Champions League Fantasy: Learn from the top managers

UEFA.com have looked at the top 5,000 #UCLfantasy managers last season and identified some common ingredients for success.

Here are the key trends that are evident from the elite managers.

MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR TEAM

Over one million people played #UCLfantasy last season, but only 13.5% overall used both their Wildcard and Limitless chips throughout the campaign. By contrast, 96.6% of the top 5,000 made use of both chips, showing how powerful they can be in propelling you up the rankings. These differences continue when we look at other metrics:

Average % of managers who changed their captain between gamedays
Overall: 7.0%
Top 5k: 45.4%

Average % of managers who made manual substitutions between gamedays
Overall: 17.3%
Top 5k: 96.0%

Once more, we see that the elite managers have taken a more active role in managing their #UCLfantasy squad on a consistent basis. On average, almost half of the top 5,000 switched their captain after the opening gameday of a matchday, refusing to settle for a score they felt could have been improved. When it came to manual substitutions between matches, there was never less than 91% of the top 5,000 making active changes on any given matchday, with the average figure over the season standing at 96%. The elite managers made full use of their squads and set their line-ups accordingly so that they maximised the points gained from their 15 players.

STRIKE EARLY WITH YOUR CHIPS

Using chips in the group stage is a popular strategy in #UCLfantasy as it allows you to target favourable fixtures for teams containing premium assets. This fact was not lost on the top 5,000 managers last season, who favoured Matchday 2 for the Limitless chip (25.2%) and Matchday 3 for the Wildcard (25.9%).

When did the top 5,000 use their chips in 2020/21?

AVOID TAKING POINTS HITS

Sometimes, it is necessary to surpass the free transfer allowance in order to sufficiently improve your squad but careful planning can minimise these occurrences. When averaging out the percentages for each matchday, just 14.4% of the top 5000 managers made transfers that resulted in point deductions. Every point counts in #UCLfantasy so it's important to assess whether it is really worth taking a -4 or -8 before finalising. More often than not, this was not worth the risk for the elite managers.

BE FLEXIBLE WITH YOUR CAPTAINS

Amongst the entire #UCLfantasy userbase, forwards were the most popular position when it came to captaincy on every single matchday, but this wasn't the case when it came to the top managers. Matchdays 9, 10, 12 and 13 saw the top 5000 flock towards midfielders to skipper their #UCLfantasy sides, showing that they were able to adapt to the circumstances. The likes of Manchester City and occasionally Chelsea were operating without recognised strikers at this time, and this forced a shift in the destination of Fantasy armbands among the elite.

NOTABLE TOP 5K STATS

• All 5,000 managers made active changes to their team on Matchday 5
• On Matchday 5, more managers captained a defender than a midfielder. This was the only occasion when midfielders and forwards were not the top two most popular captaincy positions.
• The most captained player on any matchday was Erling Haaland, who received 58.2% of the share on Matchday 8. The Norwegian went on to score twice against Sevilla on that occasion (round of 16, second leg).
• The most transferred in player on any matchday was Joshua Kimmich ahead of Matchday 7, when 4,079 (81.6%) #UCLfantasy manager acquired the Bayern star.
• Ahead of the final on Matchday 13, more Manchester City players featured in #UCLfantasy squads compared to Chelsea assets.

THE BEST OF THE BEST

We’ve looked at the finishing ranks of all #UCLfantasy managers over the last three seasons – 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21 – to identify the top five managers in terms of consistent finishes. In order to qualify for this list, they must have taken part in all three seasons.

#UCLFANTASY hall of fame: top five managers

The top five have not finished lower than 547th in the last three seasons of #UCLfantasy, but standing tall above the rest is melhorquetu, whose outstanding consistency has resulted in an average finish of 98th. Goran Miškovic, meanwhile, came 42nd last season – the most impressive 2020/21 finish among the top five.