Finding value at the back can be crucial when building a UCL Fantasy squad, particularly with a €100m budget to spread across 15 players.
Budget defenders priced at €4.0m and €4.5m can free up valuable funds to spend on premium attackers elsewhere.
But which of these cheaper options are actually likely to play and offer Fantasy potential? Here, we assess the budget defenders in UCL Fantasy 2026/27 and highlight the names that could offer genuine value.
ALL €4.0M DEFENDERS IN UCL FANTASY 2026/27
Note: UEFA are still adding players and prices to UCL Fantasy. This table will be updated as more options become available.
| Club | Player names |
|---|---|
| AEK Athens | Martin Georgiev |
| Aston Villa | Lamare Bogarde |
| Atletico Madrid | Marc Pubill |
| Barcelona | Gerard Martin, Hector Fort |
| Bayern | Nathaniel Brown, Sacha Boey, Hiroki Ito |
| Dortmund | Filippo Mane, Luca Reggiani, Joane Gadou |
| Bodo/Glimt | Haitam Aleesami |
| Club Brugge | Kyriani Sabbe, Hugo Siquet, Jorne Spileers, Han Beom-Lee |
| Como | Yan Couto, Ignace Brempt, Alex Valle, Ivan Smolcic, Jacobo Ramon, Marc Kempf, Kaiki Bruno, Edoardo Goldaniga, Andres Cuenca |
| Feyenoord | Gijs Smal, Bart Nieuwkoop, Jordan Lotomba, Mats Deijl, Thomas Beelen |
| Galatasaray | Wilfried Singo, Eren Elmali, Kaan Ayhan, Metehan Baltaci |
| Inter | Carlos Augusto |
| LASK | Manoel Verhaeghe |
| Leipzig | Lukas Klostermann, Benjamin Henrichs, Max Finkgrafe, Maxime Esteve, El Bitshiabu |
| Lens | Nidal Celik, Kyllian Antonio, Saud Abdulhamid |
| Lille | Calvin Verdonk, Ousmane Toure, Tiago Santos, Tanguy Nianzou |
| Liverpool | Joe Gomez, Kostas Tsimikas |
| Man City | Rico Lewis, Vitor Reis |
| Man United | Leny Yoro, Ayden Heaven |
| Napoli | Alessandro Buongiorno, Mathias Olivera, Sam Beukema, Pasquale Mazzocchi |
| PSG | Illia Zabarnyi, Lucas Beraldo |
| Porto | Zaidu Sanusi, Nehuen Perez, Martim Fernandes, Fransico Moura |
| PSV | Mauro Junior, Yarek Gasiorowski, Armado Obispo, Joel Berg, Adamo Nagalo, Fabian Merien |
| Real Betis | Valentin Gomez, Natan |
| Roma | Jan Ziolkowski, Devyne Rensch, Daniele Ghilardi |
| Sabah | Aden McCarthy, Tellur Mutallimov |
| Slovan Bratislava | Samuel Koslovsky, Kevin Wimmer |
| Shakhtar | Pedro Henrique, Vinicius Tobias, Marlon Santos, Oleksandr Karavaiev, Giorgi Gocholeichvili, Alaa Ghram, Irakli Azarov, Diego Arroyo |
| Slavia Praha | Youssoupha Mbodji, Stepan Chaloupek, Tomas Vicek, Daiki Hashioka, Ange N’Guessan, Neil Glossoa, Samuel Kelechi, Dominik Javorcek, David Jurasek |
| Sporting | Ivan Fresneda, Sergi Altimira |
| Stuttgart | Ameen Al Dakhil, Lorenz Assignon, Ramon Hendriks, Maximilllian Herworth, Luca Jaquez, Dominik Nothnagel, Leonidas Stergiou, Joshua Vagnoman, Dan Zagadou |
| Viking | Anders Baertelsen, Sondre Bjorshol, Martin Roseth, Jesper Daland, Viljar Vevatne, Kristoffer Haugen, |
| Villarreal | Santiago Mourino, Sergi Cardona, Alex Freeman, Willy Kambwala, Carlos Romero |
BEST €4.0M DEFENDERS
Como could offer UCL Fantasy managers incredible value this season. Cesc Fabregas’ side don’t face a particularly tough fixture until Matchday 7 and have three €4.0m defenders who have featured regularly early on. Jacobo Ramón looks particularly interesting after starting 30 league matches last season, while Álex Valle has started both games this campaign. Yan Couto, on loan from Dortmund, provides another option.
