You've just set up your club on FIFA 18 Ultimate Team, you've been given your starter pack, your loyalty rewards, and whatever else you could manage to get a few coins together, so now it's time to build your first squad on the new game.
At first, you need a solid team that won't put you at too great a disadvantage should you come up against an opponent with a team full of superstars, but with a limited budget that means you'll have to play it smart.
The Premier League is going to be very difficult to start out with as it is so popular the best players quickly jump to high prices. La Liga Santander is also difficult as Real Madrid and Barca players are highly coveted, but away from the two most popular leagues there are some bargains to be had.
Having had a chance to try out a number of different budget squads in the early weeks of FIFA 18, here are what we believe are the best leagues to get you up and running to earn more coins and upgrade your squad.
3 - Calcio A
Strengths: Strong midfield options, high rated players for low prices.
Weaknesses: Steep jump in price to next tier of players, not many striker options.
Essential buys: Diego Perotti, Piotr Zielinski, Juan Jesus.
The top Italian league continues to be massively popular in Ultimate Team because of the numerous options in terms of affordable players and the ability to build towards elite players such as Paulo Dybala and Radja Nainggolan. Despite the amount of Calcio A teams in use, the prices never inflate too high and soon very reliable high-rated players come down in price as the market continues to grow.
2 - Bundesliga
Strengths: Great defensive and midfield options.
Weaknesses: Short on strikers.
Essential buys: Kevin Volland, Mitchell Wieser, Emil Forsberg.
A go-to starter squad for most, you can build a solid and dependable Bundesliga team with some big name players such as Naby Keita and Emil Forsberg available at very low prices, and some outstanding physical defenders as well. There are a number of solid striker options as you will need to wait to afford Timo Werner, who is the best option other than the super-expensive Aubameyang and Robert Lewandowski.
1 - Ligue 1 Conforama
Strengths: High raed players for super cheap, lots of pace.
Weaknesses: Goalkeepers, expensive elite players.
Essential buys: Fabinho, Djibril Sidibe, Stevan Jovetic.
If you want a team full of Champions League players with high ratings as early as possible, then Ligue 1 is where you need to head. With the end goal of a Neymar, Cavani, Mbappe, or all three, you can add top quality players such as Fabinho, Djibril Sidibe, and Javier Pastore without shelling out too many coins.
