With this season’s second unlimited transfer window open, Fantasy Bundesliga managers worldwide will be wracking their brains, trying to come up with the perfect team. Here are some team construction tips that cut right to the chase:
1. You only need to plan four gameweeks ahead
Yes, you read that correctly. A third (!) international break is planned for after game week 11. When planning your next wildcard team, you need only consider four-game weeks. This gives us managers flexibility and opportunities for player punts.
2. Target a range of time slots
Most FBL managers understand the game rules, especially the difference between Fantasy Bundesliga and Fantasy Premier League: In FBL, managers can sub players during the matchday. You can also switch your star men, which gives you the opportunity for higher returns if your initial star man pick falters.
However, to maximize this, you will need to spread your player picks around the various time slots. In a typical gameweek, there are the Friday night opener, the Saturday afternoon bloc, the Saturday evening match, then three individual matches, usually 15.30, 17.30, and 19.30 GMT. This means you have five-time slots (after the opening fixture) in which to sub in players and change your star men.
Of course, certain matches are investable than others, and you shouldn’t just spread out all your players among all fixtures with reckless abandon. A Leverkusen-Dortmund matchup is more investable than a Hertha-Bochum fixture, for instance.
However, switching out players and star men gives you more chances to maximize your matchday points total than risking it all on three or four matches. Like many other managers, I invested heavily in Bayern players (Davies, Kimmich, Goretzka, Lewandowski) when facing Fürth, but the returns were meager, to say the least.
Here’s an example of a simple table I used to have a game week overview from this past GW.
| Match | Times | GK | DF | MF | FW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOE-SGF | Fri 20:30 | Kainz | Modeste | ||
| BVB-FCA | Sat 15:30 | Guerreiro | |||
| WOB-BMG | |||||
| VFB-TSG | Pentke | ||||
| BSC-SCF | Schlotterbeck | ||||
| RBL-BOC | Sat 18:30 | Riemann | Nkunku | ||
| M05-FCU | Sun 15:30 | Gießelmann | |||
| FCB-SGE | Sun 17:30 | Davies | Kimmich, Goretzka | Lewandowski | |
| DSC-B04 | Sun 19:30 | Frimpong | Wirtz | Schick |
3. Plan your next steps in terms of price tiers
In my previous article for Fantasy Tipsters, I outlined the top Fantasy Bundesliga scorers per price class. Here is a brief overview for your reference:
Doing the math, FBL managers will be able to afford a 15 player team consisting of seven premiums, four mid-rangers, and three budget players. If you set up your team that way, especially visually, you will be able to swap out players more easily when needed instead of trying to fit in specific players.
Of course, you should always go with players who you think will do well instead of going with premium-priced players. It’s the old premium-scoring vs. premium-priced conundrum, to which I myself have fallen prey.
| Player type | Price class | Price range |
|---|---|---|
| Outfield | Premium | 11M and above |
| Outfield | Mid-range | 7.5M-11M |
| Outfield | Budget | 7.5M and below |
| Goalie | Premium | 9M and above |
| Goalie | Mid-range | 6.5M-8.5M |
| Goalie | Budget | 6.5M and below |
Summary
1. Plan ahead for four weeks. There’s another unlimited transfer window after that.
2. Create a table for a better overview of each gameweek. Spread your players out among each of the six-time slots if the fixtures/teams are investable.
3. To make transfers easier, plan your wildcard teams in terms of price classes. This will aid in shaping your transfer strategy for the coming game weeks.
You can find additional Bundesliga Fantasy resources for the 21/22 season here.
