Fantasy football (soccer)

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For the British television show, see Fantasy Football League

Fantasy football is a game in which the participants assemble a team of real life players and score points based on those players' actual statistical performance or their percieved contribution on the field of play. Usually players are selected from one specific division in a particular country, although there are many variations.

The original game was created by Fantasy League Ltd., and was first played the UK in 1991. It came to national prominence during the 1993/94 Premiership season when it was licensed as the UK's first-ever national fantasy football game in The Daily Telegraph newspaper.^{[citation needed]}

Fantasy football has evolved in recent years from a simple recreational activity into a significant business due to exposure via the internet. The inventors have since added several other fantasy games, including Formula One, Golf, Cricket, Rugby and American football.^{[citation needed]}

There is a forum dedicated to Fantasy Football that provides alot of expert advice to help everyone with their Fantasy Football team. The forum can be found at * Fantasy Football Forum

[edit] Typical rules

Most games ask you to select 11 players within a price budget. There may be a restriction on the number of players per club and usually you are requried to select 1 goalkeeper, 4 defenders, 4 or 3 midfielders and 2 or 3 forwards.

In a squad based game such as Fantasy League, the participant chooses a team of 15 players usually containing:- 1 Goalkeeper, 4 Defenders, 4 Midfielders and 2 Strikers, along with 4 Substitutes in any position desired. There are limits on selection criteria, such as no more than two players from any one Premier League squad and the 15 players must come within a set budget.

You can obtain some help when picking your team, by using sites such as Fantasy Football Guru, which lists top scoring players and gives good statistical advice.

Some leagues have an auction at the start of the season, where the players are bought by bidding between the rival managers rather than for a set amount of money. One of the biggest draws of playing the game via an auction (as opposed to playing in a national newspaper) is that within your league you would be the only person with a certain player. Thus, when he scores, he only puts points on your team's total, not on that of any of your rivals (as would be the case in a newspaper game).

Points are then gained or deducted depending on players' performances. The scoring rules for Fantasy League are:

All players

+3 points for a goal.
+2 points for an assist (the pass or touch leading to the goal).

Defenders only

+1 point for playing at least 45 minutes of the match.
+2 points (in addition to the +1 above) for keeping a clean sheet. If a player leaves the field before 75 minutes, he does not get the +2 points. If he leaves after 75 minutes he does.
-1 point for each goal conceded. If a player is sent off, then he continues to lose points for each goal his team concede.

Other Fantasy Football games, usually newspaper run competitions, feature different points scoring systems and can include points for being man of the match, scoring more than 7 points out of 10 in the newspaper ratings and scoring a hat-trick. There are also negative points for missing penalties, scoring an own-goal, being booked or being sent-off.

As a basic guide to playing Fantasy Football, the members of the FISO Communitycreated the "10 Commandments" of Fantasy Football:

1. Thou shalt always read the rules thoroughly. 2. Thou shalt covet thy transfers, and shalt not Tinker. 3. Thou shalt pick a balanced team, and maintain flexibility in all positions. 4. Thou shalt, however, pick Thierry Henry 5. Thou shalt not worship 'Carlos Kickaball' until he has proven himself in the EPL. 6. Thou shalt remember that Form is Temporary, Class is permanent. 7. Thou shalt not let thy heart rule thy head, nor make any judgements after drinking ! 8. Thou shalt have no other forums but FISO 9. Thou shalt remember that Fantasy Football is more akin to a Marathon, than a Sprint 10. Thou shalt remember that all commandments are there to be broken

Yahoo! Premiership Fantasy Football website

There are hundreds of fantasy football websites, both free and pay to play. Fantasy Premierleague.com has over 1 million teams entered. Yahoo! Fantasy Football is also very popular. It provides games for several different leagues, including the English Premiership, Italy Serie A, Spanish Superliga, France Ligue 1, Copa Libertadores and Superliga Mexicana. Their Premiership Fantasy Football is the most popular one.^{[citation needed]} It shares the same scoring scheme as Italian Serie A and Spanish Superliga; while the French Ligue has its own scheme.

[edit] See also

Fantasy sports

[edit] External links

Major UK Fantasy Football game sites (all with either at least £50,000 prizes or over 50,000 entries):

Other UK Fantasy Football Sites - League and conference only!:

International Fantasy Football Sites

Fantasy Football games where all proceeds go to charity:

Football4charity.co.uk - Raising money for Tommy's, the Baby Charity, and HOPEHIV

Other UK Fantasy Football Sites:

English Premiership Injury & Suspension Tables - to help Fantasy Football players

US Fantasy Football Sites:

Unofficial fantasy game for Major League Soccer (US)

Blogs on Fantasy Football

Fantasy Football Reviews
Fantasy Premier League
Fantasy Insider- Blog written by a professional fantasy football games maker.
Pascal's Blog - Blog about a Fantasy Football company, and football news.
Fantasy Premier League Weekly Blog By Brilli & Envy - Weekly updates on Fantasy Premier League and all EPL information for EPL fanatics.
EPL Eleven - Blog focusing on Yahoo Fantasy Football, For the fans by a fan.

UK Fantasy football information sites:

Fantasy Football Guru - The ultimate Fantasy Football guide Site.
FISO - Fantasy & Interactive Sports Online - Listing of UK Fantasy Football games and forum for Fantasy Sports players.
Fantasy Football Index - Comparison of the major fantasy leagues.
Footballweb - UK Fantasy Football forum.
My TeamTalk - Forum for Yahoo Fantasy Football players.
Funkin Sock Monkey - General Fantasy Football statistics
Daily Telegraph TFF - Active forum, MOTM stats, transfer talk.
Fantasy Help - Details on Fantasy Premier League injuries and suspensions.
The FA Suspension List - FA suspension list for the English game.
Fantasy Football Scout - Football News for Fantasy Football Managers. Team news, injury news, and Fantasy Football game reviews.
Fantasy Football Forum - The best fantasy football forum, talk about your team and your picks for the coming gameweeks.