After weeks of research, we’ve predicted the starting line-up for every team’s opening fixture at this summer’s World Cup.
We’ve put these together using information gathered from qualifying matches, international friendlies and team news information from managers.
Some of them are more set in stone than others and ultimately they are predictions based on the interpretation of the data by our team of writers.
Hopefully it will help World Cup Fantasy managers pick their teams.
GROUP A
RUSSIA
3-4-2-1: Igor Akinfeev; Fedor Kudryashov, Ilya Kutepov, Vladimir Granat; Yuri Zhirkov, Alexandr Golovin, Roman Zobnin, Alexandr Samedov; Aleksei Miranchuk, Alan Dzagoev; Fedor Smolov
SAUDI ARABIA
4-2-3-1: Abdullah Al-Maiouf; Mansour Al-Harbi, Omar Hawsawi, Osama Hawsawi, Yasir Al-Shahrani; Abdullah Otayf, Salman Al-Faraj; Salem Al-Dawsari, Tassir Al-Jassim, Yahya Al-Shehri; Mohammed Al-Sahlawi.
EGYPT
4-2-3-1: Mohamed El-Shenawy; Mohamed Abdel Shafy, Ahmed Hegazi, Ali Gabr, Ahmed Fathy; Tarek Hamed, Mohamed Elneny; Ramadan Sobhi, Abdallah Said, Mohamed Salah; Marwan Mohsen.
URUGUAY
4-4-2: Fernando Muslera; Diego Laxalt, Diego Godin, Jose Gimenez, Guillermo Varela; Giorgian De Arrascaeta, Rodrigo Bentancur, Matias Vecino, Nahitan Nandez; Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani
GROUP B
PORTUGAL
4-4-2: Rui Patricio; Raphael Guerreiro, Pepe, Jose Fonte, Cedric Soares; Joao Mario, William Carvalho, Joao Moutinho, Bernardo Silva; Andre Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo
SPAIN
4-2-3-1: David de Gea; Jordi Alba, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Dani Carvajal; Thiago Alcantara, Sergio Busquets; Andres Iniesta, Isco, David Silva; Diego Costa
MOROCCO
4-1-4-1: Munir Mohamedi; Achraf Hakimi, Medhi Benatia, Romain Saiss, Nabil Dirar*; Karim El Ahmadi; Noureddine Amrabat, Mbark Boussoufa, Younes Belhanda, Hakim Ziyech; Khalid Boutaib
*Dirar is a fitness concern for Morocco’s opening group fixture.
IRAN
4-5-1: Alireza Beiranvand; Milad Mohammadi, Morteza Pouraliganji, Rouzbeh Cheshmi, Ramin Rezaeian; Mehdi Taremi, Ehsan Hajsafi, Masoud Shojaei, Omid Ebrahimi*, Alireza Jahanbakhsh; Sardar Azmoun
*Saeid Ezatolahi is suspended for Iran’s first game, but will possibly replace Ebrahimi upon becoming available for selection.
GROUP C
FRANCE
4-3-1-2: Hugo Lloris; Benjamin Pavard, Raphael Varane, Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Hernandez; Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante; Antoine Griezmann; Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe
AUSTRALIA
4-2-3-1: Mat Ryan; Aziz Behich, Mark Milligan, Trent Sainsbury, Joshua Risdon; Mile Jedinak, Aaron Mooy; Robbie Kruse, Tom Rogic, Mathew Leckie; Andrew Nabbout
PERU
4-2-3-1: Pedro Gallese; Miguel Trauco, Alberto Rodriguez, Christian Ramos, Luis Advincula; Yoshimar Yotun, Renato Tapia; Christian Cueva, Jefferson Farfan, Andre Carrillo; Paulo Guerrero.
DENMARK
4-2-3-1: Kasper Schmeichel; Jens Larsen, Andreas Christensen, Simon Kjaer, Henrik Dalsgaard; Thomas Delaney, William Kvist; Pione Sisto, Christian Eriksen, Yussuf Poulsen; Nicolai Jorgensen.
GROUP D
ARGENTINA
4-2-3-1: Willy Caballero; Nicolas Tagliafico, Federico Fazio, Nicolas Otamendi, Fabricio Bustos; Giovani Lo Celso, Lucas Biglia*; Angel Di Maria, Lionel Messi, Maximiliano Meza; Sergio Aguero
*Ever Banega, another option in central midfield, is a fitness concern ahead of Argentina’s first group match.
ICELAND
4-4-2: Hannes Thor Halldorsson; Hordur Magnusson, Ragnar Sigurdsson, Kari Arnason, Birkir Saevarsson; Birkir Bjarnason, Aron Gunnarsson, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Johann Berg Gudmundsson; Bjorn Bergmann Sigurdarson, Alfred Finnbogason
CROATIA
4-2-3-1: Danijel Subasic; Ivan Strinic, Dejan Lovren, Vedran Corluka, Sime Vrsaljko; Ivan Rakitic, Milan Dadelj; Ivan Perisic, Luka Modric, Ante Rebic; Mario Mandzukic.
NIGERIA
3-5-2: Francis Uzoho; John Ogu, Leon Balogun, William Troost-Ekong; Brian Idowu, John Obi Mikel, Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Shehu Abdullahi; Victor Moses, Odion Ighalo
GROUP E
BRAZIL
4-3-3: Alisson; Marcelo, Joao Miranda, Thiago Silva, Danilo; Philippe Coutinho, Casemiro, Paulinho; Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Willian.
