The premiere of FIFA 21 is imminent and with it not only are FUT and Volta returning. So does the legendary career mode with many new features. We recommend 7 teams with a lot of potential to take them to glory.
We are living in an exceptional moment in the history of football. COVID-19 has transformed everything and the world has stopped without Mafalda having to ask for it – rest in peace, Quino. Ingrained customs such as going to the stadium on Sunday, welcoming the team in droves and hugging the next person to celebrate a goal are now impossible luxuries. The room has become a stadium, Twitter on the outskirts of the field and a WhatsApp message in the closest thing to an effusive celebration. In times of empty stands, it is clear that football has changed.
But there are also things that never will. The fascination of the boy who wears his idol’s shirt and watches him do a dribble. The passion with which one screams when the ball goes in. The satisfaction that comes from seeing —even by video call— that coworker who encourages the eternal rival. And, of course, the launch of a new installment of FIFA.
FIFA 21 arrives a little later to its appointment, but loaded with arguments to show that for EA Sports nothing has changed and they are still the kings of virtual football. His debut is imminent and with him the everlasting career mode returns, stoically resisting the bets of FUT and Volta. One more year, the coach that we all have inside will have the opportunity to lead a modest to glory or consolidate a great one based on signings and goals. To make choosing among the more than 700 teams in FIFA 21 a bit easier, we bring you a new list with 7 teams of all kinds around which to forge a legend. All of them, in addition, are accompanied by some tips to make the trip more realistic and fun enough not to abandon it after a couple of seasons.
Renew or die: FC Barcelona
One of the most common and fun challenges for FIFA career mode is the one that immerses us in the renewal of a great fallen. A team with full showcases, but with some dust on the trophies they keep. AC Milan is a classic in that sense and has been a first choice for this kind of challenge for years. However, in recent years the fall of another giant has been brewing: FC Barcelona. Referents during the years with Guardiola in command, little or nothing remains of that team that amazed the world. And what’s left has aged around 10 years. Any culé with some common sense – namely, that does not support Bartomeu -, will recognize that Barça needs a much deeper renovation than the one it has undertaken this summer. A few new faces and a few goodbyes are not enough to restructure a shattered side after the 2-8 at Bayern Munich. That’s where you come in.
You will not lack work if you choose the Blaugrana for the career mode of FIFA 21. Relieving Piqué, Jordi Alba, Busquets and —before or after— Messi will force you to prove your skills as a scout. And replacing heavyweights like Luis Suárez and Rakitic will not be easy either. But this is what career mode is for. In order to once again dazzle the world with the Barça style, we recommend you go beyond signing the usual clone promises. Play combinatorial football, defend the 4-3-3 with open ends and bet on La Masía through Riqui Puig, Ansu Fati and escaped talents such as Thiago and Eric García. And if you are nostalgic for that wonderful Pep Team, try to emulate him with a French winger reminiscent of Henry, a Cameroonian forward with the claw of Eto’o or a Spanish center-back with the heart of Puyol. What if you force yourself to use to line up at least 80% of the youth players and win the treble in the first three seasons? Although it is far from a PES-exclusive Camp Nou, resuscitating Barça from total football with these guidelines is one of the most beautiful challenges in FIFA 21.
Road to glory: CD Castellón
The play-offs for promotion to LaLiga Smartbank brought great joy to the CD Castellón fans, a history of our football. Even Enrique Ballester smiles a little more from time to time. Although Castalia still hasn’t been able to show off one of her famous fillers in this return to professional soccer, she can still star in your next career mode after a decade of absence from EA’s soccer simulator. Choosing the orelluts is opting for a road to glory – going from the last divisions to rubbing shoulders with the greats – more affordable and known than opting for the typical team of the last English category. Low budget, modest players and a wide margin to build a success story are the attractions of a career mode in which the figure of the coach is vital.
