Recruiting Blitzball Players
You can recruit a ton of different players to join your Blitzball team after you’ve completed the events at Luca. Many of these players are stronger than the Besaid Auroch team members that you start the game with, and while you have a limited number of roster slots that you can fill, you can slowly dismiss the terrible players that you have as you find stronger ones.
Free Agents vs. Contracted Players
Many of the best Blitzball players are not available when you first gain the ability to initiate Blitzball tournaments. For that reason, you may want to consider holding off on recruiting players or playing Blitzball tournaments until after you have obtained the Airship. Once you have the Airship you can fly all across Spira recruiting and contracting players.
While some of the players listed below can be recruited as soon as you speak to them (free agents), some of the best Blitzball players are actually those that play for the other teams (the Luca Goers, the Al Bhed Psyches, etc.). The only way to recruit these players is to wait for their current contract to expire and hope that the team they play for does not renew their contract. There is a random chance that the team will let the contract expire and allow one of their team members to become a free agent, allowing you to recruit that player and have them join your team.
One effective strategy that you can use to obtain a player from another team is to track when their contract is about to expire. When they have 1 game left on their contract, save your game at a Save Sphere, play a Blitzball match and see if their team neglects to renew their contract. You can speak to them to find out how many games they have left on their contract. Just reset your game and try again if they’re resigned.
Player Stats
You want your forwards to have high Shooting (SH) and Endurance (EN) stats, your midfielder to have a high Passing (PA) and Endurance (EN) stats, your defense to have high Attack (AT) and Block (BL) stats and finally, for your Goalkeeper to have a high Block (BL) stat.
There are also a few “hidden stats” of sorts that give some players and advantage. This includes a RNG (Range) stat, RCH (Reach) stat, and a MOR (Morale) stat, all of which are hidden from view. Most importantly, however, is the SP (Speed) stat which changes how fast a character can swim through the water. Ronso are extremely slow whereas Guado are quite fast. Brother is one of the fastest players which makes him extremely valuable.
Recruits
The following section contains tips on building an ideal team with specific characters. You can certainly win a Blitzball tournament with a number of different team combinations if you choose. These characters have relatively strong statistics no matter what level they are though and can make playing Blitzball much easier.
Use the descriptions and screenshots below to help you locate each of the players. As mentioned above, you may have to wait for some of them to come off of a contract before you can hire them on to your team. This will be indicated in the descriptors below. Be ready to snag them if they don’t end up being renewed by their initial team.
The players are listed in order starting from the strongest / most ideal for each of the positions. You can substitute this character with others listed depending on each character’s availability if the most strong player is under contract. More important than stats though is to go into Blitzball tournaments with proper strategies for winning. Be sure to check out the Blitzball Strategy section for more information:
Strategy and Tips
Blitzball Section
Some strategies and tips that you can use to defeat opposing teams in Blitzball tournaments and league matches.
Press the 
or 
button when you’re near a player to recruit them to your team.
The positions you will need to recruit for include:
- Left Field (LF)
- Right Field (RF)
- Mid-Field (MF)
- Left Defense (LD)
- Right Defense (RD)
- Goalie (GL)
Left Fielders
Your left and right fielders are your primary attackers and shooters. They will be responsible for getting your points for you. You can swap the LF and RF positions without issue but the list below provides some guidelines on strengthening each side to the maximum potential.
Tidus
- Location:
- (Not Applicable)
- Information:
- Tidus is an obvious choice for your left or right forward positions. While his stats are not necessarily the best when compared to some of the other Blitzball players (especially later on in levels) just having access to the Jecht Shot ability makes him the strongest character in the game. Check out the S.S. Winno Walkthrough page for more information on how to obtain Jecht Shot.
Wakka
- Location:
- On the bridge of the Airship.
- Information:
- Wakka is by no means one of the strongest players in the game but you do have early access to him when some of the other forwards are already on contract and he can act as a mediocre fill in the left or right fielder position.
Right Fielders
Larbeight
- Location:
- On the docks of Kilika Island.
