focused on improving certain aspects of Ultimate Team, though unfortunately, server issues remained unresolved, and quick tactics settings still wouldn’t save. After partial testing, price ranges were reintroduced with wider limits, stabilizing the market. However, the battle against cheaters and coin sellers took an unconventional turn: instead of addressing the core issue, EA blamed the lower platforms and split the market into five segments, isolating the PS4 and Xbox One markets to keep them ‘clean.’
FUT 16 wasn’t among the best editions of Ultimate Team. It featured a lot of cosmetic changes but few new functionalities. As usual, the card layout was updated, pack opening animations were refreshed, and a few legends were added. A new filter for IF cards was introduced, but it was hardly noteworthy amid the lack of real innovations. EA’s attempt to introduce new card types, like the not-so-popular Classic International Heroes and a modest Champions League Team of the Group Stage, fell flat.
The new game mode, FUT Draft, was highly anticipated. It challenged players to build squads by selecting the best option for each position from five random players and compete in a series of up to four matches. The community’s positive feedback indicated that EA should continue developing new game modes to attract players, aiming for the complexity seen in other EA franchises’ Ultimate Teams. Ironically, FUT Draft’s success, the highlight of the year, was built on the complex chemistry mechanics—mechanics that were later discovered to be fundamentally flawed. This major glitch, known as Chemgate, revealed that chemistry styles were essentially placebo, and non-inform (NIF) cards were often better than their in-form (IF) counterparts. This issue affected all previous editions of the game, frustrating millions of players who spent money seeking better cards. How was this resolved? EA remained silent, FIFA 17 was released, and the controversy faded from memory.
FUT 17
The promotion of the twenty-fourth title in the FIFA series largely centered around the debut of ‘The Journey’, a story mode. However, it was in Ultimate Team that the community saw the most significant improvements. The acceptance of the new game modes, FUT Champions and Squad Building Challenges, exceeded EA’s expectations.
FUT Champions represents a strong investment in elevating the game to eSport status, aligning with the growing trend of professional video game competition. Thematic tournaments were replaced by knockout matches for the Weekend League, allowing the best players to qualify for in-person tournaments. Winners of these tournaments could earn spots in the FIWC and win substantial cash prizes. Squad Building Challenges (SBCs) invited players to test their squad-building skills with specific requirements, filling the gap for modes targeting hardcore players and revitalizing a previously predictable transfer market.
FIFA 17 also marked a year of numerous new card types. In addition to Ultimate Scream, which offered temporary upgrades, new cards included Movember, Group Stage, POTM, POTY, three variants of MOTM, FUT Champions, Squad Building Challenge cards, and even an Alex Hunter card from ‘The Journey’. In fact, more new card types debuted this year than in the previous eight editions combined. Notably, the Ones to Watch cards, which update based on the player’s best TOTW performance, were introduced.
Ultimate Team gained new momentum with FIFA 17 and its innovative game modes. The market became more complex, and the game more competitive. EA capitalized on every occasion with promotional pack sales, indicating they had found a successful formula.
FUT 18
FIFA 18 was likely one of the editions with fewer innovations in the history of FUT. With the success of FIFA 17, EA decided to maintain the winning formula. The most notable change was swapping Lionel Messi for Cristiano Ronaldo on the cover (replacing him again a few months later), but overall, the approach remained the same.
Alex Hunter returned for a second season, and FUT Champions also made its second appearance. While the competitive mode saw some restructuring, changes to the Weekend League were minimal. Players still needed to play 40 matches each week to prove their skills and earn rewards like the Naldo FUT Champions card at the end of the month. For those who prefer offline play, EA introduced Squad Battles, also known as FUT Champions single player. In this mode, players challenged squads from the FUT community to earn rewards and climb leaderboards. Once a week, they could test their skills against squads of real football players, pro FIFA players, and celebrities.
