Fifa 15 guide(silver)

Last year, we published a full report on silver players, and we will repeat that now where the FUT 15 stats are available. This year, you can build a full silver squad based on either one nation or one league for 77 different leagues and nations.
The guide is a systematic, assessment of the best, available options, when building silver squads for all leagues and nations in the game.

Disclaimer: The author(s) cannot be held responsible for adverts brought to you by UltimateTeamUK.

How it works…

I have chosen a quite complex approach, which enables us to evaluate multiple criteria against each other. The purpose of this approach is to be able to identify players, which may not stand out at first glance, and thus may be less pricy. In previous versions, pace was king. Since FUT 14, we find that other stats and work rates have become increasingly important, which means that it makes good sense to evaluate against a broader range of criteria.
First, I have weighted the most important attributes for each position in a 4-1-2-1-2. Attributes include the six aggregated stats, all in-game stats, work rates and height.
The weight factors used are:

Name	CAM	CB	CDM	FB	WM	STP	STT
PAC	12%	13%		21%	21%	31%	4%
SHO					5%
PAS						6%
DRI	12%					6%
DEF			12%	15%
Crossing				6%	9%
Curve				6%	9%
Dribbling				6%	9%
Finishing	10%					10%	12%
Heading Acc.						7%	12%
Long Passing		6%	12%	9%	7%
Long Shots	5%
Marking		8%
Short Passing	15%		12%	9%	7%
Shot Power	5%						8%
Sliding Tackle		8%
Standing Tackle		8%
Jumping		8%				4%	12%
Reactions			12%
Stamina	11%			9%	9%	4%	8%
Strength		8%	12%			4%	12%
Positioning	12%				5%	8%	12%
Interceptions		8%	14%
Height		8%
Attack Workrate	12% (H)	10% (L)	12% (L)	7% (L)	12% (H)	12% (H)	12% (H)
Defensive Workrate	6% (L)	15% (H)	14% (H)	12% (H)	7% (L)	8% (L)	8% (L)

(WM = RM or LM, STP = pacy striker, STT = target man, FB = full back)

As for the work rates, the table displays the ideal work rates for each position.
Next, I have found the maximum and minimum value for each of the relevant stats to each position.
Following that, I rate each player stat by stat by comparing his own stat value to the min/max span for the same stat. Each of the player’s individual stat ratings are multiplied by the corresponding weight factor.
Finally, the weighted stat ratings are added together to get the total rating.
Some players are relevant to other positions, and since we use the 4-1-2-1-2 as our formation, RW and LW’s are rated as wide midfielders, CF’s are rated as strikers and all central midfielders are rated as CDM and CAM. We have as far as possible attempted to create squads we two different kinds of strikers: A pacy striker (ala Ibarbo) and a target man (ala Luca Toni).
For each league / nation, we pick the best possible line up and calculate the average player rating. All these squad ratings get a point score between 0 and 100 depending on their relative quality to all the 77 different league / nation squads in order to give you an idea about the relative quality of the proposed lineup.
I also provide a cheaper alternative consisting of the 2^nd choices for each position for some of the more expensive leagues.
The squad listings below are all ordered as GK – CB – CB – RB – LB – CDM – CAM – RM – LM – ST (target man) – ST (pacy striker)

Top 10 silver leagues

You can build a full team based on one, single league for 32 leagues in the game. I have put in the 10 most interesting options, and will start from behind.

10^th – Pro League (79 points, 195 players)

The Belgian league comes in 10^th with a mix of quality and mediocrity. You can build a nice squad with some decent players at a lower price than what we’ll see later. Players worth mentioning for their positive traits: de Camargo (target man, and one of the best) and Van Damme (RB).
Best squad:
Silvio Proto – Alexander Scholz – Kara Mbodji – Thomas Meunier – Jelle Van Damme – Killian Overmeire – Hans Vanaken – Paul-José Mpoku – Andy Najar – Igor de Camargo – Júnior Dutra

9^th – FL Championship (79 points , 385 players)

