FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - Cards Colours and Categories Explained

FIFA 17 Players Cards are the most important ones. However, there are so many cards colours that it can be complex to understand the role of each card. In this guide we explain you all the players cards categories for FIFA 17 Ultimate Team.

Quick Access

Introduction

Regular Cards

Upgraded Cards

Transfer Cards

In Form Cards

Team of the Week Cards (TOTW)

Team of the Year Cards (TOTY)

Team of the Season Cards (TOTS)

Player of the Month Cards (POTM)

Player of the Year Cards (POTY)

Man of the Match Cards (MOTM)

Heroes Cards

FUTTIES Cards

Record Breaker Cards (RB)

Pro Players Cards

Ones to Watch Cards (OTW)

More Cards

Squad Challenges Cards

Storymode Cards

FIFA 17 Players Cards Introduction

The FIFA 17 players cards are the most important and also the most complex of the game. They are essential so that you can play. Before any game, you will need to fill the starting eleven slots but also the seven slots for substitutes. Without that, you cannot play. That’s why the starter pack gives you, at least, 18 untradeable players.

If you want a specific player, our suggestion is that you go and search for him on the market using the player filters. This way you will only spend coins on cards you don’t have and you will be equipping your club according to what it needs. Obviously the cards you get from packs should also be taken into account. However, if you think they are not necessary, put them on the market and get a few coins from them.

You can keep as many player’s cards as you want in your club, as long as there are no duplicates. You can have them duplicated on the transfer list or targets, though. In this case, the only limit you have is the list’s maximum capacity that can be increased with the respective EAS FC catalogue items.

Every time you get a player card in a pack or you buy one in the FUT transfer market, you need to send it to your team if you want to use it. In order to do that, you just need to select ‘send to the active squad‘. If you cannot find the card in your squad, and if you are sure that you have not discard it or send it to the transfer list or transfer market, then it is because probably your squad was full and you have send it to the club. In that case, look for it in ‘My Club’ and swap it for another player.

It is not possible to improve the rating or the stats of any player card, except using training cards. However, it only lasts for one match. If you have found a card very similar with a card you own but with a different rating, stats, league or club it is because it is a different card category.

The table bellow allows identification of the similarities and differences between the FIFA 17 players cards categories:

	Colour (1)	Cards (2)	Bonus (3)	Frequency (4)	Season (5)	Availability (6)	Rating (7)	Rarity (8)	Price (9)

REGULAR
Day 1	Gold/Grey/Brown	+16000	0	1x	Sep-Sep	Always	↓↓↓	↓↓↓	↓↓↓
Upgrade	Gold/Grey/Brown	+350	2	1x	Feb	Always	↓↓↓	↓↓	↓↓
Transfer	Gold/Grey/Brown	+- 4500	0	2x	Jan-Aug	Always	↓↓↓	↓↓↓	↓↓

IN FORM
TOTW	Black	+- 1150	2	52x	Sep-Sep	7 days	↓↓	↓↓	↓
TOTY	Blue	11	7	1x	Jan	7 days	↑↑	↑	↑↑↑
TOTS	Blue	+300	5	18x	May-Jun	3 or 7 days	↑	↑	↑
POTM	Purple	+- 11	2	11	Oct-Aug	14 days	↓↓	↑	n.a.
POTY	Purple	+- 5	2	5	Oct-Aug	7 days	↑	↑	n.a.
MOTM	Orange	+- 60	2	–	Nov-Jun	1 day	↓↓	↑	↓
Heroes	Purple	+70	2	+20x	Nov-Jul	1 day	↓↓	↑	↓
FUTTIES	Pink	11	2	1x	Jul	1 week	↓↓	↑	↑
Record Breaker	Blue and Red	5	7	5x	–	1 day	↑↑↑	↑	↑↑↑
Pro	Cyan	+- 20	10		–	–	↑↑↑	↑↑↑	n.a.
OTW	Black	23	2	1x	Set-Set	10 days	↓↓	↑↑	↑
Halloween	Black	24	1	1x	Oct	7 days	↓↓	↓↓↓	↓
Movember	Brown	38	1	1x	Nov	30 days	↓↓	↓↓↓	↓
St Patricks	Green	23	0	1x	Mar	Always	↓↓	↓↓↓	↓
FUT Birthday	Blue	–		1x	Jul	–	↓↓	↓↓↓	↓
TOGS	Blue	23	2	1x	Dec	3 days	↓↓	↓↓↓	↓

MORE
Legend	White	76	0	1x	Sep-Sep	Always	↑↑	↑↑	↑↑
Storymode	Black	1	0	1x	Sep-Sep	Always	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.

