Best Dream Team Euro 2024 players, how to play guide and top tips

Sun Dream Team is running a Euro 2024 game with a top prize of £25,000 - here's our top tips to give you the best chance of winning the cash.

Fantasy Football Hub works closely with Dream Team Tonic podcast team, the leading content producers when it comes to everything Dream Team. Check out their Euro 2024 podcast for detailed discussion on how to play the game.

In this article, Scott (Dream Team Professor) takes a look at how to play the game and offers his insight on best players, booster strategies and more.

Our How to Play Euro 2024 Fantasy guide, based on the official UEFA fantasy format, has a bunch of stats from qualifying, including top scorers and assisters, which will come in handy for Dream Team and other games. Hub members can win a share of £500 in our UEFA Euro 2024 Fantasy prize league.

Enter our Dream Team mini-league with the code 8DEU6XBJ - there's a year's free Ultra membership on offer for first place, a year's free Premium membership for second and year's free Starter membership for third!

Join the Hub - latest offers 

How to play Dream Team Euro 2024 Fantasy

• Top Euro 2024 Fantasy funny team name ideas

For those familiar with the usual Dream Team game, much remains the same. There's a £50m budget, it's an 11 player game, there's no bench and no limits on picking players from same team.

Key differences include the fact the team budget increases to £53m from Matchday 5, while vice-captains have been added to the game and offer a backup if your captain doesn't play.

The Dream Team Euro 2024 game is divided into seven scoring periods known as matchdays. Think of them as gameweeks:

• Matchday 1 - First round of group games
• Matchday 2 - Second round of groups games
• Matchday 3 - Third round of group games
• Matchday 4 - Round of 16 fixtures
• Matchday 5 - Quarter-finals
• Matchday 6 - Semi-finals
• Matchday 7 - Final

Each matchday begins one hour before the first game kicks off, which will likely mean you won’t see any lineups.

Once a matchday begins, any changes you make won’t take effect until the following gameweek.

 

Transfers

You will have unlimited transfers before the first deadline, which is one hour before the first kick-off, then the following allowances:

• Matchday 1 - Unlimited transfers (prior to deadline)
• Matchday 2 - Three transfers
• Matchday 3 - Three transfers
• Matchday 4 - Unlimited transfers (before round of 16)
• Matchday 5 - Five transfers
• Matchday 6 - Five transfers
• Matchday 7 - Five transfers

Unlike the main game, you cannot roll transfers. It's a case of use them or lose them.

Scoring points

Scoring remains mostly the same as the regular game, with a few tweaks. Goals and assists have increased by a point from the main season game.

With this increase in points for goals and assists, we expect many to look towards more budget options in defence to make the most of midfielders and attackers with strong attacking numbers.

Players can also earn bonus points through player performance marks, based on stats from OPTA. This has been tweaked slightly so that goalkeepers can now gain bonus points, which they couldn’t do in the main game. 

Here is the main scoring system for the Euro 2024 game:

All players:

• Goal: 6 pts
• Assist: 3 pts
• Shot on target: 1 pt
• Big chance created: 1 pt
• Tackles (per two): 1 pt
• Appearance (up to 60 minutes): 1 pt
• Appearance (60 minutes or more): 1 pt
• Yellow card: -1 pt
• Red card: -3 pts
• Own goal: -2 pts
• Penalty miss: -3 pts

Goalkeepers and defenders only:

• Clean sheet (minimum 60 minutes played): 5 pts
• Each goal conceded over one: -1 pt

Goalkeepers only:

• Saves (per two): 1 pt
• Penalty save: 3 pts

Dream Team Euro 2024 boosters

You’ll receive three boosters, which can each only be played once. Two remain from last season’s Premier League game.

12th Man

elect an additional player from any position for free to score points for your team. This player can’t be captained.

This looks potentially useful to fit in an extra premium attacker, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Romelu Lukaku all looking great options for the groups but there are only three striker slots available.

Max Captain

The player who earns the most points for your team will automatically be selected as captain, doubling their score

On matchdays where there’s a close call with multiple strong captaincy choices in your squad, Max Captain can ensure you pick the correct player.

NEW: Goal Bonus

Goal Bonus flips last season's Park the Bus on its head. Each goal scored by your players will earn 10 points, instead of the usual six.

We suggest loading up your midfield and attack with goalscoring assets and targeting weaker opposition in the group stages.

Dream Team Euro 2024 Fantasy: Top tips and best players

Not being able to see squads or make changes once a matchday starts means picking nailed players is extremely important.

With three transfers per matchday, we suggest a core of players you’d be happy holding long-term - teams with favourable groups such as Germany.

