The 1-minute summary
World Cup Fantasy 2026 is FIFA's free official fantasy game for the 2026 World Cup, hosted at play.fifa.com/fantasy. You build a 15-man squad under a £100m budget, pick 11 starters per matchday, choose a captain (who scores double points), and accumulate points based on goals, assists, clean sheets, appearances and bonus across the tournament. The manager with the highest total at the end of the final wins the global mini-league.
Budget and squad rules
The squad is 15 players: 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders, 3 forwards. Maximum 3 players from any one nation. Total spend cannot exceed £100m. Player prices start between £4.0m (budget rotation enablers) and £15m+ (premium attackers from top-tier nations). The squad is locked when the tournament starts but you can make a limited number of free transfers per matchday — additional transfers cost 4 points each.
How points are scored
Points are awarded per player per match. Appearance points: 1 for any minutes, 2 for 60+ minutes. Goals: 6 for forwards, 5 for midfielders, 6 for defenders, 6 for goalkeepers. Assists: 3 for all positions. Clean sheets: 4 for defenders/goalkeepers, 1 for midfielders (60+ min only). Penalty saves: 5. Penalty misses: -2. Yellow cards: -1. Red cards: -3. Own goals: -2. Bonus points: 1-3 for the top three performers per match (based on the official bonus point system).
Captaincy and the multiplier
You nominate one captain per matchday. The captain's score is multiplied by 2. If your captain doesn't play, the vice-captain's score is multiplied instead. Picking the right captain is the single highest-leverage decision per matchday. Our /fantasy/captain page surfaces a 7-player ranked shortlist with rationale for each pick.
Matchday deadlines
Each matchday's deadline is the kickoff time of the first fixture in that matchday. For Group Stage Matchday 1, that's 11 June 2026 at 19:00 UTC (Mexico v South Africa kickoff). All your squad changes — transfers, captain selection, starting XI — must be locked before that deadline. Late changes do not count.
Chips and boosters
FIFA's WC Fantasy game offers limited-use chips during the tournament. Triple Captain (3x captain score for one matchday), Bench Boost (substitutes' scores count for one matchday), Free Hit (unlimited free transfers for one matchday, squad reverts after), Wildcard (unlimited free transfers permanently). Each chip can only be used once. Strategic chip ordering is one of the biggest differentiators between top and average managers.
How Onside can help
We publish the captain shortlist, differentials, value board and projected returns per matchday. Read the brief, then implement in the official FIFA app at play.fifa.com/fantasy — we're not affiliated with FIFA. Our edge is the model: every pick comes with a transparent AI proj number, fixture difficulty and one-line rationale, all updated hourly.
Points per action, by position
| Action | GK | DEF | MID | FWD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playing 1–59 minutes | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Playing 60+ minutes | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Goal scored | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Assist | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Clean sheet (60+ min) | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Penalty save | 5 | — | — | — |
| Penalty miss | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 |
| Yellow card | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 |
| Red card | −3 | −3 | −3 | −3 |
| Own goal | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 |
| Bonus (top 3 in match) | 1–3 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 1–3 |
Source: FIFA World Cup Fantasy 2026 official rules. Captain multiplier 2x applies on top of all values above.