The FPL stuff you should know.
👋 Arne Slot is sacked by Liverpool. Andoni Iraola replaces him.
🤝 Bournemouth appoint Marco Rose as Iraola’s replacement.
⬅️ Marco Silva will leave Fulham in the summer.
🤝 Marcos Senesi set to join Spurs on a free transfer (Romano).
➡️ Éderson (a defensive midfielder) will join Man United from Atalanta (Romano).
🫡 James Milner retires. He’s the only player to appear in every FPL season since it started in 02/03.
Alright?
You know it’s truly the end of the season when you turn on the telly and Jermaine Defoe is putting two past that bloke from The IT Crowd.
Last weekend’s SoccerAid game might well have been the final nail in the 25/26 season’s coffin, but the wake to its funeral isn’t half bad: the World Cup starts in less than a week. That’s what we call a buffet.
Mexico vs South Africa kicks off on Thursday, 11th June, 20:00 BST.
The approaching mass of football means one thing: an approaching mass of fantasy football.
But there’s a big problem: You don’t know anything about World Cup Fantasy Football yet. Right now, you’re a floundering moron, flapping at players like a falling pensioner grasping at an out-of-reach handrail.
Don’t panic. By the end of this email, you’ll know everything there is to know about World Cup Fantasy. Even some of the stuff they don’t want us to know yet.
Play World Club (like we are).
As you might already know, some of the LazyFPL founding fathers already play CLUB. It’s kind of a combination of FPL, Football Manager and FIFA Ultimate Team, rolled into a game that could make a Luis Suárez vs Norwich highlight reel look ugly.
Well, they’ve launched a World Cup game, which they’ve called - you guessed it - World Club.
World Club is:
Verifiably fun. We’re already on it, so we know. The tournament hasn’t even started yet, and there’s still plenty to do.
Totally free on iOS and Android.
You can start playing here.
An example of a team on World Club. Decent?
What makes World Club different?
Yeah, fair question. There are some key differences from the traditional fantasy format:
1) You can’t just “pick” players. Instead, you have to work with an agent to find and sign them.
2) It’s way more active than FPL. You’re not making a decision and then forgetting about your team until the next deadline - there’s always something going on. Maybe your agent has a new opportunity. Perhaps there’s a chance to pick someone up on loan.
3) Oh yeah, you can sign players on loan. Loan players will contribute points to your total for one gameweek but won’t eat into your salary cap*.
The Premier League version of CLUB was designed to feel more like you actually run a football team, and World Club is no different. If you’re ready for full World Cup immersion this summer, click the button below, create a friend’s league and start playing World Club for free. We’ll see you there.
*Possible chip idea for FPL? We quite like it…
An introduction to World Cup Fantasy.
The official World Cup Fantasy game is run by FIFA. With FIFA’s stellar reputation, we’d expect nothing but a fair and honest game, one that reflects the values that the organisation itself holds dear.
…
Anyway, it’s free, so there’s that. You can register here, and when you do, join our league using code 74K5WLJY.
Much of it will be recognisable to you. There’s a budget, there are 15 player slots to fill, and there’s the familiar football pitch iconography you’ve come to know and dread.
But don’t think for one second that you’ve already got it cracked. Sure, you’ve got some talent, but this is a different game entirely. You’re David Blaine, turning up at Hogwarts and thinking you can mix it with Hermione. You can’t. Not until you’ve read this, at least.
The rest of this newsletter will tell you how to Wingardium Leviosa your World Cup Fantasy leagues.
World Cup Fantasy: The Rules.
Summary for the Lazy: Lots in common with FPL, some obvious changes to suit the tournament format, and the unignorable live team management rule.
This is perhaps the most important section in the entire newsletter. Most World Cup Fantasy managers won’t bother to learn the nuances of the official game’s rules (and most of them are nuanced), meaning those who do start with an immediate advantage.
Let’s start with the biggest one: Live team management.
What is live team management?
Those who have played UCL Fantasy, or, if you’re a true fantasy hipster, Club World Cup Fantasy, will already know about live team management.
