Do you want to know how to play UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football? Here&#8217;s our UCL Fantasy beginner&#8217;s guide.
<a href="https://gaming.uefa.com/en/uclfantasy/create-team">UCL Fantasy</a> is a game which lets managers pick and control a team for the Champions League season.
UCL Fantasy and Fantasy Premier League are very similar in terms of gameplay, however if you haven’t played in the past, there are some key differences to understand before selecting a team.
<a href="https://twitter.com/kwolf_ff">Kevin Wolf</a>, who has a best UCL Fantasy rank of 21st, outlines the most important differences between the two games in this article.

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<h2>UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football guide: Managing a squad</h2>
At the start of the UEFA Champions League season, managers will need to select a team of 15 players consisting of the following positions:
<ul>
<li>Two goalkeepers</li>
<li>Five defenders</li>
<li>Five midfielders</li>
<li>Three forwards</li>
</ul>
As with FPL, each player is assigned a virtual price. Initially, managers receive a €100m budget to spend on teams, which rises to €105m for the round of 16 onwards.
Each matchday throughout the competition, managers will need to select 11 starting players from their 15 player squad. All matchday points will be calculated from these players.
Managers will also need to select a captain from the starting 11. That player&#8217;s points will be doubled for that matchday.
<h2>UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football guide: Manual substitutions</h2>
Manual substitutions are an important strategy to understand when selecting a UCL Fantasy team.
Unlike FPL, where bench players can only be used to substitute players who don’t play, all bench players are available to use in the UCL Fantasy game.
After the first matches in a single matchday have finished and before the next matches start, managers can manually substitute players that have already played (as long as they have not been sent off) and replace them with players on their bench.
Any players that you substitute out will score zero points for that matchday. This also applies to changing captaincy as well.
For example, say Erling Haaland plays on the first day of matches and scores minimum points, managers have the option to replace him with another player from their bench who has yet to play.
Haaland’s points will be removed from a manager’s overall score, however the substitute player will now have a chance to replace his points. The same substitution rules apply to captaincy as well.
A good tip to remember is to select a captain from a team playing on the first day of matches. If the captain selection blanks, managers can switch captaincy to another player, increasing the chances of scoring more points.
This also applies to bench players; it is smart to try to select players in action over the course of all playing days.
<div id="attachment_47747" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47747" class="size-full wp-image-47747" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Haaland-2.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Haaland-2.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Haaland-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Haaland-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Haaland-2-610x407.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Erling Haaland. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2></h2>
<h2>UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football guide: Player scoring differences</h2>
In terms of scoring systems, most of how players accumulate points is similar to FPL. <a href="https://gaming.uefa.com/en/uclfantasy/rules">Click here</a> to see a complete overview of the rules and the player points breakdown.
UCL Fantasy is scored by matchdays, similar to gameweeks in FPL. There are 13 matchdays in total, corresponding to the six rounds of games in the group stage, plus two legs in the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals, before the final.
There are a few scoring differences that are critical for managers to understand and take advantage of.
One of the most important scoring differences is ball recovery points. For every three ball recoveries, a player scores one point, which opens up the range of players to select.
In FPL, a defensive midfielder may not be someone to target however in UCL they become an option.
<div id="attachment_57987" style="width: 907px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-57987" class="size-full wp-image-57987" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Rodri-3.jpg" alt="" width="897" height="731" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Rodri-3.jpg 897w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Rodri-3-300x244.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Rodri-3-768x626.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Rodri-3-610x497.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 897px) 100vw, 897px" />More defensively minded players are options in UCL Fantasy</div>
&nbsp;
These types of players become more attractive since ball recoveries can be a reliable source of weekly points compared to goals/assists and clean sheets, albeit a more boring source of points.
A few other important scoring rules to note are goals from outside the box count for one extra point, winning a penalty (as long as the penalty is converted) is two points (not an assist) while conceding a penalty is -1 for the player who caused the foul.
At the end of every Champions League match, one player is given the Player of the Match award.
This award is decided by UEFA’s technical observer panel, which usually gives the award to the standout goalscorer or goalkeeper who kept a clean sheet.
Compared to FPL, this is very similar to a player receiving the full bonus allocation for a particular match. When a player wins this award, they will score an extra three points for that matchday.
<h2>UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football guide: Chips</h2>
Similar to FPL, managers receive two chips in UCL Fantasy. These can be played once each throughout the Champions League season.
The first chip is a Wildcard (same as FPL). When played, managers will have the ability to change their squads using unlimited transfers.
The players transferred in will stay in the squad once the matchday has finished.
The second chip is Limitless, giving managers the chance to change a squad for one matchday only. When played, managers will receive unlimited free transfers for that matchday with no budget restrictions.
Once the matchday has finished, squads will return to how they were before the limitless chip was played.
Finally, it&#8217;s not technically a chip &#8211; but what is essentially a second Wildcard occurs before matchday 7 (the round of 16).
<div id="attachment_48381" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48381" class="size-full wp-image-48381" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Poker.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Poker.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Poker-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Poker-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Poker-610x407.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Chips are a key part of the game. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2></h2>
<h2>UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football guide: Transfer deadline</h2>
A major benefit to mangers in the UCL Fantasy format is the transfer deadline.
Unlike FPL, where the deadline occurs before lineups are released, the UCL deadline occurs when the first matches kick-off.
This allows managers to view starting lineups before selecting their squads or making transfers.
Unfortunately, in the group stages, only lineups from two games will be released before the transfer deadline.
Once the knockout stages occur, lineups for all matchday one games will be visible for managers.
For teams like Manchester City, who rotate a lot, this allows managers insight into who is starting, which can really be helpful with transfer decisions.
This also helps when deciding to substitute a player off the bench, ensuring that player is starting and has a chance to improve points.
In UCL Fantasy, managers are given 2 free transfers during the group stage. As with FPL, going over the 2 free transfer limit will cost -4 for each additional transfer.
After the group stage, the transfer limit changes for each round, <a href="https://gaming.uefa.com/en/uclfantasy/rules">click here</a> to learn more.
<h2>UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football guide: Player prices</h2>
Unlike FPL, player prices and team value doesn’t have the same relevance in UCL Fantasy.
Player prices will remain the same until Matchday 3.
Once the Matchday 2 deadline has passed, some players’ prices will adjust based on their performance, the same as FPL.
Thank you for reading and I hope this article helps outline some of the important differences between FPL and UCL Fantasy.
These unique differences make the gameplay for UCL very fun and enjoyable to play.
If you haven’t played before, I encourage you to join, set up a squad and expand your football knowledge. There is no better yearly tournament in the world than the UEFA Champions League.
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UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football guide for beginners

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