Sign up for the Champions League
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The Rules
Here is roughly how the game works:
- Pick one club every matchday to play with.
- If your club wins, you earn 3 points.
- A draw earns you 1 point.
- You may pick the same club a maximum of 3 times per season.
- You have 2 jokers to double your points on a matchday:
- 1 joker in the group stage
- 1 joker from the playoffs onward
- From the semi-final onward, your points are automatically doubled:
- Win = 6 points
- With joker = 12 points
- In the final, your points are automatically tripled:
- Win = 9 points
- With joker = 18 points
For the complete rules, click here.
An example
Piotr picks Ajax in Round 1. Ajax plays Benfica that round and wins 7-1. Piotr earns 3 points for Ajax's win, 7 goals for and 1 goal against.
Jetta picks PSG in Round 1. PSG plays Club Brugge and the match ends 0-0. Jetta earns 1 point for PSG's draw. In the standings we see this
| Name | Points | Goals for | Goals against | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piotr | 3 | 7 | 1 | +6 |
| Jetta | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
In Round 2, Piotr picks Napoli. Napoli plays Galatasaray that round and loses 1-4. Piotr earns 0 points for Napoli's loss, 1 goal for and 4 goals against.
Jetta picks Olympiakos in Round 2. Olympiakos plays Bodø/Glimt and wins 2-1. Jetta earns 3 points for Olympiakos's win, 2 goals for and 1 goal against. In the standings we see this
| Name | Points | Goals for | Goals against | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jetta | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Piotr | 3 | 8 | 5 | +3 |
Suppose Jetta had used a joker in Round 2. Then her Round 2 result would have doubled, to 6 points, 4 goals for and 2 goals against.
Good tactics
We don't know what a good tactic is. It comes down to knowledge, skill, insight and pure luck.
There are 33 matchdays and 36 clubs. You may pick each club a maximum of 3 times. Do you immediately pick the big club against the small one (e.g. Kairat vs Real Madrid) for an almost certain win by Madrid and thus 3 points? Or do you think Real will win the Champions League and only pick them from the semi-final onward?
We also don't know what a good tactic is for using jokers. It does seem better, though, to use a joker on a match where you think it's fairly certain your chosen club will win.
But in the end, everything always turns out differently than planned anyway.