The Barclays WSL and WSL2 Fantasy Game has launched and is available to users of the WSL Football app and visitors to www.wslfootball.com/fantasy from today.
The brand-new fantasy football experience is built specifically around the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Super League 2 with the intention to create weekly habit and bring fans closer to the players that feature in both leagues.
The game has been built in response to what fans said they wanted, after WSL Football surveyed and spoke to thousands of fans during the development process to build a game that is accessible to the widest possible audience both domestically and internationally.
The response was broad, but key themes that emerged were that the game needed to have community at the heart of it, that it catered for shorter commitments and gave players a reason to come back throughout the season.
With prizes for managers to win throughout and at the end of the season, five key things make Barclays WSL and WSL2 Fantasy different to other games.
Both leagues, one game – Players from all 26 clubs across the Barclays WSL and the Barclays WSL2 sit in a single squad pool. A manager can build a team mixing both tiers if they want to.
Six Legs, six fresh starts – In addition to the full season leaderboard, the season is split into six blocks called ‘legs’, each with its own leaderboard and its own prize. A bad start does not end the season because of the opportunity to win legs throughout the campaign.
Change the team between match days – Most fantasy games lock the entire team at one deadline before fixtures begin. In this game, managers can still move and switch the captain for players who have not yet kicked off once the matchweek begins.
Points for more than goals – Alongside goals and assists, players earn points for tackles, interceptions, blocks, recoveries, key passes, crosses and dribbles. A holding midfielder who never scores can still be one of the best picks in the game.
No price-rise – Player prices move, but players can always sell a player for exactly what they were paid for so nobody gets left behind for joining late or missing a price rise.
The game was developed in collaboration with SI (formerly Sportz Interactive) who were chosen following a competitive tender process. SI have experience building some of the biggest fantasy games in sport, understand how to build community and they have delivered a simple user-friendly interface that will make it accessible to both seasoned fantasy players and newcomers.
To play Barclays WSL and WSL2 Fantasy, managers need to download the WSL Football app and go to relevant button where they can start building their team.
Although the game is available now, with the transfer window still open and player registrations still pending, not all squads will be complete but it will continue to be updated and populated with new player profiles until the beginning of the season.
The format
The general format of Barclay WSL and WSL2 Fantasy will be familiar to anyone who has played similar fantasy games before.
For WSL Football, Fantasy exists to provide an accessible route for fans to connect with the women’s game and turns passive watching into something active, strategic, and personal. It gives fans a reason to follow every match, discover players across every club, and feel genuinely invested in the season.
Managers pick 15 players, starting 11 with four subs and have a budget of £100m. Managers can only pick three players from one club with two free transfers every match week, a wild card to rebuild the squad and a free hit for a one-week change and captains score double points.
Where the game differs is that there is a single player pool, so managers have the option to pick players from across both the Barclays WSL and Barclays WSL2.
Including Barclays WSL and Barclays WSL2 in the game deepens the pool of available players to managers and increases jeopardy in the game because it encourages differentials and means that there will be fewer identical teams.
There is no minimum or maximum requirement limit, so managers have the choice to pick from just one league or combine both and it is the same scoring for players, no matter which league they play in.
Legs
To keep managers engaged and give them multiple opportunities to win throughout the season, they are never out of the running because the season is split into six blocks, called ‘Legs’. Each leg has its own leaderboard and prize, meaning every manager is competing in two competitions at once.
The season table never resets, but the leg table resets to zero for everyone at the start of each new leg. This means that a bad start or a bad week doesn’t mean the end of the season. Managers get a fresh start and another opportunity to win when a new leg begins.
It also means new managers can join during the season because although they wouldn’t be able to win the full season, they could still win a leg.
There are six legs, each lasting between three and six match weeks. They follow the football calendar, with breaks where the season naturally pauses.
Data
Players are scored by utilising official OPTA match data with live match and action highlights made available on the WSL Football app.
Alongside points for goals, assists and clean sheets, players score points for work all over the pitch.
For example, every players can earn points for attacking actions such as shots on target, key passes, successful crosses, successful dribbles or defensive actions such as tackles won, interceptions, clearances, blocks, recoveries.
There is no cap so players can still post a big score without ever getting on the scoresheet or keeping clean sheet.
The three best performers in every match earn extra points too with three points for the best, two for the second, one for the third and captain’s whole score is doubled, including bonus points.
With thanks to the WSL