Sporting CP also have an appealing early schedule, with arguably no seriously difficult fixture until Matchday 7. That brings Iván Fresneda into consideration after featuring regularly last season. However, Georgios Vagiannidis could provide competition when he returns from injury, creating some rotation risk.
Arguably even more interesting is teammate Sergi Altimira. The Spaniard has started all four of Sporting’s first four league matches out-of-position in central midfield. As well as scoring recently – displaying his attacking potential- he has also averaged a staggering eight ball recoveries per match thus far.
Another potentially exciting option is Joane Gadou, providing he continues to start for Dortmund. The Black and Yellows begin with an excellent run of fixtures and have historically produced strong defensive numbers in the Champions League. As a centre-back, Gadou could therefore offer significant value at €4.0m.
Nathaniel Brown is arguably the most intriguing attacking option. The Bayern Munich defender has started out of position as a number 10 in back-to-back matches, scoring in one of them. How long that continues is questionable, though, with several players potentially threatening his advanced role.
Club Brugge regularly provide useful budget options in UCL Fantasy. Full-back Kyriani Sabbe stands out after producing six attacking returns in the league last season. Meanwhile, Han-Beom Lee has been a regular starter at centre-back early on following his move from Midtjylland.
There are multiple options at PSV Eindhoven, too. Their defence hasn’t always been the most reliable, but an appealing early schedule increases the attraction. Full-back Mauro Júnior has produced attacking returns in each of his last two matches, while centre-back Armando Obispo could offer greater ball-recovery potential.
Villarreal have a tougher opening schedule but could become much more appealing after Matchday 4. Both full-backs, Carlos Romero and Santiago Mouriño, cost €4.0m. Romero looks the more attacking of the pair after registering nine attacking returns last season.
There are question marks over Napoli’s options. Both Alessandro Buongiorno and Sam Beukema come in at €4.0m, but neither currently looks completely secure. Buongiorno recently picked up an injury, while Beukema is yet to start a league match for Napoli this season.
Several other individual options are worth monitoring. Marc Pubill has started two of Atletico Madrid’s opening three matches, although his minutes remain uncertain. Barcelona’s Gerard Martín has also featured early in the campaign but carries significant question marks over regular starts.
Porto’s Zaidu Sanusi has shown plenty of attacking threat recently and could become particularly interesting given their excellent schedule after Matchday 1. A recent injury makes his early-season availability one to monitor.
Finally, Tiago Santos could provide one of the more reliable routes to minutes at Lille. The full-back scored during pre-season and again in the opening league match against Angers, although the French side may offer less clean-sheet potential than some of the alternatives above.
