Well, that is the question of all questions. Because anyone who has registered with Sorare and wants to start must first realise that the prices are sometimes very steep. Even in a limited league, you have to spend a lot of money to be competitive. So it’s best to just leave it alone? Not at all! Fortunately, there are many ways to be successful at Sorare even on a small budget. But you have to be a little creative and follow a few rules.
Rule #1: Don’t do what everyone else is doing.
Sorare is mainly known in Europe, especially France, Spain and Italy. Germany is slowly following suit. What follows from this is that managers have a clear preference for their own leagues. Champion Europe, where the biggest European leagues are represented, is accordingly popular. But Challenger Europe is also popular because it has so many leagues – all the other European leagues plus Turkey and Russia.
If you look at the Champion Europe Limited league now, you will see that you need to get over 300 points on match day to have a chance at the final prize money ranks – usually and at least as of December 2021.
If you do your homework now you will see that this equals almost 60 points per player + bonus points to get to about 315 which gives you a good chance. Not too many players get 60 points – especially not all five. So you really need a few very good players.
That’s why other leagues like America or Asia are more interesting. Particularly because the players there are not in such high demand and are much cheaper for their achievements.
Conclusion: Don’t rush into leagues and players that are in high demand. Otherwise, you probably won’t be able to set up a limited team for less than 500€.
Rule #2: Buy players at the lowest possible prices.
This may sound easier than it actually is, but there are a number of ways to do this. Players are cheap when demand is low and there are several reasons for this: The player is performing badly at the moment, he is injured, he is threatened with the bench, there are rumours of a transfer to a league that is not covered by Sorare, he might end his career soon, etc.
Your job now is to find players to match that. Form is particularly popular, as it is usually short-lived. If you now stubbornly go by the L5 value (i.e. the average performance from the last 5 appearances) it will be difficult, because this is the value that immediately catches the eye and what most managers pay attention to. You won’t be able to buy a player with an L5 of 60 cheaply in any auction. Nor will any manager give it to you cheaply. What you need are players with a low L5 in a slump of form so that they stay under the radar in auctions and managers are disappointed and dust these players off.
However, you need to judge well what the reasons for this are. For example, if a player is injured and doesn’t play 90 minutes, the points average suffers. But soon he will be fit again and can score full points. The best way is to use Soraredata in combination with Rotowire or Transfermarkt. You can find more information about this in our guide to the tools for Sorare.
Conclusion: Search specifically for players in a slump in form or with a short-term injury.
Rule #3: Buy at the end of the season
If you see Sorare as a long-term investment, it is an opportunity to buy players towards the end of the season and during the break. At this time, these players do not bring any points (anymore) and of course have the problem that they have to do without a 5% bonus in the new season. This is not ideal and your capital is tied up for a few weeks without any return. But in return you can buy player cards at a fraction of the usual market price. Admittedly, this strategy is not for everyone, but it is a good option for putting together a decent team at a reasonable price. The demand for these cards is down and you will be able to acquire very solid regular players even for a few euros.
Rule #4: Solve the goalkeeper problem creatively
This is probably the most important point, because goalkeepers are outrageously expensive. That’s obvious, everyone needs one, the choice is limited and usually goalkeepers rarely rotate. If you want to buy an average goalkeeper from Champion Europe, for example, you have to calculate with about 150€ upwards.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to do much here, especially if you want to jump right in and start scoring points. However, there are a few options. Substitute keepers are usually very cheap. Usually nobody wants them because they never play. But even the best regular keeper can get injured. You can, for example, buy 5 substitute keepers and speculate that the number one will get injured or be spared. Yes, you won’t always have a keeper who plays, but these 5 keepers will probably not even cost you half of a regular keeper.
However, it is better to constantly check for injuries and immediately buy a substitute goalkeeper in such a case. If a regular keeper has already been injured and is out for a few weeks, this is immediately reflected in the price. So you can buy such a keeper well below market value and after a few weeks he is fully fit again, earns points and is worth double. You have to be patient here. If you don’t want to pay full price for a regular keeper, the options are limited.
Conclusion: Information and patience are the keys to getting a good goalkeeper for a good price.
Rule #5: Manage your team very smartly
Most managers rely on Sorare even when it comes to the line-up. They simply select the players with the highest L5 value and that’s it. But this is not the solution and basically you are not interested in the value from the past, but in what can be expected on match day. Soraredata provides much better information and also calculates the chances of winning. However, it is not perfect either and we recommend using a tool like Rotowire or Scoutpad to determine whether a player is actually in the starting squad and how high the chance of success is. This way you can not only prevent a DNP, but also get the most out of a player who is actually weak.
Conclusion: Most managers take the easiest way. You should not do that and use all possibilities.
Rule #6: Don’t only use regular players
Sure, starting players are expensive, but starter don’t always mean starter. The better you know a team, the easier it is to identify players who could become starters in the near future. The best way to do this is to use tools like Scoutpad to identify a replacement or a successor of a regular player. For some players, the end of their career or a transfer is on the horizon and often a successor is already waiting in the wings. You can usually buy him cheaply and he will soon earn you points.
Rule #7: Trade your way up
Trading is not that difficult and is already possible with simple means. Even if you don’t get a 300 point team right away, you can “trade” your way up. You have to buy cards (that you might not even need) very cheaply and sell them expensively. We have already explained some of the strategies for this in the rules above.
A very simple strategy is the following: You switch to “Rising Players” at Soraredata and deselect “rising”. This will take you to the “Falling Players”. These are players who have lost a lot of their market value. The question is always: why is that? Career end? Injury? Poor performance? Transfer outside a sorare league? Whatever. You need to identify players who have lost value only in the short term. Then you look for the current deals. These are usually managers who are desperate to get rid of certain cards. Now you send them offers that are once again well below the asking price. Some managers are simply frustrated and happy to get rid of a certain player. But the point is: you have to be convinced that the player will perform soon. You can put him up for sale right after you have bought him at a good price and, of course, add your profit. With a bit of luck, the player will sell again within a few days. With this strategy you can make your 10-20% relatively easily. Once you have done this a few times, you should have more budget for cards that you want to use. Don’t forget to always use the player, e.g. in training, so that he can gain experience points.
Summary
Yes, Sorare is not cheap and you must not only be willing to invest some money but also be creative. Only then will you have a chance to win prizes. You always have to think “out of the box” and you should be in the game for the long haul. If you want to hit the ground running, it’s actually going to be difficult.