# Best XI and Wildcard draft for Round 8

> The strongest starting XI is a 4-3-3 projecting 39.76 xPts, wrapped in a 99.5m legal 15.

By the evmax model · 19 July 2026 · https://evmax.ai/round/8/wildcard/

The strongest starting XI this round is a 4-3-3 projecting 39.76 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 99.5m of a 100.0m budget.

> The bench is deliberately the cheapest legal one available — Leandro Paredes, Jordan Henderson, James Trafford, Pierre Kalulu 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 Unai Simon at 0.78 xPts/m (5.0m).

**Bottom line:** Field this 4-3-3 — 39.76 xPts from a 99.5m squad, with 0.5m left in the bank.

## The data

| # | Player | Team | xPts | Price | Captain EV | Ceiling | Owned % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kane | England | 5.02 | 10.5 | 10.05 | 7.78 | 40.6% |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 4.80 | 10.0 | 9.59 | 7.79 | 40.4% |
| 3 | Mbappé | France | 4.51 | 10.5 | 9.02 | 7.53 | 59.2% |
| 4 | Unai Simon | Spain | 3.89 | 5.0 | 7.77 | 3.89 | 8.5% |
| 5 | Bellingham | England | 3.61 | 8.3 | 7.22 | 3.61 | 17.0% |
| 6 | Lamine Yamal | Spain | 3.51 | 10.0 | 7.01 | 8.35 | 39.3% |
| 7 | Aymeric Laporte | Spain | 3.28 | 5.5 | 6.55 | 3.28 | 9.2% |
| 8 | Rice | England | 3.08 | 7.0 | 6.16 | 3.08 | 6.7% |
| 9 | Cucurella | Spain | 3.01 | 5.1 | 6.01 | 3.01 | 27.0% |
| 10 | Pau Cubarsi | Spain | 2.92 | 5.0 | 5.84 | 2.92 | 6.1% |
| 11 | Facundo Medina | Argentina | 2.13 | 4.0 | 4.27 | 2.13 | 9.4% |
| 12 | Leandro Paredes | Argentina | 1.48 | 5.6 | 2.96 | 1.48 | 0.2% |
| 13 | Jordan Henderson | England | 0.34 | 5.1 | 0.67 | 0.34 | 0.2% |
| 14 | James Trafford | England | 0.16 | 4.0 | 0.32 | 0.16 | 0.4% |
| 15 | Pierre Kalulu | France | 0.12 | 3.9 | 0.24 | 0.12 | 0.0% |

---
Method: Market odds (de-vigged) → Dixon-Coles scorelines → 50k Monte-Carlo simulations, scored on the official FIFA World Cup Fantasy points table.
Data license: CC BY 4.0 (attribution: evmax, https://evmax.ai). Machine-readable JSON: https://evmax.ai/api/round/8/wildcard.json