The FIFA Fantasy World Cup is rapidly approaching.
If you’re anything like me, you aren’t that excited about the actual World Cup – it’s a weird time for an international tournament, and you haven’t got that summer feeling. BUT! I am very excited for Fantasy World Cup. My FPL season is not going very well, so this is another opportunity to beat my mates and I intend to take it.
For those of you familiar with Fantasy Champions League rules, the Fantasy World Cup will be a doddle. For those who are more focused on FPL, then you will need to give the rules below a read.
Fantasy World Cup 2022 Explained – The Basics
Similarly to Fantasy Premier League, you have to own 15 players: two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and three forwards.
You have £100m to build your Fantasy World Cup team of 15 and have to play at least one goalkeeper, three defenders, two midfielders and one forward. That leaves you with the following formations:
| · 4-4-2 · 4-3-3 · 4-5-1 · 3-4-3
| · 3-5-2 · 5-2-3 · 5-3-2 · 5-4-1
|
These formations will be less important than in FPL, for reasons that will become clearer.
In the Fantasy World Cup 2022 rules, there are restrictions on how many players you can select per nation. This will depend upon the stage of the tournament:
| Tournament Stage | Restriction |
| Group Stage | Max 3 players per nation |
| Round of 16 | Max 4 players per nation |
| Quarter Final | Max 5 players per nation |
| Semi-Final | Max 6 players per nation |
| Final | Max 8 players per nation |
Fantasy World Cup Captaincy
As in FPL, you must pick a captain who will score double the Fantasy World Cup points for your team.
However, unlike in FPL, you can change your captain, as long as the new selected captain is yet to play in the current matchday.
So, once your captain has played in the matchday, you are able to change your captain once more for another player who is yet to play. If you choose to change your previous captain, you will lose their double points and your new captain will score double instead.
Fantasy World Cup Rules – Substitutions
You must choose 4 players to place on your bench as your designated substitutes when building a Fantasy World Cup team, and one of them must be a goalie.
Every matchday, players on your substitute bench will score points, but their points will not be added to your total.
If you haven’t made any manual substitutions during that matchday, your substitutes will automatically become active in your team and take the place of a DNP player in your starting 11. As long as it fits one of the legal formations, your outfield bench players are prioritised from 1 to 3, with the first priority replacement being the first to take the place of a DNP player.
You can make manual substitutions up until the start of the final match of the matchday, because automatic substitutions only take place at the conclusion of a matchday.
You can replace a starter from your starting lineup, with a bench replacement who hasn’t yet taken the field in the current matchday. In this case, the points for the substituted player will be used to determine your score instead of the points for the original player.
We take this to mean that if you make a manual substitution and the player you sub in doesn’t play, he won’t be automatically subbed out.
Famtasy World Cup Chips/Boosters
In Fantasy World Cup they call them boosters, not chips (but they’re basically the same). You will have the opportunity to use one of the 3 available chips/boosters:
- Wildcard – Will allow you to make unlimited transfers within a specific round (cannot be used for the first match of the group stage, or for the round of 16)
- 12th Man– Will allow you to select 1 additional player to score points for your team in a matchday. When selected, the 12th man cannot be substituted, captained or transferred. You can select any player to be your twelfth man. Budget or team restrictions do not count here.
- Power Captain– Will allow you to get double points from whichever player scores the most points from your 15 man squad. This player will automatically be assigned the captaincy.
You can only use one Fantasy World Cup Booster at a time.
Transfers
Depending on the stage of the competition, you will receive a set number of free Fantasy World Cup transfers to utilise during the competition. The following are the restrictions on the number of moves you can make for each stage and matchday:
| Tournament Stage | Transfer Allocation |
| Pre-tournament | Unlimited |
| Before start of Matchday 2 | 2 transfers |
| Before start of Matchday 3 | 2 transfers |
| Before start of Round of 16 | Unlimited |
| Before start of Quarter-Finals | 4 transfers |
| Before start of Semi-Finals | 5 transfers |
| Before the Final | 6 transfers |
One transfer may be carried over into the following group stage matchday during the group stage. However, you will not be able to do so at this point due to the unlimited transfer limit between the conclusion of Matchday 3 and the start of the Round of 16 games.
