Introduction to RSL Fantasy

The first full season of the Roshn Saudi League Fantasy game is under way, with managers now able to pick their squads and tinker around with combinations three weeks before the start of the new campaign.

The popular interactive game was launched in November 2023 and was quickly taken up by 181,000 avid users, enjoying the ups and downs of managing their chosen RSL squad while competing for grand prizes at the end of the season.

Here, we offer a quick guide to how you get involved in what's sure to be another tightly contested competition.

What is RSL Fantasy?

The Saudi Pro League iteration is the latest in a 150-year-old tradition of sports simulation games that traces its roots to New York City and the sport of baseball in the aftermath of the American Civil War.

The 21st-Century version of the game sees sports fans creating squads based on the real-life team squads of a competition and earning points based on the performances of those selected players in the real world.

A multi-billion-dollar industry today, more than 100 million fans engage in sports Fantasy games, with the most prominent being the versions associated with the Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), and the English Premier League (EPL).

Now onto the latest addition to this worldwide phenomenon, RSL Fantasy is all the buzz in Saudi Arabia and beyond, with its trial launch in 2023-24 attracting users from 51 different countries where managers created their teams from places as diverse as Kazakhstan, Aruba and Australia.

How do I play RSL Fantasy?

The rules of the game are simple: you get SAR 100m to spend at the start of the season and have to use that budget to put together the 15-player squad that will collect the most points by the end of the 2024-25 RSL campaign. Players can earn points by scoring goals, assisting goals, or keeping clean sheets, while they can lose points by picking up yellow or red cards, conceding penalties or missing them, among other things.

Before you try to load up on players from last season’s dominant Al Hilal side - the reigning RSL champions - or runners-up Al Nassr, spearheaded by goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo, you should know you can choose only up to three players from each club.

You can make one free transfer every matchweek, allowing you some flexibility to replace injured or underperforming players and the opportunity to make the most of favourable fixtures, but you have to make all changes to your squad before the matchweek deadline.

That falls five minutes before the first kick-off of that matchweek. The same deadline applies to choosing your captain, who will earn double points.

Can I compete against friends?

Certainly! In addition to competing for the overall and weekly prizes, you can set up your own private league and share the invitation link with your friends, or join any of the public leagues usually set up by enthusiasts and even companies.

Who were the winners last season?

The inaugural edition of the competition saw Hamad Al Tuwaijri, a 28-year-old from Qassim, emerge as the grand prize winner, going home with SAR 250,000. Sultan Al Otaibi, a 37-year-old from Riyadh, finished second and won SAR 150,000. Meanwhile, the third-place prize of SAR 100,000 went to Ghenwa Al Zain, one of the 7,400 female participants, a Dubai-based brand manager from Lebanon.

Eleven other winners across three different countries received weekly prizes of an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Now, where do I sign up for RSL Fantasy 2024-25?

You can now play the game through the newly introduced official Saudi Pro League app available on iOS and Android, or by visiting the website https://en.fantasy.spl.com.sa