Play EFL’s brand new free fantasy game – it’s your only Fantasy Football option this week!
With an international break putting a hold on much beyond wound-licking and wildcard tinkering for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers, it’s a good time to take stock of the other fantasy options available and a particularly great time to try your hand at Fantasy EFL, which IS live and kicking this weekend!
The new game was only launched this summer, covering all three divisions of the English Football League (Championship, League One and League Two). It has a similar basis to FPL but plenty of differences too – it’s actually pretty damn good. Here are seven (and two) reasons you should sign up now and give it a go!
1. It’s your only Fantasy Football option this week!
I guess this is the most obvious reason! There’s no FPL, Bundesliga, La Liga or Serie A around. You can start your UCL Fantasy team but it will be a few weeks before games are live so, if you’re missing your fantasy fix, EFL really is the best option!
2. You already know some of the teams
Fantasy EFL covers the next three levels of the English football pyramid immediately below the Premier League, as such you’ll already be familiar with a number of teams and players from recent seasons – the likes of relegated sides Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton Town as well as other teams who’ve graced the top division in recent years such as Leeds United, Norwich City, Hull City, Watford, Sunderland, Blackburn, Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers. And of course, Disney+ stars Wrexham.
3. You already know some of the players
It’s not just the clubs who are familiar, the 72 sides are packed full of familiar faces who’ve starred in FPL before like Luton’s Alfie Doughty (D), Carlton Morris (F) or Elijah Adebayo (F), Burnley’s Josh Brownhill (M), plus Gustavo Hamer (M) of Sheffield United, the West Brom loanee Mason Holgate (D), thos remaining Leeds lads that include Wilf Gnonto (F), Pascal Strujik (D), Dan James (M) and Illan Meslier (G).
Then there are FPL nostalgia picks David McGoldrick (F) – now at Notts County – and Billy Sharp (F), who is still scoring for Doncaster Rovers.
4. It’s good prep for future FPL player knowledge
The flipside of this is that you’ll get an insight into hundreds of future FPL players, which will stand you in good stead for judging potential bargain assets from the January transfer window or future FPL seasons, especially with the promoted Championship sides who’ll enter FPL in 2025/26.
We’ve already had the likes of Crysencio Summerville, Sam Szmodics, Jack Clarke, Georginio Rutter, Chiedozie Ogbene and Dara O’Shea jump up to the PL (mainly with Ipswich to be fair!)
Plus, there’s a high volume of young PL players loaned to EFL clubs, so you can monitor the performance of the likes of Tottenham’s George Solomon, Crystal Palace’s Jesurun Rak-Sakyi or Everton’s Tyler Onyango in Fantasy EFL.
5. It’s a refreshingly different game
Whilst Fantasy EFL shares core features with FPL in terms of points for appearances, goals, assists and clean sheets, there are plenty of refreshing differences too.
Points are also awarded here for blocks, tackles, clearances, shots on target and key passes, allowing stat-heads the chance to select different types of players, reminiscent of the successful ‘ball recoveries’ points from the Euros / UCL games.
Although you only get to pick seven players each week from across the EFL’s three leagues (that’s 72 clubs and 1,500+ players), you can switch them out right up to their respective kick-offs, meaning there’ll be no panicking about leaks or whether your picks will start. You can change selections every week without worrying about transfers.
What’s more, you also get to back individual teams each week who’ll get points for drawing, winning, scoring two or more goals, clean sheets and away victories.
Full details on the game rules can be found here and Gameweek 5 tips will appear here.
6. There are MANY double (and treble) Gameweeks coming!
Whilst changes to cup competitions and scheduling mean big FPL doubles are less likely this year, in Fantasy EFL with its ‘calendar week’ format, you are assured of AT LEAST 10 of them as well as one treble around the Christmas period, with likely more to come.
There are few more exciting prospects for a Fantasy manager than huge Double Gameweek hauls and the first big one is coming in Gameweek 8 at the end of this month.
7. You can win monthly EFL prizes for September… and maybe the whole damn thing!
The EFL puts up a prize for each month’s top manager and this week, Gameweek 5, is the first in September so you can earn yourself branded merch, footballs and all-important bragging rights if you sign up now and have a good run.
To be honest, we’re so early in the game, with just four of the 39 rounds gone, that with all the doubles ahead there’s still a good chance to make up ground and win the whole thing.
Added to the above, there are a couple of extra benefits, unique to Fantasy Football Scout (FFS).
7.1 You can also compete for cash in Scout’s Gameweek 5 ‘Late Starters’ league
We’re launching a new FFS league starting from Gameweek 5, with c. £500 worth of prizes on offer. The top manager gets £100, the second receives £75 and third-place wins £50, whilst the next four runners-up will get a free year’s subscription to FFS Premium (worth c.£65 at full price, £39 current discount – if you are already a member we’ll add a free year), and a final two will get a free month of premium (worth £6.59 at full price).
In order to qualify for the tournament you need to be a free member of FFS and sign up to the league via the code: XYNH57PM
7.2 Get plenty of guidance on FFS and the Official EFL site
And of course, on top of all this, we’re going to be here helping you get familiar with the teams, trends and top-scoring players via a raft of content on both our Fantasy EFL channel – summed up each week in a Gameweek guide – and the official EFL site. Most of this is free, but we’ll be offering some extra content behind paywalls too for our premium members.
What are you waiting for? Sign up and start picking your Fantasy EFL team now.
11 days, 3 hours agoRoyston Drenthe