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Wildcard · Round 6

Best XI and Wildcard draft for Round 6

The strongest starting XI is a 4-3-3 projecting 47.97 xPts, wrapped in a 99.9m legal 15.

eBy the evmax model · 8 July 2026

The strongest starting XI this round is a 4-3-3 projecting 47.97 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 99.9m of a 100.0m budget.

5.6MessiC5.5Kane5.4Mbappé4.5Yamal3.9Dani Olmo3.8Bellingham4.0Upamecano3.8Kounde3.6Laporte3.6Saliba4.3Martinez4-3-3
The model's optimal XI · number = projected points (xPts)

The bench is deliberately the cheapest legal one available — Sander Berge, Samir El Mourabet, Luca Jaquez, Mike Penders 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), Mbappé (10.5m), Lionel Messi (10.0m). The standout value pick is Emiliano Martinez at 0.87 xPts/m (5.0m).

The data

#PlayerxPtsPriceCaptain EVCeilingOwned %
1Lionel Messi Argentina5.5810.011.168.1840.4%
2Kane England5.4510.510.907.9540.6%
3Mbappé France5.4410.510.887.7259.2%
4Lamine Yamal Spain4.5010.09.008.3839.3%
5Emiliano Martinez ArgentinaSafe floor4.345.08.684.3430.0%
6Dayot Upamecano FranceDifferentialSafe floor3.975.37.943.974.9%
7Dani Olmo SpainDifferential3.857.77.708.641.9%
8Bellingham England3.848.37.688.8817.0%
9Jules Kounde FranceDifferentialSafe floor3.795.47.573.796.3%
10Aymeric Laporte SpainDifferentialSafe floor3.615.57.223.619.2%
11William Saliba FranceSafe floor3.605.37.203.6013.0%
12Sander Berge NorwayDifferentialSafe floorBench2.314.74.612.310.3%
13Samir El Mourabet MoroccoDifferentialSafe floorBench1.444.72.881.440.1%
14Luca Jaquez SwitzerlandDifferentialSafe floorBench0.843.51.670.840.1%
15Mike Penders BelgiumDifferentialSafe floorBench0.143.50.280.140.6%

Bottom line

Field this 4-3-3 — 47.97 xPts from a 99.9m squad, with 0.1m 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.