Best Fantasy Football Sites for 2008

Just like almost every other sport, fantasy English Premiere League football (soccer, if you must) has a thriving internet presence that is continuing to grow every year. Here's a guide to some of the best sites that I've found so far:

The Premier League:
If you are going to start, you might as well start at the source. Fantasy.premierleague.com offers a great free salary cap version of EPL season. Select 15 players (2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards) for 100 million pounds to make up your squad. One player on your squad each week is designated as Captain, and will earn double points for that week. Depending on how the schedule for the week shapes up, you can change formations for your team, letting you add more midfielders or strikers. Once your team is created, you can create a league for you and your friends, or you can join an already existing league. After the season begins, you can make one free transfer per week -- additional transfers cost you 4 points each off that week's total.

The overall winner of Fantasy Premier League 2008/09 will win a VIP trip for two to a Barclays Premier League match featuring a team of the successful player's choice. The Winner's Prize includes travel, two nights' hotel accommodation, two match tickets, pre-match meal and £250 spending money. The top Manager of each month will win a digital camera, an mp3 player, and a Premier League club replica kit of the Winner's choice.

The Worldwide Leader:

ESPN's Soccernet.com offers several free Fantasy Soccer games, all of the salary cap variety. This game is very similar to the Premier League's, but has lower player costs, which makes it easier for you (and your opponents) to afford more high quality players. The team is the same make up (2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards). There are no leagues in this game, so it's you against the world.

Top team in the months of August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April and May will receive a copy ofFIFA 2009 from EA Sports. Other prizes have not yet been announced.

Do you Yahoo!?

While you won't find it listed next to American Football or baseball, Yahoo! Fantasy Sports has a good system for their game, that varies a bit from the rest of the games so far. While it is the same salary cap system, the Yahoo! game only allows you to select a starting squad of 11 players. Also, you are forced to pick your formation from the available selections (3-5-2, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, or 3-4-3). Player prices fluctuate based on market activity -- the more people buy a player, the higher his price goes.

Unfortunately, Yahoo! gaming is just for bragging rights, as there are no prizes offered (at least not yet.)

FantasyLeague for the really serious:

If you are really into your fantasy football, I recommend going with FantasyLeague.com. While not free, they offer a robust prize pool, and different variations on the games offered above. The "Classic" version of the game is of the traditional salary cap variety. However, the best part about this league is the competition structure and how prizes are doled out. The "Professional" version of the game works on a salary cap as well, except in this game only one person per league can own a player, and you bid on that player's cost.

Depending on which entry package you purchase, the prizes can range from 10,000 British Pounds or a trip to the 2009 UEFA Cup final match. There are weekly and monthly cash prizes given out as well. This really is the cream of the crop of Fantasy Football.