With EA Sports FC 27 on the horizon, many players are already strategizing their first Ultimate Team squads. Building a strong starter team involves more than just purchasing the highest-rated or most popular players. The early-game prices can fluctuate significantly, so effective squad building requires not only identifying good players but also avoiding unnecessary losses.
In this video, TheFutAccountant shares five tips to help you create a competitive FC 27 starter squad without wasting valuable coins.
1. Avoid the Most Popular Meta Players
One of the biggest mistakes at the beginning of a new Ultimate Team cycle is using your valuable FC 27 coins to buy the players that everyone wants.
Popular meta cards often receive huge price premiums during the first few days because thousands of players are trying to add the same players to their squads. Once more packs are opened and better alternatives become available, those prices can fall rapidly.
FC 26 provided several examples. Omar Marmoush was around 80,000 coins during the first few days despite being an 84-rated card. His price then dropped to around 50,000 coins, followed by approximately 37,000 coins, before reaching roughly 22,000 coins at the beginning of October.
Other popular starter cards, including Marcus Rashford and Hugo Ekitiké, also experienced significant price drops.
The same situation could happen in FC 27 with highly desirable Premier League attackers such as Bradley Barcola and Rashford. Even if these players look excellent on paper, paying a huge early-game premium can result in a substantial loss.
The better approach: look for players with similar pace, dribbling, shooting, and physical attributes without the same level of hype.
2. Look Beyond the Premier League
The Premier League is one of the most popular leagues in Ultimate Team, which naturally makes many of its players more expensive. A player with similar statistics in another league can sometimes cost considerably less simply because there is less demand.
Instead of immediately filling a starter squad with Premier League players, consider leagues that offer strong cards at more affordable prices.
Saudi Pro League
The Saudi Pro League could be an interesting source of budget options in FC 27. Players such as Theo Hernández, Roger Ibañez, and Simakan provide defensive options, while midfielders and attackers can offer useful pace and physical attributes.
For example, a winger with high pace and decent dribbling can be extremely useful during the opening weeks even without outstanding shooting statistics. Affordable options such as Moussa Diaby could fit this role well.
Serie A
Serie A has consistently offered strong value for starter squads. Several recognizable players can provide solid performances without requiring a huge investment.
Players such as Dybala and Christian Pulisic could offer useful attacking options, while other affordable Serie A cards can help create a balanced squad without spending heavily on Premier League stars.
Liga F
Liga F is another league worth watching. There are numerous technically strong players who could become excellent budget options, particularly in midfield and attack.
Players such as Kika Nazareth, Caruso, Elena Julve, and Rosa Márquez offer combinations of pace, dribbling, versatility, and positioning that can make them useful early-game cards.
Women’s players can be particularly effective at full-back, midfield, and attacking positions. However, the script recommends being more cautious about using them at center-back or goalkeeper.
The key idea: don’t pay a Premier League premium when a comparable player from another league can perform a similar role for significantly less.
3. Don’t Build Your Final Team on the Web App
The Web App period can create a strong temptation to spend coins immediately.
Players receive their first packs, complete some SBCs, browse the Transfer Market, and start imagining what their perfect starter squad could look like. However, buying an entire team before the full game launches can be risky.
Once players gain access to the full game, more FC Points are used and significantly more store packs are opened. This increases the supply of many popular starter cards and can push their prices down.
Lower-rated players can be especially vulnerable because they are frequently pulled from basic store packs.
Rather than immediately spending most of the available coins on a complete squad, waiting until the full game is accessible can provide better buying opportunities.
4. Embrace Untradeable Players
Another useful strategy for the opening days is to build around untradeable cards.
There is no need to force a pre-planned squad if early packs provide useful players. Playing a few initial matches with the starter squad, completing objectives, and opening reward packs can reveal unexpected players who fit perfectly into the team.
Untradeable cards also eliminate the risk of losing coins through market depreciation.
A squad containing a large number of untradeable players can therefore provide two benefits: it saves coins in the short term and leaves more of the budget available for future upgrades.
It can also be worth testing seemingly unimpressive players before immediately discarding them. A card that looks ordinary on paper may perform surprisingly well in-game and become an unexpected starter.
First-owner cards can be particularly valuable during the opening weeks, especially when they provide useful chemistry or fill a position that would otherwise require an expensive purchase.
5. Watch High-Rated and Rare Cards Carefully
For players who do have some spare coins during the early days, higher-rated and rare cards deserve close attention.
EA has indicated changes to FC 27 rewards, including more tradable rewards and additional sources of coins and SP. If these changes result in a healthier early-game market, expensive cards could behave differently from the heavily inflated starter cards seen in previous years.
Looking at historical market behavior can help explain the difference.
In FC 26, a popular high-rated card such as Lamine Yamal reached a low point around 268,000 coins before briefly recovering toward 300,000. It later fell to approximately 190,000 coins by October.
Earlier Ultimate Team cycles showed that some high-rated meta cards could instead rise during the first few weeks as players accumulated more coins and upgraded their squads.
This makes the early market worth monitoring closely.
If the market remains healthy in FC 27, higher-rated cards, Icons, Heroes, and desirable gold cards could potentially hold their value better than heavily hyped starter players.
However, the market should never be treated as guaranteed. New promotions, rewards, SBCs, pack supply, and player demand can all cause significant price changes.
Final Thoughts
Building an FC 27 starter squad does not require spending a fortune on the biggest names.
The safest approach is to avoid overpriced meta players, look beyond the Premier League, wait before completing a full squad on the Web App, use untradeable players whenever possible, and carefully monitor the early market.
Most importantly, starter-team planning should remain flexible. A player packed from an early reward could completely change the ideal squad structure, making a different league or chemistry combination more attractive.
The best starter squad is not necessarily the one filled with the most famous players. It is the one that provides strong in-game performance while preserving enough resources for the upgrades that will inevitably arrive during the first few weeks of FC 27.
