With EURO 2020 Fantasy managers able to use unlimited free transfers ahead of the round of 16, we’ve been speaking to the world number three for their own strategy thoughts for the tournament run-in.

Fantasy Football Scout reader and subscriber Varun Arora, aka Varunak1992, talks us through the journey to a podium place so far and the players to consider before Saturday’s deadline.

Group Stage Journey and Strategies

This is my first time playing the Fantasy game for the European Championship and I must say being in the top three in the overall rankings, out of 3.5 million players, is an overwhelming feeling.

What attracts me to playing Fantasy Football is all the data analytics that go behind the scenes and the amazing work that Fantasy Football Scout does with their guides for Fantasy Premier League and the Euros, weeks or even months before the competitions even begin.

The EURO 2020 Opta data stats were used extensively by me before picking my team for Matchday 1, as well as while drafting teams for the Limitless chip in Matchday 2 and Wildcard in Matchday 3. I kept a close eye on Twitter for line-up news, injury news and manager quotes, while I scoured through YouTube to find how seasoned FPL players like Andy from Let’s Talk FPL were lining up their teams to give me a pretty good base to start with. Fantasy Football Scout’s own video channel has helped me a lot, not just with the European Championship but also for my mini-league in FPL last season, too.

Above: Varun’s Matchday 1 team

In the group stages, the first strategy I went with was making a draft with players whom I thought would be great as captaincy picks for each day during a Matchday, as this format allows the captain to be changed each calendar day.

The second strategy was picking two or three players from teams having the most favourable fixture, eg Italy v Turkey in Matchday 1, Ukraine v North Macedonia in Matchday 2 and Netherlands v North Macedonia again in Matchday 3.

The third strategy and the one that has worked the best for me so far has been picking punts from the first two calendar days during a Matchday, as even if they don’t do well, I can bring in safer players from the bench who are in action on later days. Belgium’s Thomas Meunier had a single-digit ownership in Matchday 1 and gave me a haul of 15 points, while Matchday 2 gambles Gareth Bale and Kevin De Bruyne also had sub-10% ownership levels before that round. Bale missed a penalty and created five big chances in that game and could have banked more than nine points, while De Bruyne I picked after reading team news leaks on Twitter. Those two moves gave me a big advantage and helped me reach an overall rank of two after the end of Matchday 2. For Matchday 3, I went ahead with leaked line-ups for the Netherlands and Belgium and picked Thomas Vermaelen, Memphis Depay and Donyell Malen, who all gave pretty good returns.

Above: Varun’s Matchday 2 team

The only regret from Matchday 3 I have is not picking Xherdan Shaqiri and going with Andriy Yarmolenko in his place but then even my punt on taking Ivan Perisic from Croatia – with only 2% ownership – and making him captain worked wonders for me, consolidating my position in the top three.

Another point I would like to make is that I went with fixtures over form for Matchdays 2 and 3, when I used my Limitless and Wildcard chips respectively. Hence, I did not go for Cristiano Ronaldo on either occasion and bolstered the midfield more in the hope of gaining extra points for goals and clean sheets. I do not actually regret missing the points from the Portugal talisman.

Above: Varun’s Matchday 3 team

Round of 16 Watchlist

Goalkeepers

1. Gianluigi Donnarumma (5.6 m)
2. Maarten Stekelenburg (4.7 m)
3. Hugo Lloris (6.1 m)
4. Unai Simon (5.1 m)
5. Jordan Pickford (5.6 m)
6. Manuel Neuer (6 m)
7. Robin Olsen (5.1 m)

Defenders

1. Joakim Mæhle (4.5 m)
2. Leonardo Spinazzola (5.6 m)
3. Denzel Dumfries (5.6 m)
4. Leonardo Bonucci (5.6 m)
5. Thomas Meunier (5.7 m)
6. Robin Gosens (5.2 m)
7. Daley Blind (5.2 m)
8. John Stones (5.6 m)
9. Harry Maguire (5.5 m)
10. Victor Lindelof (5.6 m)
11. Raphael Varane (6.1 m)
12. Benjamin Pavard (6 m)
13. Jordi Alba (6.1 m)
14. Pau Torres (4.6 m)