- Information:
- Larbeight is the strongest forward player you can obtain and he gets stronger and stronger with each level he attains. He can quite easily get to the highest Shooting (SH) stat but also has a fairly strong Attack (AT) stat which is not typical of most forwards. He is quite often included in most “Best Blitzball team” lists. He starts off signed to the Kilika Beasts though so you may not be able to pick him up right away.
Isken
- Location:
- In one of the houses on Kilika Island.
- Information:
- Isken’s strongest stat is Endurance (EN) which means that he will be able to withstand nearly any attack and maintain procession of the ball. This can enable him to break through 3 or 4 defenders relatively easily. He also begins the game contracted to the Kilika Beasts though so he may be difficult to obtain.
Vilucha
- Location:
- One of the huts in Besaid Village.
- Information:
-
Vilucha tends to be on the weaker side until much later on in levels. At this point her Shooting (SH) and Endurance (EN) stats really start to take off. She is a good choice for later on in the game if you choose to continue playing Blitzball after you obtain Wakka’s Overdrives and
World Champion.
She is difficult to obtain though as Dark Valefor may be guarding the entrance to the village of Besaid (depending on how far in the game you are and what version you are playing). Check the Dark Aeon section for more information on Dark Valefor and how to defeat it.
Mid-Fielders
Your midfielder is going to be in the center of the action all the time. You want them to have strong endurance (EN) so that they can barge through other players and strong passing so they can help carry the ball up the field for your attackers.
Brother
- Location:
- One the bridge of the Airship.
- Information:
- Brother is quite easily one of the strongest Blitzball players for any team. His stats are formidable but what quite often goes unnoticed is that Brother is slightly faster than most other Blitzball players. As a result, he is able to run down and get more involved in stopping the other team when they have procession of the ball. This gets him involved in nearly every play, every attack and greatly increases the overall utility of your team.
Berrik
- Location:
- In the cargo area of the Airship.
- Information:
- Berrik is the second-best midfielder primarily on account of his stats. Berrik’s Endurance (EN) and Passing (PA) will climb faster than most other characters. Brother arguably has more utility though so you may want to consider passing on him, especially given that he may be on contract with the Al Bhed Psyches.
Defense
High attack (AT) and high block (BL) is all your defenders need. They are a last line of defense before your goalie and, hopefully, will not be seeing much action.
Ropp
- Location:
- Inside the travel agency along the Mi’ihen Highroad.
- Information:
- Ropp is definitely the strongest defender. He is a little bit slow, but his job is to sit at the back and take care of attackers that come through which he does easily on account of his high Attack (AT) and Block (BL) stats. Make sure to pick him up early as he starts off unsigned to any team.
Kulukan
- Location:
- In the tavern in the docks area on Kilika Island.
- Information:
- Kulukan is not as strong as Ropp but is likely the second-strongest defender in the game. The downside is that he begins the game playing for the Kilika Beasts so you will have to wait for him to come off contract. You can use Kyou up until that point.
Kyou
- Location:
- On the bridge near Djose Temple.
- Information:
- Kyou starts off with pretty good stats and is a great defender to act as a fill in instead of Kulukan. He does not start off playing for any team so you can go and pick him up in Djose as soon as possible.
Goalies
Nimrook
- Location:
- In the cargo area of the Airship.
- Information:
-
Nimrook is the strongest goalkeeper in the game by a wide margin. He can make life extremely difficult for you when you face him in an opposing match because his Catch (CA) statistic is so high. It remains consistently high as he continues to level.
Finding him is easy… the difficulty though is in obtaining him. He starts off contracted to the Al Bhed Psyches and they resign him often. It’s possible to obtain him but you have to be diligent using the strategy mentioned above.
Miyu
- Location:
- On the north bank of the Moonflow.
- Information:
- Miyu is a good second choice for a goalkeeper. Her Catch (CA) stat rises fairly quickly however she does not get access to many tech abilities. She also starts off the game unsigned so you can quickly pick her up first while you attempt to get Nimrook.
As mentioned above, it is entirely possible to successfully come in first place in tournaments and league matches with almost any character. Enlisting these characters will help but a successful strategy is the most important step. Check out the Blitzball Strategy and Tips page for some added information.