“Ole, Ole, Ole, oh hey?” Are people actually playing daily fantasy soccer tournaments in the US? Well, yes and no honestly. While soccer ranks pretty far behind in popularity compared to other US sports, it does have a rapidly-growing fanbase. America’s own domestic professional league the MLS, has recently attracted massive international names to come play in the US including the widely-considered G.O.A.T. of international soccer Lionel Messi, who joined Inter Miami in 2023.
These major acquisitions have recently helped the league gain a reputable status as the most popular soccer league in North America and into the top ten leagues internationally for professional soccer. Fans of the MLS will fare a little better for daily fantasy tournaments, as these will usually have three to four time slots for classic tournaments on game days. International soccer fans will have a few consistent options for weekly games.
Regardless of which league, the weekends are definitely the most lively for daily fantasy tournaments in soccer. For those looking to participate, there are plenty of nuances with fantasy soccer that are helpful to know before officially entering a tournament. In the following article, we cover the main features of daily fantasy soccer that are essential for beginners to have before entering.
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Daily Fantasy Soccer Tournament Formats
Different tournament formats for daily fantasy competitions mean different rules and conditions. Things that can change are the number of players in a team, how points are counted and a number of other different possibilities. Luckily (for the sake of our memories), there are often only two main competitions that are must knows for daily fantasy tournaments when it comes to soccer.
Soccer DFS Classic Game Style
A staple tournament for any sport in daily fantasy is the ‘Classic’ game style. For tournaments in the ‘Classic’ format, participating teams will need to draft a player for each position until they have a full side. The tricky part is that you will have a maximum amount of salary to spend on your team as a whole. What a player’s salary costs is correlated to how many points they are predicted to get in that particular tournament. This limits teams from stacking up only on superstars which makes drafting a team more strategic and competitive.
There is a slate of at minimum two soccer games for each Classic tournament. Two is the minimum but there can be slates with up to 12 different games, or 24 different teams to draft players from. This is something that should be taken into account when debating whether to enter a tournament or not. A higher number of games may look more interesting, but the odds of winning is generally thought to decrease the more games there are to choose from.
The Showdown Game Style for DFS Soccer
Rounding out the main tournament styles offered for soccer is the ‘Showdown’ style of tournament. Everything here revolves around the player you designate as captain of your team. The captain will gain (or lose) 1.5X points as compared to other players on your team. Appropriately, it also costs 1.5X more than their regular salary price to designate a player as captain. We can already see why it can make or break your team who you decide to put in that captain position.
Each ‘Showdown’ style tournament is held for only one soccer game. Mono e mono means players can be drafted from one of only two teams in this format.
This is the biggest difference between this competition and the classic style, but its not the only one. With the captain out of the way, there are five regular spots to draft in order to round out your team. Unlike ‘Classic’ game styles, players can be slotted in regardless of their position. There is nothing stopping you from drafting a team full of defenseman if you so desire.
As long as you stay under the salary cap, all that matters is your team scores more than the others.
Breakdown for DFS Soccer Tournaments
| Classic Game Mode | Showdown Game Mode |
| The draft pool includes between 2 and 12 teams to draft from | The draft pool is always from one game |
| Must draft players from at least three teams (excluding goalie) | Must draft at least one player from each team |
| Players drafted must play the position they are drafted for | Players can be drafted regardless of position |
| Must fill eight different slots to complete a team | Must have one captain and five additional slots to complete a team |
| All players earn the same number of points for the same achievements | The team ‘captain’ will receive or lose 1.5X points |
The Main Soccer Leagues and Times for Daily Fantasy Tournaments
Daily fantasy sites are pretty consistent with the soccer tournaments being hosted. This is true as well for the leagues that the tournaments take place in. Despite there being a professional soccer league in almost every country in the world, there are considered to be only five main soccer leagues.
These are the leagues where the biggest talents play and that are watched worldwide. No, the MLS is not quite to that level of popularity but we will need to add it as well to give us six leagues where you can expect to find some action on daily fantasy games.
- English Premier League
- Spanish La Liga
- Italy’s Serie/Calcio A
- German Bundesliga
- France Ligue 1
- MLS (USA)
During each of these leagues’ respective seasons, the majority of games are played on the weekend. Expect to find most live tournaments being held accordingly on Saturdays and Sundays. Games in these leagues are played in European time zones which means Americans need to be up early to get an entry. Main time slots for daily fantasy soccer tournaments are 9:00 and 10:00 AM with lineups being released an hour before.