Legend:

(1) Colour – Card’s main colour
(2) Cards – How many cards
(3) Bonus – Stat’s average increase
(4) Frequency – Number of times that cards are released in a year
(5) Season – Months in which cards are released
(6) Availability – Duration of cards in packs
(7) Stats – Descending order of average rating
(8) Rarity – Increasing order of the number of copies by card
(9) Price – Descending order of average price

We will now examine in detail each category of player’s cards.

Regular Players’ Cards

Regular cards are the most basic ones. Every player must have one. All other cards are modifications made from these ones. At the beginning of the game, all the FIFA 17 players cards belong to the regular category. These cards have the innate characteristics and attributes of the player.

As the game progresses, users can change many of the card features such as the preferred position and preferred chemistry style. However, these cards are still considered regular cards. Only the game system can create non-regular cards. It is important to notice again that it is not possible to improve the rating or the stats in a permanent way.

In FIFA 17 Ultimate Team, there are more than 16,000 regular cards, corresponding to as many players. They are always in packs, for the whole the year. The only time that a player doesn’t have his regular cards in packs, is when it is being released another card is released of him.

The ratings and the stats of regular cards are calculated according to the player’s performance and popularity in the previous 365 days. The card with higher ratings is the one of Lionel Messi.

When a card is released for the first time and assigned to its first owner, it comes with fitness 99 and seven contracts, except for the players of starter pack that have 45 contracts.

FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - Cards Colours and Categories

FUT 17 Regular Cards – Non-Rare and Rare

Upgraded FIFA 17 Players Cards

As we already have explained, it is not possible to improve the stats of any regular card. However, if a player stands out in the real world, in such a way that his card becomes strongly outdated, Electronic Arts comes to justice introducing a new type of card.

The Winter upgraded players’ cards, also known as UP cards, are usually released in February with the goal of adjust the players’ rating and players’ attributes to the reality. They are physically identical to the originals, except on rating and stats.

These cards are usually assigned to the best players of the first half of the season. They must have played well in a consistent way throughout this period and not only in few games, showing that their old regular card was really outdated. The average rating increase to these cards are 2 points, which is explained by the fact that they are only assigned to players who had a marked development and not to minor adjustments.

As soon as upgraded cards are released, they replace all the respective regular cards that are supposed to be released in packs until the end of the game. That is, the only card you will find in packs is the new one but you may find both cards in the transfer market.

You can find a complete explanation about Upgraded Players’ Cards here

Transfer FIFA 17 Players Cards

In order to keep the game updated, Electronic Arts replicates in to FIFA 17 Ultimate Team what is happening in the real transfer market.

When a player moves from his club to another one in the real life, EA Sports releases a new card of this player: the transfer card. The only difference you will find between the new card and the old one, the regular version, is the club and eventually the league. In everything else they are physically identical to the originals, including the ratings and the stats which remain unchanged.

These cards are released two times in the year: during the Winter Transfers Season, on January and February, and during the Summer Transfers Season, on August and September. In any of these cases, the cards are released as the transfers are occurring.

You can find a complete explanation about Transfer Players’ Cards here

In Form Players’ Cards

One of the features that makes this game mode so interesting is its dynamic component. During the season, and depending on the players’ form in the real world, EA releases In Form (IF) Cards that change the players’ attributes. To own one of these cards is like having a player in your team with potential to play permanently as well as he did when he stood out.

IF Cards are the most valuable cards of FUT 17 and they can be grouped into the following subcategories: Team of the Week (TOTW), Team of the Year (TOTY), Team of the Season (TOTS), Man of the Match (MOTM), International Man of the Match (iMOTM), Heroes, Record Breaker, FUTTIES, Pro Players, Ones to Watch and themed cards, where are included the Halloween, Movember, St Patricks and FUT Birthday cards.

Team of the Week Cards

Every week EA Sports selects twenty three players of any quality based on their good real life performances on the previous week and joined them in a single team. That team is called Team of the Week and you can play against them in the ‘TOTW Challenge’.

