Champions League Fantasy Football: Tips for Matchday 1

Given the new format for the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League, managers on #UCLfantasy, presented by Playstation, may be wondering how best to tackle the season from a strategy perspective, and in particular how they should be setting up their teams for Matchday 1. UEFA.com has come up with some helpful tips.

What's different about Matchday 1?

Matchday 1 is unique in the sense that the fixtures are spread out over three days, rather than the usual two. There will be six matches taking place on Tuesday 17 September, followed by six on Wednesday and a further six on Thursday.

But what does this mean for Fantasy managers?

Three captaincy opportunities

The opening matchday presents three chances to select a high-scoring captain. With that in mind, Fantasy managers consider including at least one player from each day with the potential to record significant Fantasy returns. Should the chosen captain on Tuesday and Wednesday not deliver the desired points, owning a high-impact asset on Thursday could still ensure a team ends the matchday in a strong position in the mini-leagues.

Having three options also means that there is more incentive to select a differential captain on the Tuesday, safe in the knowledge that there are two back-up choices should they be needed later on in the matchday.

Select the right players for the bench

For those familiar with Fantasy, the same substitution rules apply on Matchday 1 as in previous seasons, but extra care will be needed to ensure that points are not left on the bench.

Any players involved in fixtures taking place on Thursday should start on the bench; if squads include more than three outfield players who feature on Thursday, then the excess players will need to be in the starting XI.

In theory, Matchday 1 offers a higher chance of maximising the points gained from your whole squad, as the lowest-scoring players from across both Tuesday and Wednesday's fixtures can be subbed out.

That covers the specifics involved in Matchday 1, but what else should be considered when creating an initial squad?

Plan for the long term

With the league phase lasting eight matchdays, instead of the six-match group stage in previous seasons, Fantasy managers who are reluctant to use one of the two chips early on in the campaign will want to set their teams up to perform well in multiple matchdays, not just the first.

This involves studying the fixture list and targeting Fantasy assets from teams who managers think will perform well in the early stages. This should reduce the need to make multiple transfers in the first few matchdays.

Identifying teams that have two home games in their first three league phase fixtures is also a good starting point for filling out a Matchday 1 squad.

Rotating goalkeepers

With the revamped fixtures format, it is not as straightforward to select two goalkeepers who always play on different days. In many cases, those who play on different days across Matchday 1 will then play on the same day in future matchdays.

Goalkeeper is not typically a position that Fantasy managers want to use any of their free transfers on, so paying careful consideration which goalkeepers play on different days in multiple matchdays appears to be a smart long-term move.