Despite the challenges of the pandemic forcing EA Sports to develop most of it from home, this year's version of Ultimate Team is the most expansive and exciting to date.

Early promos, such as Rulebreakers, suggest EA is serious about pushing special players in new directions by mixing up stats to increase their potential. There's probably no better example than Rulebreaker Harry Kane, whose newfound pace transforms him from SBC fodder to Weekend League meta striker.

Naturally, you'll want to get your hands on these players, and while their prices may appear prohibitive, the good news is there are more ways than ever to make serious coins in FIFA 21 Ultimate Team. Here are three tips to help you keep up with the power curve without relying on FIFA Points.

1. Play Division Rivals and Squad Battles!

The first thing you should do once you have a halfway usable team is tackle your Division Rivals placement matches. Finish these five matches and the system will place you in a ranked division, where you can play up to 30 matches each week to qualify for rewards. More importantly, it will give you a massive stack of coins just for completing placements, which is ideal for building out your starter squad. (You'll gain even more coins whenever you achieve promotion.) Div Rivals rewards are released each Thursday morning, but you get the placement and promotion coins immediately.

Squad Battles is another reliable way to make bank. You can play up to 40 matches each week, but once you get the hang of FIFA 21, you can easily qualify for lucrative prize tiers by completing far fewer than that. Even on Legendary difficulty, the weaker Squad Battles teams can be bulldozed into submission with a bit of practice -- they're especially vulnerable to players sprinting in behind.

2. Do the "Foundation" Squad Building Challenges

The foundational SBCs (Hybrid Leagues, etc) are a staple of each edition of FIFA, and they are designed to give out very nice packs for relatively little outlay. Ignore the solutions listed on FIFA websites, which are often placed by traders hoping to drive up the price of specific players; you can solve most of these puzzles yourself without spending too many coins.

Once you've finished them, you'll find you have some tradeable packs to open. Even if you don't net yourself anything big, you should be able to sell the contents to make decent money, and there will be a few usable players in there that could help you put together a competitive starter team.

3. Sell consumables, stadium items and valuable managers

Every pack you open in FIFA 21 is padded with items you probably don't want or need: contracts, position changes, kits, managers... While fitness and backroom staff cards have been removed this year, the addition of customisable stadiums means there are new items in their place like TIFOs and even pots of different-coloured paint.

The good news is that a lot of this junk has value. Gold contract items can be sold for 200-300 coins if you patiently relist them. Some position change cards are very valuable. And if you snag yourself a Dutch or Brazilian manager, you've just made 5,000 coins. It will be boring at first, but make sure to click "Compare Price" on all these filler items to learn what they're worth, and you'll probably make a good few FIFA Coins selling them on.