In FIFA 18 Ultimate Team, Legends were replaced by Icons. The concept remained the same – playing with the best players in football history – but Icons became available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch (marking FUT’s debut on this console). The player list was updated, cutting many popular names but adding new ones like Ronaldo Nazário, Diego Maradona, Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, and Lev Yashin, while Owen remained. Additionally, the community could explore different versions of each Icon with stories, featuring unique items for milestone career moments.
Manager tasks were replaced by starter, daily, and weekly objectives, rewarding players for completing tasks ranging from squad management goals to dynamic in-match challenges. FUT 18 also marked the first edition where the TOTY was not chosen by FIFPro, introduced the Path to Glory cards, boosted the Scream cards every full moon, and featured the World Cup experience.
FUT 19
New licenses were the highlight of FIFA 19. Younger players finally discovered that the Italian League isn’t called Calcio A, and the addition of the Chinese Super League thrilled many. All La Liga stadiums were included, adding more realism to the game, along with enhancements to leagues like the Argentinian League. The biggest surprise was the league exchange between Konami and EA: the Russian League for the Champions and Europa Leagues. This swap brought exclusive content for these leagues to FUT, boosting sales, as players couldn’t resist the new and appealing card designs.
Aside from increased realism, changes were minimal. While Alex Hunter retired, Online Seasons morphed into FUT Division Rivals, more legends were added, and the transfer market search engine saw improvements. Access to FUT Champions was revamped with a new points system, and DKT’s (Daily Knockout Tournaments) were removed.
This year will also be remembered for numerous events and new cards. From Halloween to the world-famous Carnival of Cádiz, nearly every occasion became an excuse to release more packs—except in Belgium, due to regulatory issues. Monthly Swap Deals were introduced, and Flashback cards led a wave of new colorful special cards, including Carniball, Future Stars, and Headliners.
FUT 20
What should be done when a game mode is breaking sales records every year? Simple: refine a few things, make some cosmetic changes, and avoid major alterations. For those seeking something new, there’s VOLTA, touted as an “authentic street football experience.” Or not.
Season Objectives were touted as the biggest FUT innovation of the year. They aimed to be similar to the seasons in other video games. However, EA mostly rebranded existing features: Starter Objectives became Foundations, and Swap Deals turned into Season Rewards. Daily and Weekly Objectives retained their names.
The real novelty in Season Objectives was Milestones, long-term objectives available for the most important game modes and leagues, akin to League SBCs but with objectives. This new system allowed players to personalize their clubs with stadium themes, tifos, and unique custom badges like the quirky ‘Eggs & Toast’—though it lacked the actual eggs.
Other adjustments included replacing Seasons with FUT Friendlies, Prime Icon SBCs with Swap Icons, and Ronaldo with Hazard. The most popular (and lucrative) events returned for another edition, leaving little room for new ones, indicating that the game mode has reached a mature stage.
FUT 21
Highly requested by the community, the ability to play with friends in Co-Op made its first appearance in FUT 21. To make the game even more collaborative, EA also introduced Events. Both team events and, especially, community events turned out to be some of the biggest failures in Ultimate Team history. It seems that players were not willing to follow instructions like robots in exchange for just a kit or a trophy that everyone else would also receive.
For customization fans, a new world became available in this edition. From the color of the chairs to the music played after a goal, including fireworks and exclusive celebrations, it became possible to personalize the stadium and various match elements.
Amid the lack of real innovations, the redesigned menu and the removal of a series of cards that hindered more than they helped stood out. Training and fitness items disappeared (players automatically recover fitness between games), and all staff except for managers were dismissed.
Apart from that, the leaderboards in FUT Champions and Squad Battles were extended to the top 200, Live FUT Friendlies made its debut in the franchise, and dynamic events arrived in full force, highlighted by the ‘What If’ event, adding even more color to an already vibrant game.
FUT 22
The complete overhaul of the two main game modes drew all the spotlight in FUT 22. Both had reached a mature stage and required structural refinements.
Rivals, along with its newly created Elite Division, was elevated to the top tier, replacing FUT Champions in player qualification for eSports competitions. This mode introduced a new seasonal progression system, based on Stages, Ranks, and Check Points. While EA isn’t known for simplicity, at least the rewards became more fair and interesting. In addition to weekly rewards, which can be at two different levels (Regular or Upgrade), players also received rewards at the end of each season.
