UCL Fantasy Guide: Rules, Tips and Set-Piece Takers for Each Team

UCL Fantasy is back for the 21/22 season and we have created a comprehensive guide containing rules, tips and set-piece takers for each team to help you get started.

UCL Fantasy Rules

In UCL Fantasy, you will have a squad of 15 players in your team with a set number of free transfers each week to replace any player in your squad with a player who plays in the same position within the budget constraints. A maximum of one unused transfer can be carried over to the next Matchday and any additional transfer beyond the quota of free transfers will incur a -4 point deduction for the week.

Breakdown of your 15 man squad

• 2 goalkeepers
• 5 defenders
• 5 midfielders
• 3 forwards

Budget

For the start of the Champions League tournament, you will have €100 million in virtual money to spend on your squad which rises to €105 million from the round of 16 onwards.

Fantasy UCL Substitutions

Manual Substitutions

You can make as many substitutions as you would like during the matchday and after the matches on a single day are finished and before the matches on the next day kick-off, you can sub out a maximum of four players unless they have been sent off and change your captain to another player who is yet to play. Any points scored by the player who has been subbed off will be lost just like the captaincy bonus if you change the player with the armband.

Note:

• You can’t sub players into your starting XI, or change to a captain, who have already played in that matchday.
• Once you confirm your subs or change of captain after they have played, those changes can’t be reversed.
• Once the matches on the final day of the matchday have kicked off, you can’t make changes to your team. Any changes you make will only be applied to the next matchday.
• You’ll need to save your changes before the matchday kicks off for them to take effect. If you start adjusting your squad just before the deadline, but you save your changes after it’s already passed, your changes won’t apply to that day’s matches.

Automatic Substitutions

If you don’t make any substitutions, change the order of your bench or change your captain once the matchday has begun, the players who haven’t played in your starting XI will be subbed on according to the priority of your bench from left to right.

• In case your goalkeeper doesn’t play in a matchday, your replacement goalkeeper will be subbed in, as long as he has played (and as long as you haven’t made any other manual changes to your squad during that matchday).
• If any of your starting outfield players don’t play in a matchday, they’ll be automatically subbed out. The player subbed in will be the highest-priority substitute who has played in the matchday, and whose substitution doesn’t break formation rules.
• If you switch the priority order of your subs once a matchday has started, that will count as a manual substitution and no automatic substitutions will kick in for the remainder of that matchday.
• If you save any changes to your captain or starting XI during a matchday, that will count as a manual substitution and no automatic substitutions will kick in for the remainder of that matchday. That includes changing your captain, saving, then changing back to your previous captain once the matchday has begun.

Auto substitutions will only trigger if you haven’t made any single change to your squad after the first game of the matchday has started. You can check whether it is still enabled above your line-up on the pitch.

UCL Fantasy Captain

Just like how you can substitute players off the bench for each day of the matchday, you can also change your captain pick. A player that has been selected as captain will double his points for the matchday and if you aren’t satisfied with your captain’s score then you can twist the armband to another player who is playing on a later day within the same matchday.

If your captain does not play on a particular matchday and your team is still on auto subs, he will be subbed out for a player off the bench but that player will not receive the captain’s double bonus points. All captain changes have to be done manually.

Tip: If you have plenty of captaincy options for a matchday, you can try punting on differential captains with a high ceiling for the first two days or so in hopes of getting a high score. Usually, 10+ points are considered a good score but anything above 6 is considered a decent score for a captain as well.

Fantasy UCL Scoring Rules

Players will score points based on their performances throughout the season according to the table below:

Minutes Played

A player is awarded one point for making an appearance and gains an extra point when he plays 60 minutes in a game excluding injury time. This means that extra time added to the end of each half isn’t added to a player’s total but added extra time is in case a knockout game cannot be settled in regulation time.

Assists

A player gets points for an assist whenever he plays the final pass, cross, header or shot which leads to a goal. This also applies to set plays (corners, free-kicks and throw-ins).

Players also get points for an assist if a goal is scored on the rebound when they’ve shot against the post or bar.

When an attempt on goal is blocked on the goal line by an opposing player, the player who takes that shot will get points for an assist. They’ll also get points for an assist when their pass, shot or cross leads to an own goal.

Players that win a penalty don’t get points for an assist – instead, they get two points for winning the penalty (except when the penalty is awarded for handball).

When a goal is scored from a solo run or dribble, no player is credited with the assist.

Transfers

Transfers help you maximize your team’s points throughout the season and before the UEFA Champions League kicks off, you can make as many transfers as you like as long as you stay within the budget. You can also make as many transfers as you like between the group stage and round of 16.

Throughout the competition, you get free transfers each matchday, where no points will be deducted from your score. The number of free transfers you can make depends on the stage of the competition as per the table below.

For every transfer you make beyond your quota of free transfers, you’ll have four points deducted from your total. Because of the way points are calculated, this will be deducted from your overall score rather than your matchday score.

If you don’t use your full allowance of free transfers for a matchday then you will only be able to carry forward a maximum of one free transfer to the next matchday. If you use a wildcard or limitless chip then you cannot carry forward any free transfers and once the knockout phase starts you cannot carry forward any free transfers between matchdays.

Fantasy UCL Chips

UCL Fantasy features a variety of chips that if used right, can help you score more points and boost your rank. There are two chips – Wildcard and limitless – that managers can use once throughout the competition on any matchday except 1 and 7 when everyone receives unlimited free transfers.

Wildcard

The wildcard chips allow you to make multiple changes to your squad for the upcoming matchdays without taking a hit. It enables you to make unlimited free transfers and any changes that you make to your squad will be permanent once that matchday is over. Rules regarding automatic and manual substitutions still apply in addition to other rules for captaincy changes, formation constraints and the number of players you can select from each club.

If you’ve already made transfers ahead of a matchday and activate your wildcard, the transfers you’ve made previously will be cancelled, along with any points deductions.

Limitless

Limitless allows you to make unlimited transfers just like wildcard but without any budget constraints. Once the matchday has finished, your squad will return to how it was before you played your Limitless chip.

The normal rules for automatic substitutions, manual substitutions and captain changes still apply when playing limitless, as well as formation constraints and the number of players you can pick from one team.

If you’ve already made transfers ahead of a matchday and you then play limitless, the transfers you’ve made previously will be cancelled, along with any points deductions.

Tip: Try to include some differentials in your squad when you activate limitless rather than selecting players only based on their price.

Champions League Set-piece Takers

The set-piece takers for each club have been sorted according to the first to the fourth choice from left to right.

Note: A few players such as Karim Adeyemi and Rachid Ghezzal haven’t been added to the game yet and the Villareal vs Atalanta fixture for Matchday 1 is missing as well so an update is pending for UCL Fantasy.

You can find additional UCL Fantasy resources for the 21/22 season here.

Trevor Baretto

The creator of the website.