Welcome to the best and most realistic fantasy football game around. PlayTheGame is easy to enter but challenging to play. It’s as simple or as complex as you want it to be. It’s unique, addictive and, best of all, it’s free.

Where’s the fun in a game in which every team can own Steven Gerrard? That’s not fantasy, it’s farce. In PlayTheGame, squads are one-of-a-kind because a player can belong to only one team per league. The competition starts before a ball’s even been kicked.

You’re up against mates or strangers who you’ll get to know, instead of thousands of anonymous users who are nothing but names on a screen. Banter and debate will flow as you exchange messages and negotiate transfers with your rivals.

You’ll need to show the same skills as the real-life managerial masters to succeed and have a squad of 20 men at your disposal, 14 of whom will be active. You can choose to deploy them in 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 formations.

Fantasy football cheat sheet - the men to watch

Tony Cascarino picks five players you must sign, plus ten new Premier League arrivals and the men currently on the injured list

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As in real football, you can wheel and deal to improve your team by negotiating transfers with other managers or picking up free agents.

Players earn points based on their performances in Barclays Premier League matches during 2009-10. The scoring system uses ten categories to reflect players’ true worth — as well as goals and assists, defenders are rewarded for tackles, midfield players and forwards for successful passes, and all earn more credit the longer they’re on the pitch. PlayTheGame teams are ranked by points based on how well they’re doing in each category in comparison with the other sides in the league. That means there’s plenty of potential to move up and down the table right up to the season’s climax.

Signing up for a seat in the PlayTheGame dugout is simple: you can get started right now. Just log on to our website at timesonline.co.uk/playthegame, register and join a league. This can be a private league with your mates or a public one for all-comers. Then it’s time to start building your team.

Two choices: either the computer allocates your players based on your preferences or you can sit down face-to-face with between four and 19 of your mates and pick your teams offline by taking it in turns to make selections.

If all your friends are rugby fans, no problem — the computer can easily find you a public league to enter. There are even Super Leagues for hard-core PlayTheGame fanatics.

When squad selection is done by computer, you’ll be automatically allocated players based on a wish list — your own rankings. The higher up the wish list a player is, the more likely you’ll get him. You won’t get all the players you want — not even Manchester City’s millions can achieve that — but you can increase your chances by moving up those you really rate. If you don’t want to make a wish list, you can use our own ratings. You can own up to four teams.

You’ll be part of a lively community — each league has its own forum, there’s a PTG blog and you’ll be kept up to date about injuries, suspensions and transfers through daily news bulletins from The Times’s expert team of football writers. You’ll even have the chance to win great prizes: kits each week, tickets to Premier League games each month and FA Cup Final seats at the end of the season. So what are you waiting for? PlayTheGame and get real.

Click here to sign up for PlayTheGame

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