There are two types of substitutions in the Fantasy Champions League: Auto-subs and manual substitutions. What are their basics and how to use them as a part of a successful UCL Fantasy strategy?
This article is a part of a series: How to play Champions League Fantasy
Manual substitutions
With manual substitutions, you can directly sub out players in your team and replace them with players from your team who are yet to play.
Between matchdays, you can make an unlimited number of substitutions as you play around with your squad.
But once the matchday has started and all first-day matches have finished, you can sub out a player from your starting XI (maximum 4 players) and replace him with one of your bench players who is yet to play.
Of course, players you sub out will score 0 points for your team in that matchday.
Note: This does not apply to players who got a red card. You cannot sub out a player who was sent off.
Auto subs
If some player from your starting XI does not play at all, he might be automatically subbed out and replaced with a player from your bench (according to the bench order).
However! Auto subs can happen ONLY if you have not made any manual changes to your team during a matchday!
So you cannot make any manual substitutions, or change your captain, or change your bench order, in order to auto subs to happen!
How to turn on auto subs in Champions League Fantasy?
Once you make some manual changes to your team during the particular matchday, the autosubs are turned off and you cannot turn them on again for that matchday.
Autosubs are turned on for every manager by the start of the matchday. But once you make some manual substitutions or change your captain, they are turned off and cannot be turned on again on the matchday.
How to change the substitution order in your UCL Fantasy team?
To change the order of the substitution, you need to make subs to your bench in your team before the matchday starts. Basically, just use “sub out” and “sub in” on the players on your bench to make their order different. But you have to do it before the start of the matchday.
How to make substitutions in UCL Fantasy?
- Tap on a player from your starting XI you want to sub out
- Click “Sub out”
- Select a player from your bench you want to sub in, and click “Sub in”. Now player from your bench replace the player from starting XI.
- Confirm the changes
Should UCL Fantasy managers rely on auto subs as part of their strategy?
As an active UCL Fantasy manager, you should never rely on automatic substitutions. Relying on auto subs is very limited as you cannot make any changes to your team or change your captain during matchday.
That’s why you should always make manual substitutions and manual changes to your team – that will allow you to maximize the points output from 11 players in your team at the end of each matchday.
How to use manual substitutions as part of the strategy?
- Thanks to manual substitutions you can use all 15 players from your squad (of course, those who end the matchday on the bench will score you 0 points)
- Because of that, make sure all of your 15 players are players who are regularly starting
- That will help you maximize the probability that some of your 11 players (whose points count) will deliver
- You do not want to have 4.0 million defender or 4.0 million goalkeeper who do not play for their team – you cannot use them as your substitutions – so you are limiting the potential of your 15 players
- Make sure you have two playing goalkeepers – one who plays on Tuesday, the other who plays on Wednesday – that will increase the chances that you will catch one clean sheet from your GK
- Try to get at least 8 players who play on Tuesday. For example 8 for Tuesday, 7 for Wednesday. The more players play on Tuesday, the higher the chance that you will have players who blank in your starting XI on the first day. So you can easily sub out 4 players after Tuesday. If you have just 4 players on Tuesday, they all might deliver points and you do not want to use your substitutions on players who scored points.
- Try to have cheap players and balls-recovered heroes who play on Tuesday. Usually, the cheaper the player, the lower his points potential is. If you have a 4.5 million midfielder in your team, it is better if he plays on Tuesday. He probably will not deliver points, so you can then sub him out. But if he miraculously delivers, you catch his points and do not need to use your manual sub on him. If he would play on Wednesday, you would likely sub in just 2 points.
- And of course, as we can change the captain, make sure you have two big captaincy options each matchday. One who plays on Tuesday, and the backup captain on Wednesday. If the first captain will not deliver, you can switch the captaincy to the second heavy hitter in your team who is yet to play.
Further resources