In a nutshell, it means you can change your lineup and captain during the Matchday. (Oh yeah - a Matchday is World Cup parlance for a Gameweek). Unlike FPL, where your team and decisions are locked in by the deadline, WCF adopts a more fluid approach. Changes can be made throughout the Matchday.
That doesn’t mean you can wait to see which player hauls and then bring them in or switch your captain to them. That would be incredibly boring for everyone.
But if your captain blanks (highly likely, knowing you), you can switch the armband to another player who hasn’t played yet. Even someone in the very next fixture.
The same goes for your starting lineup, too. When somebody drops a 1-pointer, you can sub them out after their game for someone on your bench who’s yet to play.
Once a player’s match starts, they become locked in until full-time, meaning they can’t be moved, captained or substituted during the game itself.
One very important catch: making any manual changes during the Matchday disables auto-subs and your vice-captain for that round. You’ve been warned.
The more subtle differences to FPL:
You start with a $100m budget, which increases to $105m after Matchday 3 (i.e. after the group stages). You get more money because the cheap fodder tends to get knocked out early.
Player prices stay fixed for the entire tournament. No pesky price changes.
You get 2 free transfers in each group-stage round. You can roll one free transfer.
Free transfers increase throughout the knockout stages, reaching 6 before the final. This is because you’ll lose most of your players as the tournament progresses.
You also get unlimited transfers after the group stages. Like a Wildcard, but less wild.
Extra transfers cost -3 points each, not -4.
So far, so good? Great. Let’s talk chips.
Chips Boosters.
Summary for the Lazy: Chips are apparently called “Boosters” now. There are lots of them, and they’re all different to FPL except for the Wildcard.
The first thing to know about chips in World Cup Fantasy is that they’re not called chips at all. FIFA felt that ‘chips’ were too coded. Like calling them ‘Doughnuts’, or ‘Saturated Fats’.
Instead, they’ve called them boosters, which sounds like the sort of thing you have to go to the doctors for if you get bitten by a dog on holiday.
Here are the boosters at your disposal:
🃏 Wildcard
We’re not going to overcomplicate this one. It’s the same as FPL, unlimited transfers for one round.
Thankfully, they’ve saved you from ridicule by blocking it in Matchday 1 and the Round of 32, because the game already gives you unlimited transfers at those moments.
🙋♂️ 12th Man
When activated, you get one extra player for a single round. The player can’t already be in your squad, but apart from that, anything goes.
Budget doesn’t matter, and neither do team limits, so yes, you can absolutely ignore the “maximum players per team” rule. Basically, it’s a one-week loan with absolutely zero paperwork.
Your 12th Man can’t be captained, substituted or transferred.
©️ Maximum Captain
This removes the pain of choosing and automatically gives the captaincy to the highest-scoring player in your starting XI. Pretty handy.
⬆️ Qualification Booster
Available from the Round of 32 onwards. Gives +2 points to every player in your starting XI whose team progresses to the next round or wins the final. Players must play for at least 1 minute. Certified fruity.
🤔 Mystery Booster (Clean Sheet Shield)
Right, so we were supposed to find out about this after the group stages (after Matchday 3). But it seems the FIFA website source code has revealed it:
It looks like the mystery booster is called “Clean Sheet Shield”, and “any goalkeeper, defender, or midfielder in your team will only lose their clean sheet after conceding 2 goals.” In other words, they can concede one goal and still keep their clean sheet points.
Will they change it to something else and pretend this leak never happened? We’ll see.
How to score points in World Cup Fantasy.
Summary for the Lazy: You’ll just need to read the section, we’re afraid.
Thankfully, FIFA haven’t tried to be too clever with this. Points scoring hasn’t been renamed to “digit harvesting” or something.
The general scoring rules that apply to all players are pretty much the same as FPL. Appearance points, assists, cards, own goals and all the usual stuff are unchanged.
The main additions are that winning a penalty is worth +2 points, while conceding one costs -1. Goals from a direct free kick are also worth an additional +1 point. Unlike FPL, there are no bonus points, no DEFCON, and players don’t lose points for missing a penalty.
