2026-06-12, 10:43 PM - Word count:
Introduction
For my deep dive article, I thought I would investigate the positional make up of the league and compare that to my S27 draft class to see how it stacks up. I fully understand that I know very little about the league and the sim, so plenty of what I say below will just be wrong. There is only one way to learn though, so I am going to write it like I know what I am talking about and you will just have to comment down below to let me know what assumptions or comments I have made that don’t make sense. I will go position by position, starting in the backline and working forwards, comparing the current league players to the S27 draft class and commenting on what stands out about the comparison to me.
One thing to know about the data set is that I am only considering active users and I am using primary position form the position tracker. This will mean that some positions are over-represented based on players having upgraded to have multiple positions, but I am not familiar enough with the league or portal to click through and truly make a formal judgement on who is which position. So, for the purposes of this media and data set, there are 343 active players/primary positions and so far 23 players in the S27 draft class.
Goalkeeper
League count: 27
% of the league: 7.87%
S27 Count: 4
% of the draft class: 17.39%
Unless I am mistaken, there are 24 teams currently in the SSL and 27 active keepers, meaning there must be some keepers who aren’t starting. I don’t believe that an outfield player can have keeper as an additional primary position, so some teams must be planning for a succession. The total number of keepers in the league currently is more or less where I would expect it to be, but what is plain to see is that there is a disproportionately high number of keepers in the S27 draft class as it stands. I fully expect some of these to change positions by the time they join their new SSL orgs, but for now it is one to watch. I wonder what caused 1 in 5 new players to create as a keeper?
Left Defender
League count: 17
% of the league: 4.96%
S27 Count: 0
% of the draft class: 0%
Looking over the league numbers, I can see that some teams must use LD where others use LWB, so it isn’t unusual to see there is only 17 LD in the league currently. I expect this is a position that has a fair amount of double up primary positions also. As of yet, there are no LD in the draft class, so there isn’t much of a comparison to make here.
Left Wingback
League count: 16
% of the league: 4.66%
S27 Count: 2
% of the draft class: 8.70%
I have put LWB next as it groups quite nicely with LD above. Very similar population numbers to LD, showing that roughly half the league plays with LD and half with LWB. Because of this, they appear to be slightly over-represented in the draft class. This is the position I chose to make and I did so because it was a little lower in population, but also because it should provide a good mix of attacking and defending. All in all, the left defensive positions stack up very evenly when comparing the two pools of players.
Central Defender
League count: 46
% of the league: 13.41%
S27 Count: 2
% of the draft class: 8.70%
Unlike the previous defensive positions we have looked at CD plays 2 on the pitch per team, so we see a big jump in player count and percentage here. This strikes me as a position that would be recommended to most new creates, as it helps the team out a lot, and can be seen as a fairly boring position at times. I think though, if built the right way CD can help a lot on defense, but also get their name on the scorecard with set piece goals. Looking at the draft class, there are 2 CD so far, and this leaves the position a little down on the league percentages. I would expect this number to grow as the draft class does though, as it is a big position of need for the league. With 48 starting CD and only 46 active, we are in need of a few more to fill out the ranks.
Right Defender
League count: 20
% of the league: 5.83%
S27 Count: 1
% of the draft class: 4.35%
Much like the left side of defence, I can see that teams employ a mix of RD and RWB. The difference on the right hand side though is that the mix is far less balanced, with many more picking the WB role on the right hand side. As for the draft class, there is currently 1 RD, keeping the % fairly close to that of the actual league. Again, there will be a lot of interplay here and secondary positions, but it is interesting to see the draft class mirroring the league numbers so closely.
Right Wingback
League count: 10
% of the league: 2.92%
S27 Count: 1
% of the draft class: 4.35%
Similarly, the RWB position is also very closely aligned between the draft class and the league. At the end of the day, I imagine players from RWB play RD and vice versa depending on team tactics, but it is interesting to compare the numbers on the right to the numbers on the right. Perhaps that's because there is some sort of cutting in off the wing meta and more users choose right footed players? Let me know in the comments if cutting in to shoot is more common than crossing in the SSL.
