What is an “Out of Position” fantasy football player ?

Out of Position (OOP) fantasy football players can be worth their weight in gold in fantasy football games and managers will often go to great lengths to try and identify them, especially in traditional seasonal formats such as the Official Fantasy Premier League game, commonly known as the FPL.

Most fantasy football games have scoring systems in place that will reward players for doing their jobs, so goalkeepers will generally score a healthy sprinkling of points for saves and clean sheets, while defenders will also be rewarded for defensive actions which may include tackles and interceptions. Negative points for each goal conceded and positive points for clean sheets. Midfielders and forwards tend to score points based more on their attacking merits such as goals, assists and shots on target.

An out of position fantasy football player is sometimes referred to as a misclassified player which makes sense since the game operator is tasked with the job of assigning a playing position to each and every player that is available for selection within their game. The out of position fantasy player is therefore somebody who is deployed in a different position by his actual club or international manager, to the playing position categorised by the operator.

A good example would be a defender that ends up playing in a more advanced role. His upside is much greater since he is capable of collecting maximum points for his defensive actions, while chipping in with goals  and assists which would be much less likely if he actually played in his designated starting position.

Players such as Roberto Firmino and Alexis Sánchez are also worth keeping an eye on, since their club managers have been utilising them in the False 9 position, despite many fantasy operators categorising them as midfielders.

Much will depend on the scoring system that is in place at your preferred fantasy football destination but keeping tabs on any players that might be used out of position can give you an edge over rival managers.