Text overlay over images

The current sample certainly is busy. Perhaps it would make sense to review the criteria: A poster highlighting the team over the years.

Poster:

You make no mention of the size but is safe to assume it will be viewed from a distance. As a result, it should have the simplicity of design not unlike a book jacket, not jammed with confusing or distracting elements.

Team Continuity:

Highlighting the team over the years but each year has not been mentioned. A template should be established with the poster year prominently displayed in a position common to all the posters.

Image:

The image in each case is a design element. As such, and since you currently have both color and black & white photographs to deal with, you may consider the images in grayscale or duotone over a bold flat color, perhaps with the flat color changing from year to year so that the set of posters have continuity and variety.

Team Name

Usually, the team name should be as unmodified as the team logo. No outline lettering unless the choice of type face helps it make a statement, no image inside the type. From poster, no change in face, size or color.

The team members:

There is no way the list of members can appear and be readable from a distance. Consider presenting them in an appropriate panel where those interested may move in close to the poster read the names. (Probably only each man on the team will move in to confirm that his name is on the list.) 

Bottom line:

Team name element

Year element

Team member names in a suitable panel

Bold photograph generic enough so no single member hogs the limelight.

If you want an easier way to format the text, you can check out using character and paragraph styles.

If you're looking for ideas for layout, you could check out Behance for sports team poster ideas.

It sounds like you're making multiple posters using other images. You might consider picking an image to use for the focus of the poster and using the other images and/or names in groupings that make sense. Placing semi-transparent names over an image can make them harder to read. You could use a background color over the image like a green radial gradient that goes from fully transparent in the center to more opaque toward the edges. Or it could be a linear gradient that goes from fully transparent to more opaque toward the bottom. You could try either of those using a Layer Style. Then over that, you could list names in groupings by year, position, or number, or alphabetically by last name. I hope that helps. Feel free to share your progress and ask more questions. 🙂