If you're missing your weekly dose of fantasy football already, now's the time to start putting your team together for the 2012 European Championships kicking off in Poland and Ukraine on Friday, 8th June.

Poland-Ukraine 2012: Join League 13565
There are over £10,000 worth of prizes up for grabs in Fantasy League Classic Euro 2012, including £5,000 for the overall winner.

Sky Sports Fantasy Football:
Free to enter with £5,000 to the winner.

UEFA Euro 2012 Fantasy Football: League Code: 106123-24829
Play for your country and go head-to-head with other UEFA EURO 2012 nations. Help lead your favourite nation to the ultimate glory.

Once it was announced tht the United States would withdraw from the 2018 World Cup bid to concentrate on competing for the 2022 Finals, England withdrew their 2022 bid to focus solely on holding the World Cup Finals in 2018.

As the remaining contenders are Russia and joint bids from Belgium-Holland and Spain-Portugal, we're guaranteed that Europe will host the World Cup Finals after the tournament's visit to South America (Brazil) in 2014.

So much for the end of rotation; especially as no continent can host two successive tournaments.

The final decision will be made on 2nd December, 2010. Personally, I'd like to see the 2018 World Cup Finals given to Russia.

The 2022 World Cup Finals will now go to  Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea or USA.

Play Fantasy Football With Friends Online


If you haven't thought about your fantasy teams for the year ahead yet, or are looking for a new challenge, I've updated our Fantasy Football picks for 2010-11.

Official Fantasy Football

Fantasy Premier League - Official Site: League Code: 638-335
Based on the old Can You Kick It premise of building a squad of fifteen players within a limited budget and watching the player values rise and fall, depending on the points scoring in recent games and the trading inclinations of other fantasy managers.

Head to Head League: 638-213116

Texaco Fantasy Football:
If you like doing your research for the following year's Premier League hopefuls, there's always the fantasy game for Championship matches.

UEFA Champions League:
Same format as the Fantasy Premier League game and a great way to keep on top of the best in European Football.

UEFA Europa League Fantasy:
Another great fantasy football game organised by UEFA, for die hard fans of European Football.

Prediction Games

FIFA World Leagues Predictor:
Predict results from leagues around the world on FIFA.

I Know The Score:
The English Premier League's official prediction game.

Weekend Football: (Free to enter: 1st Prize £5,000)
Tipping game where you are given an imaginary £10 bet to place on the outcome of any three matches (home, away or draw) that weekend. Your winnings go into an imaginary bank and there's cash prizes for managers with highest bank each month; as well as a £5,000 prize to the winner at the end of the season.

Join the 1800-WorldCup.com League when you register!

Other places to play fantasy football online - for free.

Facebook Fantasy Football:
A Citizen Sports application in association with Yahoo. Create your own club and draft your squad with a maximum of £150m to spend on 15 players.
 
Mail Online Fantasy Football:
Manage a 12-man squad and try to get your hands on the £20,000 prize for finishing first.

Metro Fantasy: Metro League - Pin: 8003056 - Chance to win £1,000 in mini-league.
Residents of the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland can register a team of fifteen players for the chance to win a cool £15,000. The game is free to enter.

Sky Sports Fantasy Football:
As well as going for a massive first prize of £25,000 you can win great cash prizes all season round with £3,000 for each monthly winner and £1,500 for each weekly winner! All this and it’s still free to play.

Soccernet - Premier Fantasy:
The values of players fluctuate as the season goes on, based on supply and demand. Picking up a bargain at the start and selling for a profit later increases your overall budget.

Yahoo Fantasy:
The Yahoo points scoring system might seem complicated; with points for blocked shots, last ditch tackles and intercepted passes, unless it's your players putting the stick about.

Pay to Play

11 Kicks:
Although there is a free version available it appears that the idea here is to get the money rolling in, through the pay to win option; especially as a number of football websites are using a branded version of this game.

Classic Fantasy League: Pin: 5534 Password: rivals
Fantasy League Limited started back in 1991. Entering a team now costs from £10 for a chance to win the £10,000 first prize.

Dream Team:
The Sun's £1 million Dream Team fantasy football game, with a massive cash prize of £500,000 to the overall winner. £10 to enter with transfers, or £5 for a pick and stick.

Telegraph Fantasy Football:
For an entry fee of £6 per team or £10 for three teams, you can try to win the £50,000 first prize or just see how you do against Alan Hansen in the Telegraph Writers League.

Fantasy Blogs and Tips - Writing About Fantasy Football

This is by no means a listing of all the blogs covering fantasy football but a small indication of some of the better ones being written and updated.

Fantasy EPL:
Where Jeremy Spitzberg and Neal Thurman continue to sound off about the world of Fantasy Football according to Yahoo and encourage you to Beat the Bloggers.

Fantasy Football Assistance:
Although based on the official premier league version of the game, in terms of prices and scoring, most of the fantasy football advice is generic.

