World Cup Fantasy Football 2014 McDonald’s FIFA format review

Continuing my review of the different World Cup fantasy football formats.   Here’s my thoughts on the World Cup fantasy football 2014 McDonald’s format

FIFA MCDONALDS FORMAT

Overview

You can find the fantasy game by going to www.fifa.com.  Available worldwide I believe

Currently has over 200k users and a first prize of a car and a number of replica shirts to runners up.

You have a 23 man squad.  16 are  split in a fairly standard way between GK, DEF, MIDS and FWDS.   There’s also 5 additional players you can have from any position.  11 players score points in each round with automatic substitutions.  It seems that you can change your team as the rounds go  as long as the players haven’t played.   It starts with a maximum of 3 players from each team although that obviously increases as the tournament progresses.

There are no transfers during the 3 initial phases of the world cup group phase and after that its unlimited during the knockout phases.  Player values do not flucuate.

The scoring has some unusual aspects around the usual scoring.  The main ones are, every shot blocked for an outfield player has 2 points.  Every 2 balls delivered into the penalty area gains a point.  Every ball recovered (I’m assuming that means tackles and intereceptions) also creates a point.  Every 3 fouls is -1.  There’s also a bonus point for save rates, pass completion rates and atempts rate depending on position

FFGeek view

I guess if you’re trying to put a positive spin on the scoring rules you would call it “innovative”.  If you’re putting a negative spin on it then you would call the scoring method “impossible to predict”.  I’ve been on alot of other sites and there’s talk of doing a 5-4-1 with 5 defenders 4 CDMs and 1 striker as there are some theories that the ball recovered stat alone could give a CDM 4 points per game.  Surely thats not what the world cup fantasy football 2014 is about, cheering on a tackle and a blocked shot?

Please if you have any views or if you think I’m missing something please tell me.   On what I’ve seen it’s just too unpredicatable and we won’t be entering a team into the competition

The full rules are at the bottom of the article

FIFA MCDONALDS FULL RULES:

Table of Contents

1. The Game
2. Your Squad
3. Rounds
4. Leagues
5. Scoring
6. Winning

1. THE GAME
Putting together a squad from the best players at the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ takes skill, research and shrewdness. All managers start off equal, with a budget to spend on their Fantasy team. Balance that budget, make sure you have the stars that are sure to shine brightest and score you valuable points, but also, always make room for those potential surprises that could make all the difference.

You can still join the game after the tournament has started, but you will not score any points for past rounds that you have missed.
After your squad is complete, you must select 11 players for your line-up.
Players can only play in their designated position. For example, you can’t play a designated defender as a midfielder or forward.
Players will be assigned a designated position for the duration of the fantasy game. The position they land up playing in an actual match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup is not relevant to the fantasy scoring. Fantasy points will be calculated based upon a player’s fixed fantasy position.

2. YOUR SQUAD
Have a look at the list of available players on the transfer market and set up your squad. It`s one squad per manager and multiple squads will be deleted.
You have an initial budget to set up your squad. You must have 23 players in your squad.
Squads must consist of at least:

• 2 Goalkeepers
• 6 Defenders
• 6 Midfielders
• 4 Forwards

There will then be 5 additional squad places to be filled. Mangers can assign these 5 places to players from any position. Will you spend big on strikers or save budget by signing defenders?

You can have a maximum of three players from each individual national team. This limit is raised throughout the competition as teams are eliminated. The player limits are:

From your squad you must select 11 players to form your starting team. Only starting players will earn points for your team.

Should one of your starting 11 not actually play in a round, then a player from the same position on your bench will come on. Only a player who plays in the same position can be substituted in.

Please note that your team and any changes you make will save automatically. There is no save button.

You can change every player in your line-up that has not already played during the current round for any other relevant player in your squad that hasn’t already played.

If you don`t make any changes to your team the current team will continue to score points for you.

3. ROUNDS
Please find a list of the rounds below:

Once a round is over and points have been finalized (points will be finalized a few minutes after a round is completed), select the round from the dropdown box under “latest scores”. You can then see the points tally for that particular round.

You can modify your squad throughout the season in the transfer market. The transfer market is opened during the official rest days of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™.

The values of players will NOT fluctuate in the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ McDonald’s Fantasy game.

Fantasy managers that finish in first, second and third position for a round will receive the respective round’s prize. (See the prizes page for full details). A manager can only win one (1) round prize for the duration of the game. If a manager who has already won a round prize finishes in the top 3 for another round they will be ineligible for that second prize and such a prize will be awarded to the next best manager in the rankings. A manager can, however, win both one round prize and one overall prize for McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy.

4. LEAGUES
Every manager goes into the overall league, but it’s much more fun to take on your friends and colleagues in a mini-league. There is no limit to the number of mini-leagues you can join. You can allow anyone to join your mini-league, protect it with a password or only allow managers who support the same club to join in. Simply go to My Leagues and go through the process of either joining or creating a league. Please note however that the official prizes only apply to the official 2014 FIFA World Cup™ McDonald’s Fantasy game and not to the mini-leagues.

5. SCORING
Every player receives points for what he does on the pitch, based on the statistic analysis of the match. Depending on their success, players will receive positive or sometimes even negative points. The following points are awarded during the evaluation:

BONUSES (are available only if a player plays more than 31 minutes)

* An assist is awarded to a player who plays the final successful pass which leads to a goal. Please note that assists are not awarded to players who are fouled for free-kicks or penalties which lead to goals, for own goals or for goals which result from rebounds off other players or the woodwork.

Your team captain, which you can change for each round, will score double points. If you fail to select a captain then no player will score double points.

6. WINNING
The fantasy manager who finishes in first place on the overall leaderboard for McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy at the end of the game will be declared the contest winner and win the Grand Prize.

There are also nine (9) runners-up prizes to be won. The fantasy managers that finish in second through tenth position on the overall leaderboard at the end of the game will receive the respective runner-up prizes.

There are also seven separate round prizes within the McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy game. The respective round winner will be the fantasy manager that finishes in first place on the respective round’s leaderboard at the conclusion of that respective round. Points will be finalized a few minutes after a round is completed. To view the round results, select the round from the dropdown box under “latest scores” once the round is over. Managers that finish in first, second and third place for each round will receive a round prize. (Please see the prizes page for full details). However, a fantasy manager can only win one (1) round prize for the duration of the game. In the event that a manager who has already won a round prize, finishes in the top 3 for another round, the prize will be awarded to the next best eligible fantasy manager.

A fantasy manager can win both one overall prize and one round prize for McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy. Please see the prizes page for full details.

TIES: In the event of a tie, the respective prize winner(s) will be decided by a random prize draw made from those tied entries. Such random prize draw shall be made by FIFA in its sole discretion and FIFA’s decision shall be final.