After a chaotic Round of 16, we are heading to the Quarterfinals, which could be even more hectic than previous round. Let’s look at how you should approach the next round of EURO 2024 Fantasy.
Just as we mentioned in the R16 Tips article, your strategy depends on wildcard availability.
First, let’s discuss what you should do if you do not have a wildcard to use in the quarterfinals.
1. Strategy for EURO 2024 Fantasy Quarterfinals
a) Strategy without wildcard
We have only three free transfers available and that is a big problem for the majority of fantasy managers without their wildcard – especially for those who went heavy into some teams, Belgium, Austria, that got eliminated.
Now, if this is your case, you need to make sure you have 11 starters for QF. If you do not have to take -4 point hits to field 11 players, then great – do not take hits. But if you can’t field 11 players with your 3 free transfers, take -4 point hits to fix it.
Your aim here is to have 11 starters and captaincy options for both playing days.
Forget about your bench, forget about substitutions.
It is all about fielding 11 starters and 2 great captaincy options. Make sure you will make your transfers with a long-term view in mind – so transfer in players that have a solid chance of advancing to the semi-finals.
One last piece of advice: transferring out your most expensive eliminated players is your priority.
You can easily bench 5.5m player. But benching 8m player would be funds wasting. So, use transfers to get rid of most expensive eliminated players and bench cheap ones.
b) Strategy with wildcard
If you have a wildcard, you are in a great position.
If you have 4 or less eliminated players, you do not need to wildcard now, save it for the next round. Just use 3 free transfers to get 13-15 starters.
Set up your team with a long-term view in mind.
But, after what we saw in R16, do not go all-in in some teams that have a higher chance of progressing to the semifinals.
Balance your squad and spread your funds to players from all 8 teams. However, do not go in all teams equally.
Put a little bit more emphasis on players from teams that are more likely to advance to the semi-finals. For example, go for 3-4 Netherlands players, but only 0-1 from Turkey. Go 3 England players. You get my point.
Diversification will be a key for your team if we see some surprises in the quarterfinals.
Because of this, the way your team will look like in semi-finals will not not depend heavily on one or two teams.
Your diversified team could look for example like this:
- 3 x Netherlands
- 2-3 x England
- 1-2 x Switzerland
- 2 x Germany
- 2 x Spain
- 2 x Portugal
- 2 x France
- 0-1 x Turkey
Also, go for two keepers who will not end up playing each other in the semifinals if their teams advance. Go for one GK from the top half of the bracket and the other one from the bottom half of bracket.
2. Tips for Matchday 5 – Quarterfinals – of EURO 2024 Fantasy
a) Pick goalkeepers from both sides of bracket
Goalkeepers of your fantasy EURO team could be from both sides of the bracket – that way you make sure they do not end up playing against each other in the next round, which would mean that you cannot make goalkeepers subs.
b) If you still have your wildcard and limitless, create free hit teams
- use the limitless wildcard in the Quarterfinals to have a “free hit” team in QF and still a lot of players to choose from
- use the regular wildcard in Semifinals to get rid of your R16 players (that will revert back to your squad after limitless) to set up your team for Semifinals and Final
- Use 5 free transfers before the finals to get 11 starters to your team (as the bench does not matter in the final)
c) Diversify your defense based on EURO 2024 clean sheet odds.
d) Of course, have a captain for both days within matchday 5
So 2 captaincy options total.
e) Bench players that play on the last day
f) Do not overlook players good at balls recovered and MOTM awards
3. Fixtures to target in Matchday 5 of EURO Fantasy
Let’s look at who are bookies’ main favorites to do well in MD5:
- Netherlands vs. Turkey: Netherlands 60 % to win, 30 % to score 2.5+ goals
- England vs. Switzerland: England 42 % to win, 13 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Portugal vs. France: France 40 % to win, 11 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Spain vs. Germany: Spain 35 % to win, 13 % to score 2.5+ goals
Find over 2.5 odds for all teams in our article: EURO 2024 Over 2.5 Goals Odds
4. Key player to own and transfer targets for Matchday 5
Key players to own
- Germany midfielder: We prefer Musiala, Gundogan – in that order
- Germany defender: Rudiger (good at balls recovered)
- England defensive coverage: Pickford
- Fernandes/Ronaldo/Cancelo – main men for Portugal
- Kane, Bellingham
- Carvajal/Cucurella + Rodri/Williams/Ruiz – your coverage
- Mbappe + Kounde/Maignan/Hernandez
Transfer targets
- Mbappe
- Rice – good at balls recivered
- Akanji – very good at balls recovered
- Freuler, Vargas
- Gakpo – seems to be the main man for the Netherlands
- Van Dijk – Netherlands defensive coverage, good at balls recovered, threat after set pieces
- Guler – young talent, OK fixture
5. Clean sheet probabilities for MD5
Let’s continue analyzing bookies odds for EUR 2024 Matchday 5. We used our Odds to probability calculator to convert other odds to probabilities as well, which helps us assess the potential of the following matchday.
Clean Sheet Odds Matchday 5
Bookmakers especially favor Netherlands (40 %) to keep a clean sheet in Matchday 5.
See our full table here: EURO 2024 Clean Sheet Odds.
6. Best captain for Fantasy EURO 2024 Matchday 5
We can change our captain 1 time in Matchday 5, you should have 2 captaincy options available – one for each day. And if your first captain will not deliver you can switch captaincy to the other player who is yet to play.
A captain for each day
- Day 1: Mbappe – Musiala would be the differential captain
- Day 2: Gakpo or Akanji as differential captain
Captaincy thresholds:
- Day 1: 6 points
So if your captain score this amount of points or more, you will keep the armband on him.
Read more: EURO 2024 Fantasy captaincy thresholds
Substitution thresholds:
- 4 points
7. EURO 2024 Fantasy Quarterfinals Team Selection
