Compete against TEAMtalk in £1m FanTeam Fantasy Euro 2020 game

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TEAMtalk Fantasy Euros

We’ll be playing FanTeam’s Euro 2020 Fantasy game over the next month – and we’re inviting you, our loyal readers, to play against us.

We’re huge fantasy football fans here at TEAMtalk, but we’re taking things to a new level for the Euros: the FanTeam game has a minimum guaranteed prize pool of £1million and a guaranteed first-place prize of £200,000, making it the biggest prize pool ever for a Euros event.

You still have time to enter the competition as FanTeam are allowing entries before gameweek two, and so that you’re not playing catch-up, you will start with 100% of gameweek one average points.

It’s £20 to enter, but even finishing in the top 10,000 will win you a payout of £30, with the prizes increasing the higher up the leaderboard you finish and big money on offer for those who finish in the upper echelons.

But, never mind the money, the biggest prize on offer here is the chance to prove you know more about football than us! Sam Bannister is representing us under the username SBanno_TT, but it’s very much a team effort so it’s the combined might of our football knowledge you’ll be pitting yourself against.

We’ve also got Football365 playing (JWilliams) and encouraging their readers to play so you’re not just playing for yourself, you’re playing for the website. It’s time to prove once and for all that the most intelligent football fans read TEAMtalk!

So do your research, enter your team and let the games begin.

See below our team for the opening gameweek, plus all the rules, scoring system and prizes on offer. If you decide to sign up too, make sure you include TT at the end of your username so we can look out for you on the leaderboard.

FanTeam Euros Gameweek 1

Rules

Once signed up, you’ll have a budget of £105million to pick a squad of 15 players consisting of two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and three forwards. You can select a maximum of three players from any one nation for the first four gameweeks (the three group stage games plus the last 16) then are restricted to four per team for the quarter-finals and seven for the semis and final.

You get one free transfer before gameweeks two and three, a wildcard to play ahead of gameweek four (last 16) and three free transfers ahead of gameweeks five and six (quarters and final). All additional transfers will cost you -4 points.

Full rules below.

FanTeam Euros rules

Scoring system

Usual fantasy rules apply, with players receiving points for things like scoring goals, keeping clean sheets and playing the full 90 but losing points for cards, goals conceded and missed penalties.

There are also part-points awarded for shots, saves and a team ‘winning’ for the duration of the player’s time on the pitch. A full breakdown of the scoring system is provided below

FanTeam Euros scoring system

Prizes

You only need to finish 10,377th for a £30 payout – your stake plus a tenner on top. As fans of TEAMtalk, we’re expecting every single one of you to manage at least that.

Finish between 2000-2599th for £50 and 400-449th’s for a cool £100. It’s 62-71st for £500, 15th for £2,000, 10th for £5,000 and then some serious prizes for those that finish inside the top seven. Alongside us, obviously.

Fantasy Euros prize pool

Our team

I’m taking things stage by stage for the tournament so I’ve picked a blend of players from the big teams and some who might not be favourites to win the whole thing but who could at least do well in their groups.

For example, in goal I’ve gone for Wojciech Szczesny, who has been doing well at club level. Poland won’t be one of the favourites for the tournament, but I’m backing him to help them at least in the group stage.

In defence I’ve gone for a lot of attack-minded players. I’ve watched Leonardo Spinazzola and Robin Gosens in Serie A this season and both are really attacking full-backs. Spinazzola will definitely start for Italy, whereas I’m not as sure for Gosens at Germany, but I think they both have a chance of contributing a lot. I’ve also got David Alaba, who often plays in midfield for Austria, and Stefan De Vrij, who I think will step up for the Netherlands in the absence of Virgil van Dijk and could be a danger from corners.

In midfield I’ve got some big names, which is sometimes a risk, but I think they’ll pay off. Paul Pogba seems to step up on the international stage and I’m hoping Luka Modric can do what he did at the last World Cup. Then I’ve got Hakan Calhanoglu who’s always a danger from free-kicks and might do well with Turkey, and Memphis Depay, who’s one of the more attacking players listed as a midfielder.

Up front I’ve gone for two of the biggest names there are – Robert Lewandowski and Romelu Lukaku. Both have been really strong over the past season so should go into the tournament with lots of confidence. Belgium will be one of the favourites, so I’ve put Lukaku as my captain (with Depay as vice-captain as I think the Netherlands will also do well).

On my bench I have Maarten Stekelenburg, Cesar Azpilicueta, Mason Mount and Alexander Isak, who I think all should have chances for their countries so are good options for me to have in reserve.

That said, these things never seem to go to plan for me, so I’m not getting my hopes up too much!

Sam Bannister team

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