ALL €4.5M DEFENDERS IN UCL FANTASY 2026/27
| Club | Player names |
|---|---|
| AEK Athens | Filipe Relvas, Harold Moukoudi, Stavros Pilios, Lazaros Rota |
| Arsenal | Piero Hincapie, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Riccardo Calafiori, Ezri Konsa |
| Aston Villa | Matteo Ruggeri, Matty Cash, Victor Lindelof, Ian Maatsen, Tyrone Mings, Pau Torres |
| Atleti | David Hancko, Robin Le Normand |
| Barcelona | Eric Garcia, Alejandro Balde, Andreas Christensen |
| Bayern | Josip Stanisic, Kim min-Jae |
| Dortmund | Ramy Bensebaini, Waldemar Anton, Daniel Svensson, Emre Can |
| Bodo/Glimt | Frederik Bjorkan, Villads Nielsen, |
| Club Brugge | Brandon Mechele, Joaquin Seys, Joel Ordonez |
| Feyenoord | Anel Ahmedhodzic, Givairo Read, Jerry Juste, Tsuyoshi Watanabe |
| Galatasaray | Davinson Sanchez, Abdulkerim Bardakci, Ismael Jakobs |
| Inter | Yann Bisseck, Benjamin Pavard |
| LASK | Andres Andrade, George Bello |
| Leipzig | Lutsharel Geertruida, Castello Lukeba, Willi Orban, David Raum |
| Lens | Ruben Aguilar, Samson Baidoo, Jhoanner Chavez, Ismaelo Ganiou, Jonathan Gradit, Matthieu Udol |
| Lille | Alexsandro, Nathan Ngoy, Romain Perraud, Loun Sradanovic |
| Liverpool | Conor Bradley, Ronald Araujo, Giovanni Leoni |
| Man City | Abdukodir Khusanov |
| Man United | Matthijs De Ligt, Diogo Dalot, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Noussair Mazraoui |
| Napoli | Leonardo Spinazzola, Amir Rrahmani, Rafa Marin, Luca Marianucci |
| PSG | Lucas Hernandes, Lucas Digne |
| Porto | Alberto Costa, Jan Bednarek, Jakub Kiwior, Dominik Prpic |
| PSV | Ryan Flamingo, Kiliann Sildillia, |
| Real Betis | Fran Garcia, Marc Bartra, Hector Bellerin, Diego Llorente, Junior Firpo |
| Real Madrid | Dean Huijsen, Raul Asencio, Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy |
| Roma | Angelino, Mario Hermoso, Gianluca Mancini, Evan N’Dicka, Wesley Franca |
| Sabah | Steve Solvet, Akim Zedadka |
| Slovan Bratislava | Kenan Bajric, Cesar Blackman, Svetozar Markovic, Sandro Cruz |
| Shakhtar | Valeriy Bondar, Mykola Matviyenko |
| Slavia Praha | David Zima, Tomas Holes, Igoh Ogbu |
| Sporting | Goncalo Inacio, Eduardo Quaresma, Zeno Debast, Giorgos Vagiannidis |
| Stuttgart | Jeff Chabot, Alexander Groib, Maximillian Mittelstadt, Christopher Olivier, Yanik Spalt |
| Viking | Henrik Falchener, Herman Haugen, Henrik Heggheim, Gianni Stensness |
| Villarreal | Renato Veiga, Juan Foyth, Pau Navarro, Logan Costa |
BEST €4.5M DEFENDERS
Dean Huijsen immediately stands out at €4.5m. The centre-back plays for one of the strongest sides in the competition in Real Madrid and has started all three of their league matches this season.
Arsenal’s defensive record also makes their budget options appealing. The Gunners kept 19 clean sheets in the Premier League and nine in the Champions League last season. Riccardo Calafiori is particularly interesting after registering back-to-back league assists. Ezri Konsa comes in at the same price following his move from Aston Villa and could provide an alternative route into the defence from centre-back.
Few €4.5m defenders can match the attacking potential of Maximilian Mittelstädt. Stuttgart aren’t the most reliable defensive side, but they open against Viking and Slovan Bratislava. The flying full-back also takes penalties and corners, giving him multiple routes to points.
Dortmund’s opening schedule is also difficult to ignore for clean-sheet potential. The German side have regularly provided excellent value for UCL Fantasy managers, while Waldemar Anton is one of their more reliable options for minutes.
Another attacking full-back to consider is David Raum. Leipzig have two manageable opening fixtures and another promising run after Matchday 4. Raum recorded 10 league goal contributions last season and also takes corners.
Lens provide another route into an excellent early schedule. They don’t face particularly tough opposition until Matchday 7, while their system allows wing-back Matthieu Udol to get forward regularly. He registered seven assists last season.
Once Napoli’s difficult Matchday 1 meeting with Arsenal is out of the way, their schedule improves significantly. Amir Rrahmani has become a staple of their backline and also carries a threat from set plays. He scored in his final pre-season match, having created an assist in the previous game he featured in.
There are several other €4.5m options who could become useful during the campaign. Manchester United full-back Luke Shaw is one, while Aston Villa duo Matty Cash and Pau Torres benefit from good early fixtures.
Elsewhere, David Hancko has started all of Atletico Madrid’s matches so far. Gianluca Mancini also deserves consideration after playing a key role in an excellent Roma defence last season. His considerable threat from set plays provides another route to Fantasy returns.
