FIFA 22 is the latest installment in EA’s legendary FIFA franchise.

Interestingly, despite high sales numbers, FIFA 22 has divided fan opinion like never before. Some people love it, whilst others don’t – it’s a 50/50 split.

Despite this, FIFA Ultimate Team – the game’s main feature – is on great form. From SBCs to new and exciting cards, there’s a lot for players to enjoy. Naturally, this means competition levels are high, and games are more difficult to win – especially when you reach the higher divisions.

However, this guide is here to tell you how to become a better player. The following tips and tricks are specifically for PS5 users, but XBOX players will also find them to be useful.

Ready? Let’s begin.

Customize Your Controller

The first tip is nice and simple: customize your controller.

The PS5 DualSense controller is key when you’re playing FIFA 22. It dictates how you feel during each game and can ultimately affect how you play, which is why customization is so important.

Before anything else, you should attach Lizard Skins PlayStation controller grips. The Durasoft polymer will ensure you never lose grip while playing – even when you’re online for several hours.

In addition to this, you should add thumbsticks to your controller. This will give you greater flexibility when moving the left and right analog sticks. When you are sprinting or making skill moves, you’ll notice that it has a positive effect.

Choose the Right Formation

For familiarity purposes, it’s recommended that you choose a formation and stick with it for a reasonable period of time. This will enable you to get used to it and not get into the habit of chopping and changing.

If you want to play an attacking style of football, you should choose from the following:

  • 4231
  • 433 (3)
  • 442
  • 424

These are consistent attacking formations that will never let you down.

If you find that you are conceding a lot of goals and need to fix your defense, you should choose a defensive formation. Typically, a 5-back formation will do the trick, such as the 5-3-2.

Pro tip: Replace your CBs with wingbacks. This will ensure you have more pace in the middle of your defense.

Focus on Custom Tactics

Custom tactics are the most important aspect of FIFA 22. If you opt to leave them on default, you’ll get comfortably beaten most games if you’re in the higher divisions.

Therefore, if you haven’t already, it’s recommended that you jump into the custom tactics of your Ultimate Team (and career mode) to make some changes.

The changes you make are entirely dependent on your desired playing style. However, FIFA 22 is all about defending deep, so it’s recommended that you set one of your defense options (either ‘defensive’ or ‘ultra-defensive’) to ‘drop back’. This way, when your opponent is attacking, your players will drop back in a structured manner.

Offensively, it’s recommended that you select ‘forward runs’ or ‘direct passing’ for your tactics.

Forward runs will push your attackers forward and force them to make runs when you have the ball. Direct passing will get your strikers, wingers, and CAMs to look to receive passes and then move after releasing the ball.

Play Division Rivals

On Ultimate Team, the 2 most popular options are Division Rivals and FUT Champs.

If you want to get better without feeling stressed and under pressure all the time, you should play Division Rivals. This is because FUT Champs has the best players who are always playing to win. Basically, the standard is a lot higher.

Although Division Rivals can still be tough, there’s more space for you to experiment with tactics and not feel like you’re in a constant battle to win.

Turn Off ‘Timed Finishing’

By default, timed finishing is turned on in the settings. This is something that a lot of FIFA players don’t realize.

Make sure you turn it off. This will allow you to take shots more easily without worrying about the timer. Moving forward, your overall game will feel a lot better.

Follow the Pros on YouTube

Every month, the FIFA 22 meta changes when updates get released. To stay up-to-date with the meta, it’s recommended that you follow the pros on YouTube. They will provide you with tactical updates to make in correlation with each patch. Plus, you can ask them specific questions in the comment sections so that you can make further improvements.

MattHDGamer, NealGuides, and NepentheZ are all great players who regularly upload FIFA content to YouTube suitable for PlayStation and XBOX players.