UCL Fantasy: Meta Discussion, Chip Strategy, & Players to Target

Champions League is back this week! With that comes UCL Fantasy – a less stressful and, in my opinion, generally better-designed fantasy game than FPL. You can substitute players and change your captain in between Matchday 1 (MD1) and Matchday 2 (MD2). As well, you have more free transfers each week and you can select between the best players in the world. In my opinion, UCL Fantasy is a super fun and enjoyable fantasy game; and if you want to take it just as seriously as FPL, it is just as fun to chase a high overall rank (OR). I started playing UCL Fantasy three seasons ago and have been able to achieve three successive top-25k finishes. Whether you are a UCL Fantasy veteran or someone who is interested in trying it for the first time this year, this article will provide a strategic overview to help you navigate this season.

Here’s our ~ Beginner’s Guide to 22/23 UCL Fantasy Season

Link to all our UCL Fantasy Blogs in one place ~ All our team reveals, differentials, tips and other UCL Fantasy blogs in one place and for free

UCL Fantasy General Rules

Same as FPL:

• 100.0 million budget
• 15 players, with 2 GKs, 5 DEFs, 5 MIDs, and 3 FWDs
• Same range of formations
• Same scoring for goals, assists, clean sheets, and most scoring categories
• Wildcard chip works the same as FPL (1 per season for UCL)
• Captains score double points
• Maximum of 3 players per team (for Group Stage)

Different than FPL:

• Can substitute players between Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s games
• Can change captain between Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s games
• No vice-captain
• Deadline is at kickoff of the first game
• Unlimited transfers between Group Stage and Knockouts
• Limitless chip: unlimited budget for one Matchday
• Points for ball recoveries (1 point per 3 balls recovered)
• 1 extra point for goals scored from outside the box
• Winning a penalty earns 2 points, regardless of conversion
• Man of the match earns 3 points, no other bonus points

Further Read: Best UCL Fantasy MD1 Drafts for 2022/23 Season With Pros/Cons

Meta Discussion

So, what are the key overarching points of strategy in UCL Fantasy? Here are the three that I think are most important:

The first point of strategy is to be active on the game. This is the simplest point of strategy in theory but can be difficult in practice. There are two times of week that, if you are active on the game, will give you an advantage over others: the hour before deadline and in between the end of Tuesday’s games and the start of Wednesday’s games. The hour before deadline, we can see the lineups of the teams with the early games.

I like to save my transfers until this time, then use the extra information to confirm my transfers. In some weeks, I’ll use this information to target guaranteed starters from the early games. For example, if Man City has an early game, you don’t need to worry about Pep Roulette. In between Tuesday and Wednesday, you can sub in your bench players and change your captain.

So, your first captain should play on Tuesday, and you should have a good captain option to switch to on Wednesday (if needed). Also, make sure to start your Wednesday players on the bench, then you can sub them in for your worst performing Tuesday players. Being active in these periods of time is crucial to success in UCL Fantasy, it gives you a major edge over those who don’t.

The second point of strategy regards player selection. In FPL, you can get away with two or three players on your bench who don’t start. In UCL Fantasy, you ideally want all of your players to be starters for their team. Because we can sub players in between days, we want to fill our team with as many options as possible; in order to maximize points.

Identifying budget options that will score a reliable 2-4 points is key to success, and even better if they have a high ceiling. I’ll touch on some of my favorite budget options later.

The third point of strategy is to select about an equal number of players from Groups A/B/C/D as Groups E/F/G/H. The games are split like this each week, with one grouping on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday:

MD1: Tuesday – EFGH, Wednesday – ABCD

MD2: Tuesday – ABCD, Wednesday – EFGH

MD3: Tuesday – ABCD, Wednesday – EFGH

MD4: Tuesday – EFGH, Wednesday – ABCD

MD5: Tuesday – EFGH, Wednesday – ABCD

MD6: Tuesday – ABCD, Wednesday – EFGH

You want to have an about even split so you have as many options as possible to substitute between Tuesday and Wednesday. For example, you want two goalkeepers who play on separate days. Ideally, for any given Matchday, you want a full starting XI on Tuesday and a bench full of Wednesday players. Then, you can sub the bench players on for the worst performing Tuesday players. However, due to the order changing week-to-week, a good balance is best.

Further Read: 2022/23 UCL Fantasy Best Budget Enablers | Position Wise

UCL Fantasy Chip Strategy

In UCL Fantasy, there are two chips: Wildcard and Limitless, both offered once per season. Wildcard works just like FPL – you can make unlimited transfers for a particular week. Limitless allows you use unlimited budget for one Matchday – like a super-juiced Free Hit.

