Football/Soccer Challenge

Here’s the rules:

1. Each letter can only be used once on either a player or manager. There should be 23 players and one manager.
2. Build the team so it could play together. An all-our attack would be entertaining, but it’s not a very good idea.
3. Players hailing from rival clubs or having personal issues (i.e. Mo Salah and Sergio Ramos) has no effect on the team.
4. Accents don’t really matter. Plays whose names start with letters with accents, like Martin Ødegaard or Cengiz Ünder are put under the letter without the accent, so O and U respectively.
5. Unless there is a strong case for a first name to be used, like Alisson, Neymar and Ederson, a last name should be used.
6. Longevity doesn’t really matter. I’ve based my team on players h to at have had somewhat good seasons. Injuries also don’t matter.
7. No retired players or managers. If you really want to use players and managers that have retired, this rule makes sure that it’s more fun and challenging.

Here’s one team that I made:

Formation: 4-2-3-1;

• Trent ALEXANDER-ARNOLD (Liverpool)
• Roman BÜRKI (Borussia Dortmund)
• Daniel CARVAJAL (Real Madrid)
• Alphonso DAVIES (Bayern Munich)
• Christian ERIKSEN (Inter Milan)
• João FÉLIX (Atlético Madrid)
• José María GIMÉMEZ (Atlético Madrid)
• Dean HENDERSON (Manchester United)
• Lorenzo INSIGNE (Napoli)
• Raúl JIMÉNEZ (Wolves)
• Joshua KIMMICH (Bayern Munich)
• Aymeric LAPORTE (Manchester City)
• Sergej MILINKOVIĆ-SAVIĆ (Lazio)
• NEYMAR Jr. (Paris Saint-Germain)
• André ONANA (Ajax)
• Sergio RAMOS (Real Madrid)
• Mohamed SALAH (Liverpool)
• Nicolás TAGLIAFICO (Ajax)
• Cengiz ÜNDER (Leicester City)
• Donny VAN DE BEEK (Manchester United)
• Axel WITSEL (Borussia Dortmund)
• Maya YOSHIDA (Sampdoria)
• Hakim ZIYECH (Chelsea)
• Manager: Mauricio POCHETTINO (Paris Saint-Germain)

Share your teams in the comments and, if you so desire, add a twist! I’ve also done an under-21 team, but doing an Asian or African team would also be a cool challenge. If you’re feeling stumped, transfermarkt is a good way to find players or even just remind you about players. Good luck!