How to play Bundesliga Fantasy

With the help of expert manager Jay @FPLGunnersaurus who finished 64th in the world last season, we take a look at how to play Bundesliga Fantasy. From managing our teams and captaincy to scoring points and price rises, we cover it all.

The Bundesliga season may have recently concluded but Bundesliga Fantasy have opened up their doors to the 23/24 campaign already. This means that managers can have a feel for the site, learn the rules, check out prices and look up positions. But for new managers, lets take a look at the basic but essential rules.

Note: Please be aware that new mechanics have yet to be updated in-game. So, whilst I am not expecting any changes in terms of squad selection rules there may be some in terms of how to score points and player price fluctuation between games, amongst others. Any changes will be reflected in upcoming articles to keep up to date.

Squad selection

Managers start off by selecting a squad of 15 players, costing no more than a total of 150 million, comprising of:

Two goalkeepers
Five defenders
Five midfielders
Three forwards

Unlike other fantasy football games there is no limit to the number of players you can own from any one club. So for example, if budget permitted (which it certainly does not) a manager could own a squad of just Bayern Munich players.

A huge benefit of this is that managers can target fixtures as they wish. Often there were times last season where up to 12-13 players in my squad came from just two or three different clubs, as they all had fantastic fixtures on that particular matchday.

Managing Your Team

One key thing to note with Bundesliga Fantasy is that you are able to make changes to your starting XI right up until the first kick-off of each matchday. Once the first game of the matchday kicks off you are also able to substitute players out and bring those on your bench into your starting XI if some players have not performed as expected.

Substitutions can be made at any point up until kick-off of the game that player participates in. It is therefore always worthwhile having some players who play in the latter fixtures, just in case you need someone to come in and save your matchday.

Matchday starting XI’s can consist of any of the following formations:

3-5-2
3-4-3
4-4-2
4-3-3
4-5-1
5-3-2
5-4-1

As you can see the game is very flexible in terms of how you set your team up and what you can do live during a matchday. By making substitutions you can also change your formation – as long as you always have three defenders, three midfielders and one forward.

This allows managers to try out different styles of play such as investing heavier in a certain position a particular matchday. Attack minded midfielders tend to be the highest scorers in the game so managers may look to invest in five premium midfielders and spread the rest of their 150 million across budget players across the remainder of their 15-man squad.

Captaincy

Instead of having captains in Bundesliga Fantasy there are star players. Each matchday you get to place the star on a forward, a midfielder and a defender. These players will score you 1.5x their matchday total. For example, if you own Haller and he scores 20 points he would score you 30 points if you placed the star on him. Like with changing your team during a matchday you are also allowed to switch your stars to other players in the relevant position yet to play, if your original pick did not perform as expected or you believe another player could score more.

You can continue moving your stars in each position around to players yet to play right through until the final fixture of the matchday. If the aforementioned Haller only scored six points (and nine points with the star) you are able to move it to another forward yet to play to see if he scores more. Once you move the star note that you will lose the additional points that player scored for you.

How do players score points?

Key things to note here are:

Defenders score the most points for attacking returns, followed by midfielders and then forwards.
Goalkeepers score higher for attacking returns than defenders but is very rare.
Points are scored for other metrics than appearances, clean sheets and attacking returns.
Players can score points for passes to shots, duels won, shots on goal, being in the winning/losing team and scoring more than once, amongst others.
If a player is on negative points after a matchday you can substitute them out. If your final XI has a player with negative points you can also remove that player so their score does not affect your total points. You can do this between the end of the last fixture and before the game updates ahead of the next matchday, which is usually around midnight German time.

Please refer to the website link for the full breakdown of how players can score and lose points here.

Transfers and Player Price Changes

Between each matchday managers are allowed to make up to five transfers. This is as long as they remain within their budget. Transfers can be made at any time up until kick-off of the first game in that matchday. It is recommended managers wait until the line-ups of the first game are announced. This allows managers to take in those line-ups and news from the press conferences that have taken place that week.

Between matchdays player prices may fluctuate. This is based on the performance of that player compared to other players in that position on the previous matchday. Increases and decreases follow the below logic.

Price increases

400,000 – 10 or more points above the position average.
300,000 – six to nine points above the position average OR winning the official Player of the Month award.
200,000 – three to five points above the position average.
100,000 – winner of an “in-form card” in the official “Team of the Week” of our official license partner of the Bundesliga EA SPORTS.
No Change – zero to two points above the position average.

Price decreases

No Change – zero to two points below the position average.
100,000 – for any player not playing during the match day OR for any player receiving a red card independent of minutes played.
200,000 – three to five points below the position average.
300,000 – six to eight points below the position average.
400,000 – 10 or more points below the position average.

Players on Sale

Last season Bundesliga Fantasy also introduced players on sale. Up to 18 players can appear on sale in the transfer market each matchday. Players are selected for the sale according to the following criteria:

Expected return after injury.
New transfer to the Bundesliga from another league.
First inclusion in the Fantasy Team of the Week.
Editorial selection based on statistics and milestones.

The duration of the sale status last the entire transfer period between matchdays and during unlimited transfers windows (to be announced – think of these as your wildcards where you can fully revamp your squad) the numbers of players on sale may vary. The purchase and sale price of players on sale will be reduced by up to 10% of their market value.

By bringing in on-sale players who perform well managers will be returned when they eventually sell the player. On-sale players revert to their normal price for the next matchday, so managers in most cases anyway will benefit by adding an additional chunk of change to their overall budget.

If the player in question does extremely well however managers could end up bringing a few extra million into their overall budget. Likewise though if a player continues to underperform managers could end up selling the player at a loss. Wise wheeling and dealing here could be the difference in affording additional premium players throughout the squad.