The Championship’s line in silver has improved this year thanks to last season’s relegations from the BPL. Some of my absolute favourites from FUT 14 are now in the Championship, including Martin Olsson, Cameron Jerome, Rodallega and Craig Noone. Jerome is, however, not in my best squad as his work rates are terrible this year. Yet, the Championship offers neat options on all positions. Another feature with the Championship is the huge number of silver cards, which gives you multiple, equal options on many positions.
Best squad:
Keiren Westwood – Juan Cala – Rhys Williams – Daniel Pudil – Martin Olsson – Mohamed Kamara – Craig Bryson – Bakary Sako – Craig Noone – Grant Holt – Tokelo Rantie

8^th – Primera Division (81 points, 231 players)

The Argentinian Primera Division gives you a decent line up without many outstanding players. The most prominent player in our lineup is Centurion, whom you may remember as a pacy Serie A LW in FUT 14. This year, he is our RM. His LM colleageu, Acosta, is a top player as well. Weak spots: Neither the strikers, nor the defenders are top quality. The primary issue is work rates, not stats as such.
Best squad:
Oscar Ustari – Leandro Fernández – Mauro Cetto – Carlos Araujo – Leonel Vangioni – Ezequiel Videla – Victor Ayala – Lautaro Acosta – Adrián Centurión – Pablo Vitti – Rodrigo Mora  or Franco Niell

7^th – LIGA Bancomer MX (82 points, 195 players)

The Mexican league is seventh on this list. With a squad without many highlights, it comes in 7^th slightly ahead of the Argentinian Primera Division. The most notable player in this selection is Carlos Penã – one of the absolute best mid fielders. With 90 stamina, I think I will dare take on the challenge of his H/H work rates.
Best lineup:
Jonathan Orozco – Hiram Mier – Francisco Rodríguez – Paul Aguilar – Jorge Torres Nilo – Cristian Pellerano – Carlos Peña – Michael Arroyo – Isaac Brizuela – Mauro Boselli – Maikon Leite

6^th – Ligue 1 (89 points, 234 players)

The French league is a strong choice over all, but it lacks top alternatives on the wide midfield positions. Besides, I miss strikers with the full pack in terms of shooting, pace and work rates. Best silver CAM in the game, Oscar Trejo, is here.
Best squad:
Laurent Pionnier – Drago Grigore – Uroš Spajic – Issa Cissokho – Pape Souaré – Fabien Lemoine – Óscar Trejo – Max-Alain Gradel – Claudio Beauvue – Brandão – Anthony Martial

5^th – Süper Lig (91 points, 228 players)

With the Brazilian leagues out of the game, the Turkish league is a nice replacement. With few exceptions, it offers an – almost – full palette of high quality silver players with the exception of wide midfielders, where I miss players with the full package of pace, passing, shooting and work rates. There are pacy strikers, but the work rates are terrible.
Best squad:
Cenk Gönen – Jerry Akaminko – Giray Kaçar – Veysel Sari – Michal Kadlec – Alexandru Bourceanu – Sercan Kaya – Ümit Korkmaz – Gabriel Torje – Umut Bulut – Abdul Majeed Waris
A cheaper alternative:
Fehmi Mert Günok – Ryan Donk – Giray Kaçar – José Bosingwa – Alex Telles – Taskin Calis – Kévin Constant – Liban Ali Abdi – Gabriel Torje – Björn Vleminckx – Umut Bulut  or Sercan Yildirim

4^th – The Bundesliga (93points, 234 players)

Asides from pacy strikers, the Bundesliga silver selection gives you strong options for all positions this year. A notable change is Maximilian Beister’s relocation from ST to RM. He is one of the major reasons why I’m gonna try this one out some time. As always, the Bundesliga offers plenty of strength in the central defense.
Best squad:
Roman Bürki – Johan Djourou – Luca Caldirola – Fabian Johnson – Konstantin Rausch – Johannes Flum – Halil Altintop – Christian Clemens – Maximilian Beister – Joselu – Václav Kadlec
A cheaper alternative:
Timo Horn – Niko Bungert – Hong Jeong Ho – Atsuto Uchida – Park Joo Ho – Josuha Guilavogui – Mike Frantz – Caiuby – Robbie Kruse – Anthony Ujah – Simon Zoller

3^rd – La Liga BBVA (93 points, 214 players)

