How to enter and play AFCON Fantasy 2023

The delayed 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will soon get underway – and, wouldn’t you just know it, there’s a Fantasy game to go with it.

It’s free to play and run by RealFevr, with the rules being very similar to Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

We’ll have more articles to come on AFCON Fantasy before the tournament gets underway on Saturday 13 January.

But in this introductory piece, we take you through the basics of the game.

• READ MORE: The Premier League players who will be at the Africa Cup of Nations + Asian Cup

SIGNING UP TO AFCON FANTASY

Head over to the sign-up page and either create an account or use Google/Facebook to sign in.

ENTERING A TEAM

Once the registration stage is done, the home page invites you to enter a team.

After hitting ‘Build My First Team’ (above), you can select the competition you wish to enter – in this case, ‘Africa Fantasy’:

PICKING A SQUAD

Now the enjoyable part: picking a squad.

You can hit ‘Auto Complete’ at this stage, or you can create a first draft. Either way, unlimited transfers are allowed before the Gameweek 1 deadline.

There are the following FPL-style rules for picking a squad:

• A budget of 100m
• A squad of 15 players, made up of two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and three forwards
• A starting XI in any of the following formations: 3-4-3, 3-5-2, 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-5-1, 5-3-2 or 5-4-1
• A captain and vice-captain nominated from your starting XI

The limits of players per nation depend on the stage of the tournament:

• Group Stage and Round of 16: 3
• Quarter-finals: 4
• Semi-finals: 8
• Final: 12

AUTOMATIC SUBS

There are no UCL Fantasy-style manual substitutions needed with AFCON Fantasy.

But the automatic substitutions kick in whenever one or more of your starting XI doesn’t play.

In these situations, no-shows will be replaced by one of your bench players – so long as it doesn’t result in an invalid formation.

Again, all very FPL.

SCORING SYSTEM

The scoring system is a bit of a blend of Sky Fantasy and FPL.

The usual array of points is on offer for goals, assists, clean sheets and appearances.

And there are familiar deductions for cards, own-goals, missed penalties and goals conceded (for goalkeepers and defenders).

But instead of FPL-style bonus points, further rewards are given to outfielders for clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBIs), duels won, key passes and shots on target. That should mean that defensive midfielders aren’t a complete afterthought.

Goalkeepers are rewarded further for saves (one point every two stops), while a point will be deducted from any player who gives away a penalty.

TRANSFERS

As mentioned earlier, you can tinker away to your heart’s content until the AFCON curtain-raiser on January 13.

After Gameweek 1, you’ll be awarded the following free transfers per round:

A maximum of one free transfer can be rolled over to the following week.

Each additional transfer will cost you minus four points, as in FPL.

Players can go up and down in price, depending on demand.

CHIPS

There’s only one chip in play: a Wildcard.

Once it’s activated, you can make unlimited free transfers until the Gameweek deadline.

JOIN THE FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT MINI-LEAGUE

You can join our just-for-fun AFCON Fantasy mini-league via this link here.

The token, should you need it, is 07174063.