Midfielders

1. Georginio Wijnaldum (8.1 m)
2. Lorenzo Insigne (8.6 m)
3. Kevin De Bruyne (10.6 m)
4. Eden Hazard (10 m) 
5. Domenico Berardi (6.2 m)
6. Emil Forsberg (7.7 m)
7. Ivan Perisic (8.6 m)
8. Gareth Bale (9.6 m)
9. Pierre-Emile Hojberg (5.5 m)
10. Pablo Sarabia (6.5 m)
11. Ferran Torres (8 m)
12. Dani Olmo (7 m)
13. Xherdan Shaqiri (7.2 m)
14. Paul Pogba (8.5 m)
15. Kai Havertz (9.1 m) 
16. Phil Foden (8 m)
17. Raheem Sterling (9.6 m)
18. Jack Grealish (7.4 m)

Forwards

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (12.2 m)
2. Memphis Depay (10.1 m)
3. Romelu Lukaku (11.2 m)
4. Karim Benzema (10 m) 
5. Kylian Mbappe (12 m)
6. Antoine Griezmann (11.1 m)
7. Ciro Immobile (10.1 m)
8. Thomas Muller (9 m)
9. Donyell Malen (6 m)
10. Alvaro Morata (9.1 m)
11. Gerard Moreno (6.6 m)
12. Harry Kane (11.5 m)
13. Roman Yaremchuk (7.3 m)

The Watchlist above is what I put together before making my draft. The team budget has been increased to 105m ahead of the round of 16, which gives a bit of wiggle room to squeeze in a couple of extra premium players. 

I do not have any chips left after using them both during the group stages. My strategy for this round and beyond is therefore to pick players from teams that have greater odds of progressing and have a look at who they face in the next round. For example, the Netherlands should in theory make it past the Czech Republic and will then face the winner of Wales v Denmark – so picking three or more players from the Netherlands is something I have done in my draft. 

Captaincy Decisions

Saturday

Italian players like Lorenzo Insigne, Leonardo Spinazzola and Ciro Immobile are obviously good shouts for the captain’s armband but for a differential punt, I’m looking at Gareth Bale v Denmark.

Sunday

The captaincy choice would have to be Memphis Depay or Denzel Dumfries. The Belgium v Portugal game looks difficult to call but Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin De Bruyne are the pick of the bunch from that fixture.

Monday

Karim Benzema is a good captaincy shout on the third day because, as we saw in his last game, he is now on penalties as well. Spain v Croatia again looks close to call but Ivan Perisic or Jordi Alba, if he starts, are picks worth mentioning.

Tuesday

On the last day, I am putting my hopes on Sweden to win against Ukraine – which makes Emil Forsberg the standout captaincy pick. England v Germany is again very difficult to call but I feel Gareth Southgate’s side have a great chance of progressing, even if they were the team with the joint-second fewest chances created during the group stages. 

TEAM DRAFT

Considering the above observations and sticking to the similar strategy I have used so far, I am sharing my current round of 16 draft below. This team may, of course, change based on the line-up news I read tomorrow and before the first game kicks off.

Good luck all. Kindly review my team and let me know if you agree or disagree with the watchlist and this draft. 

Thank you to Neale for reaching out to me and giving me an opportunity to share my team with the Fantasy Football Scout community.

READ MORE OF OUR FANTASY FIFA WORLD CUP 2026 CONTENT

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GROUP A: Mexico | South Africa | Korea Republic | Czechia
GROUP B: Canada | Bosnia & Herzegovina | Qatar | Switzerland
GROUP C: Brazil | Morocco | Haiti | Scotland
GROUP D: USA | Paraguay | Australia | Turkiye
GROUP E: Germany | Curacao | Cote d’Ivoire | Ecuador
GROUP F: Netherlands | Japan | Sweden | Tunisia
GROUP G: Belgium | Egypt | Iran | New Zealand
GROUP H: Spain | Cabo Verde | Saudi Arabia | Uruguay
GROUP I: France | Senegal | Iraq | Norway
GROUP J: Argentina | Algeria | Austria | Jordan
GROUP K: Portugal | DR Congo | Uzbekistan | Colombia
GROUP L: England | Croatia | Ghana | Panama

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