I’ve never played a game with Ronaldinho in my years of playingFIFA Ultimate Team. The card collecting microtransaction-riddled game mode pulls me in every year, even after I call it quits, but I’ve never been lucky enough to pull the silky Brazilian icon in all my years of grinding.
He’s a player like no other, so full of skills that make your brain tie itself in knots as you try to work out exactly what he did with the ball, how he’s ended up over there, and why the goalie and three defenders are now lying on the ground. Whether it’s that lob over Seaman, the elasticos past the best defenders in the world, or any of his other beautiful skills, Ronaldinho made a generation of kids football fans, myself included.
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Just look up a compilation of his best bits on YouTube. I’ve linked one below, but there’s hours of footage that could be used for such purposes. From backheel nutmegs and no-look passes, to keepie-uppie dribbles and pinpoint dinked through balls, we will never see another player like him in our lifetimes. Oozing style and boasting the stats to prove his substance, I’ve always wanted to use Ronaldinho in my Ultimate Team, and I’ve finally got the chance asFIFA 23celebrates the game’s legacy.
The Squad Building Challenge (SBC) looks daunting at first. 33 squads, mostly ranging between 88- and 92-rated, is a lot. Most players will have nowhere near enough players in their club to complete the challenge, let alone enough players with such high ratings. However, shortly after releasing the astonishing 98-rated Ronaldinho, EA also released an SBC that rewards you with ten players rated 84 and up.
This repeatable SBC has an excellent pack rating, and the number of Team of the Season cards currently in packs means you’re able to quickly and easily rack up high-rated cards just by grinding this one pack. It only costs a single 87-rated squad, which you’ll easily make back and then some.
I completed Ronaldinho over the course of a day, recycling duplicates for more 84+x10 packs in a self-sustaining cycle. It’s a huge time commitment, but after finishing the whole process I had a fully-stocked club and made a 300,000 coin profit to boot. I even spent the next day completing the 20+ squads for 99-rated Zidane and the smaller SBCs for 98-rated Del Piero. My squad is the best it’s ever been, but the highlight is the Brazilian number 10. I never would have had the chance without this combination, as even his worst cards sell for millions of coins on the trading market, something I’ve never been able to afford. But now I’m using him, I can’t believe I ever went without.
I play Ronaldinho as a left-sided forward in a 4321 formation because I’m a meta rat. There’s nothing better rainbow flicking over Konate or Lucio, elasticoing around the keeper, and scoring with a completely unnecessary backheel just because you can. Panenkas and rabonas are all but necessary when you’re using Ronaldinho – the man practically demands the button combinations whenever he receives the ball.
Ronaldinho is suitably skillful, the perfect cap on FIFA’s long legacy. His visage graced the covers of the game for years, and his attitude to playing fun football full of flair deserves to be celebrated. EA has given us all the chance to use our heroes, and while I’d love for them to have made him cheap as chips for even the most casual players to complete, a time commitment is the least I could do in tribute to the legend. Ronaldinho made real life look like FIFA. Finally, FIFA can look like him.
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