World Cup fans sign up for virtual football game linked to the tournament CAIRO: I was sitting with my husband watching a football game. A team scored and my husband had a big grin whispering "yes. A few minutes later the same team scored, his grin suddenly switched to a frown. I didn't understand and I had to ask what was going on, so I asked him. He introduced me to the world of Fantasy Football. With the FIFA World Cup having just begun, football fever has been filling the air. Football fans are planning the month from June 9 to July 9 and fixing all social plans around the games schedule. Egyptian fans are looking up information on the international teams who have qualified deciding which team they will support and finding out who the players and managers. The fever has even reached the virtual world, taking the information gathering process up a notch. Many fans are making use of the information they collected about competing teams and players in a game called Fantasy Football that has become fairly popular on the Internet. So far, on only one of the many Web sites over 250,000 people have signed up to play. Fans use their football knowledge to create teams of their own and compete online as the games are being played in reality. The performance of the players in reality affects the scoring in these games and fans become managers at the comfort of their homes. "The Official World Cup Fantasy Game gives you the chance to build the side of your dreams and test your tactical awareness against fans from all over the world, reads the Web site of the FIFA World Cup Fantasy Game. Like the real-life managers involved at Germany 2006, you too can experience the dilemma of having to make critical choices at all the right moments. The idea, however, is not new or exclusive to the upcoming World Cup; it has been applied on other smaller championships. On the introduction of the English Barclay's Premier League s fantasy game, the Web site reads, Ever shook your head at a team sheet, tactics or formation? Did you ever say to your friends I could do better than that? Well this game is your chance to show friends and colleagues just how much you know about the beautiful game. These fantasy games give football fans the excuse to never stop thinking about football throughout the tournament. In order to win at this virtual game you have to dedicate a lot of time in watching all games and knowing the form that each player is in. This allows a person to choose the players with the highest scoring probability. Fantasy football is all about the players, not the teams, encouraging fans to know more about the less famous footballers, regardless of nationality. So expect to see a lot of conflicting reactions, like my husband s, while watching the games. Many are supporting certain players, not teams. When one player scores it translates into wining points on the fantasy version, but if his teammate follows suit it could cost cyber players points in the virtual game. In general, the common factor in all fantasy games is that you score points based on your players' performance. These points differ according to the position in which the player plays. Any player who scores a goal in an actual game gets points, with defenders getting more than the midfielders and more than the forwards. Players also get points for directly helping their team to score. In this category, players from all positions get the same number of points. A goalkeeper and a defender would also get points for keeping clean sheets. Players lose points for yellow and red cards. And of course each team has a captain who gets his score doubled. The games differ from one Web site to another in the distribution of the points and the rules, the number of players, the number of substitutions and the transfers. They also differ in the handling of the players. For example, some games give you a limited amount of money and you buy and sell players with that money. As the game takes different forms on the numerous Web sites hosting it, the finances differ as well. Some require fees in exchange of playing and others are for free. Prizes such as 250,000 sterling pounds and tickets to the final are available. Some people play to win, others to practice formation and football-related managerial skills, while many play simply for the love of the game.
