Introduction

Champions Fantasy 2011-2012 is an online fantasy sports game, where the value of your virtual team mirrors actual sporting events.

It's easy to get started

Given an imaginary budget of £50 Million you must buy players to put together the best 11 man team possible. Real-life performances of your players will be reflected in their overall values according to the point system:

Point system

During the game you can optimize your team by selling and buying players. As a manager, you must continually stay sharp by reacting to real-life events such as injuries, suspensions, current form, upcoming fixtures and transfers.

What else is important?

Objective of the game: Increase the overall value of your team

This is done primarily by buying players who will make an increase in value due to good real-life performances. Thus your task as team-manager is to buy and sell the right players at the right time. Just keep in mind that you have to pay a transfer fee of 1 % of the purchased player's price (does not apply for Game round 1) - an expense that should be taken into consideration in comparison to the value-increase you expect from that player in the time to come.

The game is divided into Game rounds

The change in the overall value of your team for each Game round depends upon your lineup for that particular Game round - this implies of course the matches that makes up that Game round! This is particularly important in the event of postponed matches (not very likely to happen in Champions League but the possibility of postponed matches can not be ruled out completely). View Game Rounds

As a general rule it's a good idea to navigate your way around the game for a while, getting to know the game rules, point system and various functions. Being familiar with the game is always a good way to stay ahead of competition. By clicking around you will also find that you are able to "go deeper" and find additional information regarding yours and other managers' teams, player statistics etc.

Player units and formations

Defenders, midfielders and strikers respectively makes up a "unit" on your team. When buying players you can choose among the following formations:

5-4-1    5-3-2    4-5-1    4-4-2    4-3-3    3-5-2    3-4-3

Example: If you chose a 3-5-2 formation you must buy 3 defenders, 5 midfielders and 2 strikers for your team and in addition - of course - a goalkeeper. The formation can always be changed when you are buying players - just make sure that your current lineup doesn't conflict with the new formation you want e.g. you can not choose the 4-5-1 formation if you have 2 strikers on your team and you must make room by selling one of your strikers.

Money not spent on players remain in your "bank" - available to be used for future transfers. The overall starting value for all teams (incl. money in the bank) is always £50,000,000.

Team restrictions

Until the quarterfinals you can have a maximum of 4 players from the same real-life club. For example, you can decide if you want all your strikers to be from the same club. This limitation will be removed when round 9 (quarterfinals) starts and you are then only limited by your team-economy.

Deactivated players

Players from teams that are knocked knocked out of the Champions League will be deactivated by the end of that particular Game round.

Deactivated players...

• are indicated by a red cross (a big red X) in the graphical team view.
• can be sold when "Player trading" is open, but they can no longer be bought.
• will no longer change in value!

Roster updates

We strive to maintain updated team-squads but ultimately your team lineup is your own responsibility! No compensation will be given due to transfers, sackings, removal from official CL squads etc.

Game rounds

A fundamental element of the game is that the Champions League season is divided into "Game rounds". A Game round contains a set of of real-life matches, and value-changes in the game will be given to your team based on these mathces.

A Game round starts when the transfer market opens, and continues until all matches for that Game round have been played, updated and verified and the player trading opens again for the following Game round. Thus, each Game round consists of:
[possibility of trading players - matches - verification of results].

Each real-life club usually plays one match per Game round, but we can not rule out the possibility of postponed matches. In the event of postponed matches or matches being placed outside the "normal" matchdays etc. these matches will be rescheduled and placed in the most appropriate "Game round" or - in a worst case scenario - be removed completely from the game. Ultimately this can result in a situation of real-life clubs playing either none or two matches in a particular Game round.

If you have player(s) from a real-life club that plays two mathes in one Game round, your player(s) will receive value-changes for both mathces.

Deadline for Game round 1

In order to receive value-changes (same as "points") from the very start, your team must be complete and activated before the scheduled start of the first match in Game round 1 - Tuesday, September 13th 20:45 CET.

Regarding 'Game rounds' you should be aware of:

• Starting time for matches: All changes to your team (player trading, captain change etc.) must be made prior to the first match (i.e. scheduled time of first match).
• Real-life Matchups: Any heavy favourites? Does this call for trading players or changing your captain?
• Postponed matches? These can result in teams playing either no mathes OR two matches in a particular Game round. If you have players from the teams involved you should act accordingly.