Typically, you want to use both chips during the Group Stage. You want to use your Limitless on a Matchday when lots of great teams play the worst team in their group; a bonus if some of those games are the first of the week, as you can guarantee starts for some big assets. You want to use your Wildcard to split the Group Stage into two sections, each 1-4 MDs long; ideally with a good fixture swing as well. This makes the Group Stage more manageable, considering you can target the teams who have their best fixture combinations in MD1-2, MD3-4, or MD5-6.

In previous seasons, there has been a clear combination of Limitless and Wildcard, but this year it is not so clear, here’s why:

When I look at the best opportunity to use the Limitless chip, my eye is instantly drawn to MD3 and MD4. This is because the following teams have great fixtures: Bayern Munich (vs Plzen), Man City (vs Copenhagen), and Real Madrid (vs Shakhtar).

Each of these teams have some incredible premium players who you can triple-up on, leaving a few slots that you can cherry-pick from the other fixtures. On MD3, Bayern have the early kick off on Tuesday and on MD4, City have the early kick off on Tuesday.

So, either of these is a viable time to use the Limitless chip, in my opinion. I would personally go with MD4, as intel on the City lineup is extremely valuable. In this case, Wildcarding in MD5 makes sense, as we can target the teams who have good fixtures and still need results in their group.

The only issue with Limitless in MD3 or MD4 is that MD5 may not be the ideal time to Wildcard. Looking at Wildcard alone, MD3 makes the most sense. This is because you could bring in 8-9 players from Bayern, City, and Madrid (aforementioned great fixtures) and hold them for MD3 and MD4. Where would Limitless fit in, then? If we are to go with a MD3 Wildcard, the standout option for Limitless would be MD2 or MD5.

In these weeks, PSG play Maccabi Haifa; so one strategy could be to double or triple up on their prolific front 3. MD2 is a good option because it makes your MD1 team a free hit. MD5 is a good option because PSG play at home, where they should have more of an advantage than away in MD2. I personally, would go with MD2. There aren’t many great fixtures those weeks aside from PSG, but it should be enough to warrant a Limitless Chip.

So, we have two standout strategies: Limitless 2/Wildcard 3 or Limitless 4/Wildcard 5. One option prioritizes Limitless, the other prioritizes Wildcard – which should we opt for? Well, the answer is subjective; there’s not a clear benefit to either and both are good options. It comes down to how you weigh the two chips – which do you think is more important to optimize? Limitless has the highest ceiling but Wildcard is crucial to succeeding over time. You should try to decide this week so that if you go with the first option, you can weigh that into your MD1 selections and go for some one-week punts.

Further Read: 2022/23 UCL Fantasy Best Budget Enablers | Position Wise

UCL Fantasy Players to Target

For each position, I’ll separate picks into “budget,” “mid-priced,” and “premium,” then provide several of my favorite options for those price brackets with a short summary.

UCL Fantasy Players to Target ~ Goalkeepers

Budget:

• Lukas Hradecky (Bayer Leverkusen, 4.5 m); only 1 clean sheet from 3 games in the Bundesliga so far, but Leverkusen have a relatively easy group (Atletico, Porto, Brugge) that should be low scoring

Mid-priced:

• Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund, 5.0 m); Dortmund have kept 3/5 clean sheets in the league and aside from their City games, Kobel should be an amazing pick

Premium:

• Thibault Courtois (Real Madrid, 6.0 m); the reigning champions with a relatively easy group, Courtois is a great pick if you want to splash the cash on a keeper

UCL Fantasy Players to Target ~ Defenders

Budget:

• Nuno Tavares (Marseille, 4.0 m); currently Marseille’s top scorer with 3 goals, Marseille have also kept 2/5 clean sheets in the league (although I don’t back them to do very well in their group)
• Ivan Marcano (FC Porto, 4.0 m); starter for Porto, who could do well with clean sheets in a pretty lackluster group
• Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund, 4.5 m); attacking fullback and potentially Dortmund’s penalty taker, like I said with Kobel, Dortmund have great clean sheet potential, aside from their games against City

Mid-priced:

• Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur, 5.0 m); Tottenham are a great defense with an easy group, and I’d expect Romero to be a beast on balls recovered
• Juan Cuadrado (Juventus, 5.0 m); good fixtures aside from PSG, Cuadrado often plays as a RM/RW and gets subbed early, good to bank clean sheets in the case of a late goal
• Benjamin Pavard (Bayern Munich, 5.0 m); Pavard is a reliable starter with the odd attacking return in him, although Bayern have a tough group, they are so good it shouldn’t matter

Premium:

