The best 12th man players for matchday one-World Cup fantasy

With matchday one around the corner, it’s very important for FIFA fantasy managers to get their teams sorted.

A lot FIFA fantasy mangers have different strategies and one of the strategies that FIFA fantasy managers are deploying in matchday one is, they’re using their 12th man chip.

To find out more about the various boosters in the 2022 World Cup fantasy game, you can check out our: 2022 World cup fantasy tips: the best time to use your chips & boosters article.

In that article, we shared our thoughts on when we think FIFA fantasy managers should play their various boosters. We spoke about the 12th man chip, and matchday one is one of them times that we recommend as an ideal time to play the chip.

If you want to know why it is the ideal time, then feel free to read the article, as it would help you come up with a plan that would work for you.

In this article, we want to take a look at some of the best 12th man players you can select in matchday one.

What is the 12th man booster in the 2022 World Cup fantasy game

According to FIFA’s how to play guideline, the 12th man chip is a booster that:

Will allow you to select 1 additional player to score points for your team in a matchday.  When selected, the 12th man cannot be substituted, captained or transferred.  You can select any player to be your twelfth man and budget or team restrictions do not count here.

What’s really nice is that there are no budget restrictions, this means that FIFA fantasy managers can pick any player from any team to be their 12th man.

Now that we know what the 12th man booster is, we now want to see what players would be great 12th man picks for matchday one:

The best 12th man player picks for matchday one

1. Kylian Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe is one of the best 12th man player you can pick in matchday one and that’s because of his fixture in the first round of the group stages.

France play against Australia and one paper, that’s a pretty easy game one that you’d expect France and Mbappe to do well in.

Mbappe is also the most expensive player in the game, and it’d make sense to get him as your 12th man this week as there are no budget restrictions to how much you can spend on your 12th man pick.

One good strategy that could work this matchday, would be to pick a solid team without Mbappe and then use Mbappe as the 12th man.

2. Michy Batshuayi

Another really solid 12th man pick this matchday, is Michy Batshuayi. He would make a good 12th man pick because Belgium just like France, also have an easy game.

We know that not many people have Batshuayi in their team(only 0.4% of FIFA fantasy managers have selected him) and that’s because there are much better options for us to pick from.

Well that doesn’t mean he is a bad pick, in fact, he could be a good differential 12th man pick this matchday. He’s always been solid each time he has played for Belgium and you’d expect him to do well against Canada in matchday one.

We know that not many people would want to have Batshuayi in their team for a long time, but using him as a 12th man this matchday could pay off, as he has a pretty easy game.

So if you’ve selected your forward line and you’ve got Mbappe, Kane, Messi or Neymar then, Batshuayi could be a solid 12th man option for you.

3. Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is another player that would make a really good 12th man.

He is not has highly owned as other forwards in the World Cup fantasy game and that could be because he has not played that many games for his club and so people don’t know what version of Ronaldo they’d be getting.

Well, when you look at his fixture in matchday one, it’s really hard to look past him and that’s why we’ve got him on our list of 12th man player picks.

We know Ronaldo is one who likes the big stage and every time he finds himself on the big stage, he’s looking to put up a show. That’s the version of Ronaldo we’d be expecting in the World Cup – a guy who is looking to silence his critics.

He’s obviously not in many teams, in fact, only 11% of managers have selected him. If he’s not in yours and you’re looking to take advantage of Portugal’s game against Ghana, then Ronaldo is a really good pick.

4. Robert Lewandowski

Another really good 12th man pick for matchday one is, Robert Lewandowski of Poland. Lewandowski is another player that isn’t highly owned in the World Cup fantasy game, but has a pretty decent game in matchday one.

Poland play Mexico and the potential is there for this game to be a high scoring one and we know that if there are goals in the game, then Lewandowski is going to be amongst the scorer.

He’s been selected by just 4.7% of managers, which means he’s another really good differential 12th man pick. If you’re looking to go for a less obvious pick, then he’s got to be top of your list.

5. Bruno Fernandes

Bruno Fernandes is a midfielder and he’s one that we’ve got in our list of 12th man picks. In Portugal’s friendly against Nigeria, Bruno was really impressive. The Portuguese man got himself two goals in just 45 minutes.

Portugal face yet another African team in their first group stage game, and Bruno could once again perform the way he has done against Nigeria, when he faces Ghana.

We know he’s not been bagging so many goals in the league, but he could find some goal-scoring form in the World Cup. Remember that we want to target players that have good fixtures as our 12th man.

So if you’re looking to make a midfielder your 12th man, then Bruno Fernandes is another really good option for you.

6. Phil Foden

Phil Foden is yet another midfielder that we think is a good 12th man pick. England play Iran in their first group stage game and that’s a really good fixture, one that we’re looking to target.

We know that a lot of people are staying clear of England’s midfield because of how uncertain we are of their line-up. We also that we don’t want to select players that are huge rotation risks because of how short the tournament is.

However, your 12th man player, is one that would be in your team for just one single matchday, and that’s why Foden is looking like an appealing pick.

We know going with him is a huge risk and if you’re brave enough to take that risk, it could be rewarded.

If he was a guaranteed starter, then he’d have been placed higher in our list, but because of his rotation risk, we recommend the players that are above him.

If you want to know what players we think are must-haves in every position, then check out our player picks articles:

best players for 2022 FIFA World cup fantasy -midfielder picks,

The best FIFA World cup fantasy forward player picks – Mbappe, Benzema, Kane, Messi

The best defender player picks for your 2022 World Cup fantasy team.

If you also want to see how various FIFA fantasy managers are looking to set-up their team for matchday one, then this is another really helpful article: 2022 World cup fantasy matchday one team & player picks: the best MD1 wildcard team.

You can also check out our list of the the best World Cup fantasy MD1 captain picks: Mbappe, Messi, Neymar or Kane. In this article, we take a look at the best players to captain each day.

If you want to see our complete guide article, then check out our World cup fantasy MD1 guide: tips, player picks, rules, teams, boosters and captain picks article.

The article would help you identify the best player picks, teams, captains and many other things

Conclusion

Well, you must have noticed that we didn’t recommend a lot of popular players as 12th man picks and that’s because majority of them have already been selected and they are going to be part of a lot of team’s 11.

So instead of recommending players like Neymar, Messi, Kane, De Brunye we’ve decided to go for players that are not highly owned and players that have pretty decent fixtures.

Obviously your 12th man player pick would be based on how your team has been set-up. If you have a forward line of Neymar, Messi and Mbappe then you should be looking at players like:

• Kane
• Ronaldo
• Lewandowski
• Batshuayi
• Foden
• Bruno Fernandes
• De Brunye(if he’s not in your team)