To each one of the players of this team, it is assigned a new black card which becomes available in packs for a week, replacing the corresponding regular card. In other words, in the week a player gets his TOTW cards in packs, it is impossible to find his regular card there. Your odds of pulling a TOTW card from a pack are exactly the same ones of pulling the regular card of that player in another week.

The ratings and attributes of TOTW cards are usually boosted in one, two or three points. The position of the players in these cards may change if, in the previous week, they played really well in a different position.

You can find a complete explanation about TOTW FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - TOTW Cards

FUT 17 TOTW Cards

Team of the Year Cards

FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - TOTY Cards

In early January, EA Sports build a team of players based on their real life performance on the previous year. The players of this TOTY are selected from the voting of FIFPro, the world wide professional footballers association, and announced in the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala. They are supposed to be the best players in the world. In FIFA 17 Ultimate Team, the Team of the Year will be announced and released on January 9, 2017.

They are upgraded with a blue TOTY card which becomes available in packs for a week (two days for each position and a final day with all players together). In the week a player gets his TOTY card in packs, it is impossible to find his regular card there. Your odds of pulling a TOTY card from a pack are exactly the same of pulling the regular card of that player in another week.

You can find a complete explanation about TOTY FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FUT 17 TOTY Card

Team of the Season Cards

FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - TOTS Cards

In May and June, EA Sports build teams based on the players real life performances on that season. Unlike what happens with the TOTY, in the TOTS the players are chosen by their performances in the season and not for the full calendar year. Instead of releasing a single team, the Team of the Season is made by around eighteen squads, each one from a popular league or region. Besides these ones, a All-Star MLS is also released in late July / early August.

Each one of these players is assigned a new blue card which becomes available in packs for a week for most of the time, replacing the corresponding regular card.

The ratings and attributes of TOTS cards are usually boosted in four, five or six points. In FIFA 17 Ultimate Team, the first Team of the Season will be announced around May 19, 2017.

You can find a complete explanation about TOTS FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FUT 17 TOTS Cards

Player of the Month Cards

FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - POTM Cards

Every single month, EA Sports makes a selection of the most in form Premier League players of the previous month. The community votes in the favourite and the winner receives a purple FIFA 17 POTM card with boosted stats. These untradeable cards can’t be found in packs. To get one a POTM card, you will need to complete the respective squad building challenge, which is available every month for 14 days.

During this period, the Player of the Month don’t cards replace the corresponding regular cards.

The ratings and attributes of POTM cards are usually boosted in one or two points, compared with their last IF card (except TOTY, TOTS and RB) or, if it doesn’t exist, their regular card. The position of the players in these cards may change if, in that match, they played really well in a different position during the previous month.

You can find a complete explanation and a list of all FIFA 17 POTM Cards here

FUT 17 POTM Cards

Player of the Year Cards

From time to time, EA Sports releases a special card for Player of the Year award winners of certain leagues, with significant stat increases from their previous card. Just like POTM cards, they are purple.

You can win one of these POTY cards when completing specific FIFA 17 Squad Building Challenges or in the packs / FUT transfer market. When available in a challenge, they are usually based on the chosen player’s league and nationality. Depending if there is a SBC or not, they can be untradeable or tradeable.

You can find a complete explanation and a list of all FIFA 17 POTY cards here

FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - POTY Cards

FUT 17 POTY Cards

Man of the Match Cards

FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - MOTM Cards

Orange MOTM cards don’t have any periodicity and are assigned for standout performances in real life cup fixtures. They usually become available in packs for only 24 hours. During this period, which starts at midnight (UK time), the Man of the Match cards replace the corresponding regular cards.

The ratings and attributes of MOTM cards are usually boosted in one or two points, compared with their last IF card (except TOTY, TOTS and RB) or, if it doesn’t exist, their regular card. The position of the players in these cards may change if, in that match, they played really well in a different position.

You can find a complete explanation about MOTM FIFA 17 Players Cards here
A list of all FIFA 17 MOTM cards can also be found here

From left to right: FUT 17 Continental Cup MOTM Card, International iMOTM Card and Domestic Cup MOTM Card

Heroes Cards

The Heroes cards were created to reward individual honours, like best players and best young players awards, and heroic contribution during an important match such as a league derby, winning promotion to a higher league, or saving his club from relegation.

