With UCL Fantasy set to launch next week, it’s time for our first expert draft of the 2026/27 season.
Fantasy Football Scout regular @TheCrisk has put together an early 15-man squad based on the fixtures and the players currently on his radar.
Plenty can change once the game officially launches, so this is very much a first draft rather than a final selection. Below, our expert talks through his early picks and the thinking behind them.
FIRST DRAFT
As always, I like to focus mainly on the fixtures when building my first draft. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Liverpool, Arsenal and Stuttgart are the teams that immediately catch my eye.
Manchester United and Sporting CP are also on my radar. Whether I invest in their players will depend on how the different price points fit into my squad. Up front, I’ve gone for a triple Bundesliga attack. All three German sides have attractive home fixtures in Matchday 1, which makes their forwards difficult to ignore.
At least one Barcelona midfielder feels mandatory. Lamine Yamal (€10.0m) could eventually join Raphinha (€9.5m), particularly if I decide to sell Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (€10.0m) in Matchday 2.
Rodrigo Zalazar looks like an excellent €4.5m option due to his attacking role. He’s also something of a good luck charm for me!
In the premium bracket, Bruno Fernandes (€9.0m) offers plenty of potential and makes my current draft. I’ve backed Arsenal in defence alongside several cheap but solid wing-backs from the German sides. That helps free up money for the more expensive attacking picks.
My two goalkeepers also rotate almost perfectly across the opening Matchdays. Matchday 2 is the only round where that combination looks slightly less convincing. As things stand, my chip strategy is to dead-end the squad into Matchday 5, use Limitless in Matchday 6 and then activate the Wildcard in Matchday 7 to navigate the January fixtures.