Especially if you set yourself certain challenges that match the situation and philosophy of Castellón. For example, not exceeding a certain amount in each signing, putting a clause on all players -as is common in Spain-, sticking to the signings recommended by scouts, keeping the block that got the promotion … Nothing to request financial support from the home or to consult websites such as SoFIFA to sign the next Kylian Mbappé. From there, a reasonable goal could be to move up to First in less than three seasons. You can achieve much more on a difficulty that you master, but we recommend choosing one that makes you sweat. After all, this is how you win in Castalia. And this is how you should guide Castellón towards achieving its first title at the highest level.
Hardest yet: Barrow
The Barrow Association Football Club will be making its first FIFA appearance this season. After winning the National League last year, the Cumbrians rose to English Football League Two and are running as one of the most challenging teams for career mode. To bet on them is to do it for the most hardcore and purist road to glory: a tiny budget, amateur players and a long way to rub shoulders with the greats of English football. Few sets will make it more difficult for you than the Barrow; his best player barely reaches 65 average rating.
The idea behind this suggestion is very similar to that of CD Castellón, but hyperbolized. Moving up to the top flight will involve three seasons in the best of cases and you will almost always face teams with much more budget and level. A good way to make this path even more interesting is to bet on young British players, never over 23 years old. Taking on the role of a sales team and switching to the middle of the team between season and season can be another way to add to the fun. And choosing a starting player to act as captain and who you will never sell to even if you are fighting for the Champions League will make you always remember this arduous journey.
A big one in the making: Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, Wolves for friends, is a recurring team on these types of lists. The youth of their squad, their budgetary solvency and the status they have acquired in recent seasons make considering the assault on the Premier League with them very attractive. Especially after his last season: seventh in the league and semifinalists in the Europa League – the second best position to aspire to if Sevilla participate in the competition. This year is the perfect time to take a step forward and aspire to win a title. But not in any way.
One of the most characteristic hallmarks of Wolves is the large number of Portuguese players on the payroll. Something even more noticeable this year after the signatures of Fabio Silva, Vitor Ferreira and Nélson Semedo. With Nuno Espírito Santo it happens as with the unusual number of fans of Zelda in the writing of FreeGameTips; the boss always sweeps home. With that in mind, you can set out to win the Premier League in three seasons and the Champions League after five years with at least 7 Portuguese players in your starting eleven. Sign up candidates like Dalot and Leite or recruit them from your quarry. Likewise, use a formation with three or five defenders – using two lanes – in which the speed per band has a lot of prominence. Enjoy Adama Traoré, come on. Always on the attack, signing fast youngsters and with dizzying football. You won’t regret joining the Wolves pack.
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 01: Adama Traore of Wolverhampton Wanderers celebrates with Willy Boly and Ryan Bennett of Wolverhampton Wanderers after scoring his sides first goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers at London Stadium on September 1, 2018 in London , United Kingdom. (Photo by Jordan Mansfield / Getty Images)
Welcome, Mr. Marshall: Parma Calcio 1913
Modern football has a lot of downsides, but the amount of twists and turns it brings about helps make career mode always feel fresh. An example of this is the case of Parma, an Italian history that Kyle Krause, a great American millionaire, has acquired. In terms of FIFA, this acquisition justifies a financial backing that, with certain limits, results in a challenge worth trying.
To really enjoy a career mode where you benefit from financial backing, you have to set rules. The first: do not sign players worth more than 12 million euros during the first two seasons. You can increase or reduce that amount a little, but we consider it to be well adjusted to the reality of Parma. Until you can get on the dollar, try to sign young talents and turn them into stars like the Emilia-Romagna team did in their day with Adriano, Cannavaro, Buffon, Crespo, Zola and a few others. And since the owner of the club is North American, the logical thing is that at least three members of the starting eleven are also American.
From there, your goal will be to finish what started in the 90s and was interrupted during the past decade. Parma were runners-up in Serie A in 1997, so taking the throne from Juventus in the first three seasons should be a must. In Europe, after winning the old UEFA a couple of times, Parma had a pending account with the Champions League that you will have to settle in a maximum of five seasons. If you succeed, the return of this great Italian will be a fait accompli.
