The 2024/25 Premier League season kicks off this evening as Manchester United, featuring Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot, host Marco Silva’s Fulham at Old Trafford.
As has been the case in recent years, Portuguese players will be playing a prominent role at a host of clubs.
You can even argue that Portugal is currently the country that provides the highest number of top-quality foreign players in the world’s most high-profile league.
Well, PortuGOAL will be putting that thesis to the test this season in an international EFL fantasy football league.
According to Transfermarkt.com, only Brazil, with 30 players, supplies more foreign footballers than Portugal (25) to top-tier English teams. France and Netherlands make up the top four countries in terms of supplying football talent, with 23 and 21 players respectively.
It is precisely those four nations that will comprise the “EFL National Team Challenge” league, on the official Premier League Fantasy League platform, competing against England. Given that the English team has an unfair advantage in having a vastly greater pool of players from which to select their squad, a handicap will apply as explained below.
Rules
Normal Fantasy Football rules will apply. However the national teams can only select players who are eligible to play for their respective country. So the initial Portugal squad is as follows.
If there are not enough players of a given nationality to fill the squad positions, “dead” players must be selected, i.e. a player who has a long-term injury or has been transferred out of the league, so that he cannot accidently be substituted into the team and accrue points.
This is the case, for example, with Brazil’s back line that cannot fill the quota of five defenders.
Likewise, the Netherlands have no third striker or fifth midfielder, and France have no back-up goalkeeper. Hence their initial squads, give or take any last-minute changes, will be as follows.
England handicap
Given England’s huge advantage in terms of options, the team is forbidden from selecting any of the ten Fantasy League English top points scorers from last season. Therefore, none of Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Ollie Watkins, Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon, Ben White, Jarrod Bowen, Dominic Solanke, Declan Rice or Jordan Pickford can feature in the England team throughout the season.
The initial squad for England is as follows.
So who’s winning the league? With a midfield boasting Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, Pedro Neto and Fábio Carvalho, Portugal could well have a better chance of triumphing than in an actual European Championship or World Cup!
Apart from anything else, the league will be a good barometer to chart how Portuguese players are performing in the Premier League this season. Regular updates of the league will be posted on the PortuGOAL website and associated X feed during the season. May the action begin!
