FanDuel Fantasy Football Explained: Finding the Right Contest for You

A brand­ new Premier League season is almost upon us!

There’s a fancy new logo, plenty of promising new players, a few natty kits and all the optimism that comes with an unblemished fixture list.

But here’s the most exciting news: there’s a new and improved way for you to play fantasy football.

It’s called FanDuel. Instead of selecting a team at the start of the season and waiting nine months for it to bear fruit, with FanDuel you pick an XI from a single match day.

You can play for money and you can play for the bragging rights of beating your friends— but the real beauty is that there’s no season­long commitment.

Play as often or as little as you like, safe in the knowledge that you can start afresh with a new team on the next match day. So, all the agony and ecstasy of the fantasy season is packed into a single day and you get myriad chances to show that you’re only a grey pullover away from being good enough to manage Manchester City.

Starting off with FanDuel is simple. You sign up and pick a team using a £100m in a very similar fashion to the fantasy game you are used to. Once you’ve done that, the one­day fantasy fun begins, as you get to pick the contest your team will be competing in.

Here’s a summary of the possibilities...

Top Half Wins

The “Top Half Wins” contests do exactly what they say on the tin: all you have to do is finish in the top half of the table and you win cash.

So, you just have to be better than average to win. Or, in 2014­15 Premier League terms, you just have to be as good as Chelsea. And they were not that good.

Top Half Wins contests are an ideal way to get your feet wet in the world of one­ day fantasy.

Multipliers

Are you the kind of person who religiously places an “acca” on a Saturday afternoon? You might like the Multiplier contests, whereby you can play to win up to five times your entry fee.

Head­ to­ Head

This is the fantasy football equivalent of a pair of cowboys taking ten paces at high noon.

A Head­ to­ Head pits you against one opponent—winner takes all. It’s the best way to compete with your friend who boasts about winning the Champions League with Accrington Stanley on Football Manager.

Satellites and qualifiers

If you have the fantasy football skills to pay the bills, you might want to consider entering an elite tournament. To do that, you’ll need to test your mettle in a qualifying tournament.

It’s a bit like when West Ham go to Slovenia for a European qualifier—except you’re actually interested in the outcome.

Tournaments

Here’s where the Pep Guardiolas are sorted from the Tim Sherwoods. In tournaments, there are more entrants and chances to win bigger prizes.

Guaranteed contests

These contests take place no matter how many people enter. There could be two, there could be two thousand. Either way, there are cash prizes to be had.

Fill­up contests

Unlike their Guaranteed brethren, Fill­ups require a certain amount of players before they take place.

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So, those are the types of contests in which you can pit yourself against other like­minded UK football fans. Once you’ve selected the right one for you, then it’s time to watch all the action unfold in real­time, either on your computer or the rathe brilliant FanDuel app.

To learn more and sign up, head to FanDuel.co.uk.

If you use the promo code “BLEACHER” when you sign up, FanDuel will refund the entry of your first contest up to £10 if you don’t win. We really can’t say fairer than that. So what are you waiting for? Head to FanDuel.co.uk or download the app and give it a try!