Left Midfielder + Left Attacking Midfielder
League count: 3 + 30
% of the league: 0.87% + 8.75%
S27 Count: 0 + 5
% of the draft class: 0% + 21.74%
I have grouped the left side mids together, as there is basically no one with the plain LM role in the league. Less than 1% of active players have LM as a primary position. Conversely, almost 10% of the league is LAM. This goes to show that there is a clear meta or strategy, where attacking midfield is kind of just accepted as the baseline. Looking through the draft class this is also reflected, with 0 players choosing LM, but 5 having chosen LAM. This makes it the most heavily populated position in the draft class. This strikes me as a position to pick if you want your player to be involved in creating chances and impacting the game offensively, but don’t want to limit yourself to Striker.
Defensive Midfielder + Centre Midfielder + Central Attacking Midfielder
League count: 51 + 30 + 30
% of the league: 14.87% + 8.75% + 8.75%
S27 Count: 1 + 2 +1
% of the draft class: 4.35% + 8.70% + 4.35%
I have also grouped the central Mids together as I feel like these are likely to be a lot of overlapping primary positions. CAM and CM look to have a number in line with what you would expect from a league with 24 teams, but 51 DM is way more than the league could start. The draft class is a little more spread out as you would expect, as they haven’t been able to get additional primary positions yet. This is much more reflective of how I imagine the actual league lines up on team sheets. Once again we have the draft class mirroring the league as it stands currently. Really interesting to see the parity between the league and the draft class as a whole. Could this be through guidance by old hands, pure chance or maybe just consistency in appeal of positions?
Right Midfielder + Right Attacking Midfielder
League count: 4 + 36
% of the league: 1.17% + 10.5%
S27 Count: 0 + 1
% of the draft class: 0% + 4.35%
The only real thing to call out of note here, when comparing the Right side of midfield to the left is the dramatic difference in the draft class numbers. I think it is clear to see that anyone who wanted to create an attacking mid this class looked at the population numbers in the league and chose to create on the left as there are a few more spots open for grabs. All in all there are 7 additional right side mids in the league, so the new creates chose to fill the spots on the left.
Striker
League count: 47
% of the league: 13.70%
S27 Count: 3
% of the draft class: 13.04%
This is one of the most heavily populated positions in the league, and with good reason. Who didn’t grow up watching the number 10s of the world scoring bags of goals and wish they could be playing the same position. I also imagine there are a fair number of Attacking Mids who have Striker as an additional position based on the total player count./ I don’t expect every team in the SSL runs with 2 strikers like the numbers suggest, but maybe I am wrong and this is the meta. Looking over the draft class, we see a similar population percentage once again. I would expect this number to grow over the season though as new creates join late, Striker is always a position people are drawn to, especially if they don’t know too much about soccer.
Conclusion
All in all I was very surprised to see just how closely the S27 draft class mirrors the make up of the league currently. I alluded to it earlier, but this could be through the guidance of some of the old heads in the discord helping people make players or it could be sheer coincidence. What I think it comes down to is that the positions have the same draw or appeal regardless of if you are in the draft class or the league, so it is really just a reflection of the parity population across the league. There is only a certain number of starting spots, so people are going to create to fill those spots ultimately. I’m excited to see what future expansion does to these numbers and how the draft class will grow and change over the course of the season. For now, Goalie appears to be the only real outlier of the class, but I can also imagine that this would be a fun academy position to play if you don’t mind where you play in the league. Making a goalie to help the academy with the intention of switching to whatever your team that drafts you needs is a solid plan and one that I am sure many recreates employ.
Thanks for reading my uninformed ramblings and if this doesn't qualify for the AT#5, please let me know and I can always write another article with more of a focus on diving into the history of the league or something.