Fantasy Football Scout:
Mark, Akers, Andy, Granville, Greek Fan and Sir Paulos post their take on the latest football news and their views on how it could affect your fantasy football team; relevant to the game on the official Premier League site.

Premier League Fantasy King:
Can Robin Seekatz succeed where others have failed? This new blog started with a 20 Teams in 20 Days series; as a preview to the 2010-2011 English Premier League season.

Never Captain Nicky Butt:
As they like to say: 'The (Real) Fantasy Premier League Pundit(s)'.

Physio Room:
Not a fantasy blog but an essential part of a fantasy manager's research; who's injured?

Premier League Fantasy Football Blog:
Chris Glover's Blogspot presence, primarily covering his thoughts about the official Premier League game.

Starting 11:
Forum for fans of the Yahoo fantasy game.

The Pundit:
Some of the weekly musings make interesting reading but it's more fun outscoring the Premier League's resident pundit.

Yahoo Fantasy Blog:
The Fantasist tries to get you in the right frame of mind for playing the Yahoo Eurosport game.

 If  you think we should be listing any others, tell me about them in the comments.

Tonight we would see a new World Cup winner; as neither Holland nor Spain had won the trophy. For Spain, it's their first World Cup Final; Holland are hoping it's third time lucky.

Spain started the 2010 World Cup Final looking the more assured and made the first attempt at goal in the fifth minute; as Maarten Stekelenburg had to dive to parry away a header from Sergio Ramos and then get up quick to block Pique's attempt to get the ball across the goal.

Five minutes later, Ramos was at it again; as he slipped past Dirk Kuyt only to see John Heitinga boot the cross out for a corner.

Then Howard Webb started dealing out the cards: Holland, Spain, Holland, Spain; four yellow cards within eight minutes.

That spoilt the flow of the game.

The next card could have been a Jack of Diamonds (red) as Nigel de Jong seemed to plant his studs into 's chest.

Then Spain settled for a moment, by trying to play the ball around.

Holland tried to grab a quick goal just before the break but Iker Casillas kept them out. Holland van Thuggery were lucky to go in with a full team of players at half-time.

Half-time: 0:0

So much for a display of football by the best players on the planet; as Howard Webb continued to blow his whistle for everything but a goal.

Holland's best chance came in the 62nd minute; as Arjen Robben ran on the Spanish goal and almost waited for Iker Casillas to fall before he shot, but the Spanish stopper kicked out a foot and sent the ball out for a corner.

Spain came close with twenty minutes left to go as Heitinga stumbled all over Jesus Navas's low cross and David Villa cursed his luck to miss his chance at the far post; when Heitinga made a recovery.

Six minutes later, Sergio Ramos headed over the bar and Vicente del Bosque hid his head in his hands in disbelief.

Holland found a little more movement in the last ten minutes and Iker Casillas had to be quick to save at Arjen Robben's feet. Robben then turned and ran all the way up the pitch to chase after Howard Webb; complaining like a baby about an earlier challenge, and earned a booking for his efforts.

Into Extra Time - with another thirty minutes to avoid penalties.

And it seemed like the teams had saved their best football until the end. With nine players on yellow cards, they didn't really have much choice but to play the ball.

A red card just had to happen, the question would be for who? The arm on Andrés Iniesta's shoulder belonged to John Heitinga; and he already had his name in Howard Webb's book. So with a little over 10 minutes of extra-time to play, Holland were down to ten men.

Spain made the most of that as Cesc Fabregas looked up to see Andrés Iniesta back onside then fed in the perfect ball for a perfect finish to a not-so-perfect World Cup Final.

Howard Webb still had time to deal out a few more yellow cards before Spain went up to lift the World Cup for the first time in their history.

Holland 0 Spain 1

Uruguay were the only non-European team to make it to the final four.

With nothing to lose anymore, as both teams lost their semi-final matches, fans of an attacking game had everything to hope for.

When Fernando Muslera could only deflect Bastian Schweinsteiger's long range shot, in the 18th minute, Thomas Müller ran into the penalty area to follow up and score his fifth goal of the tournament.

Ten minutes later, Diego Perez stole the ball from Bastian Schweinsteiger and moved the ball upfield; where Luis Suarez fed Edinson Cavani for Uruguay's equaliser.

Suarez and Cacau had close misses for Uruguay and Germany in the first-half, as both teams left the pitch with honours even.

Half-time: 1:1

Uruguay started the second-half by giving Germany a taste of their own Medikament with some swift passing and clean striking of the ball around the penalty area; Egidio Arevalo pulling the ball back, for Diego Forlan to crack in with his weaker, right foot - just six minutes after the re-start.

Five minutes later, Germany were level as Fernando Muslera missed Jerome Boateng's cross and the ball hit the side of Marcell Jansen's face on its way into the goal.

Eight minutes from time, a sloppy corner bounced around the Uruguay area before Sami Khedira could nod the ball into the back of the net.

