This Friday, Germany take on Scotland in Munich to kick off UEFA EURO 2024. Although a full month of top-class European football is a mouthwatering prospect on its own, I know a way to milk it for even more fun. Play Fantasy Football!

For those unfamiliar with the concept, Fantasy Football is an online game where you create a team featuring players from a real-life competition and win points for their actions on the pitch. Whoever collects more points for the whole competition, wins. Easy to play, hard to master.

So let me share my experience and best practices I acquired over many seasons of playing the UEFA Champions League, UEFA EURO and FIFA World Cup Fantasy. Although I had my low seasons, I also finished in the Top 3 of the global leaderboard (that's 1.5 million fans!) in 2017, and have a Sony PlayStation 4 to prove it.

I won't be telling which players to buy and which teams to bet on, please refer to our free daily predictions on MightyTips for that or read a dozen of related articles on the official EURO 2024 website. But I firmly believe these general tips will boost your results if you follow them closely, be it your mini-league or the global one.

Ready for EURO 2024! ??#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/Fb7WEdgJff

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) March 26, 2024

General Fantasy Football tips

1. Invest your time
It will take time if you want to make educated decisions. Schedule at least an hour (or rather two) before the tournament to look into the confirmed squads, team and player recent form, notable absentees, and other news. You will then need additional 10-15 minutes almost every day until the final to make sure your transfers and subs are spot on.

2. Do not miss a single day
One point may not seem like a big deal. But trust me, there is nothing more annoying than losing a season-long battle to your friends by one point. Be committed to making subs and changing your captain every day the competition lasts. Small mini-league are more forgiving of course, but a single point on the global leaderboard can mean several hundred positions up or down.

3. Read the rules
You want to seize the opportunities and avoid hidden stones, don't you? So read the rules of the particular Fantasy game you are about to play. The UEFA official website always has decent Fantasy games for their premier competitions, and all of the below refers to their version of the official EURO 2024 Fantasy Football.

????% have picked Mbappé ??

?? How many of these popular #EUROfantasy players are in your team? ??#EURO2024 | @VisitQatar

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 11, 2024

Picking your Fantasy Football squad

4. Think teams, not players
A great goalkeeper playing for a weak team will likely score less than a mediocre goalkeeper playing for a strong defensive side. Look at the groups and mark the teams D (defense - likely to concede few) or A (attack - likely to score a lot). A team can also be both D and A, or a team can be none. As a rule, you will want to have your goalkeepers and defenders from the D teams, and your midfielders and strikers from the A teams.

5. Pick goalkeepers and defenders first
The teams with clean-sheet potential are harder to find than the high-scoring teams, and you can only pick a limited number of players from each team. So go for the rare commodity first.

6. Make sure your goalkeepers play on different days
You can make substitutions at the end of every matchnight and you definitely should if your first GK underperforms.

7. Select scoring defenders
Defenders get a hefty bonus for scoring and assisting, so while you should pick your back line from the D teams, make sure you select those with the potential to score. They are usually either tall centre-backs who are targeted at set-pieces like Virgil van Dijk, or attacking full-backs like Jo?o Cancelo.

8. Look for additional value in your attackers
Do not just select star starters from the A teams. Make sure they have something extra like taking corners, free-kicks or penalties. Avoid defensive midfielders and other players prone to collect a card.

16 years ago today, Luka Modri? scored on his first EURO appearance ????

He went on to be named in the Team of the Tournament ??#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/TJOlIE2txq

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 8, 2024

Selecting your Fantasy Football team captain

9. Have a captain candidate for each day
Your captain earns twice as many points in a Matchday, and you can have a new captain every day. Do your best to have a potential skipper for every day since matchdays at EURO are split over 2 to 5 days. Every time you don't have a player to nominate is a missed chance to win big.

Making Fantasy Football subs and transfers

10. Do your homework
Follow team news, check predicted lineups, and read tips. The EURO 2024 website has plenty of them. If you're not watching football, at least follow the results and know your way around who scored, who made an assist, and who converted a penalty.

11. Wait for the official line-ups before making any changes
Plan your transfers (between Matchdays) and subs (between matchnights) in advance, but only make them when the lineups for the early match have been announced. Although it won't cover all your players, any certainty is better than guessing. Just don't miss the deadline, i. e. the early match kick-off.

12. Think twice before making paid transfers
You will get free transfers after each Matchday depending on the stage of the competition. This is a crucial tool to replace injured and suspended players or bring in a star striker playing against a weak defense. But do not go overboard! Every transfer beyond the limit will deduct four points from your tally, and you can never be sure that the player you buy will repay you.

Christian Eriksen ??#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/vU2d2lvxbK

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 7, 2024

Using Fantasy Football boosters

13. Know your boosters
There are two in the official EURO 2024 Fantasy Football - Wildcard and Limitless. Wildcard gives you unlimited free transfers before a particular Matchday. Limitless allows you to pick a squad with no budget restrictions, but it reverts to the original once the Matchday is over. You only have one apiece for the whole championship.

14. Timing is paramount
Wildcard is a great way to correct mass squad selection mistakes or compensate for a favourite's unexpected exit. It is more of a reactive tool. Limitless, on the contrary, is proactive. Pick a Matchday with the most games that pitch powerhouses against heavy underdogs and go for it!

Planning ahead

15. Have a strategy for the whole competition
What transfers will you be making depending on the fixtures and the standings? When will you be using the boosters? Who will be your subs and your captains for each day? Sure enough, there will be injuries, suspensions, and other setbacks that will make you react. But having a plan is what separates a mediocre player from a good one. It's your call.