Borussia Dortmund
Everybody’s favourite ‘second team’, Borussia Dortmund are known for flashy kits, attractive style of play, emphasis on developing exciting youth prospects and, sadly for the footballing world, consistently finishing their campaigns in the shadow of Bayern Munich.
Dortmund were the last team to win the German Bundesliga who weren’t Bayern, doing so under Jurgen Klopp in 2011-12, and the joint-latest German team to make a Champions League final following their all-German affair against Munich in 2013. Since the triumphant days of Jurgen Klopp however, the only major piece of silverware Dortmund can point to is a DFB-Pokal win in 2017 under Thomas Tuchel.
It’s time that Dortmund stepped out of Bayern’s shadow domestically and began to flex themselves a bit more seriously on the continental stage. Signal Iduna Park and its infamous Yellow Wall is the biggest stadium in Germany and the second biggest football stadium on the continent, and there is finally a wealth of talent to exploit for Fifa players to exploit in game.
Whilst the future of Jadon Sancho is still up in the air his potential in the game peaks well into the 90s, making him one of the hottest prospects in the game for overall development. Dortmund might have lost Achraf Hakimi, arguably the best right wing back in Europe, to Inter Milan at the close of the 2019-20 campaign, however they still possess the talismanic Raphael Guerreiro and new signing of the experienced Thomas Meunier to point to on the flanks as reinforcements.
As we mentioned, Dortmund are nothing without their world class prospects and the future Fifa games looks set to keep this going with the insane potentials hanging over the likes of Erling Haaland, Gio Reyna, Julian Brandt, Leo Balerdi, Manuel Akanji, Dan-Axel Zagadou and the incoming Jude Bellingham to keep players excited.
Arsenal
Despite a dismal showing in the 2019 Europa League final and the subsequent missing out of yet another year of Champions League football, a lot was expected of Arsenal for the 2019-20 campaign. They already had the deadly front line of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil to point to, but threw in the added firepower of Nicolas Pepe for a club record fee and the talismanic creativity of Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid in the transfer window. Kieran Tierney and David Luiz were brought in to sure up the problem area of the defence, and things were looking pretty great for the Gunners heading into the new season.
However, Arsenal ended up embarking on a campaign that even the most pessimistic of sports betting markets couldn’t have foreseen.
14 Wins, 14 draws and a mammoth 10 losses in the Premier League resulted in a dismal 8th place finish for Arsenal over the course of the 2019-20 campaign, their worst ever finish since the 1994-1995 season, and should make for an interesting challenge for Fifa players.
There are some serious bright sparks in this Arsenal side to build from though. Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe and Reiss Nelson all carry the potential to be generational talents for the Gunners, Lacazette and Aubameyang are both possible Golden Boot winners, Bernd Leno in goal is a great shot stopper and the full backs of Tierney and Hector Bellerin are a lot of fun to play with.
Paris Saint-Germain
Having won every single French Ligue 1 title since 2012-13 bar one, it’s easy to dismiss PSG as being a big fish in a relatively small pond in Fifa. And don’t get us wrong, you may feel inclined to up the difficulty in game to give the French league an added spice when playing through it with the Parisians. After all, this is a side that has a front line of Neymar (92), Mauro Icardi (86), Kylian Mbappe (89) and Angel Di Maria (87) to point to.
In addition to the front line, PSG have two of the world’s best holding midfielders in Idrissa Gueye and Marco Verratti, as well competent deputies in reserve in the likes of Ander Herrera, Edinson Cavani, Leandro Paredes and Pablo Sarabia to call upon.
The defence however looks a little weak with the losses of Thiago Silva and Thomas Meunier, so that could be a challenge for players to look out for. They still possess the likes of Marquinhos and Abdou Diallo however, which should prove to be a healthy foundation to work with.
With a team built for domestic dominance, the attention for PSG has to be the Champions League. It’s the one competition they want to win more than anything, but have so far fallen short year on year in some pretty remarkable circumstances. Getting this brilliant team over the line on the continent could turn out to be a heftier challenge than most players might first think and, with so much money behind the side, there’s very little room for error here.