Hot on the heels of Europe’s top clubs trying to shake things up and change the face of football as we know it, new leaks suggest that FUT Champs is set for a revamp in FIFA 22. Fewer games, different qualification and better rewards all seem to be on the table.
BUT (there’s always a but, isn’t there) change isn’t always good. Ultimate Team fans have been crying out for it, but what does it actually mean for players heading into the next instalment of the juggernaut football game franchise.
The devil’s in the details
The new set up seems to cement the status of Rivals as a second tier, qualification tournament for FUT Champs. The leaks allege that players will have to win 3 out of 5 rivals games to qualify for Weekend League. Players would have three opportunities to qualify during the week, but failure to win enough matches would put them out of contention.
This could signal a return to the glory days of FIFA 17 – where much like the Draft mode today – players had to win 4 in a row to qualify for FUT Champs. With no skill-based matchmaking, this mode was very popular with higher level players. However, a return to this setup is sure to disadvantage any casual/rubbish players who have stumbled into FUT Champs.
The good news
And now, for something we can all get behind: the 30 game grind is dead! Next season, it might actually be possible to have a life and play FUT Champs at the same time. That means no more Sunday nights spent sweating over your controller trying to hit a deadline. If there’s one thing we know about FIFA, it’s that it should be more fun than that.
It’s only speculation at this stage, but anything less than 30 matches has to be a step in the right direction. A FUT Champs game is 12 minutes long, plus a few minutes for pauses and subs. That means you have to play at least 7 hours of FIFA over three days just to finish! Frequently going to extra time and pens only makes it worse, so we really hope this one’s true.
Rewards worth playing for
If that wasn’t enough, we could be about to see the long overdue restructuring of FUT Champs rewards. Rather than unusable, utterly pointless TOTW cards, the new game will apparently feature specific player cards – with different versions available depending on where you ranked that weekend.
Imagine, no more fighting to finish Elite only to be offered a choice of mediocre, slow centre backs with no links. You could start off a FUT weekend knowing for certain that you’re getting a high level player if you get a good finish. We like the sound of that!
The waiting game
There’s nothing to do now, but wait and see. It bodes well that the Twitter account that broke the news, @KingLangpard, has a good reputation and has made accurate predictions before. Ultimately though, it’s up to the FIFA gods (read: developers) and we will have to wait until September to find out.
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