Not a spectacular goal, not a contender for goal of the tournament, but a fifth goal in an otherwise meaningless game before the main event tomorrow evening.

Congratulations to both Uruguay and Germany for making a game of it. Over the course of the tournament Germany probably deserved their medal although Uruguay came so close to levelling the score; when Diego Forlan's free-kick hit the crossbar in the last action of the game.

Uruguay 2 Germany 3

Last round, four South American teams could have made it through to the semi-finals. Instead, it's now going to be an all European World Cup Final.

Some would say that this was a re-match of the Euro 2008 Final; which Spain won (1:0).

Spain sought to control the midfield and thus restrict Germany's movement.

The European Champions also looked the more likely to score early in the game; Manuel Neuer quick to block from David Villa in the seventh minute, and Carles Puyol heading over the bar seven minutes later.

For their part, Germany had a slight penalty claim turned down, just before the break, when Sergio Ramos clipped Mesut Özil just on the edge of the area.

Half-time: 0:0

Germany semed a little more comfortable in the second-half; until Pedro skipped down the right, past Boateng and Friedrich, and tried to set up Alonso.

Joachim Löw didn't like the look of that; replacing Jerome Boateng with Marcell Jansen.

Spain joined Brazil (USA 1994) and Holland (France 1998) in completing 3,000 passes at a single World Cup Finals tournament.

Spain started to up the tempo, just before the hour, with Pedro forcing Manuel Neuer to make a save and then shooting wide less than a minute later.

Sergio Ramos also ran into the area to try his luck. The Real Madrid right back has been wanting to score for a few games now.

Iker Casillas made the save from Toni Kroos look better than the soft shot warranted; after some swift movement on the left and a lofted cross from Lukas Podolski found the German substitute unmarked.

Four minutes later, Carles Puyol powered a header in from a corner to finally edge Spain in front.

Pedro could have sealed the win for Spain, with a little over eight minutes left of normal time left to play, when he broke through with substitute Fernando Torres free to his left.

Spain repeat their Euro 2008 performance against Germany; with the same scoreline.

Germany 0 Spain 1

Out of four South American teams in the quarter finals, Uruguay was the only one still looking for a place in the final.

Holland took the lead through a wonderful strike by Giovanni Van Bronckhorst but Uruguay levelled the score with an impressive curler from Diego Forlan, five minutes before the break.

That's pretty much what the first-half was about, two teams cancelling each other; even with the quality of their individual goals. Maybe Maarten Stekelenburg could have put a hand on Forlan's shot but there was some influential swerve on the ball.

Half-time: 1:1

Bert van Marwijk looked to make a more attacking change after the break; bringing on Rafael van der Vaart in place of Demy De Zeeuw.

It took a while to pay off, as Holland started to look frustrated with themselves and Uruguay appeared the more relaxed.

After Maarten Stekelenburg knocked a Diego Forlan free-kick away, Holland woke up with two goals in three minutes; thanks to Wesley Sneijder's deflected shot and Arjen Robben's header.

From a game that started to look like it had penalties written all over it, to one that almost looked like a walkover; the change happened faster than Ravshan Irmatov could flip a coin.

Once Diego Forlan was substituted, with six minutes still to play, one sensed that Oscar Tabarez felt there was no way back.

The Uruguay players had other ideas though when they earned a free-kick in injury time. With no Diego Forlan on the pitch, the ball was played low to Maxi Pereira who scored to give the game a tense final few minutes.

Uruguay couldn't get the equaliser they needed so Holland booked their place in a World Cup Final for the first time in 32 years.

Uruguay 2 Holland 3

Paraguay or Spain for a semi-final meeting with Germany.

Iker Casillas showed a slight lack of concentration in the seventh minute but for the first twenty minutes nothing really seemed to take shape.

Paraguay did enough to contain Spain, before thinking about maybe moving forward a little themselves.

Fernando Torres almost woke up in the 27th minute, then once in the Paraguay area with two defenders Torres didn't seem to believe that he moved so well and the opportunity was lost. Xavi then watched his own shot float past the target.

Paraguay's closest attempt was when Jonathan Santana failed to get his head on Morel's long ball, and a goal disallowed for offside.

Paraguay deserved to be in front, just about; mainly because Spain didn't.

Half-time: 0:0

Spain continued to pass poorly at the start of the second-half; so much so that Vicente del Bosque decided to bring on the master passer Cesc Fabregas, for the ineffective Fernando Torres.

Then a few minutes of drama as Carlos Batres gave both teams the chance for a little penalty practise: Iker Casillas saved from Oscar Cardozo; then at the other end Justo Villar saved from Xabi Alonso, at the second attempt. Spain could have had another penalty in the melee that followed the save.

It took a while coming but even the goal was hysterical as Iniesta laid the groundwork for Pedro Rodriguez to hit the ball onto the post. David Villa's follow up shot also hit the post before settling in the back of the net.

Paraguay 0 Spain 1