For my deep dive article, I thought I would investigate the positional make up of the league and compare that to my S27 draft class to see how it stacks up. I fully understand that I know very little about the league and the sim, so plenty of what I say below will just be wrong. There is only one way to learn though, so I am going to write it like I know what I am talking about and you will just have to comment down below to let me know what assumptions or comments I have made that don’t make sense. I will go position by position, starting in the backline and working forwards, comparing the current league players to the S27 draft class and commenting on what stands out about the comparison to me.
One thing to know about the data set is that I am only considering active users and I am using primary position form the position tracker. This will mean that some positions are over-represented based on players having upgraded to have multiple positions, but I am not familiar enough with the league or portal to click through and truly make a formal judgement on who is which position. So, for the purposes of this media and data set, there are 343 active players/primary positions and so far 23 players in the S27 draft class.
Goalkeeper
League count: 27
% of the league: 7.87%
S27 Count: 4
% of the draft class: 17.39%
Unless I am mistaken, there are 24 teams currently in the SSL and 27 active keepers, meaning there must be some keepers who aren’t starting. I don’t believe that an outfield player can have keeper as an additional primary position, so some teams must be planning for a succession. The total number of keepers in the league currently is more or less where I would expect it to be, but what is plain to see is that there is a disproportionately high number of keepers in the S27 draft class as it stands. I fully expect some of these to change positions by the time they join their new SSL orgs, but for now it is one to watch. I wonder what caused 1 in 5 new players to create as a keeper?
Left Defender
League count: 17
% of the league: 4.96%
S27 Count: 0
% of the draft class: 0%
Looking over the league numbers, I can see that some teams must use LD where others use LWB, so it isn’t unusual to see there is only 17 LD in the league currently. I expect this is a position that has a fair amount of double up primary positions also. As of yet, there are no LD in the draft class, so there isn’t much of a comparison to make here.
Left Wingback
League count: 16
% of the league: 4.66%
S27 Count: 2
% of the draft class: 8.70%
I have put LWB next as it groups quite nicely with LD above. Very similar population numbers to LD, showing that roughly half the league plays with LD and half with LWB. Because of this, they appear to be slightly over-represented in the draft class. This is the position I chose to make and I did so because it was a little lower in population, but also because it should provide a good mix of attacking and defending. All in all, the left defensive positions stack up very evenly when comparing the two pools of players.
Central Defender
League count: 46
% of the league: 13.41%
S27 Count: 2
% of the draft class: 8.70%
Unlike the previous defensive positions we have looked at CD plays 2 on the pitch per team, so we see a big jump in player count and percentage here. This strikes me as a position that would be recommended to most new creates, as it helps the team out a lot, and can be seen as a fairly boring position at times. I think though, if built the right way CD can help a lot on defense, but also get their name on the scorecard with set piece goals. Looking at the draft class, there are 2 CD so far, and this leaves the position a little down on the league percentages. I would expect this number to grow as the draft class does though, as it is a big position of need for the league. With 48 starting CD and only 46 active, we are in need of a few more to fill out the ranks.
Right Defender
League count: 20
% of the league: 5.83%
S27 Count: 1
% of the draft class: 4.35%
Much like the left side of defence, I can see that teams employ a mix of RD and RWB. The difference on the right hand side though is that the mix is far less balanced, with many more picking the WB role on the right hand side. As for the draft class, there is currently 1 RD, keeping the % fairly close to that of the actual league. Again, there will be a lot of interplay here and secondary positions, but it is interesting to see the draft class mirroring the league numbers so closely.
Right Wingback
League count: 10
% of the league: 2.92%
S27 Count: 1
% of the draft class: 4.35%
Similarly, the RWB position is also very closely aligned between the draft class and the league. At the end of the day, I imagine players from RWB play RD and vice versa depending on team tactics, but it is interesting to compare the numbers on the right to the numbers on the right. Perhaps that's because there is some sort of cutting in off the wing meta and more users choose right footed players? Let me know in the comments if cutting in to shoot is more common than crossing in the SSL.
