The World Cup final between France and Croatia takes place this Sunday, but McDonald’s FIFA and Fantasy iTeam managers ought to be aware that the third-place play-off between Belgium and England – which takes place on Saturday at 3pm – also counts towards their Fantasy scores.
Although rotation can be expected for this hollow match between the losing semi-finalists, the fact that Fantasy managers get five free transfers in the McDonald’s FIFA game (three in Fantasy iTeam) ahead of this final round ought to be more than enough to enable a full starting XI at the very least.
That we will know the line-ups for the third-place play-off before the final World Cup Fantasy window shuts on Saturday afternoon will also help with our squad selections.
While we can confidently predict the full-strength starting XIs for France and Croatia ahead of the final, Saturday’s play-off tie is sure to feature some peripheral Belgian and English squad players. Fantasy managers would, therefore, be advised to look out for team news an hour or two before kick-off as there could well be some Fantasy differentials with low ownership on display that could help reduce or consolidate a mini-league deficit.
Our team-by-team analysis of Opta’s World Cup data, which is available to Fantasy Football Scout members as part of their yearly subscription, provides clues as to which players’ underlying statistics could translate into Fantasy points and which assets are best avoided.
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…
McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy
Join our McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy league ‘FantasyFootballScout’ using the code: HEWJPVYR
Fantasy iTeam
Fantasy Football Scout is supporting Fantasy iTeam, a free World Cup game available on a number of mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPodTouch and Android. We have an official Fantasy Football Scout League open to UK users only, with a £1000 of Amazon vouchers to give out, split between the top three performers. There’s also the small matter of £10k worth of prizes available in the main competitions: Overall World Championship and Manager of the Gameround.
Click here for details and here to sign up.
Our League name is Fantasy Football Scout and the pin is 1887.
Please note, users must be over 18 and based in the UK to join our league.
