Sponsored by FanTeam
FanTeam’s season-long Premier League Fantasy game has launched for 2021/22, with another guaranteed £1m up for grabs.
And who better to turn to for tips on the big-money FPL-style game than Josh Wooldridge, the winner of last season’s €200k first prize.
We’re delighted that Josh is joining Fantasy Football Scout for the upcoming campaign and you’ll be able to read his thoughts on these pages over the coming year.
Josh’s first article is a beginner’s guide to FanTeam, although there is plenty of sage advice for those who have played the game before.
Hello, everyone. Since this is my first article for Fantasy Football Scout, allow me to introduce myself. I am Josh, one of Scout’s newest Pro Pundits, who will be specialising in FanTeam this year.
I was lucky enough to win the FanTeam 2020/21 Premier League season-long game in May, scooping an amazing €200,000 in the process, and still can’t quite believe it!
Since FanTeam is still a growing company, and may not be known to you all, I felt it would be useful to write a piece describing the basics of the game, and how it differs from the more well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
What is FanTeam? Similiarities to FPL
You’ll be pleased to know that a huge percentage of the game is identical to FPL.
You still have to pick 15 players – two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and three forwards – and you start with a £100m budget. One free transfer is allowed per week and can be rolled over.
There are also two Wildcards on FanTeam, one to be used in the first half of the season, and one in the second. A lot of the basic scoring is also the same, with some notable exceptions.
So far, so FPL.
What is FanTeam? Differences to FPL
The main differences between FanTeam and FPL are subtle, but significant in terms of decision making. The biggest contrast between the two games, in my opinion, is the lack of chips; in FPL you have your two Wildcards and your three additional chips but with FanTeam, you have just the two Wildcards.
So saving transfers and utilising your bench is much more significant on FanTeam, as your Wildcards should be held back, where possible, to manoeuver through periods of double and blank Gameweeks. I suppose in this regard, FanTeam is similar to ‘old school’ FPL before the chips were brought into existence.
On FanTeam, you get one extra point if your midfielder or striker completes 90 minutes. There are also no FPL-style bonus points, which actually means that the scores on the website are accurate as soon as the full-time whistle blows.
However, there are ‘impact points’ and additional rewards for shots on target – all of which are detailed below:
| Action | Points |
| Team ‘wins’ when a player is on the pitch | +0.3 |
| Team ‘loses’ when a player is on the pitch | -0.3 |
| Shot on target – forward/midfielder | +0.4 |
| Shot on target – defender | +0.6 |
| Shot on target – goalkeeper | +1.0 |
Goalkeepers on FanTeam also score a lot differently, with 0.5 points awarded per save as opposed to the one point per three stops in FPL. Saves are therefore more important on FanTeam as they are rewarded more kindly.
Finally, players lose two points if they concede a penalty or a freekick which leads to a goal.
It seems like I have listed an awful lot of differences here but I hope you can appreciate that most of them are relatively slight. As a result, FanTeam can very much be played alongside FPL, even if you may make a few different picks by game (not least because some players are priced differently on each site!).
I would even go as far as saying the two games complement each other and your usual FPL articles, podcasts and Premium Members Area data will give you a lot of relevant information to help you make your FanTeam decisions, too.
For a £20 investment to enter a team, which gives you a chance to win a life-changing amount of money using your Fantasy Football skills, I truly cannot recommend the game enough.
FanTeam: Types of players to buy
I acknowledge that this is a lot to take in, so next, I want to talk about how all this affects the type of player you may want to bring in.
SIGN UP TO THE £1m FANTEAM GAME HERE
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