Sponsored by FanTeam

It’s time to introduce FanTeam’s festive bonanza: the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF), an event that will take place in Gameweeks 24 and 25.

There’s a whopping €500,000 prize pot to be split between the top 121 competitors, with wallet-widening rewards ranging from €1,500 to €100,000.

Unless you are particularly flush with cash, ignore the £1k buy-in – the great news is that qualification can be earned by succeeding in feeder (or “satellite” contests, to use the correct terminology) beforehand for a lot less money.

Our in-house FanTeam expert and last year’s season-long £200k winner, Josh Wooldridge, did just that in December when triumphing in some midweek satellites that only cost a few quid to enter.

One of your last chances to win a WCOFF ticket through a satellite event will be via the Burnley v Watford match this Saturday, so head on over to the FanTeam lobby to find the tournament that is shown below:

THE WCOFF PRIZE POOL

HOW TO PLAY FOR €500k FROM LITTLE MORE THAN £2

FanTeam have created a three-step system that gives users the chance to qualify for as little as £1.68. You will find the satellites in the tournament lobby up until the WCOFF begins, most of which you’ll see above.

• Step 1 – From €2/£1.68 entry

Start your journey for as little as €2/£1.68 and battle it out to qualify for entry to Step 2. 

• Step 2 – Qualifying ticket from Step 1 or €55 entry

If you have qualified from Step 1 you gain a ticket into any Step 2 event of your choosing. It’s only if you want to skip the first step, will you then have to pay the €55 entry fee. Step 2 tournaments will also be running regularly so spot the one you think you have the best chance at and go for the ticket to the big one

• Step 3 – Qualifying ticket from Step 2 or €1,000 entry

If you have made it to Step 3 then that is it: you have won your €1,000 seat to the big event!

ARE FANTEAM’S RULES THE SAME AS FPL?

Here’s the great news: anyone with any sort of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) experience should be able to pick up FanTeam’s game without issue. The rules, scoring and prices are very similar, shown in detail below.

It’s essentially FPL but with huge cash prizes. Given that paid entry mini-leagues are now strongly discouraged by the Premier League, the FanTeam game offers Fantasy managers a legitimate opportunity to make money from their management expertise.

Unlike the main FanTeam game, WCOFF is essentially two Free Hit teams of 11 players – one for Gameweek 24 and one for Gameweek 25. There is a 105.0m budget, with at least one goalkeeper, three defenders, two midfielders and one forward to be picked.

A maximum of three players from a single Premier League team can be selected. There are no substitutes.

Additionally, a captain and vice-captain has to be nominated every week; the player handed the armband will score double points.

All sound very familiar? That’s because the two games are largely the same – although there are a handful of differences to watch out for.

KEY RULES DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FANTEAM WCOFF AND FPL

• Player prices can rise and fall based on form and in-game transfer movement but, unlike in FPL, a player’s ‘sell price’ is the same as their ‘purchase price’.
• The ‘Safety Net’ feature makes up for the lack of substitutes. If your player doesn’t start a match, he’ll automatically be replaced by the next-priced (descending) starter in that team’s position who did. For example, if midfielder Mohamed Salah was rested, he would be switched for a cheaper Liverpool midfielder who played, like Sadio Mane.

HOW DO PLAYERS SCORE POINTS?

Seasoned FPL managers should have no problem in adjusting to FanTeam and running a squad with its familiar scoring system, shown above.

KEY SCORING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FANTEAM AND FPL

• There is no Bonus Points System, which is replaced by plus/minus points (+0.3/-0.3) if a team is winning/losing during the period a player is on the pitch.
• Goalkeepers get 0.5 points for every save made, unlike the one point awarded in FPL for increments of three stops.
• Committing a foul that leads to a free-kick goal or converted penalty is penalised by minus two points.
• Midfielders and forwards get an extra point for completing the full match.
• Shots on target that don’t end up as goals are rewarded (+0.4 for midfielders and forwards, +0.6 for defenders)

HEAD TO THE FANTEAM LOBBY HERE

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