The purple cards are available in packs for only 24 hours. During this period, the Heroes cards replace the corresponding regular cards.

The ratings and attributes of the cards are usually boosted in one or two points, compared with their last IF card (except TOTY, TOTS and RB) or, if it doesn’t exist, their regular card. However, they are always worse than TOTS and TOTY cards. The position of the players in these cards may change if, in that match, they played really well in a different position.

The heroes cards includes the Player of the Year (POTY cards) of a few leagues, as well as the Player of the Month (POTM cards) of the Premier League.

You can find a complete explanation about Heroes FIFA 17 Players Cards here
You can find the complete list of POTM cards here

FUT 17 Heroes Cards

FUTTIES

Pink cards are assigned to FUTTIES, the special award in-forms chosen by the FIFA community.

The nominees card’s stats remain exactly the same as their regular versions, but all had the potential to receive upgrades during the week following the nomination period. The FUTTIES winners replace the corresponding regular cards in packs in that week. If you have a winning FUTTIES item in your club, they will automatically receive the boost.

The ratings and attributes of the these cards are usually boosted in one or two points, compared with their last IF card (except TOTY, TOTS and RB) or, if it doesn’t exist, their regular card.

You can find a complete explanation about FUTTIES FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FUT 17 FUTTIES Pink Card

Record Breaker

Record Breaker cards are assigned for players who break records within real life football matches.

These extremely rare cards are usually available in packs for only 24 hours. During this period, the RB cards replace the corresponding regular cards in packs.

The ratings and attributes of Record Breaker cards are usually boosted in around five points, depending of their original ratings and the particular record that is broken. The higher is the original rating, the lower is the boost.

You can find a complete explanation about Record Breaker Cards here

FUT 17 Record Breaker Card

Pro Players Cards

Pro Players cards are assigned by EA Sports to professional football players that play FUT 17 in a bid to make friends and gain exposure.

Each professional player chosen by EA has his own Pro Player card. This cyan card is unique and cannot be sold. That is, you will not find them in packs neither in the transfer market. If you play against someone with one of these cards that’s because you are playing against a real professional football player.

To all these cards were assigned a 95 rating and unrealistically high attributes, that usually are greater than 88.

You can find a complete explanation about Pro Players FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FUT 17 Pro Players Card

Ones to Watch Cards

Ones to Watch cards are a new card category in FIFA 17 Ultimate Team and probably the biggest addition to the game this year. These black cards are assigned to a very limited selection of players replacing their regular cards since the day 1.

Also known as Hybrid cards, and opposite to all other cards, their ratings and stats are not fixed. They increase or not depending on the player’s form. The OTW cards boost in rating every time a player gets a new inform (except TOTS, TOTY and RB).

These cards give the game a fantasy football element since their prices depend of how well players perform in real life and make the transfer market much more challenger.

You can find a complete explanation about Ones to Watch FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FUT 17 Ones to Watch Card

Halloween Cards

To celebrate the Halloween, Electronic Arts introduced in FIFA 17 a brand new card. These cards are assigned to a selection of players chosen based on exceptional real world performances, records and FUT attributes, and released all at once in a single FUT squad of 23 players with upgraded ratings as unique items.

During the Halloween period these player “come alive” and get ratings boosts, making them utterly terrifying. However, these boosts are temporary. As soon as this period ends, their ratings revert back to match their initially released upgrade.

You can find a complete explanation about Halloween FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FUT 17 Halloween Card

Movember Cards

To promote the Movember event, Electronic Arts introduced in FIFA 17 a brand new card. These cards become available in packs for a full month. During this period, the FIFA 17 Movember cards replace the corresponding regular not coloured cards.

The overall ratings of these players cards are boosted up to one point, compared with their regular cards or the last IF card. The only attribute that is boosted in the Movember cards is the physical and always with 5 extra points.

You can find a complete explanation about Movember FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FUT 17 Movember Card

St Patricks Cards

The FIFA 17 green cards are awarded to a selection of the best Irish players to celebrate the St Patricks Day.

The only difference between the St Patricks cards and their respective original NIF cards is the colour. There is no boost in the stats or in the attributes. During the period of the promotion, usually five days in mid March, a selection of player’s cards pulled from packs are released on green instead of their normal colours gold, silver and bronze.

