How to run a fantasy football auction

When to hold it

The natural moment is after the second or third matchday, once the transfer window has closed and starting elevens are visible. Earlier means buying players who might still move; much later means starting the season with matchdays already lost.

Budget three hours for eight teams with full squads, four for ten or twelve. That is far longer than people expect, and it is the main reason auctions end in a rush with the last roles badly filled. If time is short, two evenings beat one that runs to midnight.

How many people, and who runs it

Eight teams is the most balanced format: enough competition for the big names, enough good players to go round. At ten or twelve the pool thins out and deeper knowledge is needed; at six it becomes too easy to build a strong squad.

Whoever runs the auction should not play, or must accept being at a disadvantage: calling prices, following raises and remembering who bought what takes attention away from your own squad. With an odd number of people, the auctioneer role is the neatest way to solve it.

Budget and money rules

The common convention is 500 credits per team, which gives readable numbers: a star costs 80-120, a mid-table starter 20-40, a backup 1-5. With 1000 the numbers double and raises get slower to say out loud; with 250 every credit weighs too much.

Decide the minimum raise up front. Without one, someone will raise by a single credit on a hundred-credit player and you will spend ten minutes on one name. One credit below twenty and five above fifty is a simple rule everyone remembers.

Also decide what happens to anyone who runs out of credits before filling their squad. The cleanest answer is to make it impossible: nobody may spend so much that they can no longer cover the remaining slots at one credit each. It is tedious to work out by hand, which is one reason tools like this exist.

The order of players

There are two schools. By call: each person in turn proposes a name and the bidding starts on it. By role: all goalkeepers first, then defenders, and so on.

Calling is more entertaining and more tactical, because you can put a player up when you think others are short of budget. The risk is reaching the end with roles uncovered and no decent names left. Role order is more predictable and fairer to less experienced players, but flatter.

If you choose calling, still impose one constraint: nobody may reach the last role with more than half their budget in hand. Otherwise whoever hoarded credits buys every good forward at the end.

Before you start

Agree three things and write them where everyone can see: budget, minimum raise, squad composition. These are the three questions that will be asked halfway through, and answering them then means stopping the auction.

Make clear who has the final word on a contested raise. This is not a formality: two people will say the same number at the same time, and at that moment you need a rule already agreed, not a debate.