UEFA.com analyzes the best managers over the past campaign and offers some tips for those looking to rise to the top this time around on #UCLfantasy, presented by Playstation.
With a particular focus on those who finished in the top 5000 last season, here are some of the key ingredients for success in 2021/22.
MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR TEAM
Almost 1.7 million people played #UCLfantasy last season, but less than a quarter of all managers used their Wildcard or Limitless tokens throughout the campaign. By contrast, the vast majority of the top 5,000 used both chips, showing just how powerful they can be in pushing you up the leaderboard. These differences persist when we look at other measures:
Average % of managers who changed captain between match days
Overall: 6.1%
Top 5000: 44.6%
Average % of managers who made manual substitutions between match days
Overall: 15.0%
Top 5k: 96.2%
It’s evident that elite managers are taking a more hands-on approach with their #UCLfantasy team on a consistent basis. On average, nearly half of the top 5,000 changed captains after the one-day opening night, refusing to settle for a score they thought could have been improved. In terms of manual substitutions between matches, at least 90% of the top 5,000 players made active substitutions on any given matchday, with the season average figure being 96.2%. Elite managers made full use of their squads and set their rosters accordingly to maximize the points earned by their 15 players.
STRIKE EARLY WITH YOUR CHIPS
Using chips in the group stage is a common approach among #UCLfantasy managers, who aim to maximize gains when their premium assets benefit from favorable conditions. Last season, Matchday 2 was the most popular for Wildcard (28.7%) and Limitless (26.3%) chips among the top 5,000 managers.
When did the top 5,000 use their chips in 2021/22?
| game day | Play without limit | play joker |
| 1 | N / A | N / A |
| 2 | 26.3% | 28.7% |
| 3 | 12.5% | 26.6% |
| 4 | 12.5% | 8.2% |
| 5 | 10.6% | 6.1% |
| 6 | 22.0% | 6.4% |
| seven | N / A | N / A |
| 8 | 2.3% | 0.5% |
| 9 | 1.4% | 4.9% |
| ten | 1.4% | 0.8% |
| 11 | 2.2% | 11.2% |
| 12 | 1.3% | 1.3% |
| 13 | 5.5% | 3.6% |
Day three has seen heavy use of the Wildcard among elite managers, and as we approach the same point in the current campaign, it could be a popular time to activate the chip again. In fact, the highest individual score of any coach last season was 138 points, and that happened on Matchday 3. Could we see the same this season?
FAVORITE FORWARDS FOR THE CAPTAIN
More often than not, elite managers trust forwards when it comes to captaining. In fact, the most popular captain has been a striker on 12 of the 13 rounds of the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League campaign, with Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez (Matchday 7) being the only exception to the rule. Robert Lewandowski – then a Bayern player – was the most-chosen captain on six of the 13 matchdays, followed by Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, who led the way on four separate matchdays.
NOTABLE TOP 5000 STATS
• A total of 4,965 of the top 5,000 managers made manual substitutions on Matchday 7, more than any other matchday.
• The most captained player on any given matchday was Robert Lewandowski, who received 90.5% of the share on Matchday 8. The Pole rewarded those coaches with a hat-trick and an assist against Salzburg in the round of 16 second leg.
• The most transferred player was João Cancelo before Matchday 7, when 4,059 (81.2%) #UCLfantasy managers included the Manchester City defender in their squads.
• Ahead of the UEFA Champions League final on Matchday 13, there are more Liverpool players in the #UCLfantasy squads than eventual champions Real Madrid.
