FIFA 17 | Good teams for career mode – Stade de Reims

Introduction: How do these articles work?

Each Sunday I examine a different team in detail and look at why they’re a good team for FIFA 17’s career mode. The teams are broken down into the following categories:

  • Tier 1: Teams in tough divisions that can push on to challenge for silverware
  • Tier 2: Teams that will have to fight for survival in a challenging division
  • Tier 3: Teams that start in a lower division but can hope to get promoted and work their way up higher leagues
  • Tier 4: Teams that start right at the bottom of the pile, with few funds or high potential players

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Stade de Reims (Tier 3)

Tier 3 sides start in a low division but have a great chance of working their way up the leagues – perfect for ‘journey’ career modes or returning a team to former glory.

Contents

  1. Why choose Stade de Reims?
  2. Lineups
    1. Strongest starting lineup
    2. Highest potential lineup
  3. Recommended purchases
  4. Suggested sales
  5. Future considerations
    1. Get a new right back

Starting transfer budget: £4,590,004
Starting wage budget: £15,574
Default formation: 4-4-2
Board expectations:
• Domestic success: Critical
• Continental success: Very low
• Brand exposure: Low
• Financial success: Low
• Youth development: Medium
Key player: Hamari Traoré
Best young prospect: Grejohn Kyei

Why choose Stade de Reims?

If you want a team that can rise from a second division and prepare for the top flight, Stade de Reims are a great choice. They’ve got the best budget in Ligue 2, giving them plenty of money to bring in new players. They also have the second highest number of high potential players in the division, only behind AJ Auxerre. That puts them in a great position to achieve promotion.

Of course, that means you can’t just spend your money anywhere – you have to prepare well for the top flight. You need to bring in high potential players who will grow well, but who also have a good starting OVR – you can’t wait years for them to improve or you’ll be relegated in your first season in the top flight. So make sure you choose your purchases well.

Stade de Reims’ key player is Hamari Traoré. With his pace and crossing, he’s a deadly threat when he gets forward and can set up his teammates with his crosses into the box. He’s also good at defending, though – 78 interceptions, 76 slide tackle and 75 stand tackle will come in very useful. Just train up his marking and he’ll be an excellent defender. Regardless of that, his 75 OVR and 78 potential makes him one of the best players on the team.

The team’s most promising young player is Grejohn Kyei. I raved about him in a recent Cheap Beasts article – he grows into an amazing player. He’s strong and has great finishing, and develops into a player who’s not only incredibly strong, but fast and great in the air too. He becomes hugely versatile, and with 80 potential he has an excellent future ahead of him.

Strongest starting lineup

Changing the formation to 4-1-2-1-2, here is Stade de Reims’ strongest starting lineup, with OVRs in brackets:

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Highest potential lineup

Changing the formation back to 4-4-2, here is Stade de Reims’ highest potential lineup, with potentials in brackets:

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Recommended purchases

Key signings required: GK, CB, LB, RM.

Before getting started, change Stade de Reims’ budget ratio to 59:41. This will give you £3,302,327 in transfer funds and £42,337 in wages. Now let’s start buying some players.

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Timon Wellenreuther is very cheap for his OVR

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Timon Wellenreuther
Club: Schalke
Position: GK
OVR: 71
Potential: 80
Age: 20
Cost: £1,100,000
Wages: £14,000

One of the most obvious changes that you need to make is bring in a new goalkeeper – this position has the joint lowest OVR and potential out of anyone in the starting 11. Edouard Mendy only has 73 potential, while Johann Carrasso has already reached his 67 potential. That’s not really good enough if you want to survive in Ligue 1.

I recommend you buy Timon Wellenreuther from Schalke in Germany. His 71 OVR already means he’ll easily be your first choice keeper, and his 80 potential makes him futureproof as well. His diving and reflexes are his strongest stats, but he’s a all-round good goalkeeper – only his handling needs a bit of work. But considering his OVR and potential, he’s a great player to pick up.

Because he’s only got one year left on his contract, you can get him very cheap. Schalke want £2.2m for him but you can get him for half that – just £1.1m. His wages are £14,000.


FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Waldemar Anton will quickly grow into your best centre back

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Waldemar Anton
Club: Hannover
Position: CB
OVR: 69
Potential: 80
Age: 19
Cost: £1,100,000
Wages: £12,000

The situation at centre back for Stade de Reims isn’t ideal – although Julian Jeanvier is decent, the next best centre back (Grégoire Amiot) only has 73 potential. As with the goalkeeper position, it’s essential we improve this before you get promoted so you have a chance of avoiding relegation in the second season.