You are allowed to transfer more than your allotted amount at any time during the competition. However, doing so will result in a 3 point deduction from your final score for each additional transfer (taking a hit, basically).
Deadlines and “Lockout”
You will be locked out of making subs as soon as a team plays in the current matchday. That lockout will end at the end of current matchday to allow you to make subs in the gameweek.
You will be locked out of making transfers for that gameweek as soon as the first match starts.
Fantasy World Cup Scoring
Fantasy World Cup scoring looks very similar to FPL, with a couple of key differences.
Firstly, you don’t get an assist for winning a penalty. Instead, you get two points.
Secondly, you get minus one for conceding a penalty.
Thirdly, clean sheets are worth five points (if you play 60 minutes or more).
Fourthly, you get a minus one for defenders for every extra goal after the first. So, concede one goal and you get 0 (as opposed to 5 for a clean sheet); concede two goals and it’s -1; concede three goals and it’s -2; etc.
Defenders also get +7 for a goal scored and Forwards get the same +5 as Midfielders for a goal.
Midfielders get +1 for every three tackles and Forwards get +1 for every two shots on target.
Here are the full Fantasy World Cup 2022 scoring rules:
All Players
| Action | Points |
| Appearance (60 minutes or more) | +1 |
| Assist | +3 |
| Yellow Card | -1 |
| Red Card | -2 |
| Own Goal | -2 |
| Winning a penalty | +2 |
| Conceding a penalty | -1 |
Goalkeepers
| Action | Points |
| Clean Sheet (must have played 70 minutes or more) | +5 |
| First goal conceded | 0 |
| Each additional goal conceded | -1 |
| Goal Scored | +9 |
| Penalty save (not including penalty shootouts) | +3 |
| Every 3 Saves | +1 |
Defenders
| Action | Points |
| Clean Sheet (must have played 60 minutes or more) | +5 |
| First goal conceded | 0 |
| Each additional goal conceded | -1 |
| Goal scored | +7 |
Midfielders
| Action | Points |
| Clean Sheet (must have played 60 minutes or more) | +1 |
| Goal scored | +5 |
| Every 3 tackles | +1 |
Forwards
| Action | Points |
| Goal scored | +5 |
| Every 2 shots on target | +1 |
Fantasy World Cup Key Dates
In case you missed the key dates from our When Will the World Cup Start? article, here they are again:
The 32 participating nations have two key deadlines to meet when it comes to their official squad lists: Oct. 21 and Nov. 14.
- Friday, Oct. 21: Publish list of 35-55 players (including four goalkeepers).
- Sunday, Nov. 13: Last domestic league matchday before players are released.
- Monday, Nov. 14: Final 26-man squads to be submitted to FIFA (including three goalkeepers).
- Tuesday, Nov. 15: FIFA to publish final 26-man squad lists.
- Monday, Nov. 21: First deadline
Each team has up to 24 hours before their first match to substitute players, due to the likelihood of COVID-19 infections or injuries. A nation’s initial release list of players, which FIFA has increased from 35 to 55, must, however, contain any potential replacements.
Fantasy World Cup 2022 Explained – Final Thoughts
After writing this Fantasy World Cup rules explanation, I’ve decided that I am excited for the tournament after all! As noted, when your actual FPL team isn’t doing very well, this is a good chance for a break from it, while still giving us all the thrills and (more often) heartbreak of fantasy football.
Now that you’ve read this explanation of the Fantasy World Cup rules, you should have a good grasp of how the game works. Stay tuned for tips on who to actually put in your Fantasy World Cup team, and plenty of other advice, with Twitter (@Full90FPL) being the best place to catch our latest articles.