UCL Fantasy: The all-in-one preview
The author
Simon K. Kjær, @AeselFC on X, 25/26 ranks: #FPL 5k │ UCL: 165th │ FWC: 7k.
My previews before every Match Day – what can you expect?
I’m an experienced Fantasy Football aficionado, having played FPL for multiple seasons, finishing 10k and 5k overall for the two past seasons. Last season I also turned my focus to UCL, finishing #165th in the world in my first attempt.
I will do a thorough preview landing every Monday, 24 hours before the deadline, covering fixtures, chip strategy and key assets along with publishing my transfer thoughts. On Tuesday after lineups, I’ll update my preview and publish my team.
Rules and key differences from FPL
[Skip this section if you’re already familiar with the UCLFantasy game]
My starting point is simple: FPL is the try-hard game; UCL Fantasy is the fun one. The basic concept is very similar, but a few important rules make UCL Fantasy a much more active – and in some ways forgiving – game. Similarly to FPL, you start with a 15-man squad and a budget of 100m.
The Champions League league phase consists of 36 teams, with each club playing eight matches in a league format. The top eight qualify directly for the round of 16, while teams ranked 9–24 enter the play-offs.
One major difference from FPL is the deadline, which is not until the first match of the Matchday kicks off (usually 18:45 CESt9. This means that we normally get confirmed line-ups from the early matches before locking our teams.
Even more importantly, a Matchday is played across several days. After Tuesday’s matches, you can sub out up to four players for players yet to play and move the captaincy from a player who has already played to one playing on Wednesday. A poor Tuesday score can therefore simply be removed from your XI. During the league phase, we get two free transfers per Matchday, with additional transfers costing four points.
Finally, the scoring differs slightly from FPL. Goals, assists and clean sheets remain the main sources of points, but players also receive one point for every three ball recoveries, three points for being named Player of the Match, one extra point for goals from outside the box and two points for winning a penalty. There is no FPL-style bonus-point system. Also, the recovery points make certain centre-backs and defensive midfielders more interesting Fantasy options similar to DEFCONs in FPL.
Schedule and key teams to target
Before anything, keep in mind that Matchday 1 is slightly different, as matches are played across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, giving us three opportunities to manage the team and, more importantly, swapping captains three times.
Also, remember that Matchday 1 is played before the big 3-week international break, and that Matchday 2 is five weeks away,
Fixture difficulty charts are useful, but for UCL Fantasy I would put much more weight on when the good fixtures occur than on who has the easiest eight-game schedule overall. With two free transfers per Matchday and both Wildcard and Limitless available, we do not need to pick players for the entire league phase from MD1.
Bayern immediately stand out for the start with Bodø/Glimt (H) and Viking (A). Barcelona also open well with Feyenoord (H) and Galatasaray (A), while PSG have arguably the best individual fixture of MD1 at home to Slovan Bratislava, although Manchester City (A) and Barcelona (H) follow. Manchester United against Sabah (H) is another obvious MD1 target rather than necessarily a team we need to heavily invest in long term.
The most interesting longer runs belong to Liverpool and Real Madrid. Liverpool follow Atlético (H) with LASK (A), Villarreal (H), Fenerbahçe (A), Club Brugge (A) and Porto (H). Real Madrid's opening game against Inter is not ideal, but Roma (A), Leipzig (H), AEK (A) and PSV (H) from MD2–5 gives them an excellent spell.
Inter are perhaps the clearest example of why we should not look only at MD1. Real Madrid (A) is enough to make me reluctant to start with their expensive assets, but Brugge (H), Shakhtar (H), Feyenoord (A) and Stuttgart (H) from MD2–5 is arguably the best fixture swing in the competition. They could therefore become a major transfer or Wildcard target after the opening Matchday.
At the cheaper end, Stuttgart have the easiest draw by average opponent strength and begin with Viking (H) and Slovan Bratislava (A). That makes their budget options particularly interesting from the start, even if the schedule becomes considerably tougher afterwards.
Chip strategies
This is by far my favourite section as, like in FPL, there is no correct answer and almost endless opportunities. The fixture list provides several obvious windows for both chips, while the unusual five-week gap between MD1 and MD2 makes early planning even more interesting.
There are also chips: Wildcard (WC), which similarly to FPL gives unlimited transfers, and Limitless (LL), which removes the budget entirely for one Matchday before returning you to your previous squad, like a Free Hit from FPL on steroids.
Last year, when I finished 165th in the world, I first accepted that UCL Fantasy is more fun than try-hard and played hyper-aggressively: Limitless MD2 and Wildcard MD3, which gave me an early head start. I am very open to taking a similar approach again.
LL3 or WC3: The strong, flexible strategy
Start by stacking Bayern, Barcelona and Stuttgart, who have particularly strong fixtures in MD1–2.
Then spend a chip in MD3, when Bayern face Arsenal and Barcelona face PSG, rather than carrying expensive assets through difficult fixtures.
Whether that chip should be Wildcard or Limitless can be decided once we know more about form, injuries and minutes.
If LL3, there is a rare opportunity to target 3x Manchester City vs AEK, while still loading up on whichever premium assets have the best fixtures elsewhere.
If WC3, the fixture swings towards teams such as Real Madrid, Sporting and Inter become particularly attractive.
LL2 into WC3: The hyper-aggressive strategy
Build almost exclusively for MD1, particularly targeting teams with plum fixtures such as PSG and Manchester United.
Use Limitless in MD2 to build a team that would otherwise be miles over budget, potentially including 3x Bayern, 3x Barcelona and 3x Arsenal.
Then Wildcard in MD3, moving aggressively towards the next fixture swings, particularly Real Madrid, Sporting and Inter.
This sacrifices both chips extremely early, but it also maximises our ability to attack three consecutive Matchdays independently.
WC3 + LL8: Information is key
Navigate MD1–2 with the initial squad before using the Wildcard in MD3 to attack the major fixture swings.
Save Limitless for MD8, when every game kicks off simultaneously.
Crucially, we will therefore know both the starting XIs and which teams still have something meaningful to play for.
This creates the possibility of targeting full-strength, motivated teams against heavily rotated opponents who are effectively already “on the beach”.
The obvious downside is having to hold Limitless for almost the entire league phase.
No chip plan
There is also absolutely nothing wrong with starting without a predetermined chip plan. Injuries, form, prices, rotation and qualification scenarios will gradually tell us where the chips have most value, and strategy can instead be decided from Matchday to Matchday.
For me, the key point is that there is little value in being conservative simply for the sake of saving chips. UCL Fantasy gives us far more opportunities than FPL to attack individual Matchdays, and I am very comfortable using both chips early if the fixtures justify it.
TheFantasyTool – my source of projected points
It goes without saying that I’ve been using TheFantasyTool’s projected points throughout my latest Fantasy campaigns – FIFA World Cup Fantasy (7k overall) and UCL Fantasy (165th overall) – to cross-check my decision-making and make sure that I select a team that is among the strongest on projected points each Matchday.
You can check it out here:
https://thefantasytool.com/player-picks-ucl
If you play FPL, you may also recognise a certain Erik Ibsen, the 2025/26 FPL champion, who is doing weekly FPL previews and team reveals on TheFantasyTool. The subscription also includes team reveal from FPL Bronx, who currently has the second-best four-year FPL rank in the world.
TheFantasyTool – my weekly UCLFantasy Team Reveal
My team reveal will follow in an article tomorrow Monday.
I’ll update my draft ~45 min before deadline on Matchday 1 at 18:00 CEST Tuesday. To gain access, you’ll have to sign up to TheFantasyTool, currently offering a 7-day free trial.