How the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge works
The rules of the official EuroLeague Fantasy game in plain English: 100 credits, ten players and a head coach, captain doubles, bench scores half, and the club limit that breaks most squads.
The squad
You are a general manager with 100 credits. You sign ten players, four guards, four forwards and two centers, plus one head coach. Players score their real PIR from that round of EuroLeague games, plus 10% of its absolute value when their team wins (20 PIR in a win is 22 points; −3 becomes −2.7).
No more than 6 players from the same club. The rule exists to stop you stacking a superteam, and it is the constraint that most often forces a rethink halfway through building a squad.
Court, sixth man and bench
Not all ten score the same. Five players start on court and score in full. The sixth man also scores in full. The remaining four score half. Your formation decides which positions occupy the court: 2-2-1, 1-2-2, 2-1-2, 1-3-1, 3-1-1, written as guards-forwards-centers.
That makes the formation a scoring decision. If your two best players are centers, a formation that leaves one of them on the bench throws away half of his production before the round starts.
The captain
One player is captain and scores double. The instinct is to captain the most expensive name in the squad. The better question is whose floor is highest this round: a doubled bad night costs you twice, and star centers carry huge variance because of foul trouble.
The head coach
The coach is a full scoring slot with his own table, driven by whether his team wins and by how much. Because he is priced independently of his squad, a mid-table coach at home against a weak opponent is often the cheapest reliable production on the board.
The table: a win by 1-10 points or in overtime is +10, by 11-20 is +20, by more than 20 is +25. A loss by 1-10 or in overtime is −5, by 11-20 is −10, by more than 20 is −20. He scores even if he is ejected or absent.
How prices change
After each round a player's price moves by (Fantasy points − 1.1 × price) / 25 credits, rounded to one decimal with halves going up. To keep his price he needs Fantasy points equal to 1.1 times his price. If his team plays and he does not, he loses 0.1; no price goes below 4.0. A coach's price moves by (points − price) / 40.
Where the edge actually is
Prices are published before the season and built on last season. The market has no data yet on new signings, changed roles or a new rotation, and that information does exist: it is sitting in preseason box scores that almost nobody tabulates. Minutes in September are the cheapest available signal about October.
Frequently asked
- How many players do I pick?
- Ten players and one head coach: four guards, four forwards and two centers. You have 100 credits to pay for all of them.
- How does the captain work?
- The captain scores double PIR. Picking a captain is a variance decision as much as a quality one: you want the highest floor among your best players, not the biggest name.
- Do bench players score?
- Yes. The sixth man scores 100% and the rest of the bench 50%, so your formation is a scoring decision and not a cosmetic one.
- How many players from one club can I have?
- A maximum of 6 players from the same club.
- How do prices change?
- After each round: (Fantasy points − 1.1 × price) / 25, rounded to one decimal. He keeps his price by scoring 1.1 times it; not playing while his team plays costs 0.1, and nothing goes below 4.0.
- Does the head coach score?
- Yes, on his own scale, driven by the result and the margin of his game. A cheap coach facing a weak opponent is one of the best value plays on the board, and the slot most managers ignore.
See it on real games
Box scores for all 20 EuroLeague clubs, preseason included, with prices, projections and a fair price per player.
See what is inside