Champions League fantasy with your friends: a private league for all 17 matchdays

A private Champions League fantasy league runs for 17 matchdays, from the league phase in September to the final, with one squad per manager and a table your group argues about on Wednesday nights. The game is not the Premier League one with a different badge: the budget grows mid-season, the club limit opens up round by round, and the lineup can change between match days. Here is the format, and how to set the league up.

How the Champions League game differs from FPL

• The winner is whoever finishes the matchday, not whoever starts it. A matchday runs over two or three days. Between its match days you can make up to four manual substitutions, including a captain change, and the points count for the lineup that finished the matchday.
• The budget grows. You start with 100m. After the league phase it rises to 105m.
• The club limit opens up. Up to three players from one club in the league phase; the limit rises stage by stage, until eight are allowed in the final.
• Three windows of unlimited transfers. Before matchday one, before the knockout play-offs and before the round of 16 you can change as much as you like. Every other matchday has a quota of two to five transfers, depending on the stage.
• A chip FPL does not have. Besides the wildcard there is Limitless: one matchday of any squad with no budget limit at all.

Setting the league up with your group

1. Sign in with Google or email, nothing to install. The same account carries a Premier League squad and a Champions League squad, each with its own leagues.
2. Create a league and pick Champions League. Name it, decide whether it is free or has an entry fee, and pick the prize split; the prize split calculator gives exact amounts per place.
3. Send one link to the group. Everyone who joins through it lands in your league and builds a squad from the official pool, positions and prices.
4. The pool locks when the league locks. Before that, anyone who leaves gets their entry back, minus the service fee; after it, the pool is fixed and nobody can touch it. At the end the winners are paid automatically by the table.

Tips for a first season

• Use the three unlimited windows. The squad that wins the league phase rarely survives the round of 16 unchanged.
• Spend the raised budget. Five extra million after the league phase is a whole premium player; leaving it unspent is leaving points on the table.
• Plan Limitless for a matchday when the big clubs all play weak opponents at home, and remember the lineup you finish with is the one that scores.
• Set a tie rule and a monthly prize in the group chat before matchday one, as you would for any paid league; the paid mini league guide covers the rest.