By Mat Prior

One of the most interesting facets of FIFA 09 Ultimate Team is all the different types of cards available to manage your fantasy team. There are about 30 different categories. Below, I have listed some of the main categories with a brief look at their role in the game.

Players
The backbone of the game. Each player has a unique set of attributes based on the real-world player. These attributes combine to give the player an overall rating. The overall rating is used to value the player as either a Bronze, Silver or Gold card. There are over 4,000 player cards in the game.

Managers
There are 84 real-world managers in the game. The manager influences the team by his nationality and his preferred formation. He also has a tactics rating that enables the use of the Custom Tactics feature. He also has a Team Talk rating and a Negotiation rating that add to the value of any Team Talk cards and Contract cards that are played.

Staff
There is a Head Coach, a Physio, a Goalkeeper Coach and a Fitness Coach. These cards form the important back-room staff and all have values that add to the appropriate development cards.  For example, if you have a Head Coach who has a Pace Training value of +3, then any Pace Training card applied will have +3 added to the face value of the card. Finding the right staff can be crucial to building and maintaining your team.

Gameplay Cards
Gameplay cards can be taken into the game and used to influence on-field events. There are over 80 different types of Gameplay cards and they vary in the amount of players they affect and also the time they last. You can improve the throw length of your players, improve any of their attributes, avoid injury and even taunt the opposition keeper and affect his kicking, plus many others. They range from 30 minute single player cards to all-game, all-player cards. Using gameplay cards intelligently can be crucial in tipping the balance in your favour.

Training Cards
Training cards allow you to train your players and increase their attributes. You can even grow them from Bronze to Gold. All the attributes in the game can be increased.

Advanced Player Training
These cards can be very powerful. By playing these cards on a player, you can permanently change the preferred formation of any player. For example, you might be playing 4-4-2 and as such can't use Ronaldinho without impacting your team chemistry because his preferred formation is 4-3-2-1. By playing a 4-4-2 advanced training card on him, you can change this and make him fit in.

Advanced Manager Training
The custom tactic feature is locked out until you get a manager. Each manager has a Tactics rating that allows the use of one to three of the available tactics: Build Up, Chance Creation and Defence. Advanced Manger Training cards can be applied to the manager to increase his tactical rating and unlock the tactic indicated on the card.

Kits
Kit cards represent the home and away kits of all the teams in the game. If you get a kit card in a pack, you can choose to use it as either your home or away kit.

Badges
The badge cards display a real-world team logo and this represents your team's crest and will be displayed throughout the game, including in your training ground and stadium. You will get one in the starter pack, but if you want to change it, you will need to get another badge card and swap it with your existing one. Be sure to utilise the trading area to find your favourites.

Balls
There are dozens of different balls available on cards. You start with the default ball, but getting a ball card will allow you to use a different ball in the game.

Create Player Items Boots/Hair/Bandanas/Tattoos
These cards, when used, will unlock the applicable item in the Create Player screens. There are 100s of different items that will allow you to create a truly unique individual.

Stadiums
There are 53 stadiums in the game including a number of brand new ones. Getting a stadium card will allow you to use that stadium as your home venue. Stadiums range from the Bronze-level small ones in the starter pack up to the state-of-the-art Gold ones like New Wembley.

Crowd
Your stadium will start out with a small card. You can increase the size of your crowd by applying a crowd card. They vary from Medium to Large to Capacity. Having a larger crowd will add to your team's morale in home games, and the morale increase will be displayed on your stadium card.

Free Packs/Coins
If you are lucky enough to get one of these, it will entitle you to a free pack of cards. Similarly, a free coin pack will award a specified amount of free coins.

Celebrations
Getting a celebration and putting it in your Collector's Album will then unlock that celebration in the game. You can see how to trigger all the 20 new celebrations on the 'Celebration Help' screen in the settings menu.

Training Ground
The training ground is the arena in which your player can practice. Getting a training ground card will allow you to change the arena.