FUT Champions became a two-tier competition accessible only to the best Rivals players: Play-Offs, which can be played at any time, and Finals, which replaced the Weekend League and reduced the number of matches in this phase to a maximum of 20.
As if it were an unfinished task, stadiums once again received attention from the Ultimate Team developers, who added more unrealistic ways to customize them, including alien-themed decorations.
Regarding the rest, the first event sponsored by a brand (Adidas) stood out, as well as the debut of preview packs, Fantasy items, and of course, the introduction of Heroes, known in the community as a group of good retired players not quite good enough to be Icons.
FUT 23
Always on the lookout for new game modes to increase player engagement, EA introduced FUT Moments in this edition, which they touted as the year’s biggest innovation (though cross-play actually claimed that title). In FUT Moments, players are invited to recreate real-world plays in exchange for rewards. However, the content wasn’t updated as frequently as expected, and players quickly lost interest in the new mode.
This year also saw the ability to rename teams directly from the menu, the introduction of First Owner tags on cards, and the unification of the market. The most significant change was a complete overhaul of the chemistry system. While loyalty bonuses, positional links, and team chemistry were removed, the new system did not make things simpler or easier.
Another area with notable changes was player positioning. To avoid negatively impacting chemistry, players were now limited to a few preferred positions.
In a World Cup year, EA capitalized on the event’s visibility by launching five World Cup-themed events. These joined the usual OTW, Rulebreakers, Black Friday, TOTY, Future Stars, FUT Birthday, RTTF, TOTS, and FUTTIES events, along with many other events that debuted and, in some cases, made their simultaneous farewell.
Ultimate Team 24
With a new installment of the franchise came several significant changes to Ultimate Team. One that garnered the most attention was Evolutions, which gave players the ability to enhance their cards by meeting specific requirements and completing specific objectives.
The introduction of female players into this game mode was also noteworthy. Although initially met with some skepticism, many players were impressed by the quality of the female players and began including them in their teams. It was arguably the most significant contribution of the decade to the development of women’s football.
FC 24 also revitalized the previously obscure Traits, renaming them ‘PlayStyles’, making them a distinguishing feature of player cards.
The year was also marked by the introduction of community-demanded features, such as reducing Squad Battles matches from 12 to 8 minutes, adding a ‘Claim All’ button, and improving the chemistry of Icons (which were now initially released in a single version), along with less requested ones like pack animations featuring two simultaneous Walkouts.
While card designs undergo changes every year, they were particularly significant in FC 24. In addition to providing more space for player images, the layout of face stats in a single line and the introduction of additional information stood out.
In a edition where the transfer season lost some interest due to the absence of OTW, there were almost always ongoing events, including highly anticipated dynamic ones and those related to Euro 2024. Accompanying them was a deluge of promotional packs, the vast majority of which were new, propelling EA’s earnings to new records.
Ultimate Team 25
The biggest addition to Ultimate Team in this second edition of Football Club was the Rush mode. Spanning across various game modes, this 5v5 feature attracted over half of the previous players, significantly boosting EA’s engagement and profit.
While this new feature is a refined adaptation of the former VOLTA, IQ stands as a true innovation. This AI model, backed by real-world data, has completely revamped FUT’s strategic component, allowing players to define team formations, playstyles, roles, and focus, replacing legacy elements like work rates, player instructions, CF and fullback positions, and formations.
These innovations were joined by other community-valued changes. One of the most notable was the removal of the longstanding contracts for both managers and players, allowing a card to be used in unlimited matches. Another long-awaited feature finally introduced in FC 25 was the ability to store duplicate untradeable cards, up to a certain limit.
And as with any other game in the series, EA implemented pseudo-changes to create the illusion of something new. The usual recipe applies: reward adjustments (notably simplifying Rivals rewards by removing the three-choice format), redesigned menus, subtly added paid content, prettier Evolutions, and an endless stream of special cards. Success guaranteed.
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