The Team of the Year (TOTY) for FIFA 22 Ultimate Team (FUT) is revealed, some top players didn’t make the jump – the ratings seem systemless.
All leaks, predictions, discussions and speculations are obsolete, the TOTY is set with Paris Saint-Germain providing the lion’s share with Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi.
Manchester City follow with Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo and Kevin De Bruyne, while from Chelsea FC the midfield duo of N’Golo Kanté and Jorginho have come in.
Robert Lewandowski of FC Bayern München is the only Bundesliga professional to be voted into the TOTY by the fans. PSG’s dominance is surprising at first glance, as the French capital club did not even win the domestic championship in the 2020/21 season.
However, a closer look reveals that three summer additions, Donnarumma, Hakimi and Messi, are in the TOTY.
Jorginho demonstrates community flair
Edouard Mendy and Antonio Rüdiger, two promising professionals from the Champions League winners, missed out on the jump, while FC Bayern still had three hot irons in the fire with Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich and Thomas Müller. In the case of the latter, it was foreseeable from the outset that he would hardly be voted for due to his qualities that are difficult to implement virtually.
On the other hand, the TOTY is not just an event for FUT enthusiasts: The choice of Jorginho proves that footballing achievements were also taken into account. The Italian is not exactly considered a darling of the community because of his slow pace.
On the real pitch, however, Jorginho was European Champion, Champions League winner and European Footballer of the Year – hardly anyone else has achieved such success in 2021.
Salah behind FUT favourite Mbappé
Fans of Mohamed Salah, who has been rated by some experts as the best player in the world in recent months, are also likely to be disappointed. He has to rank behind world footballer Lewandowski and Ballon d’Or winner Messi, but Mbappé also outshines the Egyptian. The FUT aspect is likely to play a role here again, as the fast Frenchman has enjoyed great popularity in FIFA 22 so far.
The bottom line is that there are no big question marks behind any of the TOTY players, and every choice can be justified on sporting grounds. The ratings, on the other hand, are a different story: although the special items will only be integrated into the FUT packs from Friday evening – starting with the three attackers – EA SPORTS has already revealed their overall ratings.
Jorginho and Dias in second place
Lewandowski and Messi are understandably at the top of the eleven with 98 points each, but behind them there are some inconsistencies:
Jorginho and Dias are listed with 97 points each, their supporting players are worse off: Kanté and De Bruyne have to settle for a 96 rating, Marquinhos has 95 points.
How these ratings come about can only be guessed at. Jorginho (85) lags far behind De Bruyne (91) and Kanté (90) in his Gold version, Dias (87) is on par with Marquinhos (87) – so where do the ratings come from? EA SPORTS could be basing it on sporting performance, but that assumption does not emerge from the rest of the TOTY.
12th man as last chance
In the end, the developer will most likely not provide an explanation for the distribution of the ratings – at the top end of the FUT food chain all TOTY objects will move anyway. EA SPORTS will probably not leave it at the top eleven, traditionally at least a twelfth man should appear. So there would be TOTY hope for Salah & Co.
in the coming days after all.