The storming of the Bastille: Lille OSC
Before leaving Europe we want to make a stop in France. The French league, dominated for the last decade by a PSG that only that Monaco of Mbappé resisted, needs fresh air. After the good performance of Olympique de Lyon and PSG in the last Champions League, the French competition wants to gain importance on the European scene. And for this, it must improve its competitiveness with new teams capable of contesting the title. We propose Lille and its staff full of young talent.
Great players like Eden Hazard, Gervinho, Adil Rami, Nicolas Pépé and even this summer Victor Oshimen have passed through the ranks of ‘Les Dogues’. In this way, we are faced with a sales team that must be recycled every year with new promises. That will be the modus operandi of this career mode on your journey towards conquering Ligue 1. As soon as you start, you have stars full of potential such as forward Jonathan David and midfielder Renato Sanches, both capable of reaching 85 on average without have the dynamic potential of FIFA 21. There are several other names in that vein, so you must impose success in the first seasons. Of course, you must sell to at least two of your best players each year, so that you constantly recycle yourself in the fight for the title. Keeping promising youngsters is increasingly difficult and Lille is not PSG; you will have to sell. This way you will enjoy a very dynamic race, constantly renewed and always fun.
I want to be like Beckham: Inter Miami
One of the great novelties of FIFA 21 is the inclusion of Inter Miami. This new addition is special for two reasons: its shield has two flamingos and the owner is David Beckham. Perhaps the first thing only matters to us, staunch of the rosita, but the second is reason enough to be interested in the American team. We know that MLS is a less competitive league and that we miss out on tournaments like the Champions League, but that’s exactly why we recommend limiting the challenge to a maximum of five seasons.
During that period, the goal is simple: to become the most important club in the US Achieving this involves two approaches to creating the squad: signing well-known players, but in decline, and incorporating young American promises. In the first group is Blaise Matuidi, world champion with France in 2018 and formerly part of PSG and Juventus. During the summer other names have sounded, such as the incombustible Edison Cavani or the now rojiblanco Luis Suárez. Thus, every great veteran player who ends his contract should be on your list of possible signings. Regarding the youngest, you can combine players from South America with others from Mexico and Canada, but always ensuring a place for an American pearl. When it comes to building a youth scouting network, be sure to send them across the US to sign the next Clint Dempsey. It is up to you that the MLS steal some attention from the NBA and for that there is nothing like winning it every year with attractive football.
A few last tips
FIFA has added several improvements to the career mode in recent times. One of them is the dynamic potential, a feature of the previous game with which to put aside websites like SoFIFA and improve to the maximum players that other years would have gone unnoticed. We urge you, therefore, to try your luck with small teams and to follow your intuition to sign, since you can turn any footballer into a crack. Prioritize players with a good level of fluency and get them ready for the game with the new active training system to optimize their performance. We also encourage you to reinvent the players who you think can sign good performances in another position, like that right-back with all the looks of a dribbling winger. That is a novelty this year that will surely energize your FIFA games a lot.
Regarding the teams, our selection is an orientation that you can mold to your liking. RB Leipzig and PSV can function in a similar way to Wolverhampton or Lille in that they are young and fast teams in a league dominated by another. The same goes for Villarreal or Valencia, two teams renewed in totally opposite ways that could revolutionize the Spanish league with your help. If your team is in any of the FIFA 21 leagues, surely a career mode with it will be what you enjoy the most. Soak up the situation in each league and discover teams that, like the ones we just recommended, make your adventure in career mode more fun. File with a certain philosophy, sell to reinvent yourself and dare to give realism to the negotiations. It may be more difficult to acquire or very frustrating to lose your star, but we guarantee that the experience is much more memorable. And that’s what career mode is all about; in creating an unforgettable story.
