Dream Team World Cup 2018 Fantasy is Live: Are You Playing?

For the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Dream Team fantasy platform was available only to United Kingdom residents. Now it has expanded worldwide and will surely bring much more interest. So if you don’t know anything about it, you will want to learn the vital rules, scoring system and strategy in order to decide if you would like to play.

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HOW DO I PLAY DREAM TEAM WORLD CUP FANTASY?

THE RULES

BUDGET: Each manager has a budget of £50m

TRANSFERS: Each team has a total of 20 transfers to use throughout the entire tournament. You may make a maximum of three transfers per day.

FORMATION: You may utilize a 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 formation.

THE SCORING

The best way to rack up points is for your players to score goals and, to a lesser extent, provide assists. Defenders and keepers are rewarded well for clean sheets. The best player of a match (“Star Man”) as well as any other players who rate especially highly also earn nice bonuses.

Negative points result from yellow and red cards, as well as giving up a lot of goals for defenders/keepers. If a player has a penalty miss or save, that player is penalized, while the keeper is rewarded. WhoScored takes care of the statistics that provide the scoring points system.

Colombia’s James Rodriguez finished as the points leader with 81 points in the 2014 World Cup, as one of eight players who had 60+. The top 10 scorers were distributed by position as follows:

• 2 goalkeepers (Manuel Neuer #5 and Sergio Romero #8)
• 3 defenders (Mats Hummels #7, Stefan de Vrij #9, and Daley Blind #10)
• 4 midfielders (James Rodriguez #1, Toni Kroos #3, Arjen Robben #4, and Andre Schurrle #6)
• 1 forward (Thomas Muller #2)

So, it is clearly not all about the strikers and the offensive stars! You can’t just focus on the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mo Salah, and Neymar. You will want to spread your money around all of the positions. But if 2018 is a repeat of 2014, you should give some serious attention to midfield.

THE STRATEGY

Success would seem to revolve around finding good values to build your team at the start and making savvy changes as the competition progresses. The most expensive player for the 2018 Russia edition is Argentina’s Lionel Messi at £8.0. James Rodriguez finished as the top scorer from 2014 Brazil while costing only £3.5. So if you can pick this summer’s version of James, you will be off to a cracking start!

Five of the top 10 scorers in 2014 came from champion Germany, so loading up early on the eventual trophy taker will also go a long way. Three of the top-10 earners came from Netherlands compared to only one from Argentina, so you’re not necessarily better off favoring players from the second place side rather than the third place finisher, as the consolation game can end up paying off for you.

Otherwise, since you have a limited number of transfers that can be used at any time during the tournament, picking the right time to use them will be key. Injuries, rotation, the schedule and form/momentum will all be factors. However, the biggest will be the which teams (and their players) advance from stage to stage. You’ll need self-restraint, as you certainly don’t want to burn transfers early and not have them when teams crash out, taking your players with them.

WHO IS BEHIND THE CURTAIN?

It appears that The Sun newspaper, or more precisely, the corporate entity therein (News Group Newspapers Limited), is running this shindig.

DOES IT COST ANYTHING TO PLAY, AND ARE THERE ANY PRIZES?

It is free to join.

The top 10 players (only in the United Kingdom, though, not worldwide) split a £175,000 pot. The winner gets a cool £100,000, with the remaining prize money going to the #2 through #10 finishers. If you are in the U.K., bully for you!

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HOW DO I REGISTER FOR DREAM TEAM?

If you already know you want to play, you can register at the Dream Team website.

There is also a sign up process by downloading the Dream Team app, creating an account if you don’t already have one, and registering for the game there.

If you have any difficulty (especially if you live outside the UK), then use their “contact us” link and also tell us about it in the comments.

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When the official FIFA 2018 World Cup Russia fantasy platform launches, we will have an article for you with the requisite information, and you will be sure to want to join the Never Manage Alone “Beat the Bloggers” group. For now, though, let us know how you feel about the Dream Team game by taking the poll below and joining in the comments below.