What is a ‘Rare’ Item in FIFA Ultimate Team?
In this article we want to discuss the “Rare” vs “Common” designation for certain item types (Player Items, Stadium Items and Consumable Items) in FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT). In FUT there are also “Special” item types, but for the purposes of this article we are just describing the Rare vs Common distinction. You can see our item guide for examples of the different types of Special Player Items you can find in-game.
What makes an item Rare or Common?
Player Items
It’s important to remember that the Rare vs Common distinction is separate from a player’s overall rating (OVR). Whether a Player Item is Bronze, Silver, or Gold, depends on which OVR band the Player Item falls into, with players rated 64 and below categorised as Bronze, 65-74 as Silver, and 75 and above as Gold. In general though, Rare Items tend to have higher stats than their common counterparts. So you can have a Gold item that is also Common or a Bronze item that is also Rare.
Whether a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Player Item is Rare or Common depends on whether that player has been selected by EA as possessing or demonstrating an attribute that is uncommon, special, or unusual in the real world of football. Rare Player Items are selected by the EA SPORTS FIFA development team, for players who stand out in their league or position for their attributes or abilities, or have been internationally recognized as exceptional.
For example, a player whose height is over 2 metres might be designated as Rare because it is so unusual to be so exceptionally tall compared to others who play football, whereas another player might be assigned as Rare because they have an outstanding international reputation in their position.
Not all players with above average attributes will be assigned Rare Items, there is a lot of discretion involved. Overall, fewer Player Items are designated as Rare than those that are Common.
Consumable Items and Stadium Items
For Stadium Items the Rare vs Common distinction is based on the aesthetic or visual flair that the item provides in-game (or in the case of authentic Stadium Items the designation is tied to the strength of the real-world football team they relate to).
For Consumable Items the designation is based on how much the item will impact a game element. For example, a Common Healing Item might heal a player for 2 games, but a Rare Healing Item might heal a player for 5 games.* The same is true with contracts, with Common Contract Items including fewer contracts than the corresponding Rare Contract Item. For example, a Player Bronze Contract Item would include 8 contracts (when applied to a Bronze player), 2 contracts (when applied to a Silver player), or 1 contract (when applied to a Gold player), but the Player Rare Bronze Contract Item would include 15 contracts (when applied to a Bronze player), 6 contracts (when applied to a Silver player), or 3 contracts (when applied to a Gold player).*
There are also a number of other quality types for Stadium Items, including Epic, Limited-Edition Noble, and Limited-Edition Epic, however in this article we are just describing the Rare vs Common distinction.
What is different about a Rare item?
Rare Items can be distinguished by their visual design. They have a “shinier” item shell than Common Items and a slightly different item shape as you can see below.
Some packs in the FUT Store have a guaranteed number of Rare Items in a pack. You will be able to tell if Rare Items are guaranteed from the pack description.
What about Special Items?
Special Items appear in-game on a range of different item shell designs, which you can see in the FUT Item guide. Special Items will also be designated as either Common or Rare. Currently, the only Special Items in FIFA 22 that have Common versions are CONMEBOL Libertadores and CONMEBOL Sudamericana. All other Special Items in FIFA 22 are designated as Rare. Special Items that are Rare can be used in-game as Rare Items, and may appear in Packs as Rare Items.
Sometimes a particular player in-game will have multiple versions of an item, the base version (Common or Rare) and a Special version. For example in FIFA 21 there was a Rare Gold version of Kylian Mbappé, as well as the following Special versions released throughout the FIFA 21 season: UEFA Champions League Rare, UEFA Champions League Man of the Match, Record Breaker, Ligue 1 Player of the Month, Team of the Year, and Ligue 1 Team of the Season.
*Numbers are given for illustrative purposes and may change.
