DraftKings Fantasy Soccer: Understanding the New Scoring Rules

After significant lobbying (or Twitter complaining, however you want to look at it), DraftKings has made a few big changes to their soccer scoring rules ahead of the upcoming 2019/20 European season. While the salary cap is the same, as are the number of roster spots and positions, they've added two scoring categories while reducing the value two others. 

The changes won't drastically adjust the way we build lineups for GPPs or cash games, though there are certainly some players who will benefit while others will see their values decline. Added to the scoring categories are shots assisted, which are also known as chances created or key passes, and completed passes, two stats that are already available in DraftKings' showdown formats. Additionally, the value of crosses has declined, though for those who longed for their value to increase back to the full-point they used to be worth, the addition of shots assisted should ease that pain.

Completed passes are fairly easy to understand, but for those who aren't aware of what shots assisted/chances created/key passes are, they are passes that lead to a direct shot. Set-piece takers are generally near the top of the league lead in the category, and it's entirely possible that a player could be awarded with a cross and a chance created on a single action (i.e. kicking the ball from the wing that leads to a header in the box). However, not every chance created results from a cross, and there are certainly players who create more chances than crosses they send in, such as Wilfried Zaha (54 chances created and 37 crosses last season) and Paul Pogba (55 chances, 28 crosses). Then again, of the 15 players who created at least 60 chances in the Premier League last season (James Maddison led the league with 100), nine were in the top 20 in crosses (and two of the other 11 had 59 chances created). Here's a quick comparison of the old and new rules:

The elimination of the five-point hit for missing a penalty will definitely reduce the tilt a little, though it's still a 10-point swing if you're expecting your player to convert. Those who play showdown are already used to getting points from shots assisted and completed passes, with the former offering much more value than the latter. And for those hoping that DraftKings would once and for all get rid of goalkeeper, well.....let's focus on the positives.

Another big change is that showdown contests will now use the same scoring rules as classic, with that adjustment de-emphasizing goals, which were significantly important in showdown because they were worth more than anything else in classic, but because showdown doubled those points, they became even more important. Now, research for classic slates and showdown slates, at least in terms of the stats, will be consistent. Additionally, goals and and assists are worth the same regardless of position, again to make classic and showdown scoring consistent.

Here's a breakdown of how some of the highest-scoring players last season, both in total points and floor points, would have ranked using the new rules, as well as a column showing the change in rank (all columns are sortable):

As you can see, the changes benefit some of the bigger clubs because they create more chances, so players like Bernardo Silva and David Silva, who don't necessarily cross much but create a lot of chances, will see their values increase. Center-backs and defensive midfielders will see a small bump because of the completed passes, but it's not enough to start prioritizing them over fullbacks.

The reduction of crosses from 0.75 points to 0.70 doesn't seem to move the needle much, and while 0.02 points per completed pass also seems to have little significance, it will surely have one in terms of breaking ties. And speaking of trying to reduce ties, showdown slates will now include a captain spot, which is one player who will accrue 1.5x their total fantasy points, though at 1.5x their salary. This added wrinkle could help reduce duplicate lineups, a situation that has become increasingly frustrating of late, particularly in cash games.

There were also changes to shootout goals, misses and saves, which won't come into play during most of the contests DraftKings posts in the lobby. We'll see it in the second leg of Champions League matches that are all square after extra time, or similarly in some international competitions, but from a week-to-week basis, it's not really something we should worry about.

If you have any questions about the new rules, please feel free to leave a comment below, hit me up in the subscriber Discord chat or find me on Twitter @RotoWireAndrew.