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.

The Save Sphere along the Mi’ihen Highroad explaining the Blitzball Scout System

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 you can recruit some of the players listed below as soon as you can speak to them (free agents), some of the best Blitzball players are the ones who 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, allowing the team member to become a free agent. With no contract in place, you’re free 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 one 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 an advantage. These stats include the RNG (Range) stat, RCH (Reach) stat, and a MOR (Morale) stat, none of which you can see on the stat screen. 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 pretty fast. Brother is one of the quickest players, which makes him extremely valuable.

Brother initiating a pass during a Blitzball game

Recruits

The following section contains tips on building an ideal team with specific players. You can win Blitzball tournaments with many different player 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 need to wait for some of them to come off contract before you can hire them onto your team. Be prepared to snag them if their team doesn’t renew them.

The players are listed in order, starting from the strongest and most suitable for each position. You can substitute the player at the top of each position list with others listed, depending on each character’s availability. More critical 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:

Press the PlayStation Square Button or Xbox X Button 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 how to strengthen each side to its maximum potential.

Right Fielders

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 break through other players and possess strong passing skills, enabling them to help carry the ball up the field for your attackers.

Defense

High attack (AT) and high block (BL) are all your defenders need. They are the last line of defense before your goalie and, hopefully, will not be seeing much action..

Goalies

As mentioned above, it is entirely possible to successfully come in first place in tournaments and league matches with almost any players on your team. Enlisting these players will help, but a successful strategy is the most important step. Check out the Blitzball Strategy and Tips page for some added information.