Fantasy World Cup: Rules, how to play and everything you need to know

The World Cup 2022 is fast approaching and one of the most social aspects of any major football tournament is the opportunity to earn bragging rights and pretend you knew all along that Japan’s central midfielder was a world beater – by beating friends and family in fantasy football.This winter is no different and the official World Cup Fantasy game is set to displace Fantasy Premier League for five weeks, with squad lists now completed and national team managers having made their picks.It’s time for fans to do the same, so a handy guide covering transfers, point-scoring, team management and more is exactly what’s required.You’ll have to register for a free Fifa+ account to save your team and enter leagues, and remember to save your changes once transfers or team alterations are made.Here’s everything you need to know about the World Cup Fantasy (WCF) football classic for the upcoming tournament in Qatar.Just like in FPL, the squad size is 15. The available budget is $100m, though the dollar (as opposed to pounds in FPL) currency is irrelevant – the number is all that matters. That means an average spend per player of just under $6.7m, so plan your big buys wisely. The budget increases to $105m for the knockouts.Along with the usual subs and transfers – more details on those later – you choose a captain who scores double points, both positive and negative. One quirk of WCF is that you can change your captain after he has played in a game week, but only once. So, if you opt for Harry Kane in the first round of group stage fixtures and he draws a blank, you can still pick somebody else who is yet to play, but you will then be stuck their points tally regardless – no going back to Kane if your new captain then doesn’t play or fares even worse.There is no vice captain in WCF. However, there are three ‘booster’ options: 12th Man, Power Captain and Wild Card.The 12th Man gives you one additional player whose points count in the gameweek. This can be anyone and Fifa+ state that ‘budget or team restrictions do not count here.’ Make it count!Wildcard gives you unlimited transfers within a specific round of matches, but cannot be used in the first round of group stage games or between the final group games and the round of 16.The Power Captain is a double boost: you get twice the amount of points of your highest-scoring player that round, and it’s automatically assigned at the end of the gameweek. So no worrying about who to give it to, just make sure you use it.Only one booster can be used at any one time.Very standard: you need at least three defenders in your team and at least one striker. That gives you the following options: 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 3-4-3, 3-5-2, 5-2-3, 5-3-2 and 5-4-1.Remember to double check the positions of players you want to buy as they may be different on the international stage to where they play at club level or have habitually been assigned on FPL. Gareth Bale, for example, is a forward for Wales, while Ivan Perisic is a midfielder with Croatia.Subs are the same as in FPL: they come on and play if one of your starters do not. They are chosen in the order you list them on the bench as long as they keep you in a viable formation. However, as with the captain, you can make changes up until the end of the gameweek – but once you take out a player who has already played, you cannot bring them back in so you lose their points and get the sub’s points instead.As usual, the squad limits change as we progress through the tournament.There are three players per country allowed in a team initially, but after the group stage it goes up to four (for the round of 16), five (quarter-finals), six (semis) and eight (final).All players have unlimited transfers up until the tournament starts, then there are two free transfers you can make before the start of group game two, and again before and group game three.For the round of 16 it’s all-change again if you wish, with unlimited transfers, then before the quarters you can make four changes, five before the semis and six before the final.One free transfer can be rolled over each gameweek, except before the round of 16 as it’s a free-for-all anyway. Any extra transfers made cost three points.The full list of points-scoring actions are available at the bottom of this page.However, it’s worth noting a few key differences between this game and FPL.Forwards, for example, get +1 for every two shots on target, while midfielders will add +1 to their scores for every two key passes or three tackles made – so more emphasis on the deeper and ball-winning men than we see in FPL, perhaps.Midfielders and forwards get +5 for a goal scored, it’s +7 for a defender and +9 for a goalkeeper – while defenders get +5 for a clean sheet as long as they play an hour or more. Keepers must play 70 minutes, for the clean sheet +5, but they can also get +1 for each three saves and +3 for saving a penalty, not counting shootouts.Finally, a quick word on entering leagues. There is the main WCF league of course, but as usual the big fun comes in creating mini leagues between family, friends or co-workers. Public and private mini leagues are available and codes are needed to join.