If Bill Gates played soccer: winger, rated 78

Bill Gates as a soccer player: scouting report

Bill Gates would play on the wing, but as a thinker rather than a sprinter. He cofounded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975 and built Windows into the software on most of the world's personal computers, and a player who spots openings like that is going to find the gap behind a fullback. His passing is the best part of his card. He drifts inside, scans the field and slips the ball through for a striker making a run.

His defending is right behind his passing, which is rare for a winger. He tracks back, reads the opposing fullback's overlap and helps his own fullback double up. That fits someone who has spent decades on long term problems through the Gates Foundation, working on global health and education. Patience and preparation are his game. He is also a serious contract bridge player, a game that rewards counting, memory and reading a partner's intentions, and that shows in how he times a pass to a teammate's run. His dribbling is steady, enough to keep possession in tight areas. His shooting is modest, so he is more creator than finisher.

Pace is the soft spot. He will not burn a fullback down the line, so pair him with a fast, overlapping fullback who provides the width while he cuts inside. Central midfield is his next best spot, and it may suit him nearly as well as the wing, with goalkeeper a distant option. He studied at Harvard before leaving to start Microsoft, so he trusts his own reading of the game. For a drafter, he is a high floor, two way wide player. Take him in the middle rounds for a possession team.

Plays like A clever wide playmaker who finds the open window

Put Bill Gates in your lineup

11 rolls, a starting eleven, 38 matches. Can you go 38-0? Free, no account.