Learn the basics of Daily Fantasy Football
In this article we will introduce and explain to you what daily fantasy football is all about and how and where you can play it. If you’re familiar with season-long fantasy football or online poker tournament lobbies you will most likely recognise a number of synergies.
In daily fantasy football you will be given a budget to spend on building a squad (often referred to as drafting). Each player will be assigned a valuation and your job will be to construct a line-up based on any guidelines that are in place such as allowed playing formations whilst staying within the stipulated budget.
Daily fantasy football follows a similar format to season-long fantasy football except there is one crucial difference – the games will be played over just one day or game week round (e.g. Friday to Monday). Each player you select will earn points for his actions on the pitch and these will include goals scored, assists, saves, clean sheets, tackles etc. You simply accumulate all the points scored by each member of your team to get a total score for your line-up. Your mission is to record a higher total than opposing managers.
Getting started
We review daily fantasy football games offered by the leading operators so we recommend that you refer to this section to help you select the best daily fantasy football game for you. If you’re looking for contests from a specific league this is the place to find all the relevant information. Once you’ve selected your preferred option familiarise yourself with their game rules and then click through to the site to get started. Each daily fantasy football operator has his own guidelines for team selection. Some will insist on a strict 11 players, some will allow additional players to be added (e.g. 12, 15 or 17 man squads). There are also shorter field events such as 5 and 6 a-side contents that might allow for one or two extra players to be selected as well. The best advice we can give you is to read the rules carefully but also feel free to reference our scoring systems overview as well.
Once you’ve made your choice simply click through to your preferred site and fill out the necessary details to create your account.
Tournament Lobby
You will then be presented with their tournament lobby where a list of available contests will be displayed. Each contest will have a buy-in (entrance fee) and you will also have the option to filter events by prize money (structures and buy-in fee), specific leagues/matches included in the contest, field size and so on. The site will deduct a small percentage from the total buy-ins (often referred to as rake).
You will need to identify a number of competition formats and familiarise yourself with terminology such as:
Freerolls – a great way to learn about a game since there is no buy-in
Head to Head – you simply take an another manager in a one on one contest
50/50s – where you simply need to finish in the top half of the table to double up your money
Guaranteed Prize Pools (GPPs) – The Buy-ins for these tournaments will vary but they often give you the chance to win a substantial amount for a relatively small outlay
Satellites – Instead of competing for cash the prize on offer will be a seat (entrance) to a bigger tournament where the rewards are much greater
Prize Structures – Simply click into prize details to see how prize money will be distributed in any given event. It could be winner takes all or a % of total entry fees split according to finishing positions.
Team Selection
Once you enter a contest you will need to submit your line-up. You are generally allowed to edit your line-up at any time prior to the starting time of the first fixture in the contest which allows you to factor in any official team news that is announced.
Follow the site’s guidelines by dropping/dragging or double-clicking players to add them to your line-up whilst making sure you stay within budget and are using permitted playing formations (442 etc.).
Live Scoring
Most sites will have a live scoring section where it will be possible to follow the progress of your team against other managers once a contest gets under way.
So good luck and make sure you keep an eye on our promotions page for details of exclusive offers, freerolls, sign-up bonuses and much more!