The Spanish Primera Division has plenty of options and I was able to build a squad with many strong options and no actual weaknesses except for the target man position. Boka (RB), Aquino (RM) and Barbosa (GK) are the most prominent names on the list.
Best squad:
Mariano Barbosa – Marcos Angeleri – Ekiza – Damián Suárez – Arthur Boka – Simao Mate – Pedro Pablo Hernández – Moi Gómez – Javier Aquino – Toquero – Jonathan Zongo
A cheaper alternative:
Carlos Idriss Kameni – Dany Nounkeu – Rúben Vezo – Adrián Gunino – Aurtenetxe – Javi Márquez – Luis Fariña – Fidel – Xumetra – Papá Babacar Diawara – Thievy Bifouma

2^nd – BPL (100 points, 229 players)

The BPL is a costly place to found a silver empire, but it does offer a wide variety of strong players. A bit surprising, though, it isn’t the strongest silver league this year. It does have many excellent players, including a few who outperform their counterparts in this year’s top league, but football is a team play, and it does have a few less outstanding spots.
There may be people who disagree on my choice of LB, as I have put the largely unknown Sébastien Pocognoli instead of van Aanholt or Rose. I guess this is where religion kicks in, as I prefer defensive work rates for my defenders. Rose and Aanholt are offensive wing back types.  There are many highlights in this squad, but surprisingly, I miss a real excellent player for the target man position.
Best squad:
Costel Pantilimon – Florin Gardos – Santiago Vergini – Kieran Trippier – Sébastien Pocognoli – Glenn Whelan – Jonjo Shelvey – Sadio Mané – Nathan Dyer – Charlie Austin – Enner Valencia
A cheaper alternative:
Kasper Schmeichel – Jores Okore – Eric Dier – Ahmed Elmohamady – Benoît Assou-Ekotto – Jake Livermore – Craig Gardner – Oussama Assaidi – Andros Townsend – Leonardo Ulloa – Danny Ings

1^st – Serie A (100 points, 295 players)

The Serie A is the top scorer this year. Although it has the same point score as the BPL, it’s the only league to offer a full squad of top players on all positions. A few of them are quite outstanding: I would like to emphasize Daniele Conti and Emmanuele Badu, two fantastic central midfielders. The four defenders are also excellent. Up front, I have Amauri (the best silver target man in the game) and finally a pacy striker with good work rates (Muriel), who is going to cost a fortune of FUT Coins.
Best squad:
Daniele Padelli – Luca Rossettini – Marco Andreolli – Ignazio Abate – Manuel Pasqual – Daniele Conti – Emmanuel Badu – Diego Perotti – Ezequiel Schelotto – Amauri – Luis Muriel
A cheaper alternative:
Juan Pablo Carrizo – Sebastian De Maio – Alessandro Gamberini – Vassilis Torosidis – Pablo Armero – Luca Rigoni – Lazaros Christodoulopoulos – Felipe Anderson – Silvan Widmer – Mauricio Pinilla – Paulo Dybala

Top 10 silver nations

10. Netherlands (78 points, 110 players)

With the exception of the full backs and central midfielders, the Nedtherland silver squad isn’t a threatening one.
Best squad:
Erwin Mulder – Terence Kongolo – Ryan Donk – Ricardo van Rhijn – Alexander Büttner – Kyle Ebecilio – Jens Toornstra – Ola John – Roy Beerens – Ruud Boymans – Moestafa El Kabir

9. Belgium (78 points, 372 players)

Belgium is next with a squad that offers few players above average and a defense which could cause you trouble if you decided to play with it. Nice strikers, though.
Best squad:
Silvio Proto – Björn Engels – Laurent Ciman – Thomas Meunier – Sébastien Pocognoli – Hans Vanaken – Guillaume Gillet – Paul-José Mpoku – Massimo Bruno – Igor de Camargo – Tom De Sutter  or Steve De Ridder

8. Chile (79 points, 97 players)

Chile comes in 8^th with a squad that wouldn’t have made it into the top 10 if this was a league team. With the exception of the CDM (Carmona) and the strikers (Mauricio Pinilla, Álvaro Ramos) this is a team with few outstanding players.
Best squad:
Johnny Herrera – Osvaldo González – Benjamín Vidal – Gonzalo Fierro – Jean Beausejour – Carlos Carmona – Pedro Pablo Hernández – Fabián Orellana – José Pedro Fuenzalida – Mauricio Pinilla – Álvaro Ramos

