Why you should play Dream Team Draft this season - the most rewarding format in fantasy football

DREAM TEAM DRAFT is back for another season to provide gaffers with an alternative version of the UK and Ireland’s best fantasy football game.

Our classic Season game is bundles of fun but Draft offers something a little different and is arguable the most rewarding format available.

There’s nothing quite like one of your players scoring a hat-trick when you know you’re the only person in your mini-league set to benefit.

Draft pits you in a league against other managers, as you build a 15-man squad to take you to the top
Before your league starts you’ll take part in a live draft to choose your team, with no players in the league duplicated
That’s right, if you have Mohamed Salah in your team, then that means Bob from HR can’t have him
The game weeks work on a head-to-head basis, pitting you up against another manager in your league each week with three points for a win, zero points for a loss and one point for a draw
Unlike the Season game, Draft only counts points from Premier League matches. So cup and Euroepan competitions are excluded
Because it’s a head-to-head system, leagues must consist of even numbers with a minimum of four teams. Six or eight are probably the optimum league size

Your league chairman will be in charge of setting the specific rules
Generally, the live draft should take place before the start of your league season. Each manager will get 15 picks in total in an order following the ‘reverse snake’ format
That just means if you have the first pick in the first round, then you’ll have the last pick in the second round, the first pick in the third round, and so on
The Chairman can opt to change the Draft format to a linear order, but we wouldn’t suggest this to ensure parity for every mini-league member
You can host a live draft at any point in the season, so it doesn’t matter if you don’t get going before the season gets going

Most importantly, there are no budget restraints to stick to and no player prices
You must select at least one goalkeeper, three defenders, three midfielders and one striker in your 15-man squad
You cannot select more than two goalkeepers, 10 defenders, 10 midfielders and five strikers
To help yourself out, you can make a ‘watchlist’ before the Live Draft to keep track of the players you’re looking to sign
You can move players up and down in order of priority in your player list, with the most important ones at the top

You can also ‘ignore’ the ones you don’t want, who will then drop to the bottom of your player list
You can use the ‘auto select’ feature, which will automatically select players in order of your priority if you miss a go for some reason
Before each Game Week a manager must select a starting XI from their 15-man squad in one of the following formations: 3-4-3, 3-5-2, 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-5-1, 5-3-2, 5-4-1

Once the live draft is complete, that is your initial starting squad assembled
But if you’re not happy with your selections there are ways to change your squad once your league is up and running
You can trade players with other managers in your league, as long as you’re not in the middle of an active game week or during a lockout
You can also sign ‘free agents’, as there will inevitably be players that haven’t been picked in the initial live draft, who are essentially new signings that haven’t been picked by any other manager

Some free agents can become ‘restricted free agents’ if you want them to be, meaning everyone in the league can ‘bid’ on them. This is an advanced setting.
Player lockout will lift almost as soon as the final Premier League game of the Game Week has finished, which will then allow you to make trades or sign free agents

Captains – Allows you to pick a captain on your team each Game Week who will earn you double points
Reduced squads – Allows you to reduce squad size from 15 to 11 (7 in starting XI, like Weekender)
Draft Order – Switch to linear rather than reverse snake
Draft Turn Time – increase the time between turns on the live draft
Automatic subs – substitutes are automatically setup to replace injured players
Restricted free agents – make some free agents ‘restricted’ so they go up for bidding rather than being snapped up immediately
Trade approval – allows the Chairman to have the final say on any player trades within the league

Create a league and invite your friends and family to join – private leagues are not visible and require a pin to join
Get invited to a private league that has already been created
Join one of the public leagues and face off against different managers from around the world – these are visible to everyone and do not require invitation
Leagues must be an even number of at least four teams

Why you should play Dream Team Draft this season – the most rewarding format in fantasy football