Prepare yourself for the AFCON fantasy with this guide!

The kick-off for the 2019 AFCON is nearing. At RealFevr, you can already start building your Africa Fantasy squad! Before you dive into the competition, we thought it would be useful to give a quick round-up of the rules and basic strategy. This does not exempt you from reading the complete set of rules at RealFevr — consider yourself warned — but it should serve as a quick guide on how to play, if you’re new around here.

When you create your fantasy team, you’ll have a budget of 100M to build a squad with 2 goalkeeper, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 attackers. In the group stage and the round-of-16, you can have a maximum of three players from the same national team. In the quarter-finals the maximum rises to four, in the semi-finals it’s six and in the last gameweek (the final plus the 3rd and 4th place match) you can have up to 12 players from the same national team.

Tactics

After completing your squad of 15, you can prepare your starting XI for the first gameweek. You can use seven different tactics: 3–4–3, 3–5–2, 4–3–3, 4–4–2, 4–5–1, 5–4–1, 5–3–2. To change your tactical formation you can simply substitute someone from your starting XI with a player from the bench. If you’re in 4–4–2 and change a midfielder with an attacker, the team changes automatically to a 4–3–3. If you use manual substitutions (more on this below), you can change your tactics during the gameweek.

Captain and vice-captain

For captain and vice-captain you should pick the players that you believe will have the higher scores of the gameweek. Your captain’s score will be doubled, so the greater the outcome of his performance, the more you’ll benefit. If your captain doesn’t play in the gameweek, the vice-captain will have his points doubled; otherwise, the vice-captain has no benefit. If you use manual substitutions, you can change your captain during the gameweek. In this case, the best strategy is to give the armband to the player who plays first and keep changing it for every game, until you have a captain with a good score. This means that every player — not just the stars — is a potential captain when you use manual substitutions.

Substitutions

By default, your team will have the automatic substitutions turned on. With this option, if a player in your starting XI doesn’t play (not even 1 minute), he will be replaced by someone from the bench who has played. As mentioned before, if your captain doesn’t play, the vice-captain will have double points. The order in which the bench players will replace the ones that haven’t played is the order in which you organized your bench. This automatic changes will only take place at the end of the gameweek.

In the manual substitutions mode, you’re in charge of everything. To activate this mode, you just have to make a substitution or change of captain after the gameweek lock (1 hour before the first match). With manual mode on, you can change your captain in every game — but beware, once you change it, you can’t go back. You can give the armband only to players who are yet to play. You will also have the advantage of being able to take off the pitch someone who has already played. If you have someone with a disappointing score, you can replace him with someone from the bench. The substitute must be someone who hasn’t played yet. When using the manual substitutions, the best strategy is to leave on the bench the players whose matches will take place in the later days of the gameweek. You’ll give a chance to the ones who play first and replace them when they disappoint you. Beware: if a player is sent off with a red card, you won’t be able to replace him, nor can you remove the armband if he was your captain.

Transfers

For each new gameweek, you can transfer players to and from your squad. For gameweeks 2 and 3, the group stage, you can make two transfers. For gameweek 4, the round-of-16, you have unlimited free transfers. In the remaining gameweeks, you have 10 transfers. If you don’t use all your available transfers, you can have 2 more in the next gameweek. Every transfer you make beyond the free limit will result in a 4 points penalty on your score.

WildCard

You have access to a WildCard that you can use in whichever gameweek you choose. When active, the WildCard allows you to make unlimited transfers for the next gameweek. You can change all the squad as many times as you want until the market closes (1 hour before the first match of the gameweek). When the market for a gameweek closes, you can start making transfers for the next one. (However, this is a bad idea: you should wait for as long as you can, because of late injuries and other problems that arrive).

Scores and criteria

RealFevr’s World Fantasy has a total of 15 statistics scored. To see the complete list and how many points each action earns, please check the Rules page inside the competition. You’ll also find there the criteria we use, so you can understand who receives the clean-sheet points and what is considered an assist, etc.

Conclusion

With this information, you are in possession of a basic kit to start your adventure at the Africa Fantasy. Check our six Previews of all the groups in the AFCON (here are the links: A, B, C, D, E, F), they will help you pick your team. Then, head to RealFevr.com and start experimenting with your squad! You have unlimited transfers until the competition starts.

Bonus

If you want some more tips for the competition, check the video below, made by our partners of DZ Football: