Club World Cup Fantasy: How Does the Fantasy Game Work in FIFA CWC 2025?

Are you suffering from a Fantasy Football hangover? The months of June and July are off-season months in football with no club action. But the scene has changed now as FIFA introduced an expanded Club World Cup for the first time. And guess what? The Club World Cup Fantasy is live.

32 clubs from across the world will be in action soon in the United States of America. It mirrors a similar format of international tournaments, but with domestic clubs. If you are familiar with World Cup and Euros fantasy, you can get going without a hustle. But if you are not, we are here to take you through the basics of the game so you can hop in and manage your team to glory. Let us take a look at the rules, points, chips, and important games to target for the FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy.

What are the Basic Rules for FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy?

Club World Cup Fantasy follows a similar template to all the popular football fantasy games. It is free to play but requires a signed-in account to register and play the game. The game gives us a virtual currency of $100 million for the group stage games. The purse increases to $105 million from the knockouts.

The makeup of the team is standard: two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders, and three attackers. A maximum of three players from the same club can be selected in the group stages. From the knockouts, this limit increases. A total of 4,5,6, and 8 players from the same club can be used in the squad from the Round of 16 to the finals, respectively.

From the selected squad of 15, an 11-player team has to be drafted. The lineup must have a goalkeeper. The standard formations available are:

Transfers can be used to make changes to the squad at any given point. However, there is a limit on free transfers. The game gives us unlimited transfers to use until the first matchday. This means you can make infinite changes to your squad till the deadline, which is 1 am GMT on Sunday, June 15. However, once the tournament starts, there is a limit on free transfers. You can find the limit below:

Transfers during the group stage can be rolled over into the next matchday. If you want to use additional transfers for a matchday, you can do so, but it will cost you dearly. Every additional transfer beyond the permissible free limit will cost you back by three points each. This is popularly called taking a hit in fantasy football terms.

One major point of difference between FPL and Club World Cup fantasy is that the player prices are locked throughout the tournament here. So there is no rush to make a move hastily in the hope of avoiding a price hike/drop.

Moving on to substitutions, you can switch the bench according to your heart’s desire before every matchday. The three remaining outfielders on the bench can be set in priority order of 1-3. After the matchday is live, the substitutions can take place either manually or automatically.

An automatic substitution takes place when a player in the starting lineup doesn’t feature for 90 minutes. In that case, the player from the bench will replace the player in the lineup, sticking to the available formations. Automatic substitutions take place at the end of a matchday.

There is a method of manual substitutions as well. If a player in the starting lineup fares poorly, the manager can choose to substitute him by choosing a player from the bench who has not yet played. As expected, the player who has played and subbed out will not contribute to the points tally, and the subbed-on player’s score will be considered. So it’s a double-edged sword when making the manual sub as it can go either way.

How do Player Score Points?

Now comes the interesting part of any fantasy game. Let us see how each player earns points. It is determined by their actions on the pitch. The Club World Cup fantasy points are more rewarding for different actions like tackling and chance creation. The bonus point system is revamped and makes the manager pick more differentials.

All Players

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Forwards

Bonus Points

Now, the important case of captaincy comes up. Captains are the superstars of any fantasy team. Who simply doesn’t like doubling their returns? You can just pick a player from a starting eleven and make them the captain. The captain will earn twice their normal points. A vice-captain armband is also available, and if the captain misses out, the vice-captain will become the captain. In the rare event of both captain and vice-captain not playing the game, you will be left with no captain on the pitch.

Now, just like the manual substitutions, captains can be changed around as well. A captain who has already performed can be replaced by a player who has yet to play. Just like how the subs work, the ex-captain’s doubled tally will go down, and the new captain will instead double their quota.

Are there any Chips in FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy?

Chips to a fantasy manager are what infinity stones are to Thanos. They can massively change the fortunes of your game and influence your position in the league tables. Club World Cup fantasy chips are known as Boosters. Only 1 Booster or Club World Cup fantasy chip is allowed per matchday, and each booster can only be used once throughout the tournament.

Let us take a dive and learn about boosters.

Wildcard

Ah, this is the classic. Not many will say no to a clean slate, giving them a chance to start over. As there is no price change, you can wipe your entire squad out and build it from scratch if you feel like it. This can be used on any matchday except the first matchday and the round of 16. Once confirmed, there is no going back from this, so beware before you hit the switch.

12^th Man

Although the term is not regularly associated with football, FIFA brought some new meaning to it. You can choose a 12^th player from outside your 15-man squad, and they can earn points and add them to your tally. The 12^th man can neither be substituted, nor be captained, nor be transferred. There is no budget and team restriction on the 12^th man, meaning you can go all guns blazing by targeting an important fixture.

Maximum Captain

This is a bit similar to the triple captain chip in FPL, but not so similar to it. Here, the game does its best for you as it auto-selects the highest-scoring member of your 11 and makes them the captain. So you can never go wrong with a captaincy choice for the week if you hit this button unless no player in your squad returns impressively.

Mystery Booster

FIFA took inspiration from FPL for this booster as they revealed there'll be a new booster that won't be revealed until the later stages. It will only come into play after the group stages conclude and the knockouts are locked. So, plan your other boosters around this carefully.

What are the important fixtures for your FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy team?

Since there is no Fixture Difficulty Rating available in the game, it becomes important to choose the fixtures to target. Managers can target the games of European giants and teams in form. The games of Paris Saint-Germain promise to be goal-scoring affairs, making them an ideal choice to target. Here is our list of the top 5 fixtures in the group stage to target for the 2025 Club World Cup fantasy points.

So without further delay, log in to the game and start managing your dream squads and dominate the world.