With that in mind, I suggest you buy Waldemar Anton from Hannover in Germany. His 69 OVR already puts him into contention for a starting spot, and it won’t be long until he’s a first team regular. His 80 potential also means he’ll grow quickly and will soon become absolutely essential to the team, where his strength and tackling stats will make him a rock at the back.

Hannover want £1.7m for him, but you can get that down to around £1.1m. His wages are £12,000.


FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Angeliño has very affordable wages and high potential

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Angeliño
Club: Girona FC
Position: LB
OVR: 66
Potential: 81
Age: 19
Cost: £1,100,000
Wages: £2,400

Looking at the ‘highest OVR starting lineup’ image above, left back is a clear weak spot. Atila Turan has a fairly low OVR and only grows to 74 anyway, while the only other left back on the team (Samuel Bouhours) has reached his 65 potential.

My recommendation is for you to buy Angeliño of Girona FC in Spain. What I like about him is his range of abilities. Not only does he have good pace and balance, but his technical stats are strong too. He can cross, dribble, tackle, pass, shoot and even take decent free kicks. With his 81 potential, he’s going to grow into someone who can do a bit of everything, making him a hugely useful player to have.

Girona FC want you to pay £1.6m for him, but that can be brought down to around £1.1m. His wages are very affordable at £2,400.


FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Marcus Coco can make a huge impact on loan

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Marcus Coco
Club: EA Guingamp
Position: RM
OVR: 71
Potential: 82
Age: 20
Cost: £0 (loan)
Wages: £11,000

We’ve still got some leftover cash in the wage budget, so it would be a good idea to bring in someone on loan. Although wingers Grégory Berthier and Rémi Oudin have very good potentials, they need to develop a bit. You may feel like it would be worth loaning in another winger while they grows, so that they’ll be ready for Ligue 1 in the second season.

If so, I recommend you bring in Marcus Coco on loan from EA Guingamp. He’s hugely pacey with 88 acceleration and 87 spring speed, and that combined with his 76 dribbling and 71 crossing will make him a real threat to opposition defenders. If you want to really pressure the defence and cause them all sorts of problems, he’s the player to get.

We’re only loaning him in for a season, so there’s no transfer fee involved. His wages are £11,000.


Those transfers will leave you with £2,327 in transfer funds and £2,937 in wages. Not much, so let’s see who we can sell in order to afford some scouts or more players.

Suggested sales

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Johann Carrasso can be sold once you bring in Wellenreuther

We’ve brought in Wellenreuther, so you can sell a goalkeeper to bring in some more cash. I recommend you sell Johann Carrasso for around £500,000, leaving Mendy to grow as the backup keeper.

In defence, you might want to sell Anthony Weber now that we’ve brought in Anton – if so, sell him for £800,000. Weber is 29 and has reached his potential, and it won’t be long until he starts declining.

There are plenty of midfielders you can sell. Odaïr Fortes and Frédéric Bulot can get you £400,000 and £800,000 each. Also, sell Danilson da Cruz and Antoine Devaux for £350,000 and £500,000 respectively.

Finally, Andrew Jung can be sold for about £200,000.

All those sales should get you around £3.55m – plenty of money to spend on high quality scouts or to bring in more players.

Future considerations: get a new right back

FIFA 17 good teams for career mode: Stade de Reims

Almamy Touré is a highly flexible defender

While Hamari Traoré is clearly an excellent player, he’s the only right back on the team. You can use one of the left backs in the squad to cover for him if he’s injured or tired, but it would be a good idea to get another dedicated right back in the future.

My choice is Almamy Touré of AS Monaco. His 83 potential means that he will eventually overtake Traoré and become your first choice right back. There’s plenty to look forward too – he’s fast but also has decent strength, which combined with his fantastic tackling stats and 6’0″ height means he can fill in at centre back if you need him to. He can also play in a number of other positions too, making a very useful player to have.

AS Monaco want £2.6m for him, but you only have to pay around £2.1m. His wages are £20,000.


That’s it for this week’s article on good teams for career mode. Stade de Reims are in a great position to achieve promotion in the first season, but you’ll need to quickly strengthen them if they’re to avoid relegation the year after. But with a good budget and high potential players, they’re a great team to choose for a FIFA 17 career.

I’d like to hear if you have any thoughts about the format of the article itself. Did you find it useful? Conversely, do you think it was missing something that you’d have liked me to include?

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