You can have all the best players in the world, but if you can’t get them into a stable formation, they’ll never win anything.
The best formations in EA Sports FC 25 all start from the same place: a solid defensive foundation. The aim of the game is to suppress the opposition without compromising your own attacking options, allowing for a fluid transition from defence to attack with multiple passing options that allow you to move the ball forward without isolating your attackers.
In theory, especially given the wealth of fresh positional options available to FC 25 managers via Player Roles, any formation could achieve this. In practice, however, the best formations in EA Sports FC 25 allow these manoeuvres to be executed more quickly, easily and consistently.
As the meta evolves, we’ll be updating this page with the latest strategies. However, at least at this stage of Early Access, the general opinion seems to be that similar tactics to FC 24 still work well, they’re just achieved in a more fluid and engaging way.
EA Sports FC Top 25 Formations
4-3-2-1
Following last year’s formation, the 4-3-2-1 is considered a meta formation by many professional players, due to its ability to defend compactly and attack in a versatile manner, giving players a huge range of passing options to move the ball around a similarly compact opposition team.
The 4-3-2-1 is different to the 4-3-3 in that it plays with 2 CAMs instead of wide players, asking them to drop back and be more involved in the overall play. This leads to a less realistic representation of real football, but allows for a much more fluid and faster progression of play. Also, at this early stage of the game it is also a great formation to utilize if you have a few good CAMs but no good LM or RM players.
However, if you have good wingers, you can still play this powerful formation. As mentioned on our Tactics Codes page, some pros, such as Gullit’s Syndrome start with a flat 4-5-1 formation, then fill out the midfield before asking the wingers to play as centre-forwards, utilising the fresh, mighty attacking AI designed for these roles, while also keeping the LM and RM players in their preferred positions.
This will ensure your team defends as a very compact and congested 4-5-1, making it very tough to break down. Then, in attack or in possession, your players will storm the centre of the pitch to create low, quick passing combinations.
It is similar to the Red Bull style of football favoured by players such as Ralf Rangnick, Julian Nagelsmann and Jesse Marsch, but is far more effective than has been proven in real football.
4-4-2
The classic 4-4-2 is a solid formation in EA Sports FC that works equally well as a starting formation or in the higher echelons of the game. It offers a powerful mix of solid defense and tactical flexibility, allowing for an effective attack with a variety of passing options without being exposed to counterattacks.
In soccer, the fancy name for this phenomenon is “defending at rest,” which basically means that your players are already in a good position to win the ball back immediately after losing possession.
In a 4-4-2 formation you want the LB and RB to stay balanced at full-back and maintain a solid back 4. Then, in the middle of the pitch you want your biggest and strongest CM to stay defensive to further strengthen your defensive line. However, to prevent the strikers from being isolated you need to keep the second CM balanced.
On the wings I have noticed that if you set your wide players up to attack they really stick to the touchline and the last defender which can lead to fewer passing options when you are in transition. Keep them balanced as well to counter this. Then for the forwards you want one advanced striker to finish chances and one with better dribbling and passing to drop into the false 9 position. Again this helps with passing options when building up plays. Without a number 10 it can feel like there is a huge gap behind your attackers if you are not actively asking a player to fill that space.
4-3-3
The 4-3-3 is my favourite formation because it offers so much flexibility with its different variations. It plays very similarly to the 4-3-2-1, only it’s wider by default – but it’s now very adaptable. With the fresh player roles in EA Sports FC 25, you now have even more options to choose from, which is a really powerful tool for keeping your opponents guessing.
In previous editions the 4-3-3 (4) was a great formation that essentially allowed for Guardiola’s 5 and 5 style of play, with 5 attacking players and 5 tasked with holding the defence. Up front the forward was supported by a quick, technical shadow striker who was a great dribbler and had the skills to move the ball, while the wingers provided cutting options down the flanks.
The rest of the midfield consists of a box-to-box player who bridges the two phases, and a physically dominant CDM whose sole job is to absorb counterattacks and harass the opposing team. The team is then finished off by a fairly flat back four that remains solid behind the sweeping DM.
4-3-1-2
In the low term, if you have a lot of good midfielders but fewer options on the flanks, the 4-3-1-2 is another compact formation that relies on CAM and a pair of box-to-box players above the inside forwards to provide passing opportunities. It’s also a good formation if you have a few good strikers who you can’t leave on the bench.
With this formation you need to make sure you have enough players set up to attack, otherwise the front three can easily become isolated and packed without the ball. In EA Sports FC 25 the AI of the full-backs seems very mighty, which can be a good idea to provide a wide out – however this can leave you vulnerable to counter-attacks. If you are going to utilize an attacking full-back I would suggest they are on the same side as a balanced midfielder so there is someone to cover their position.
If you’re looking for players to fill these positions, check out our list of the top 25 EA Sports FC prodigies.
We also have a list of the best players to sign in each position:
