Fantasy Football Scout is delighted to announce that the World Cup of FPL has begun.
After a brutal and gruelling qualification round, the real tournament kicks off today with the first group stage clashes.
You can now vote in Group A below or using the sidebar of our website.
Earlier this week we asked you to nominate the players you believed deserved the chance to compete for the title of greatest FPL asset of all time.
We were faced with a deluge of players, which made the process of choosing just 32 to compete at the finals an incredibly difficult one.
After aggregating that large number of players based on your nominations, we were left with the following groups.
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
Branislav Ivanovic | Carlos Tevez | Didier Drogba | Andrew Robertson |
Frank Lampard | Gareth Bale | Gylfi Sigurdsson | Cristiano Ronaldo |
Patrice Evra | Steven Gerrard | Harry Kane | Eden Hazard |
Robin van Persie | Thierry Henry | Romelu Lukaku | Trent Alexander-Arnold |
Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
Marcos Alonso | Clint Dempsey | Cesc Fabregas | Alexis Sánchez |
Nemanja Vidic | Gareth McAuley | Jamie Vardy | Mohamed Salah |
Raheem Sterling | John Terry | Kevin De Bruyne | Petr Cech |
Wayne Rooney | Luis Suarez | Leighton Baines | Sergio Aguero |
That meant it was so close and yet so far for those who missed out on the tournament, which included Aleksandar Kolarov, Dimitar Berbatov, Christian Eriksen, Joe Hart, Raúl Jiménez, Joleon Lescott, John Lundstram, Riyad Mahrez, Florent Maloud, Michu, Morten-Gamst Pedersen, Yaya Touré and Patrick van Aanholt.
Today marks the opening of the first vote, which pits Branislav Ivanovic, Frank Lampard, Patrice Evra and Robin van Persie against each other.
All you need to do is vote for your two favourite options from this group and when the voting concludes, the top two will advance to the knockout rounds.
Let’s take a look at Group A’s competitors and make sure you cast your vote in the footer.
BRANISLAV IVANOVIC
Before wing-backs truly dominated the defensive department of the Fantasy scene as they do now, Branislav Ivanović was there to provide a bit of everything.
In a Chelsea defence that conceded fewer than 35 goals five times between 2008/09 and 2014/15, the Serbian international played an important role.
On top of a strong defensive foundation, Ivanović, capable of playing at right-back or in the middle of the defence, was capable of attacking returns with satisfying regularity.
2009/10 was his break-out season, as he scored once and assisted five times and he went to even better heights the following campaign with four goals and four assists.
2012/13 produced his first appearance in the end-of-season Dream Team as Chelsea kept 14 clean sheets and Ivanović, benefitting from 12 of those, added five goals and an assist.
2014/15 will be remembered as his most impressive season though, as his four goals and five assists, added to Chelsea’s 16 clean sheets secured a second Dream Team call-up in three years.
FRANK LAMPARD
No player in FPL history has been earned a place in the end-of-season Dream Team more times than Frank Lampard.
The Chelsea midfield achieved that feat a staggering seven times between 2002 and 2015.
Lampard was one of the original ‘essentials’ of FPL, and in this case, there is no argument that the all-hallowed E-word applied to him in his prime.
His ability to score goals and set them up with frightening regularity ensured that Lampard made the Dream Team for five years running between the 2002/03 season and 2006/07.
Again, no other player has strung five consecutive appearances together, with only two other assets finding a place in an end-of-season team that many times in their entire FPL career.
But it was the longevity of Lampard’s value to Fantasy managers that also props up his case here.
Even after dominating the midfield for the best part of the so-called ‘noughties’ decade, he was an important cog in our teams during the early years of the ‘teens’ too.
In the 2009/10 campaign, Lampard scored a staggering 22 goals and providing a further 14 assists and between 2010 and 2013, he continued to score at least 10 times per season.
Such credentials mean that Lampard is not only the favourite to win Group A, but he is also tipped as a hot contender to go the distance and win this World Cup too.
PATRICE EVRA
Patrice Evra was something of a slow-burner at the beginning of his FPL legacy but he went on to become an important part of teams at the turn of the decade.
Earning what you would describe as a regular starting berth on the left side of Manchester United’s defence in 2006/07, Evra came into his own in 2009/10 when he made the first of three Dream Team appearances.
2012/13 was the Frenchman’s most memorable. Having never been much of a goal-scorer until that point, Evra found the net four times and assisted another five goals, only Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie creating more for their colleagues that year. Throw 10 clean sheets into the mix and it was enough for Evra’s third Dream Team call-up in four seasons.
ROBIN VAN PERSIE
The aforementioned van Persie rounds off our Group A competitors having proved to be a crucial Fantasy asset at two different clubs.
The Dutch striker moved to Arsenal in 2004/05 and took some time to prove his worth with several injury problems holding him back.
It wasn’t until 2010 that van Persie really started to trouble the Fantasy radar as he ended the 2009/10 campaign with nine goals and seven assists.
2010/11 saw further improvement as he netted 18 goals and assisted seven more and it was 2011/12 that saw van Persie truly etch his name into the FPL halls of fame.
The ‘always captain van Persie season’ featured a 30-goal campaign from Arsenal’s star man and nine assists.
Switching clubs the following year hardly curtailed van Persie either, as he scored 26 times and assisted nine goals in his first campaign at Manchester United, earning himself back-to-back Dream Team appearances.
4 years, 1 month ago
Sweet. RVP and Frank. Those were some tasty assets