7. Spain (81 points, 177 players)

Spain’s silver pool doesn’t offer much high quality. There are decent players around, and there’s Joselu, who looks like a nice target man.
Best squad:
Rubén – César Navas – Juan Cala – Lora – Nano – Oriol Romeu – David Fuster – Moi Gómez – Xumetra – Joselu – Ayoze Pérez

6. France (82 points, 123 players)

The French selection is next. It’s primary feature is that it has decent players on all positions, but it lacks a pacy striker.
Best squad:
Laurent Pionnier – Modibo Diakité – Valentin Roberge – Rod Fanni – Olivier Veigneau – Fabien Lemoine – Arnold Mvuemba – Eric Bauthéac – Mathieu Dossevi – Yann Kermorgant – Thievy Bifouma

5. Turkey (86 points, 194 players)

Turkey is doing well in the silver department, and we have a nice and strong selection here.
Best squad:
Fehmi Mert Günok – Giray Kaçar – Mustafa Yumlu – Veysel Sari – Ismail Köybasi – Tolga Cigerci – Sercan Kaya – Gökdeniz Karadeniz – Mehmet Topuz – Umut Bulut – Sercan Yildirim
A cheaper alternative:
Cenk Gönen – Aykut Demir – Serdar Kesimal – Sener Özbayrakli – Ziya Erdal – Necip Uysal – Yekta Kurtulus – Yusuf Erdogan – Aydin Yilmaz – Nadir Çiftçi – Deniz Yilmaz

4. Brazil (86 points, 177 players)

There will be brazilvers this year, and with 177 players, there is still a good pool to choose from. What we do miss is the outstanding alternatives like the 85 passer, dribbler or shooter you could find in earlier versions.
Best squad:
Rafael – Chico – Eric Botteghin – Mariano – Alex Telles – Allan – Wellington Nem – Nildo Petrolina – Leo Baptistao – Brandão – Maikon Leite
A cheaper alternative:
Gomes – Douglão – Digão – Leandro Salino – Dodô – Adilson – Élton – Caiuby – Wagner – Nenê – Fagner

3. England (91 points, 313 players)

Building a squad of English players is always great fun, and I think I will give this one a try due to some excellent picks up front. The midfield is one of the best, and the strikers look beastly as well.
Best squad:
Jack Butland – Eric Dier – Jonathan Woodgate – Kieran Trippier – Kieran Richardson – Jake Livermore – Jonjo Shelvey – Scott Sinclair – Nathan Dyer – Charlie Austin – Danny Ings
A cheaper alternative:
Scott Carson – Nathan Baker – Jack Hobbs – Nathaniel Clyne – Ryan Bertrand – Jack Colback – Henri Lansbury – Junior Stanislas – Craig Noone – Carlton Cole – Bradley Wright-Phillips

2. Italy (93 points, 265 players)

The Serie A did well and so does Italy. Like in real life, this is a team that can defend. It get’s a little more boring upfront with the exception of Amauri of course.
Best squad:
Daniele Padelli – Luca Rossettini – Marco Andreolli – Ignazio Abate – Manuel Pasqual – Daniele Conti – Andrea Bertolacci – Nicola Sansone – Ezequiel Schelotto – Amauri – Matteo Mancosu
A cheaper alternative:
Marco Storari – Alessandro Gamberini – Luca Caldirola – Lorenzo De Silvestri – Federico Balzaretti – Giulio Migliaccio – Nicola Bellomo – Fabio Borini – Alessio Sestu – Leonardo Pavoletti – Giuseppe De Luca

1. Argentina (94 points, 263 players)

Argentina if my favourite silver nation this year. What you will get here is a team with top quality on all positions at a low price. So definitely something one should try.
Best squad:
Mariano Barbosa – Marcos Angeleri – Lisandro López – Carlos Araujo – Leonel Vangioni – Mariano Izco – Óscar Trejo – Lautaro Acosta – Adrián Centurión – Raúl Bobadilla – Gabriel Hauche
A cheaper alternative:
Oscar Ustari – Nicolás Spolli – Santiago Vergini – Fabián Cubero – Lucas Licht – Cristian Pellerano – Matias Pérez García – Federico Cartabia – Ricardo Noir – Leonardo Ulloa – César Pereyra