Here are the other main differences from FPL, sorted by position:
Goalkeepers:
Clean sheets are worth 5 points instead of 4
Each goal conceded after the first is worth -1 point
Goals scored are worth 9 points instead of 10
Penalty saves are worth 3 points instead of 5
Every 3 saves is still worth 1 point, the same as FPL
Verdict: Clean sheets are even more important, while goalkeepers who concede 3+ goals get punished much harder.
Defenders:
Clean sheets are worth 5 points instead of 4
The first goal conceded costs 0 points, with every additional goal conceded worth -1
Goals scored are worth 7 points instead of 6
Verdict: Clean sheets and attacking defenders are even more valuable, but defenders get punished harder in heavy defeats. No DEFCON also means there are fewer alternative routes to points.
Midfielders:
Clean sheets are still worth 1 point, the same as FPL
Goals scored are worth 6 points instead of 5
Every 3 tackles earns +1 point
Every 2 chances created earns +1 point
Verdict: Tackles and chances created give midfielders multiple routes to points, making them arguably the strongest position in World Cup Fantasy.
Forwards:
Goals scored are worth 5 points instead of 4
Every 2 shots on target earns +1 point
Verdict: Forwards have fewer routes to points than midfielders, but the shots on target bonus should compound nicely when they haul.
Differential points.
Summary for the Lazy: You get a points bonus if your player is a differential. In our opinion, it’s the best addition to World Cup Fantasy.
Hang about, what’s this?
Oh yes, differential hunters rejoice. The final new scoring rule is the “Scouting Bonus”, first introduced by FIFA in their Club World Cup game last year. We’re just going to call them “Differential Points”.
Basically, if one of your players scores more than 4 points in a match and has under 5% ownership at the start of the Matchday, they earn an extra +2 points.
This should help shake up the template. When choosing between similar players, you may have to weigh up the popular pick against the differential with potential for extra points.
A popular Club World Cup strategy was to lock in five or six highly owned players you think are inevitable (think Erling Haaland, Bruno Fernandes and Gabriel in FPL), then build the rest of your squad around differentials.
Just be careful with the ownership cut-off. A player sitting at 4.8% could easily tick over to 5% before the Matchday starts, and a 4% player who returns in Matchday 1 may no longer qualify by Matchday 2.
So, to summarise...
Unlike FPL, substitutions and captaincy changes can happen during the gameweek itself.
Gameweeks are called Matchdays.
Chips are called boosters. Between them and the unlimited transfers pre-Matchday 1 and pre-Matchday 4, it means there won’t be many Matchdays when you’re not using a booster.
The points scoring is a bit of an uncanny valley. It’s largely similar, but with enough changes to make it interesting. Midfielders appear to be overpowered.
Differential points are the biggest departure from FPL. Any player under 5% gets an extra 2 points, provided they reach 4 points to begin with.
Join LazyFPL Premium to really get stuck in.
We’re spending the summer immersing ourselves in World Cup Fantasy. Shoulder-deep stuff.
If you've read this and thought, “Yeah, I’m going to play this”, Lazy Premium gives you everything you need to do well.
📩 Matchday newsletters ahead of every deadline, packed with insight from the Professor and our newly assembled team of tournament fantasy experts.
🧭 A comprehensive fixture tracker built for squad building and tournament strategy, with attack and defence filters, progression probabilities, captaincy planning and substitution rotation tools.
Come on, look at this thing.
📲 Daily WhatsApp updates covering key team and player news, injury updates, rotations, and deadline reminders, delivered straight to your phone so you don't get caught out.
🤫 Expert team reveals, thoughts and plans ahead of every Matchday, including different chip strategies to help guide your own decisions.
🎧 Podcasts throughout the tournament tackling the biggest decisions and talking points.
🏆 Entry into our £500 World Cup Mini-League.
All for a fiver. Upgrade by clicking the button below:
World Cup stuff we found interesting.
👍 Lamine Yamal ($10m midfielder) should be fit for the opening game (Fuente).
🧤 Maxime Crépeau ($4.0m goalkeeper) has been confirmed as Canada’s starting keeper.
We’ll be back ahead of Matchday 1, where we’ll update you on the key FPL news, and take a deeper look at World Cup Fantasy, including key players, budget options, differentials, opening fixtures and more.
Stay lazy,
The LazyFPL Team.