title: Algorithm to determine the best team and formation?
body: <p>I am looking for suitable algorithms I could use in a sports team management simulator (e.g. hockey or soccer).  Some features of the simulator:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>The team can play with different formations (e.g. soccer's 4-4-2).</li>
  <li>Each player in the team has a numeric rating for how good they are for each position in the formation.</li>
  <li>There is a pool of squad players of varying abilities from which the team can be selected </li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>What algorithms can be used to programmatically and efficiently determine the strongest teams and formations?</p>