Wildcard · Round 6
RoundsR3R5R6

Best XI and Wildcard draft for Round 6

The strongest starting XI is a 3-5-2 projecting 44.97 xPts, wrapped in a 100.0m legal 15.

eBy the evmax model · 8 July 2026

The strongest starting XI this round is a 3-5-2 projecting 44.97 combined xPts. Built out to a full legal 15 — 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders, 3 forwards — for wildcard and rebuild managers, the squad spends 100.0m of a 100.0m budget.

5.6MessiC5.5Kane4.5Yamal3.9Dani Olmo3.8Bellingham3.8Dembele3.8Pedri4.0Upamecano3.8Kounde3.6Laporte2.8Kobel3-5-2
The model's optimal XI · number = projected points (xPts)

The bench is deliberately the cheapest legal one available — Gessime Yassine, Redouane Halhal, Mike Penders, Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal are enablers, not picks: their job is to exist within the rules so every spare pound goes into the XI, not to contribute points themselves.

The most expensive picks are Kane (10.5m), Lionel Messi (10.0m), Lamine Yamal (10.0m). The standout value pick is Dayot Upamecano at 0.75 xPts/m (5.3m).

The data

#PlayerxPtsPriceCaptain EVCeilingOwned %
1Lionel Messi Argentina5.5810.011.168.1840.4%
2Kane England5.4510.510.907.9540.6%
3Lamine Yamal Spain4.5010.09.008.3839.3%
4Dayot Upamecano FranceDifferentialSafe floor3.975.37.943.974.9%
5Dani Olmo SpainDifferential3.857.77.708.641.9%
6Bellingham England3.848.37.688.8817.0%
7Ousmane Dembele FranceSafe floor3.8310.07.653.8322.9%
8Jules Kounde FranceDifferentialSafe floor3.795.47.573.796.3%
9Pedri SpainDifferentialSafe floor3.768.17.523.767.8%
10Aymeric Laporte SpainDifferentialSafe floor3.615.57.223.619.2%
11Gregor Kobel SwitzerlandDifferentialSafe floor2.794.75.592.793.9%
12Gessime Yassine MoroccoDifferentialSafe floorBench0.664.01.330.660.2%
13Redouane Halhal MoroccoDifferentialSafe floorBench0.443.50.870.442.3%
14Mike Penders BelgiumDifferentialSafe floorBench0.143.50.280.140.6%
15Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal MoroccoDifferentialSafe floorBench0.103.50.200.100.0%

Bottom line

Field this 3-5-2 — 44.97 xPts from a 100.0m squad, with 0.0m left in the bank.

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How we get these numbers. Market odds (de-vigged) → Dixon-Coles scorelines → 50k Monte-Carlo simulations, scored on the official FIFA World Cup Fantasy points table. Ceiling = the 85th-percentile outcome across our 50,000 simulations — the score when a player's best realistic game happens, not a fantasy cap. Every figure here is machine-readable at /api/round/6/wildcard.json.