SWITZERLAND
4-2-3-1: Yann Sommer; Ricardo Rodriguez, Manuel Akanji, Fabian Schar, Stephen Lichsteiner; Granit Xhaka, Valon Behrami; Steven Zuber, Blerim Dzemaili, Xherdan Shaqiri; Haris Seferovic
COSTA RICA
3-4-2-1: Keylor Navas; Oscar Duarte, Geancarlo Gonzalez, Johnny Acosta; Bryan Oviedo, David Guzman, Celso Borges, Christian Gamboa; Joel Campbell, Bryan Ruiz; Marco Urena
SERBIA
4-2-3-1: Vladimir Stojkovic; Aleksandr Kolarov, Dusko Tosic, Nikola Milenkovic, Antonio Rukavina; Luka Milivojevic, Nemanja Matic; Filip Kostic, Adam Ljajic, Dusan Tadic; Aleksandr Mitrovic
GROUP F
GERMANY
4-2-3-1: Manuel Neuer; Jonas Hector, Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Joshua Kimmich; Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira; Marco Reus, Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller; Timo Werner.
MEXICO
4-3-3: Guillermo Ochoa; Carlos Salcedo, Hector Moreno, Hugo Ayala, Jesus Gallardo; Hector Herrera, Miguel Layun, Andres Guardado; Hirving Lozano, Carlos Vela, Javier Hernandez
SWEDEN
4-4-2: Robin Olsen; Ludwig Augustinsson, Andreas Granqvist, Victor Lindelof, Mikael Lustig; Emil Forsberg, Albin Ekdal, Sebastian Larsson, Viktor Claesson; Marcus Berg, Ola Toivonen
SOUTH KOREA
4-4-2: Kim Seung-gyu; Kim Min-woo, Kim Young-Gwon, Jang Hyun-soo, Lee Yong; Lee Sung-woo, Jung Woo-Young, Ki Sung-yeung, Lee Jae-Sung Il; Son Heung-min, Hwang He-chan.
GROUP G
BELGIUM
3-4-2-1: Thibaut Courtois; Toby Alderweireld, Derdryck Boyata*, Jan Vertonghen; Thomas Meunier, Kevin De Bruyne, Axel Witsel, Yannick Carrasco; Dries Mertens, Eden Hazard; Romelu Lukaku
*Vincent Kompany should start if he is passed fit.
PANAMA
4-5-1: Jaime Penedo; Luis Ovalle, Roman Torres, Fidel Escobar, Adolfo Machado; Jose Rodriguez, Anibal Godoy, Gabriel Gomez, Armando Cooper, Edgar Barcenas; Blas Perez
TUNISIA
4-3-3: Aymen Mathlouthi; Dylan Bronn, Syam Ben Youssef, Yassine Meriah, Ali Maaloul; Ellyes Skhiri, Ferjani Sassi, Saif-Eddine Khaoui; Anice Badri, Naim Sliti, Fakhreddine Ben Youssef
ENGLAND
3-5-2: Jordan Pickford; Gary Cahill, John Stones, Kyle Walker; Kieran Trippier, Dele Alli, Jordan Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Danny Rose; Raheem Sterling Harry Kane
GROUP H
COLOMBIA
4-2-3-1: David Ospina; Johan Mojica, Davinson Sanchez, Yerry Mina, Santiago Arias; Carlos Sanchez, Abel Aguilar; Mateus Uribe, James Rodriguez, Juan Cuadrado; Radamel Falcao.
POLAND
3-4-3: Lukasz Fabianski; Michal Pazdan, Jan Bednarek*, Lukasz Piszczek; Jakub Blaszczykowski, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Karol Linetty, Maciej Rebus; Piotr Zielinski, Kamil Grosicki, Robert Lewandowski
*Kamil Glik, first choice centre-half for Poland, is injured for his country’s first two group matches.
SENEGAL
4-2-3-1: Abdoulaye Diallo; Lamine Gassama, Kalidou Koulibaly, Salif Sane, Youssouf Sabaly; Idrissa Gueye, Cheikhou Kouyate; Ismaila Sarr, Sadio Mane, M’Baye Niang; Diafra Sakho
JAPAN
4-2-3-1: Eiji Kawashima; Yuto Nagatomo, Yomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Gotoku Sakai; Makoto Hasebe, Hotaru Yamaguchi; Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa, Genki Haraguchi; Yuya Osako.
Further Analysis
Our comprehensive World Cup guide can be found here.
Group A – Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group B – Iran, Morocco, Portugal, Spain
Group C – Australia, Peru, France, Denmark
Group D – Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria
Group E – Brazil, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Serbia
Group F – Mexico, Germany, Sweden, South Korea
Group G – Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, England
Group H – Senegal, Japan, Poland, Colombia
Our editor’s Fantasy World Cup tips as told to Proper Sport
Fantasy iTeam
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World Cup Data
We’re delighted to offer World Cup data as an early addition to our regular season offering to help those playing Fantasy games over the summer.
We’ve secured Opta data, not only for the tournament itself, which begins on June 14 but also from the Qualifying Rounds for Europe and South America and for international friendlies involving the participating nations. This includes all the matches played right up to the tournament kick-off.
Just to stress, this World Cup offering comes packaged with the regular Fantasy Football Scout membership.
Check out this new trailer previewing the World Cup content below…
5 years, 10 months agoSeen a lot of comments about swapping captain each day as a strategy if your captain blanks, but the rules say you lose your captain bonus (double points) if you do this. So I wouldn't be planning it as such, it's more of a back-up option.
But I've read people saying they will captain a Saudi Arabia player tonight as a punt. It's a massive punt if you then have to move the armband to a big hitter and forego the the double points.
Am I missing something?