Left Midfielder + Left Attacking Midfielder
League count: 3 + 30
% of the league: 0.87% + 8.75%
S27 Count: 0 + 5
% of the draft class: 0% + 21.74%
I have grouped the left side mids together, as there is basically no one with the plain LM role in the league. Less than 1% of active players have LM as a primary position. Conversely, almost 10% of the league is LAM. This goes to show that there is a clear meta or strategy, where attacking midfield is kind of just accepted as the baseline. Looking through the draft class this is also reflected, with 0 players choosing LM, but 5 having chosen LAM. This makes it the most heavily populated position in the draft class. This strikes me as a position to pick if you want your player to be involved in creating chances and impacting the game offensively, but don’t want to limit yourself to Striker.
Defensive Midfielder + Centre Midfielder + Central Attacking Midfielder
League count: 51 + 30 + 30
% of the league: 14.87% + 8.75% + 8.75%
S27 Count: 1 + 2 +1
% of the draft class: 4.35% + 8.70% + 4.35%
I have also grouped the central Mids together as I feel like these are likely to be a lot of overlapping primary positions. CAM and CM look to have a number in line with what you would expect from a league with 24 teams, but 51 DM is way more than the league could start. The draft class is a little more spread out as you would expect, as they haven’t been able to get additional primary positions yet. This is much more reflective of how I imagine the actual league lines up on team sheets. Once again we have the draft class mirroring the league as it stands currently. Really interesting to see the parity between the league and the draft class as a whole. Could this be through guidance by old hands, pure chance or maybe just consistency in appeal of positions?
Right Midfielder + Right Attacking Midfielder
League count: 4 + 36
% of the league: 1.17% + 10.5%
S27 Count: 0 + 1
% of the draft class: 0% + 4.35%
The only real thing to call out of note here, when comparing the Right side of midfield to the left is the dramatic difference in the draft class numbers. I think it is clear to see that anyone who wanted to create an attacking mid this class looked at the population numbers in the league and chose to create on the left as there are a few more spots open for grabs. All in all there are 7 additional right side mids in the league, so the new creates chose to fill the spots on the left.
Striker
League count: 47
% of the league: 13.70%
S27 Count: 3
% of the draft class: 13.04%
This is one of the most heavily populated positions in the league, and with good reason. Who didn’t grow up watching the number 10s of the world scoring bags of goals and wish they could be playing the same position. I also imagine there are a fair number of Attacking Mids who have Striker as an additional position based on the total player count./ I don’t expect every team in the SSL runs with 2 strikers like the numbers suggest, but maybe I am wrong and this is the meta. Looking over the draft class, we see a similar population percentage once again. I would expect this number to grow over the season though as new creates join late, Striker is always a position people are drawn to, especially if they don’t know too much about soccer.
Conclusion
All in all I was very surprised to see just how closely the S27 draft class mirrors the make up of the league currently. I alluded to it earlier, but this could be through the guidance of some of the old heads in the discord helping people make players or it could be sheer coincidence. What I think it comes down to is that the positions have the same draw or appeal regardless of if you are in the draft class or the league, so it is really just a reflection of the parity population across the league. There is only a certain number of starting spots, so people are going to create to fill those spots ultimately. I’m excited to see what future expansion does to these numbers and how the draft class will grow and change over the course of the season. For now, Goalie appears to be the only real outlier of the class, but I can also imagine that this would be a fun academy position to play if you don’t mind where you play in the league. Making a goalie to help the academy with the intention of switching to whatever your team that drafts you needs is a solid plan and one that I am sure many recreates employ.
Thanks for reading my uninformed ramblings and if this doesn't qualify for the AT#5, please let me know and I can always write another article with more of a focus on diving into the history of the league or something.
![[Image: Barry-Mc-Glynn-Downscale-Sig.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/1X4wkhs1/Barry-Mc-Glynn-Downscale-Sig.png)
