Fantasy football (less commonly referred to as
fantasy association football worldwide but known as
fantasy soccer in the United States) is a game in which participants assemble an imaginary team of real life
footballers and score points based on those players' actual
statistical performance or their perceived contribution on the field of play. Usually players are selected from one specific division in a particular country, although there are many variations. The original game was created in Italy by Riccardo Albini in 1990,after seeing the success of American
fantasy sports games in the eighties, then introduced in England by Andrew Wainstein the following year, when Fantasy League Ltd was set up. Fantasy football has evolved in recent years from a simple recreational activity into a significant business due to exposure via the
internet.