Below you will see how I worked with the AI to gather rosters.  We had to wait until Tuesday (as in 6 days ago) until all rosters were official and on the FIFA site/Wiki.

I decided on an "approach" for Sweepers (when the AI says Olmec only allows 2 Sweepers that was the AI interpretation of me requesting just 2 as some rosters had 7).

If this goes well I want to do it again for other competitions such as UEFA EURO 2028.

I'm interested in feedback/ideas on roster creation and also takes on Sweepers.  Maybe we can find a database on fitness/injuries to setup FIT properly?   Thanks!

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WC 2026 Roster Setup

Player Source & Generation Pipeline

Rosters were built in a multi-step SQL pipeline (wc-setup/ folder):

1. 06_players.sql — Bulk-inserts generic squads for all 48 teams (names sourced from Wikipedia API)
2. 07_players_real.sql — Overwrites 14 key nations with real player data (Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Uruguay, Colombia, Senegal, Morocco)
3. 09_players_remaining.sql — Overwrites the other 34 teams with real player names
4. 10_fix_sw_positions.sql — Trims sweepers to exactly 2 per team

The Python script generate_players.py drove the data for the 14 key teams, using this structure per player:

(first_name, last_name, position, birth_year, birth_month, quality_tier, jersey_number)

Skill Level Assignment

A deterministic formula based on player caliber tier × FIFA ranking band, capped by age:

Age caps: APP→9, Age I→14, Age II/III→16, Age IV/V→15

The Sweeper Problem

Real-world squads often carry 4-6 centre-backs, but the Olmec engine only supports 2 Sw slots per team lineup. Having more than 2 Sw on a roster means the engine can't properly field them.

Solution (10_fix_sw_positions.sql):

• Keep the highest SL Sw (best CB)
• Keep the lowest SL Sw (depth option)
• Convert all other Sw players to Df (fullback)

The DB trigger UpdatePlayerInfoOnUpdate automatically recalculates pos_num and nls_value when position changes from Sw→Df.

Squad Composition (~26 per team)

Fitness Rules

• APP players start at fitness 2, everyone else at 1
• Cap: +2 max, -3 or lower = too injured to play
• Starters lose 1 fitness per match; bench players gain 1 (capped at +2)