Shortly after the release of FIFA 23, Ultimate Team is in royal league fever with the Road to the Knockout cards. We explain how the items improve and who you should have on your radar.
The current season in European football is in full swing, with the group stage of the international competitions halfway through. Just in time for the decisive phase to reach the knockout rounds, UEFA’s three club competitions are now moving into FIFA 23.
How do the map upgrades work?
In Ultimate Team there are currently cards from Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. Road to the Knockouts (RTTK) is the name of the event where the selected players can upgrade according to their performance during the group stage.
To be more precise, there are two possible updates for the special items: If the player’s team manages two wins in the remaining matches of the group stage, the card goes up. The same happens if the club qualifies for the knockout phase of the respective competition.
The player himself does not have to play. It is important to note, however, that an entry into the knockout phase only counts in the competition in which the team originally competed. For example, if the team of an RTTK item finishes third in the Champions League and thus enters the knockout phase of the Europa League, there is no upgrade.
The strongest cards of the promo are naturally found in the Champions League, especially Messi (91 rating) and Aubameyang (89 rating) stand out. But of course this is also reflected in the price of the two. For the former Dortmund player Aubameyang, 615,000 coins are currently due on the console market, the Argentine even stands at a good 1.4 million coins.
Top prices and potential bargains
Napoli’s Zambo Anguissa (88,000 coins) and BVB defender Süle (46,000 coins) will cost you a little less. Already equipped with solid gold cards, the already somewhat improved RTTK items of the two could become top cards with one or even two further updates.
The chances of that are not bad for both. Dortmund won two of their first three games, only Manchester City was too big for the Borussians. As a result, the black-and-yellows are currently in second place. If Dortmund also manage to win the second legs against Sevilla and Copenhagen, Süle would become an absolute defensive bulwark.
Zambo Anguisse and Napoli are doing even better so far, winning all three duels with Ajax, Liverpool and Glasgow Rangers. The southern Italians, who are also top of the table at home, are in the best position heading into the knockout stages and should be favourites in at least two of the three second legs.
Do SBC and Objective players pay off?
In addition to the items available in packs, Tottenham attacker Kulusevski is also currently available in a Squad Building Challenge (SBC), while Inter defender Gosens can be earned through in-game tasks.
Especially cards that only cost your time are always interesting, of course. However, Inter Milan have two tough games against Bayern and FC Barcelona coming up. The Nerazzurri won the first leg against the Catalans by a narrow margin, but they were also lucky. So whether Gosens will actually receive upgrades is hard to predict.
The situation is similar for Spurs, who are second in their group after three games with four points, but feel the breath of Eintracht from Frankfurt, who are level on points, on their necks. While Sporting Lisbon are top of the table with six points, last-placed Marseille still have every chance of progressing with three points. Kulusevski, too, should therefore be treated with caution in terms of possible upgrades.
Ödegaard makes for curious exception
Finally, there is a little curiosity about one card. Arsenal’s playmaker Ödegaard, available for 124,000 coins on the market, is the only item to have four games to get to the two wins. That’s because in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, the game against PSV Eindhoven was cancelled.
