Virtual Gameweeks (Football)
Virtual Gameweek details and score calculations.
What is a Virtual Gameweek?
Virtual Gameweeks (VGWs) are a secondary gameweek type available for players who would like to continue testing their football knowledge when there are no real life matches ongoing.
Virtual Gameweeks are composed of Virtual Matches using athlete data from the season to estimate their results.
Virtual Gameweeks offer reduced rewards in the different game modes compared to Gameweeks with real life matches, as it is only a side activity.
Points earned in VGWs do not count towards managers' season point totals or season leaderboards, and the match results are not shown in the club or athlete history.
How do I know when a gameweek is virtual?
Virtual Gameweeks can be easily identified by the [V] icon shown next to the Gameweek information, and by additional indicators anywhere virtual matches or results are displayed.
Virtual Matches
VGW matches are visible in the gameweek match list with a date and time as soon as the VGW is available for team registration, in the same way they are for normal Gameweeks.
Virtual Matches are between clubs who played in the same domestic league (Premier League, Ligue 1, Ligue 2, etc) that season.
Match Results
At the time that the match is scheduled the two clubs of the match go head to head by comparing virtual athlete actions. These virtual actions for each athlete are calculated using a small set of sample matches from the clubs previous matches in the season.
Sample Match Selection
The sample match selection works the following way:
For each club in a Virtual Match the system selects 3 of the clubs recent games in the season as references to determine how each athlete of the club performed in the Virtual Match.
The sample match selection is automatic and random after the start of the VGW, meaning even the Ultimate Champions team does not know which ones will be used.
Athlete Performance
Athlete performance is calculated the following way:
Each athlete action (excluding goals and club actions) is averaged from the 3 sample matches used.
Example: An athlete with 12 total Touches in the sample matches will have 4 Touches as their action count in the Virtual Match (12 (touches) / 3 (sample matches))
When the average of an action score is not a round number, the remainder will be used as a bonus chance to earn an additional action (remainder * 100 = % chance of an additional action).
Example: An athlete has 1.3333 average saves in the sample games selected, therefore in the Virtual Match they receive 1 save + a 33.33% chance of a second save. They also averaged 0.33 red cards, which results in a 33% chance of 1 red card.
Each athlete's TIME ON PITCH is averaged between the 3 sample matches, with a "did not play" (DNP) counting as 0 minutes.
If the athlete was DNP for all 3 sample matches, they are DNP for the Virtual Match.
For any match that a player is DNP, all actions are counted as 0.
Athlete Performance (Goals)
Athlete GOALS are attempted one by one for each goal scored in the reference games, as a 33% chance each (33% of 3 games = 1 game worth of goals). This chance is then adjusted depending on how many goals the opponent conceded in their reference games, increasing or decreasing depending if it is above or below your current goal count respectively (see table below for values). In short, teams will find it harder to score against a team with a stronger defense that concedes less goals, and easier against a weaker defense that concedes more goals.
Formula per goal: 33% / (current goals + 1 / opponents average conceded reference goals)
Example: Team 1 has 5 reference goals so they get 5 chances, and Team 2 conceded a rather large 3 goals on average.
Team 1 scores the first goal with a 99% chance, thanks to a weak defense!
They then unluckily miss the second with an above average 50% chance.
Because of this the third goal still has a 50% chance and goes in, phew.
They are lucky and manage to score again with a 33% chance! (The standard average chance, as they are now equal to the opponents goals conceded)
Finally they miss their last shot with only a 24.75% chance, as the opponent doesn't often concede this many goals.
They only had 1.66 goals average, but manage to score 3 times thanks to the opponent conceding lots of reference goals giving them better odds.
Goal chance (per reference goal) when playing against team with [1 conceded goal average]:
Goal chance (per reference goal) when playing against team with [3 conceded goals average]:
Goal chance (per reference goal) when playing against team with [6 conceded goals average]:
Final Match Score
After athlete action scores are all calculated, all goals scored by the clubs' athletes (and own goals scored by the opponent) in the Virtual Match are added together to make the final score for that club. Because of the data selection and athlete performance calculation methods, clubs that scored more in the season will score more goals in VGWs on average, but there is still room for surprises!
Club Actions
Club Actions are calculated last, as they are based on the final match scores.
For "On Pitch" Club Actions, the athletes percent of total time on pitch is used as a chance to be "On Pitch" for the action:
Goals scored while on pitch: For each club goal in the virtual match, the athlete has a x% chance to be on field for that goal (x = % time on pitch = time on pitch / match time).
Example: A club scored 2 total goals in the virtual match, and the athlete was on field for 60 minutes (66.66% of the match). The athlete's "Goals scored while on pitch" is therefore calculated as: (1 * 66.66%) + (1 * 66.66%).
Goals conceded while on pitch: uses the same calculation as goals scored, but for goals scored by the other club (or own goals) in the virtual match (excl. penalty goals).
Penalty goals conceded while on pitch: uses the same calculation as goals scored, but for penalty goals scored by the other club in the virtual match.
The remaining club action which is based on conceded goals can then be calculated:
Clean Sheet: if the player finishes the Virtual Match with 0 "Goals conceded while on pitch" AND 0 "Penalty goals conceded while on pitch", then they earn clean sheet minutes equal to their time on pitch.
Virtual Gameweek Athlete Score Modifiers
Two additional modifiers are possible for athletes in a Virtual Match:
"Virtual Match Win": +20% to athlete score when playing for the winning club
"Virtual Match Tie": +10% to athlete score when playing for a club that tied
Virtual Match modifiers are added to offset the increased chance to select an athlete who has at least one DNP game in their sample matches, to reward managers for being able to predict which club will win the Virtual Match, and to reflect that the winning athletes will generally have better scores in that match (momentum, confidence, etc). (values subject to change)
VGW Rewards
Rewards and reward point requirement tiers in VGWs work the same as normal gameweeks, but with reduced rewards compared to a real gameweek.
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