FIFA 22 Ultimate Team: Lionel Messi's FUT card, stats, skills & history

Kieran Francis

FIFA 22 Ultimate Team: Lionel Messi's FUT card, stats, skills & history image

PSG superstar Lionel Messi is once again the best player in FIFA 22, with his 93-rated gold card the highest in the new edition of EA Sports' revered football video game franchise.

Despite his advancing age, the 34-year-old is rated ahead of Bayern's Robert Lewandowski (92) and five players ranked at 91 — including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Kevin De Bruyne and Jan Oblak.

Sporting News examines Messi's new FUT card and looks at his progression in FIFA throughout the years.

Lionel Messi's FIFA 22 Ultimate Team cards

Messi's current best FUT card

Lionel Messi FUT base 93

Lionel Messi - Rare Gold - Base Card - October 2, 2020

Name Position Overall Pace Shooting Passing Dribbling Defending Physical
Lionel Messi RW 93 85 92 91 95 34 65

Does Lionel Messi have a 'Ones to Watch' FUT card?

Lionel Messi is one of the eight players in FIFA 22 to have been given a 'Ones to Watch' (OTW) FUT card.

These players are footballers who have moved clubs in the recent transfer window and they will receive a dynamic special OTW FUT card with a different colour background. This card will originally be the same as the player's base card, but if the player receives a 'Team of the Week' (TOTW) FUT card, the OTW card will change to the rating on the TOTW card.

MORE: Who are the Ones to Watch in FIFA 22?

For example, If Messi was to be named in FIFA's Team of the Week, he would receive a TOTW FUT card with a 94 point rating — one extra point than his base rating of 93. This means that his OTW FUT card will dynamically change to a 94-rated card, and then will change if he recieves any further TOTW FUT cards during FIFA 22's lifespan.

Other players to have OTW FUT cards are Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku, Achraf Hakimi, Jack Grealish, David Alaba, Georginio Wijnaldum and Ibrahima Konate.

Lionel Messi OTW FIFA 22

How does Lionel Messi's FUT card rating improve?

There are multiple ways that Lionel Messi can get a FUT card higher than his 93-rated base card.

If he is named in FIFA's Team of the Week, he will recieve a TOTW FUT card one point higher than his current best FUT card, whether that be his base card or a previous TOTW card.

Messi could also be named in Team of the Year in December or Team of the Season in May and receive a special card that would be ranked approximately in the high 90's.

EA Sports also adds in various other special cards at times during the game, but the likelihood of Messi being involved is small to ensure his cards are rare and desirable.

The history of Lionel Messi's FUT base cards

Edition Position Overall
FIFA 22 RW 93
FIFA 21 RW 93
FIFA 20 RW 94
FIFA 19 CF 94
FIFA 18 RW 93
FIFA 17 RW 93
FIFA 16 RW 94
FIFA 15 CF 93
FIFA 14 CF 94
FIFA 13 CF 93
FIFA 12 CF 94
FIFA 11 RW 90
FIFA 10 RW 91

Kieran Francis

Kieran Francis Photo

Kieran Francis is a senior editor at The Sporting News based in Melbourne, Australia. He started at Sportal.com.au before being a part of the transition to Sporting News in 2015. Just prior to the 2018 World Cup, he was appointed chief editor of Goal.com in Australia. He has now returned to The Sporting News where his passions lay in football, AFL, poker and cricket - when he is not on holiday.