Dream Team (Fantsy Football in Newspapers)

Name: Wolfie1974

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Product:	Fantsy Football in Newspapers
Date:	12/08/02 (2440 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Depends on you

Disadvantages: Depends on you

~ Introduction ~

Well, it has come to that time of year again where us football fanatics are counting down the days before the new football season starts but on the other hand if you loathe football you are likely to become a football widow yet again!

I myself am one those fanatics and I am the type to enter any competition that is related to the great game of football. My regular ones are those in the daily newspapers such as the Telegraph, Sun and Mirror. My father and I both enter these competitions and he has been the lucky one so far because he won a monthly prize of £500 on the Mirror competition 2 years ago.

The competition that I want to talk about in this opinion is the Sun Dream-Team competition because this is the one that I have enjoyed most over the years and seems to have the most money and more chances of winning.



~ Rules ~

Published in the Sun newspaper and on their web site (www.dreamteamfc.com) is a set of over 350 English premiership players roughly broken down into 40 keepers, 150 defenders, 100 midfielders and 60 strikers. From this list you can pick a team of 11 players who you will think will perform the best over the new season.

However, like all good competitions they have imposed some constraints! I will highlight them below:

· First of all each manager is given a sum of a virtual £40 million to keep to or under whilst making their selections.
· You must pick a team that has either a 4-3-3 formation (keeper, 4 defenders, 3 midfielders and 3 strikers) or a 4-4-2 formation (keeper, 4 defenders, 4 midfielders and 2 strikers)
· You may not pick more than 2 players from any of the premiership sides.

A panel of experts have decided upon the fictitious value for the players. The selection of players can be quite difficult because you only have an average of just over £3.5 million pounds per player with the cheapest players valued at £1.5m and the most ex
pensive at £7m (Ruud Van Nistelrooy). As always my first attempt on paper was well over budget!

The competition is based on the accumulation of points that you receive if a player performs well, but take note that you can also lose points if you have picked one of those “bad boys” who thinks it’s clever to push a referee, spit at his opponents or any of the other antics that will find his name in the referees notebook. The points scoring breakdown is as follows:

· (3) Player is given a match rating of 7 or higher (published in the Sun newspaper)
· (5) Star man award
· (5) Scoring a goal
· (5) Scoring 3 or more goals in a match
· (5) Clean sheet for a keeper or defender
· (-1) more than one goal conceded for a keeper or defender (per goal)
· (-1) player gets booked
· (-3) player gets sent off
· (20) Player has the top individual points (bonus awarded at the end of the season)
· Players will not lose or gain any points if they do not play.

The points apply for games in the premiership, champions league, UEFA cup, FA cup from Saturday 17th august up until the final game of the season – qualifying rounds and the Intertoto cup do not count. Bearing this in mind it is advisable to pick at least some players that will be playing in European competition over the coming season.

If your team performs miserably then do not fear - there is two transfer windows (October and January). You can replace at most 3 players in each window but you must stick to the original rules and constraints.

You can also set up a *mini-league* in which you will need to pick 5 teams, the total of all 5 teams together will then be competing with other people that have done likewise.


~ How Much Can I Win? ~

This year the Sun is giving away £250,000 in prize money and there are over 60 ways to win a share of this.

First of all the top ten managers overall will g
et the following amounts respectively £100,000; £40,000; £10,000; £8,000; £5,000; £4,000; £3,000; £2,000; £1,000; £500. If a position is shared, say that there are two winners at no.1 spot with equal points, then the moneys of the two positions are added together and then divided by 2 (£100,000 + £40,000)/2 = £70,000 each.

£4,000 is given away each month to the player who has accumulated the most points over that month (9 months in total). £1,000 is also given away to the player who has moved up the most league places in that week.

Again, in the event of a draw, the money is divided equally. Also if there are no matches played in that week (probably due to international commitments) then the money is rolled-over into the new week (just like the national lottery eh!)

There are also prizes awarded to the best *mini-leagues* at the end of the season, which are £2,000; £1,000 and £500 respectively.


~ How Do I Enter? ~

There are two ways to enter this competition, either by telephone or Internet.

If you decide to enter by telephone, you will be charged at 60p per minute and typically last 7 minutes (£4.20) if you are quite handy on pressing the buttons quickly. I originally used this method some years ago and found it to be quite tedious, as you have to wait to hear a recorded message then a tone before you tap in the three-digit code of the player. You also need to give your details at the end of the call, and then write down a 12-digit PIN code, which is given to you by recorded messages. If you happen to make a mistake in your entry or your details are inaudible, then you have just wasted your money.

I would strongly recommend that you use the Internet to register as it so more convenient and easy to use. The web site is extremely well laid-out and aids you in the process of picking your team, constantly updating you on how much you have left to spend and keeps you informed as the whether you
r entry will be valid or not. It will cost you £5 per team or you can have 5 teams for the price of 4 (£20). Once you have selected your team(s), you will need to provide your credit/debit cards details and address and once processed you will receive an e-mail confirmation detailing your selections and your all important PIN code(s).



~ Keeping Track Of Your Score ~

When registering, you can elect to have SMS messages sent to your mobile phone weekly and/or monthly at a cost of 25p per message, you can choose to turn this on/off at will by changing the settings on the web site. Messages will only be sent to Vodafone, Orange, and O2 networks.

You can also check your teams progress at any time by going to the web site and logging-in with your PIN code – here you will be given comprehensive information on your team(s) performance and each individual player. If all of this is just too much for you then you can just check the newspaper every Monday.


~ Summary ~

In summary, I believe this to be the best fantasy football competition around, now with more chances of winning than previous years. I would also strongly recommend that if you do enter, register on-line rather then telephone, as it is a lot less hassle.

As the season progresses, I will update my profile with my current scores and positions and would love to hear from any of you who are also in the competition and perhaps compare notes.

You’ve got to be in it to win it!



Good luck! … Mark

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