If you own the regular card of a St Patricks player, your card will keep unchanged. If you want the green version, you will need to buy the corresponding version in the market or pull it from a pack in that week.

You can find a complete explanation about St Patricks FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FUT 17 St Patricks Card

FUT Birthday Cards

The FIFA 17 FUT Birthday card is a brand new themed card created to celebrate the Ultimate Team anniversary.

Featuring 23 current players who were fan favorites in previous versions, each FUT Birthday Squad member has upgraded ratings reminiscent of their past FUT item and a brand-new item type.

FUT 17 FUT Birthday Card

Group Stage Cards

The TOGS cards were created to reward the most inform players on the first stage of the European Champions League.

The blue cards are available in packs for only a week. During this period, they replace the corresponding regular cards.

The ratings and attributes of these cards are usually boosted in one or two points, compared with their last IF card (except TOTY, TOTS and RB) or, if it doesn’t exist, their regular card. However, they are always worse than TOTS and TOTY cards. The position of the players in these cards may change if, in the Champions League, they played really well in a different position.

FUT 17 Group Stage Card

More Players’ Cards

FIFA 17 Ultimate Team also features a few cards that can’t be classified as regular cards neither In Form cards. That’s the case of the Legends, available since the day 1, the Squad Building Challenge rewards, the FUT Champions rewards and the Concept cards.

Legends Cards

Legends are an exclusive content for XBox One and XBox 360 gamers. The players of these cards are some retired greatest football players of all time. It gives you the chance to play with, for example, Pelé, Bobby Moore or Figo in you team.

The ratings of these Day 1 white cards ranges between 86 and 95. In FIFA 17 there are 74 Legends players, 10 of them for the first time ever.

The chemistry of legends are slightly different from other players. They link well with other legends and team mates / managers with the same nationality.

You can find a complete explanation about Legends FIFA 17 Players Cards here

FUT 17 Legend Card

Concept Cards

Introduced first in FUT 15, Concept squads allows you to populate your squads with players you don’t own to see how they fit. You can even go directly with a single click to the transfer market to buy the player you need. It is a powerful squad planning tool that allows you to plan future squads using any FIFA 17 player. You can use Concept Squads, for example, to plan your next Transfer Market buys, find replacements for players and test out different Chemistry combinations.

In Squad Concepts there are two types of cards layout: if you already have them in your club, the cards look normal; if you do not have them, the cards look grayish and the cards are named concept cards.

FUT 17 Concept Card

FUT Champions Reward Cards

FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - FUT Champions

FUT Champions is the all-new way to compete in FIFA 17. Each week, players try to qualify for the Weekend League and compete for in-game rewards.

According to Electronic Arts, FUT Champions has the biggest FUT rewards. It includes exclusive content like the new FUT Champions cards. Depending of your achievements you will be able to win a bronze, silver or gold FUT Champions card. These cards can not be found in packs.

You can find a complete explanation about FUT Champions Reward Cards here

FUT 17 FUT Champions rewards cards (gold, silver, bronze)

Squad Challenges Reward Cards

Squad Building Challenges is a brand new game mode within FUT 17, just like FUT Champions.

In this game mode, players have to build a team which fulfils the requirements of the challenge using items from their clubs or from the Transfer Market. Each time a player completes a challenge, he wins a reward that can be packs or coins. When he completes larger challenges – the groups – he gets a bigger reward that can be squad challenges cards. These unique blue and purple items cannot be found in any pack.

You can find a complete explanation about Squad Building Challenges Reward Cards here

FIFA 17 Players Cards Guide - Squad Challenges

FUT 17 Squad Building Challenge rewards cards

Storymode Cards

This black card is assigned to everyone who finishes ‘The Journey’, the storymode of FIFA 17. It’s untradeable, which means that you can not sell it.

The only thing that changes in this card is his club. It depends of the club you choose to begin The Journey. Everything else keeps unchanged, including the player’ name, Alex Hunter, the stats and the overall rating (75).

FUT 17 Storymode Card

New Stuff

For experienced Ultimate Team gamers, most of what we have published here isn’t new. In that way, we have created this short chapter to show you what has changed with club items:

FUT 16 >> FUT 17

FUT 15 >> FUT 16

FUT 14 >> FUT 15

FUT 13 >> FUT 14