We strongly recommend that you make sure to have all changes on your team completed well in time, as to avoid any problems like failed internet connection etc.

Captain

From your 11 players you must choose a 'Captain' for your team. Your captain's value will increase or decrease as usual for each Game round, but if his value has increased, an equivalent amount will additionally be deposited directly into your bank account. This means that your captain "scores double" for your team.

Assigning one of your players as captain is completely free, so you would do best to always choose the player that you expect will gain the most value during a Game round. Change of captain is part of your team management and is thus possible only when the player trading is open!

Please note that your captain's bonus is not given to the player but goes directly into your team's bank account. Your captain bonus for each Game round will be shown in the "Captain bonus" field on your team page.

Transfer fees

Tweaking your team and trading players is one of the most exciting aspects of the game, but keep in mind that you have to pay a transfer fee of 1 % of the purchased player's price!

As a consequence of this, players are actually a little more expensive than their price tag suggests. Example: If you want to buy a player costing £5.000.000 you'll end up paying £5.050.000 because of the 1 % transfer fee (5.000.000 + 50.000).

No transfer fees are charged in Game round 1!

Also no transfer fees are charged for "new teams". This means that teams created after Game round 1 can be managed "cost-free" until the deadline of that particular Game round (when Player trading closes).

Rollback trades (feature for "Gold level teams" only)

This feature allows you to trade players well in time. If you for some reason have second thoughts about a trade you can regret it and "roll back" to your previous lineup. Obviously this is only possible for trades made within the Game round and only before the "Player trading" deadline. You will find the "Rollback trades" tab on your team page.

When to trade players?

If one of your players is injured, suffering from poor form, not playing in the upcoming Game round or if you have spotted a new talent or simply another player, who you think will perform better, it might be a good idea to venture out into the transfer market. Just keep in mind that the player you buy - compared to the player you sell - should always be able to perform well enough to make up for the cost of the transfer fee.

Selecting players

There is no sure-fire recipe for success, because you'll never know how a certain player will perform in the upcoming match. To excel you will need a combination of luck and skill (based on knowledge and research). However, the following considerations may help you select players:

• What is his price compared to the value increase you can expect from him? It may seem obvious that more expensive players will experience the greatest value-increase, but you will always be able to find some players who are relatively low-priced compared to their performance on the pitch. A fundamental element of the game is to find those "bargain" players who has a great potential for value increase compared to their price tag.
• What real-life club does he play for? Does he play for a winning club, allowing him to increase in value based on the performance of his team mates, or does he play for a struggling club, forcing him to increase in value solely by his own performance? Will his team face easy or tough opponents in the upcoming Game rounds?
• How much playing time does he usually get? Some players are used primarily as reserves and wil thus spend most of the time on the bench. Players who doesn't get on the pitch when his club is playing, will get -5.000 no matter how his club performs, since he has had no influence on the result of the match.

Game-update and verification

Matches are updated live. This means that you can follow your players' value-changes during the matches. Value-changes for wins, draws, losses, game-winning goals etc. are given immediately after the match is finished.

Live-updates are provisional, and need to be verified (green flag in the "Game round" tab) before they are deemed valid. The matches in Champions League Fantasy are verified the morning after being played.

On some occasions a Game round runs for several days. The transfer market will open approx. 14:00 CET. the day after the last match of the Game round.

Once the results are validated and the game is unlocked (i.e. Player trading opens for the following Game round), the updated results will usually remain in force – even in case of subsequent real-life changes (e.g. cancellation of a yellow card, change of goal scorer etc.). However Swush.com reserves the right to assess such changes individually and make changes if we find it necessary. Swush.com are also the final and sole judge in all disputes.

Hidden teams

• Game round 1: All teams are hidden until the transfer market locks down for the first time.
• All other game rounds: It is never possible to see what player changes and captain swaps another team has made, until the transfer market is closed. As long as the transfer market is open, the team composition from the previous round will be displayed.

When viewing other managers' teams, you will always be shown the last locked team. It is not possible to see other managers' teams for the actual game round, until the transfer market is closed. The first time that all teams are locked is when the first match of the first game round kicks off. Until then all teams are hidden, and if you try to access another manager's team page you will get the message "This is a snapshot of the team from the previous game round".

The game end

Champions League Fantasy ends when the last match is finished, updated and verified apx. May 20th 2012.