THE BASICS
All you need to do is pick a Premier League XI from a fantasy budget of £50million, based on the cash values we have given the players. We have kept our scoring system straightforward. It rewards the things you would expect – like goals, clean sheets and good performances and it punishes leaky defences, bookings and red cards.
Your main job is to decide who you think will perform best over the whole season. The players come in the usual four groups - Goalkeepers, Defenders, Midfielders and Strikers.

Your 11 heroes win or lose points for every match they play in the Premier League,
FA Cup, Carling Cup, UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup throughout 2008-09
For matches played on a Saturday there are additional points allocated by the News of the World. The News of the World will publish their 'Dream Team of the Day' on Sundays based on matches played on Saturday. 

• The Goalkeeper selected in the News of the World 'Dream Team of the Day' scores eight points.
• The top Defender scores eight points.
• The top Midfielder scores eight points.
• The top Striker scores eight points.
• The remaining seven players in the News of the World 'Dream Team of the Day' each score two points. 

THE GOLDEN GAMBLE
You have the flexibility to decide when your team starts scoring. Enter your team by 12:15:00 BST on Saturday 16 August 2008 and it will begin scoring from day one of the season, with ALL the games counting towards your total.

But here's where you can take a risk.

You could snap up a bargain in-form player - or avoid being stuck with a striker in a dry spell. It's up to you.

THE TRANSFER WINDOWS
The first Transfer Window will run from 12:00:00 BST on Tuesday 7 October 2008 to 12:00:00 BST on Saturday 18 October 2008 (UK time), with transfers taking effect from eligible games played on Saturday 18 October 2008. The second Transfer Window will run from 00:00:01 GMT on Thursday 29 January 2009 to 12:15:00 GMT Saturday 7 February 2009, with transfers taking effect from eligible games played on Saturday  7 February 2009.

Each Transfer Window gives you the chance to boot out injured or under-performing players and replacing them with some fresh talent. Even if your side is not among the front-runners for the top 10 end-of-season prizes, remember there is still plenty to play for. See our prize breakdown here (link).

So give your no-hopers the shove and bring in the star who could make your season.
During each Transfer Window, you can bring in UP TO THREE players and must transfer out the same number. So, you can make one, two or three changes during the transfer procedure (but no more than three changes, otherwise your entry will be void). When you bring in a new player you do NOT get the points he has scored so far. Likewise, points scored by players you transfer out are FROZEN and remain on your overall score.

You must not bust your £50million budget and your team must not have more than two players from any one Premier League club. But just like registration, our easy transfer procedure ensures you cannot go over the limit. Remember, some players have moved clubs in real life but for FFooty purposes remain with their original clubs.

There is no additional charge to make transfers

Cup Competitions

Apart from the main league there will also be prizes for each Manager of the Month, a knockout cup competition and a Champion’s League based on mini leagues then a knockout stage. In the event of a tie in the Manager of the Month or the final League the prize money will be shared equally amongst those players with the same points. In the event of a tie in the 1st cup and knockout stage of the Champions League the winner will be decided based on the following criteria:

1. Team having highest scoring player in that week will progress. If both teams highest scoring player have the same number of points then the second highest scoring players will be compared and so on.
2. If the teams still cannot be separated the team with the highest scoring player overall will progress.
3. As a final stage lots will be drawn to decide the winner. There will be no re-matches.

CHOOSING YOUR SIDE

HOW TO SCORE IN SUMMARY

HOW TO SCORE IN FULL: 11 EASY STEPS
1. Players who appear in the player list score points in Premier League, Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup and Carling Cup matches from Saturday August 16th 2008 until the final game of the season. Qualifying rounds for the Champions League do NOT count. Players not picked for ANY reason score zero points for each game they miss.

2. Three points are awarded to a player given a mark of seven or more in The Sun newspaper's individual ratings carried with every match report. A five-point bonus is awarded to The Sun's Star Man, making his rating total eight points. In addition to the bonus points on offer from the Sun, this season players will also receive extra points for being named in the News of the World ’s ‘Dream Team of the day’. Players playing in games on a Saturday ONLY will be eligible and will receive two bonus points for being named in the 11-man ‘Team of the Day’ or eight points if they are named the [top player] in their position. A top-goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and striker will be named in each News of the World ‘Dream Team of the day’.

3. Five points are awarded for a goal scored. A player scoring three or more goals per game gets five additional bonus points. A player who has been awarded points as described above will retain those points regardless of whether a goal is attributed to another player at a later date. Any player who is subsequently awarded a goal will not receive the points retrospectively, nor will the original scorer lose points.

4. A goalkeeper or a defender who keeps a clean sheet scores five points. If they concede one goal, they score no points, two goals -1, three goals -2 and so on.

5. A midfielder whose team keeps a clean sheet scores two points. Midfielders are not penalised if their side concedes goals.

6. Any player who is booked loses a point. A player sent off loses three points in total. Any player that loses points for a booking or sending off will not have those points reinstated if the offence is rescinded on appeal.

7. A goalkeeper who saves a penalty scores three points. A ‘save' is defined as a goal not being scored directly from the penalty spot (e.g. if the ball rebounds off a post then that is a 'save'). Penalty save points are awarded even if a goal is scored subsequently (e.g. from open play after the ball has rebounded off a post).

8. Any player who comes on a substitute at any time scores or loses points as if he had played the whole match. Players subbed off also score or lose points in normal fashion regardless of how long they were on the pitch.

9. There will be TWO mid-season Transfer Windows. During each one you can swap up to three players providing you do not break any of the existing rules - making a total of six changes in total over the course of the game. The first window will be in October, the second in January.

10. Any player transferred from one Premier League club to another continues to score points in his team. For the purposes of the game, he stays registered with his original club. If a player leaves the Premier League, his points are frozen until such a time that he returns.

11. The rules remain the same for games involving extra-time/injury time. A match that is 0-0 after 90 minutes/injury time must be 0-0 after extra-time for keepers, defenders and midfielders to keep clean sheets. Penalty shootouts do not count. Replays are counted as separate games..