For a higher number of leagues to choose from, look for DFS offerings for the Champions League and Euro League competitions.
Which Soccer Tournaments Give Me the Best Chance of Winning?
Here at BullRunBetting, we play to have fun but more importantly to hit a return on our entry. We come here for the edge we need to be profitable. That starts with knowing which daily fantasy soccer tournaments are worth entering in the first place. Regardless of tournament type or unique factors, you should always be choosing tournaments where you are most familiar with the teams and players to draft from. Avoid Thus giving you an immediate advantage over the competition who may just be entering blindly.
With DFS soccer tournaments, we recommend following at least a few general tips in regards to picking tournaments:
- Try to limit the number of games included in a tournament to a maximum of four. Going any higher than this leads to uncertainty with so many teams and players.
- Smaller contest sizes tend to attract more novice players, and some will even restrict more experienced players from participating. This can be a good place to start for those just beginning competitive tournaments.
- Only enter tournaments with at least thirty minutes remaining before they start. This will give you time to check on starting lineups and latest news before finalizing a lineup.
Main Things to Consider when Drafting Teams for Soccer Tournaments
There are endless different techniques for drafting your team, and everyone is different in this regard. Putting aside personal preferences we do find that there are some logical strategies are worth adhering to. Knowing the basic ins and outs of daily fantasy soccer tournaments is vital to have any consistent success. Each sport has its own nuances with soccer being no exception.
Through the following sections we will outline the positions you should be targeting the most, what statistics you should be closely monitoring and more rules of soccer DFS.
Most Important Positions for Soccer Drafting and Budgeting
For classic DFS soccer tournaments, you will need to draft eight players to fill out a team. The players you draft will need to match the position drafted for. Each side will have two forwards, two midfielders, two defenders, a goalie and a utility player. The utility player can be any position other than goalkeeper.
For a regular competition, you will have a salary of $50,000 to spend drafting your team. Unlike other sports where this can be a major obstacle to overcome, for soccer this salary cap does not act as too big of a burden. The player’s price, in principle, should directly correlate to how likely they are to score a lot of points for your team.
Forwards are usually the highest-priced players as they are most likely to score goals. This also makes them a top priority when drafting a team. Center-backs and goalies are on the opposite end below $5,000 a player. The former will usually not be making your team, since fullbacks can fill those defender spots and are more prone to scoring. Lastly, we have the midfielders. They usually fit into the middle tier in terms of salary but can be priced higher or lower depending on the player and role he plays in the team.
How are Points Calculated and Which Statistics are Most Vital
Fantasy points will be awarded to players based on real-life statistics. Things like completed passes, shots, tackles and of course goals are tallied to the player’s final point totals. So what is the most points a player can earn for a single game-time feat? Scoring a goal of course, which will net a player ten points immediately. Completed passes are the lowest scoring at .02 points but come at a very high frequency. Players that are known for being good at controlling possession benefit the most here, like midfielders.
The most vital statistics for a DFS soccer player are getting shots on goals, making crosses into the box and being a consistent presence in a team’s offensive attack. In today’s modern game of soccer, this most often ends up being strikers, wingers and fullbacks.
Not every action will see a player gain points though, as fouls and cards being given will lose points for a particular player.
| Goals | Shots on Goal | Assists | Assisting Shot on Goal | Completed Pass | Crosses | Tackles Won | Goalie Saves |
| 10.00 | 2.00 | 5.00 | 1.00 | 0.02 | 2.00 | 1.00 | 2.00 |
Best Winning Payouts for Daily Fantasy Soccer
We have to be honest about daily fantasy soccer tournaments about the tournament sizes and payouts. They’re not very high compared to other sports like football or baseball. Yes, soccer is gaining in popularity but there is still a large gap to make up before it hits the fandom that other sports in the US command. Reflected by this gap are the tournaments on offer for DFS soccer. Most league-based tournaments will have very low player pools and a low prizes as well, around $100 with the highest prize being around $30.
When the Champions League and other international tournaments come around then the prize pools will typically be higher. For any DFS tournament however, make sure to check out offerings for upcoming games a few days before they are scheduled to be played, so you get access to the best offerings.
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