Allsvenskan Fantasy: All you need to know

What?

Allsvenskan Fantasy is a game where you score points based on the actual events in the games of the Swedish top division, Allsvenskan.

The game is built on the same platform as Fantasy Premier League, so FPL players will feel at home in the user interface right off the bat.

The point scoring system is a bit different though, which we’ll cover on a high level shortly.

Why?

Why should you sign up for the 2024 season of Allsvenskan Fantasy? Let me give you a list of the top 10 reasons to join… and three not to:

1. The bonus points system is top-notch, they’ve put a lot of love into making it interesting not just in terms of the regular goals, assists and clean sheets. Defenders are fun to own as a result, and some reach as high as 8.0m in price and still provide value!
2. Creative players who don’t always register an assist, and defensively-minded players who do well on clearances, blocks, interceptions or recoveries, are all much more interesting because of the bonus point system.
3. The chips are varied and powerful; more on that in the “How” section.
4. Deadlines are five minutes before the start of the first game of the Gameweek. That means we always get a minimum of two team lineups, sometimes up to eight! No more waiting for dodgy leaks and running around in panic trying to determine the accuracy of the leaks.
5. Sweden is currently the only country among Europe’s 30 highest-ranked leagues that has NOT decided to introduce VAR. The fact that they have not done so is largely due to their democratic model, where the club members (regular supporters) are actively pushing back against it. That’s right, VAR is not going to be stealing your Fantasy points any time soon! Relieve the old-fashioned joy of a goal being scored without waiting a minute to find out if it indeed actually was scored, or not.
6. The league kicks off now on March 30 and ends in November. That means your summer is now rescued and you don’t have to spend it on your own, making imaginary FPL drafts with made-up prices for a game yet to launch. You know who you are, and you need this to save you from yourself.
7. The people running the game have set up a Discord Server where – you guessed it – Allsvenskan Fantasy is discussed around the clock! They’ve ensured there is a channel devoted to English speakers to obsess about the game as well without the added hassle of having to pick up the Swedish language. You may be tempted to do so regardless once you get into it though. The game itself is also available fully in English.
8. The old Scout (hey now, not THAT old, if I was a football player I’d still be in full swing… buuut likely past my peak and learning to adapt to the apparent lack of pace) will be popping up here and there, ensuring you’re not left out in the Swedish cold without some friendly words of wisdom and a nice warm fika.
9. Signing up means creating a “football account” which is a single sign on feature that also enables you to access free video content like goals and match highlights from Allsvenskan and Superettan on https://fotbollplay.se/.
10. If you’ve read this far without quitting the article I’m not sure you really need more reasons to join but Allsvenskan is a great league to watch and despite some teams clearly being favourites to clinch the title, it’s always very open and any team can beat anyone on their day.

Reasons not to join Allsvenskan Fantasy for the 2024 season:

1. You don’t like fun and fear that this game might be dangerously close to exactly that.
2. Also, how dare the author insinuate that your favourite summer pastime of meticulously planning out what FPL team you can put together if player X comes in at Y price is time wasted? The absolute nerve of some people…
3. You’ve already had it up to here with Fantasy games until August (and or/this text) and feel like it’s too much to take in right now. In which case I say that’s fair but I implore you to still just give it a casual try and worst case, you have a beautifully rendered ghost ship sailing out into the sunset to meet you on the other side in 2025. Or never again. Wow, that’s bleak. On to more positive thoughts!

When?

The season starts this Saturday, March 30, at 14.55 CET.

You will have the confirmed lineups of the game IFK Norrköping-Malmö FF to take into account for Gameweek 1.

The latter is last year’s title winner who plays in sky blue and has a flair for scoring many goals but also rotating the players and ensuring you are always kept on your toes scanning for lineups. Sound familiar?

How?

It’s really not that complex if you’re familiar with FPL, Eliteserien Fantasy or any other major fantasy football game but let’s get into some of the key things that set it apart. 

Bonus point system

Bonus points are a big part of the game and as alluded to earlier, they work a bit differently in Allsvenskan Fantasy. On average in 2023, each game ended with roughly 16 bonus points earned between the two teams in the match, which is significantly higher than in FPL.

The formula for bonus points is as follows:

Attacking bonus points: 1 point for every 2 key passes (a key pass is one that leads to a shot at goal).

Defensive bonus points: 1 point for every 8 clearances, blocks, interceptions or recoveries (total).

No bonus points for goalkeepers: Goalkeepers can’t be awarded attacking or defensive bonus points.

Maximum bonus points: Each player can be awarded a maximum of 2 attacking bonus points and 2 defending bonus points in a game.

There is no limit on maximum bonus points awarded to a specific team, or within a specific game. In other words, a game can contain (theoretically) anywhere from 0 to 80+ bonus points, but the average is roughly 16 bonus points per game. An individual player can get anywhere between 0-4 bonus points per game.

For example, if a player made 6 key passes, his total attacking bonus points will be 2. If in the same game he also made 12 clearances, blocks or interceptions and recovered 12 balls, his total defending bonus will be 2. Overall, 4 bonus points will be added to his total for the match.

Main differences in point scoring overall

• Heavier emphasis on bonus points.
• Goalkeepers get no bonus points but get 5 points for a clean sheet, defenders 4 points, and midfielders 1 point.
• Goalkeepers get save points every 2 saves rather than 3 which is the standard.
• Goalkeepers also get -1 point for each goal conceded after the first 2 goals conceded. As an example, conceding 5 goals gives a hefty -4 subtracted from the goalkeeper’s points!
• Forwards get 5 points for every goal scored, just like midfielders.
• The player who scores the winning goal gets 1 extra point. Winning goal = the second goal scored for the home team in a 2-1 win, or the first goal for the home team in a 2-0 win.

Chips

Other than the standard two Wildcards over 30 Gameweeks, there are three additional chips:

• Park the Bus: Double points for all defenders that Gameweek.
• Dynamic Duo: Both your Captain and Vice Captain score triple points that Gameweek.
• Loan Rangers: Make unlimited free transfers and choose how many players you want from a specific team for a single round (the cap of three players from a single team is removed). At the next deadline, your squad is returned to how it was at the start of the Gameweek.

Where?

Sign up for the English version of the game here.

Join the Discord where English speakers (and Swedes, obviously) sign up to chat about Allsvenskan Fantasy. As mentioned above (but also here if you just skipped past all my well-thought-out and lavishly explained reasons to play the game you “TL;DR”-afflicted person… the joke’s still on you for getting stuck in this way too extended parenthesis), there is a channel in there where Allsvenskan Fantasy is discussed in English. Here is a formal invitation.

Join the FFS League here. Should the link not work, the code is nn2arg.

Also, join my dear friend and FFS board long-time Allsvenskan Fantasy devotee “Mullered In Maenam” in his league “Koh Samui Classic 2024” with the code: 1g2zmy

As always, if you want to chat about Fantasy Football either comment here below or ping me in the Allsvenskan Fantasy Discord! Or follow me @FF_Meltens on X.

Good luck, folks!