• Ivan Perisic (Tottenham Hotspur, 6.0 m); what I said about Romero but better, as long as we can count on his minutes
• Theo Hernandez (AC Milan, 6.0 m); Milan have a decent group and Theo is very attacking, plus their penalty taker
• Joao Cancelo (Manchester City, 6.5 m); I don’t really need to say anything about him, he’s good in any fantasy game

Further Read: Best UCL Fantasy MD1 Drafts for 2022/23 Season With Pros/Cons

UCL Fantasy Players to Target ~ Midfielders

Budget:

• Florentino (Benfica, 4.5 m); now that Weigl is gone, Florentino is nailed into Benfica’s midfield, a great budget option for some guaranteed points each week
• Jorginho (Chelsea, 5.5 m); Jorginho may not start all the time but when he does, he is a great asset, especially because he’s Chelsea’s penalty taker
• Aurelien Tchouameni (Real Madrid, 6.0 m); Tchouameni doesn’t have a high ceiling, but he should have a floor of 3-4 points

Mid-Priced:

• Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich, 7.0 m); a mainstay in this season’s Bayern attack, 7 million is a steal, especially in MD3 and MD4
• Pedro Goncalves (Sporting CP, 7.5 m); Sporting’s main attacker and penalty taker, Goncalves should prove great value for a second season in a row
• Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, 8.5 m); both Gundogan (8.0 m) and Foden (8.5 m) are great options as well, but I’ll give the slight edge to Bernardo, as he has a better chance for Motm awards and ball recovery points

Premium:

• Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig, 9.0 m); Leipzig’s talisman, Nkunku was exceptional last season and I expect no less this season
• Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid, 10.0 m); it’s quite scary what Benzema and Vini will do to their group, I wouldn’t want to bet against either of them
• Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City, 10.5 m); do I need to say anything about him? Given Salah’s form, KDB looks like the go to premium mid alongside Vini

UCL Fantasy Players to Target ~ Forwards

Budget:

• Brian Brobbey (Ajax, 5.5 m); after Ajax’s exodus this transfer window, they are left with a front 3 of Bergwijn-Brobbey-Berghuis, of which Brobbey is the cheapest option
• Julian Alvarez (Manchester City, 6.0 m); Haaland can’t play every game and some games they may play together, so whenever Alvarez is playing, he’ll be exceptional value

Mid-Priced:

• Timo Werner (RB Leipzig, 8.0 m); since getting his move back from Chelsea, Timo has been performing really well, he’s a good, solid option at 8 million
• Raphael Leao (AC Milan, 8.5 m); one of the brightest young wingers in the world, and with 3 goals and 2 assists in the Serie A so far this season, Leao will be an exciting player to own, if nothing else
• Darwin Nunez (Liverpool, 8.5 m); Firmino may start ahead of him, but as long as Nunez is starting, he will provide exceptional value at 8.5 million

Premium:

• Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, 11.0 m); with Real’s group, Benzema is almost a no-brainer pick and captaincy option
• Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona, 11.0 m); he has a difficult fixture when he returns to Bayern in MD2, but in their other fixtures, Lewa should continue to be a reliable UCL pick and captaincy option
• Erling Braut Haaland (Manchester City, 11.0 m); the big question is whether he will get minutes in the group stage, but if he does, he will be an incredible pick and captaincy option

Thank you for reading! Regardless of your experience with UCL Fantasy, I hope you found this article useful. Best of luck this season to everyone!

ALLABOUTFPL have a free-to-join UCL Fantasy league! You can join now using this link.

Further Reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of UCL Fantasy MD1

Best UCL Fantasy Differentials to Consider for MD1 | 22/23 Season
UCL Fantasy: Captaincy Explained & Best Options for MD1
UCL Fantasy: Meta Discussion, Chip Strategy, & Players to Target
2022/23 UCL Fantasy Best Budget Enablers | Position Wise
What is the Limitless Chip in UCL Fantasy | Limitless Chip Guide
Beginner’s Guide to 22/23 UCL Fantasy Season | UCL Fantasy Tips
Best UCL Fantasy MD1 Drafts for 2022/23 Season With Pros/Cons

What’s next from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of Matchday 3 of the 2022/23 UCL Fantasy Season?

We’ll be covering UCL Fantasy team structures, must-own players, player comparisons, differential picks, fixture analysis, captaincy analysis, multiple team reveal drafts with pros and cons, chip strategy, rules guide, beginners guide, UCL fantasy tips, and more. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for all our blogs and subscribe to our free newsletter through the link below. We’ll also be posting regularly about the same on our social media accounts so follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook keep our notification ON.

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