FPL Template Team 2026/27: Where the Value Sits Going Into the New Season

Data current as of: 30 June 2026 (2025/26 final). Coverage: Final 2025/26 points, prices, and underlying numbers, read forward into a 2026/27 opening build. Prices and positions reset when the new game opens in late July.

A template team is not a list of the most expensive players. It is the set of picks that the most owners converge on because the points-per-million case is hard to argue with. Going into 2026/27 the new prices are not live yet, so the honest starting point is last season's finishing data: who actually returned, at what price, and whether the underlying numbers backed the points up.

Here is the position-by-position read on where the 2025/26 data says the value sat, and how to think about each line when you build your opening fifteen.

Goalkeeper: pay for one, save on the other

The premium keeper question answers itself. Raya finished on 162 points at £6.2m with 19 clean sheets, the clear top score in the position. But the more useful story for a template build is the budget tier, where two keepers returned premium-level points at enabler prices.

Best keeper value, 2025/26

29.8

Kelleher's points per million (143 pts at £4.8m). The highest of any regular starting keeper.

Kelleher (143 points, £4.8m) and Roefs (136 points, £4.8m) both started 35 games and cleared 130 points at the lowest keeper price. A pairing of either with a second cheap starter frees up close to £2m versus a single premium, and the points gap to Raya was smaller than the price gap suggests. For most opening squads, two playing £4.8m keepers is the stronger structure.

Defence: the engine of the template

Defence is where last season's value was densest. Eleven defenders cleared 148 points, and several did it at sub-£5.5m prices that leave room everywhere else.

Player	Team	Price	Points	PPM	Clean sheets
Gabriel	ARS	£7.3m	209	28.6	18
Guéhi	MCI	£5.1m	179	35.1	14
Senesi	BOU	£5.2m	175	33.7	11
Virgil	LIV	£6.1m	175	28.7	10
Truffert	BOU	£4.8m	165	34.4	11
Mukiele	SUN	£4.6m	151	32.8	9

Gabriel was the premium pick and earned it: 209 points, 18 clean sheets, and 4.65 xG. He finished as the only defender priced above £7m, and was the one defender worth a premium slot.

The template's real strength is the mid and budget tier. Guéhi was the best value defender in the game: 179 points at £5.1m, 35.1 points per million. Truffert (165 points at £4.8m) and Senesi (175 at £5.2m) were just behind on value, and Mukiele (151 points at £4.6m) returned starter points at a pure enabler price. Build the back line around two or three of these and the budget for the rest of the squad takes care of itself.

Midfield: one premium, then value

Midfield had a clear standout. Bruno Fernandes finished on 235 points at £10.4m with 24 assists, the highest assist tally in the game and the single best midfield return. He is the one place a template can justify a double-digit midfielder.

After him, the value runs deep enough that you do not need a second premium. Semenyo (202 points at £8.0m, 17 goals) was the best of the mid-price attackers. Below £6m, Anderson (180 points at £5.7m), Wilson (168 at £5.8m), and Garner (159 at £5.2m) all returned starter-level points at budget prices, which is what makes a one-premium midfield work. Saka returned 157 points but at £10.0m and 15.7 points per million, he was the weakest value of the premium options last season.

Forwards: Haaland, then the value pair

Haaland was the top scorer in the game with 239 points and 27 goals at £14.7m. He is the template forward, and the captaincy case alone keeps him in most squads. The question a template build actually has to answer is who partners him without breaking the bank.

Player	Team	Price	Points	PPM	Goals
Haaland	MCI	£14.7m	239	16.3	27
Bowen	WHU	£7.8m	187	24.0	9
Thiago	BRE	£7.2m	181	25.1	22
João Pedro	CHE	£7.4m	177	23.9	15
Calvert-Lewin	LEE	£5.8m	142	24.5	14

Thiago is the value forward of the group: 181 points at £7.2m, 22 goals, and 24.69 xG that backs the finishing. At 25.1 points per million he outscored the more expensive Watkins (167 points at £8.7m) on both return and value. Calvert-Lewin (142 points at £5.8m, 14 goals) is the budget option that lets you run Haaland plus a mid-price third forward.

A value template that comes in under budget

Reading the lines together, here is one £100m structure the 2025/26 data supports, with two premiums and the rest in value picks. It lands at £98.9m, leaving £1.1m in the bank for the first round of moves.

• Keepers: Kelleher (£4.8m), Roefs (£4.8m)
• Defence: Gabriel (£7.3m), Guéhi (£5.1m), Truffert (£4.8m), Mukiele (£4.6m), Van Hecke (£4.7m)
• Midfield: B.Fernandes (£10.4m), Semenyo (£8.0m), Anderson (£5.7m), Wilson (£5.8m), Garner (£5.2m)
• Forwards: Haaland (£14.7m), Thiago (£7.2m), Calvert-Lewin (£5.8m)

That is two premiums (Haaland and Bruno Fernandes), a single premium defender in Gabriel, and value running through every other slot. It is a structure, not a prescription: when the 2026/27 prices land, the names shift but the shape holds, one or two anchors and a deep value spine.

How to use this when prices reset

The 2026/27 game opens with new prices, promoted sides, and summer transfers that will move several of these players between teams and price brackets. Treat this as the value map going in, not the squad to copy. When you build your opening fifteen, run it against your own targets: load your draft into the wildcard planner to check the budget splits and fixture run, and cross-check the captain picks for the player your structure is built to triple up on.

Value is the part of the template that survives a price reset. The premiums change names season to season. The discipline of paying up once or twice and filling the rest with players the underlying numbers back is what actually moves rank.