International tournaments do not necessarily have to mean the end of the fantasy football season.
Those eagerly waiting for Fantasy Premier League to relaunch can bide their time with Uefa’s official Euro 2020 fantasy game, which launched last month.
If you think you know your stuff when it comes to international football, then there are points to be had from Turkey’s surprisingly solid defence or Portugal’s star-studded attack.
The deadline is close, though, and there are several key differences between this format and the bread and butter of domestic top-flight action.
Here at The Independent, we’ve run through the basics to get you up to speed before Friday’s big kick-off…
How does it work?
Like in Fantasy Premier League, the Euro 2020 Fantasy Football game allows you to pick a squad of 15 players from a €100m budget.
You squad must include two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and three forwards. From that squad, you pick 11 players for each ‘matchday’ (Uefa’s term for gameweek).
There are seven matchdays in total, corresponding to each round at the tournament – three rounds of group games, then the last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
You can only pick a maximum of three players from each team at the start.
As the tournament progresses and teams are eliminated, the maximum number of players that you can pick from each team increases, up to a maximum of eight in the final.
Points-scoring
Point-scoring is basically the same as in Fantasy Premier League with only a couple of differences.
Players will earn an extra point for scoring from long range and two points for winning a penalty. They will also lose one point if they concede a penalty.
Transfers
The number of free transfers available to you changes depending on the stage of the tournament.
In the group stages, you have two free transfers per matchday. Before the last 16, you can make unlimited transfers to set your team up for the knockouts with an increased €105m budget.
For the quarter-finals you’ll have three transfers, then you’ll five for both the semi-finals and the final.
If you make any extra transfers, it will cost you four points.
Captaincy
Unlike in Fantasy Premier League, you can change your captain during a round of fixtures.
Basically, if you’re unhappy with your captain’s points tally, you can switch to a player who is yet to play in the hope of getting a better score.
At the end of the round of fixtures, whoever is wearing your captain’s armband will have their points doubled.
So, it makes sense to captain a player that is playing on the first day of a round of fixtures. If you’re happy with his score, stick with him. If not, switch to somebody playing the second day, and so on.
Substitutions
You can also make substitutions during a round of fixtures.
Like with the captaincy, you can switch out players who have performed badly for those who are yet to play in the hope they will do better.
These substitutions cannot be reversed – meaning if your subbed-in player doesn’t play, he will not be automatically subbed out again.
Chips
There are two chips: Wildcard and Limitless.
Wildcard allows you to make unlimited transfers and the players you buy will stay in your squad permanently.
Limitless is essentially like Free Hit in Fantasy Premier League, except there are no budget constraints. The players you bring in will last for one round of fixtures, then your previous squad of players will return.
Both chips can only be used once during the tournament.
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