You should then look at some positions you’d be happy to switch between teams with mixed difficulty fixtures. An example of this is Italy who have Albania in the first game but Spain and Croatia afterwards. 

With unlimited transfers before the Round of 16, there's no need to focus on players who are likely to reach the knockout round.

Finally, we're leaning towards more attack-minded drafts given the points increase for goals and assists and the boosters geared towards goalscorers.

Best players: Group A

Germany

Ilkay Gundogan (£4.0m) - Midfielder - Started nine out of 10 previous games. He only scored one goal but is likely to be the penalty taker, having taken the last two spot-kicks for Germany. He's expected to start number in the number 10 position and has five goals and 13 assists for Barcelona this season.

Maximilian Mittelstadt (£3.5m) - Defender - The left-back is a popular pick as he's the cheapest starting route into the Germany defence, with strong attacking output. He only came into the side recently but scored in a friendly in June. He managed two goals and two assists for Stuttgart.

Jamal Musiala (£4.5m) - Midfielder - He's a really exciting option, with 12 goals and seven assists for Bayern Munich this season. He appears to perform well for bonus.

 

Switzerland

Xherdan Shaqiri (£2.5m) - Midfielder - Predicted to start, having been in the first 11 in seven out of 10 qualifying games, with an 80 minute average. He's a bargain price and a potential gem given he's on all set-pieces. He scored penalty in their recent friendly. He scored two goals in qualifying, with an average of 7.9 Dream Team points based on qualifying data.

Ricardo Rodriguez (£3.0m) - Defender - Started nine out of 10 games, with an 88 minute average. Was a previous penalty taker but missed his last two and has not taken one since 2021. Known for attacking threat, with one assist in qualifying.

Scotland

John McGinn (£2.5m) - Midfielder - Scotland's penalty taker, with possible corner and free-kick duties. He scored nine and assisted eight in the Premier League and recorded three goals and two assists in qualifying. He earned 39 bonus points in Dream Team, with a 4.8 average. His price makes him a good enabler and he could offer more value than a defender at that price.

Hungary

Dominik Szoboszlai (£3.5m) - Midfielder - He's Hungary's main man, on all set-pieces.  He managed four goals and three assists in qualifying. He's a 90 minute man, playing all eight of his nation's qualifying games. He looks set to be bonus points machine and is great value. He scored 28 bonus points in the regular Dream Team game, averaging 4.4 total points, with seven goals and six assists for Liverpool. And remember, he wasn't the main focus for the Reds as he will be here. 

 

Best players: Group B

Spain

Alejandro Grimaldo (£4.5m) - Defender - He had a massive 12 goals and 16 assists for Leverkusesn. He only started one game in qualifying for Spain but regular left-back Jose Gaya is injured and out of the tournament. He started the recent friendly but Marc Cucurella could also be an option. 

Rodri (£4.0m) - Midfielder - Seems to be on penalties. He only managed one assist in qualifying but comes off the back of nine goals and 14 assists for Manchester City. He scored an average of 5.5 points - 4.5 points for Spain.

Dani Carvajal (£4.0m) - Defender - The right-back slot is his. He scored five and assisted four for Real Madrid this season. He assisted two in eight appearances for Spain in the qualifiers, with a 6.4 point average.

Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal (£4.0m) - Midfielders - Both are exciting options for either wing but with Spain’s squad depth and not seeing lineups, they initially feel too risky.

 

Croatia

Luka Modric (£4.0m) - Nailed to start, with 85 minute average gametime in qualifying. He didn't contribute any attacking returns but is most likely to score bonus points among his teammates. There would have only been one game in which he didn't hit bonus and averaged 4.9 points. 

Josko Gvardiol (£4.0m) - Started all eight qualifying game, with an 84 minute average. He is in great club form. He won’t be as reliable for attacking returns as he was at City though as he is expected to play as a left centre-back. It's doubtful Croatia will have a strong defensive record with Spain or Italy their opponents but Albania could be a weak link to target. Ultimately, there are better defenders from better-looking groups for this price.

Italy

Federico Dimarco (£4.0m) - Defender - The left-back put in a man of the match performance against Turkey in last week's friendly. He has been in good form for Inter Milan, with six goals and six assists.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo (£4.5m) - Defender - Slightly more expensive but the likely starter at right-back. He managed one assist in qualifying and two goals and seven assists for Napoli.

Nicolo Barella (£4.0m) - Midfielder -  Started seven of eight qualifying games. He managed three assists and two goals and three assists in Serie A.

Federico Chiesa (£4.5m) - Midfielder - Only had 2 starts in qualifying due to injury but scored two goals, with an average points score of 11.5. He scored nine and assisted two in Serie A.

 

Best players: Group C