Fantasy Euro 2024 guide and tips: best players, how to score and negotiate signings to consider

Euro 2024 is fast approaching and that can only mean one thing… fans from all 24 countries are fuming at their national teams’ head coaches and insisting they could do a better job, pick a more exciting team and go further in the tournament.

Luckily, they have a chance to do that – sort of – with fantasy football back on the radar. We’re using UEFA’s official version for the summer and have detailed below everything you need to know to get started (which will be familiar to Fantasy Premier League veterans) and selected a handful of possible stars for your team .

There are even prizes on offer for a lucky few, including games consoles, footballs, kits and a trip abroad. You can register to create your team here.

The basics

There are seven “gameweeks”: one for each round of group matches, then one for each of the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. As is the case in FPL, transfers and changes come into effect at the end of each match week/before the start of the next, but the difference here is that you can make substitutions or change captains after the first day of each match week.

Your team is made up of 15 players: two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and three attackers. You have a budget of 100 million to sign them, which rises to 105 million for the KOs. Initially, you can have a maximum of three from each national team, increasing with each subsequent round of the tournament. Starting lineups are up to each manager, with normal limits such as the inclusion of a goalkeeper.

During the groups, you get two transfers per game week, then it’s unlimited before the start of the round of 16. The deadlines for organizing your team are essentially the kick-off times of the first match of each match round. There are also wilds and tokens – more details below.

For quick reference, players are listed as goalkeepers (GK), defenders (DEF), midfielders (MID), or attackers (FWD).

How to score points

Get points when your players score goals, ranging from 4 for FWD, 5 for MID, and 6 for GK/DEF. They all get 3 points for an assist, 1 point for playing, 1 extra point for at least 60 minutes on the pitch and 1 extra point if they score from outside the box.

Clean sheets are assigned to 4 GK/DEF, 1 MID. For two conceded, GK and DEF lose a point. GK earns 1 extra point for every three saves and 5 points for a penalty save.

Player of the match gets 3, while the age-old search for the relevance of defensive midfielders sees 1 point awarded for 3 balls recovered. Points are lost by conceding a penalty, missing one, receiving a card and scoring an own goal.

For a full list of ratings, click here.

Best players

The most expensive players at each position are:

Most expensive players overall:

The most popular players selected by managers so far, with the percentage of teams selecting them:

Bargain Considerations

The eagle-eyed players among you will see that a few of the names above have already been eyed by many managers as they represent a potential bargain, given their price and positions.

The first of them is Alex Grimaldo, the likely starting left-back for Spain who stands just 5.0m tall. As a riskier choice, many have opted for Jeremy Frimpong from the Netherlands at 5.5m – if they play full backs he may not start, but he has recently started a friendly right winger in a 4-3-3 and is listed as a defender, which could prove profitable. Less than the very best defenders at 5.5m. Antonio Rudiger, Champions League winner and must-have option for the hosts; in the same way, Gianluca Mancini stands just 4.5m tall and could be installed as a starter in central defense for Italy after two injuries since the team’s initial roster was announced.

In the middle of the fieldFlorian Wirtz And Cole Palmer both measure 7.5 million and could have a big say in their nations’ goal returns, as could the same price. Daniel Olmo for Spain – who recently started as number 10 for them.

Even cheaper, the Dutch winger Xavi Simons measures only 7.0 m, just like the German skipper Ilkay Gundogan who will play an attacking role and face an injured Scotland in their first matchweek. Likewise, the Ukrainian winger Mykhailo Mudryk finished the season in good form and faced a poor quality Romania in their first match.

Tony Kroos on Germany’s set pieces, Rodri as Spain’s penalty taker and Scott McTominaywho could be the biggest threat to Scotland, all measure 6.5 million.

In front and below 8.0 m, Kai Havertz is an attractive choice at 7.5m, too Rasmus Hojlund who has an excellent strike rate at international level and can be the goalscorer Denmark are crying out for – this could also be a lenient group for him. The much admired Slovenian striker Benjamin Sesko (7.0m), potential holder of France Marcus Thuram (7.0 m) and Spanish teenager Yamine Lamal (6.5m) are all possible betting options for a lower cost third striker.

Transfers, tokens and deadlines

A number of changes may take place before the start of the tournament and then again between the end of the groups and the start of the round of 16. As above, there are two transfers per group match week, you can then make three transfers before the quarters, four before the semi-finals and five before the final itself. A maximum of one can be carried over unused between game weeks.

As the deadlines are set at the kick-off of the first match of each round, you can benefit from the list of starting teams in this first match. Full schedules are here.

There are two tokens to use: joker and unlimited. You can’t play it (because you don’t need to) in weeks one and four.

Wildcard allows you to make unlimited changes and transfers to your team, as long as you follow the budget and other rules. The players you recruit with your wildcard will become your new team in the future. On the other hand, the unlimited chip will essentially give you carte blanche to choose whoever you want, whatever the cost – if you want Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo up front, go for it. You get them, with no cost cap, but for a single game turn. Plus, you still can’t go over the squad limits, it’s just the price that disappears.

Advice and strategy

Since you can change them, it makes sense to select your initial captain each match week from the nations playing on the first day. If they don’t do the job or you think someone in future games can do better, that’s when you can change it. You can’t go back later or choose someone who has already played.

Judge your main points scorers by their matches: There are several big matches taking place in the second matchweek, including Spain versus Italy.

And of course, check that your selections have been part of the final squads and are not marginalized: 1% currently have Marcus Rashford in their team, not selected, and 17% have Mike Maignan, who could miss France’s first match in due to injury!