FIFA 23 Ultimate Team Lionel Messi POTM SBC: How to complete, expected costs, and more

Lionel Messi has won the inaugural Ligue 1 Player of the Month award in FIFA 23, and EA Sports has released a special Squad Building Challenge to commemorate his victory. The SBC item is his second special version in the current game cycle and sees a rather interesting position change compared to his base card.

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Lionel Messi is September's @UNFP #POTM! 🙌

@Ligue1_ENG #FIFA23 #FUT https://t.co/GQr0Bo3685

The Argentine maestro has had a stunning start to the 2022/23 campaign, joining Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to form a lethal trio that any defense in the world would be wary of. Although Neymar won the POTM award for the first month of the season, it did not apply to the FIFA 23 game cycle in particular, making Lionel Messi the first Ligue 1 POTM SBC in FIFA 23.

EA Sports release POTM SBC in FIFA 23 to celebrate Lionel Messi winning Ligue 1 POTM award

How to complete the Lionel Messi POTM SBC in FIFA 23?

While the POTM SBC might not have as many segments to complete as the recently released Base Icon Michael Essien SBC, it undoubtedly costs more. The Squad Building Challenge has six segments overall and is undoubtedly the most expensive one to be released so far in FIFA 23. The requirements specified in the are as follows:

PSG

PSG players: Minimum one in your Starting 11
Team of the Week players: Minimum one in your Starting 11
Team overall Rating: Minimum 84

Argentina

Argentina players: Minimum one in your Starting 11
Team of the Week players: Minimum one in your Starting 11
Team overall Rating: Minimum 85

Ligue 1

Ligue 1 Uber Eats Players: Minimum one in your Starting 11
87 and higher OVR players: Minimum one in your Starting 11
Team overall Rating: Minimum 86

Top Form

Team of the Week players: Minimum one in your Starting 11
Team overall Rating: Minimum 87

87-Rated Squad

88 and higher OVR players: Minimum one in your Starting 11
Team overall Rating: Minimum 87

88-Rated Squad

Team overall Rating: Minimum 88

Is Lionel Messi POTM SBC worth completing in FIFA 23?

Reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain have had a successful start to the season, with their frontline finally delivering on its potential. This bolsters the players' reputation as three of the greatest footballers on the planet. Lionel Messi has been the driving factor behind most of the team's goals, creating stunning plays with his visionary genius while scoring as well.

Despite the overall rating and pace downgrade, Messi is still amongst the elite-tier attackers in FIFA 23. His dribbling, shooting, and passing abilities are second to none. Moreover, he offers spectacular links due to his nation, league, and club as well.

The POTM SBC has an expected cost of under 800,000 FUT coins, which seems like a bargain, considering the fact that his RTTK version is worth almost 1.2 million coins on the FUT transfer market. The POTM version has also been position changed to CAM, making it easier to fit him into multiple FUT squads.

However, fans must take into account that the RTTK version is also an upgradable card that will most likely receive boosts as PSG progress in the Champions League. The base gold version is also worth around 250,000 FUT coins, which is a fraction of the cost compared to the POTM SBC and possesses almost similar attributes.

Overall, the SBC offers good value in return for the coin investment. Messi is spectacular in-game and has a desirable position change. FUT veterans can bring the cost of the Squad Building Challenge down by crafting it with untradeables available in their club over the next 31 days. The pack rewards for completing the various segments in the SBC will also help in reducing the overall expenditure.