Champions League Fantasy Football: Learn from the top managers
Monday, September 26, 2022
Article summary
From the importance of making manual substitutions and changing captain to the best time to use the chips, UEFA.com looks at some key routes to Fantasy success.
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UEFA.com analyses the top managers over the course of the last campaign and offers some tips for those looking to reach the top this time around on #UCLfantasy, presented by Playstation.
With a particular focus on those who finished in the top 5000 last season, here were some of the key ingredients to success in 2021/22.
MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR TEAM
Almost 1.7 million people played #UCLfantasy last season, but less than a quarter of all managers used either their Wildcard or Limitless chips throughout the campaign. By contrast, the vast majority of the top 5k made use of both chips, showing how powerful they can be in propelling you up the rankings. These differences continue when we look at other metrics:
Average % of managers who changed their captain between gamedays
Overall: 6.1%
Top 5000: 44.6%
Average % of managers who made manual substitutions between gamedays
Overall: 15.0%
Top 5k: 96.2%
It is evident the elite managers take a more hands-on approach with their #UCLfantasy squad on a consistent basis. On average, almost half of the top 5,000 switched their captain after the opening night of a matchday, refusing to settle for a score they felt could have been improved. When it came to manual substitutions between matches, at least 90% of the top 5,000 made active changes on any given matchday, with the average figure over the season standing at 96.2%. The elite managers made full use of their squads and set their line-ups accordingly so that they maximised the points gained from their 15 players.
STRIKE EARLY WITH YOUR CHIPS
Using chips in the group stage is a common approach among #UCLfantasy managers, who aim to maximise gains when their premium assets are given favourable fixtures. Last season, Matchday 2 was the most popular for both the Wildcard (28.7%) and the Limitless (26.3%) chips among the top 5,000 managers.
When did the top 5,000 use their chips in 2021/22?
| Matchday | Playing Limitless | Playing Wildcard |
| 1 | N/A | N/A |
| 2 | 26.3% | 28.7% |
| 3 | 12.5% | 26.6% |
| 4 | 12.5% | 8.2% |
| 5 | 10.6% | 6.1% |
| 6 | 22.0% | 6.4% |
| 7 | N/A | N/A |
| 8 | 2.3% | 0.5% |
| 9 | 1.4% | 4.9% |
| 10 | 1.4% | 0.8% |
| 11 | 2.2% | 11.2% |
| 12 | 1.3% | 1.3% |
| 13 | 5.5% | 3.6% |
Matchday 3 featured heavy usage of the Wildcard amongst the elite managers, and as we approach the same point in the current campaign, this could be a popular time to activate the chip once more. In fact, the highest individual score by any manager last season was 138 points, and this came on Matchday 3. Could we see the same again this season?
FORWARDS FAVOURED FOR CAPTAINCY
More often than not, the elite managers put their faith in strikers when it came to captaincy. In fact, the most popular captain was a forward in 12 of the 13 matchdays across the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League campaign, with Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez (Matchday 7) the sole exception to the rule. Robert Lewandowski – then a Bayern player – was the most commonly chosen captain on six of the 13 matchdays, followed by Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, who led the way on four separate matchdays.
NOTABLE TOP 5000 STATS
• A total of 4,965 of the top 5,000 managers made manual substitutions on Matchday 7 – more than any other matchday.
• The most captained player on any given matchday was Robert Lewandowski, who received 90.5% of the share on Matchday 8. The Pole rewarded those managers with a hat-trick and assist against Salzburg in the round of 16 second leg.
• The most transferred-in player was João Cancelo ahead of Matchday 7, when 4,059 (81.2%) #UCLfantasy managers brought the Manchester City defender into their squads.
• Ahead of the UEFA Champions League final on Matchday 13, more Liverpool players featured in #UCLfantasy squads than from eventual champions Real Madrid.