Dream Team’s new Substitute feature explained: How and when to counteract unexpected player absences

WE have introduced a new feature for the 2025/26 Dream Team season in the form of SUBSTITUTE.

This will allow gaffers to react to unknown injuries and surprise benchings by swapping an absent player with a replacement after the Gameweek deadline has passed.

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Dream Team / GettyAn effective substitution can work wonders[/caption]

Available five times throughout the season, Substitute is only accessible when one of your players does not feature in their club’s first fixture of the Gameweek (after full time) – keep an eye out for the icon in the top left when viewing your team.

For example, imagine Manchester City are playing Sunderland in the 12:30pm Saturday kick-off and Erling Haaland jars his knee in the warm-up.

The Norwegian poacher is withdrawn from the squad and watches on from the stands as his team-mates beat the Black Cats 5-0 (sorry, Mackems, it’s just an example!). 

If you have Haaland in your Dream Team, you’re going to be frustrated at missing out on what probably would have been a juicy double-digit haul.

In such a scenario, you could activate Substitute after the final whistle and replace City’s No9 with a player who is yet to play who will score points for you that Gameweek.

AlamyHaaland’s injury scuppered more than a few Dream Team bosses last season[/caption]

Your replacement will appear in your XI for the duration of the Gameweek but your team will revert to its previous state the following Gameweek.

Substitute is a temporary measure, NOT a permanent transfer.

When selecting your replacement, you will have the choice of players available in accordance with your budget.

To be clear, you will get the cost of your absent player added to your remaining budget so, at the very least, you will be able to select a replacement of equal value.

Reverting to our example, if Haaland costs £8.5m at the time of the Sunderland game, then you will have £8.5m PLUS your floating budget to spend on a replacement.

You can choose a player from any position when selecting your Substitute so long as you end up with an eligible formation.

Once you have activated Substitute and the game involving your replacement player kicks off, there’s no undoing it, even if your original player goes on to play in midweek.

In our example, if you replace Haaland with Alexander Isak for Newcastle’s Sunday game, you will receive the Swedish striker’s points for the entire Gameweek even if Haaland recovers in time to play in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

So make sure you think carefully about the Gameweek as a whole before you commit to using Substitute.

GettyThink of Substitute as a safety net[/caption]

If, heaven forbid, your captain is an unexpected absentee then the armband will pass to your Substitute if you choose to make use of this feature.

Please note, vice captaincy will be disabled when Substitute is active.

It’s important to note that Substitute can’t be played in combination with Boosters (12th Man, Max Captain, Goal Bonus) and you can’t make more than one substitution per Gameweek.

Your team value, updated at the end of the Gameweek, will not be impacted by the player you sub in.

Use Substitute wisely and you will be able to swerve those bumps in the road that threaten to disrupt your route to glory!

See our Game Rules for more information.

Open to residents of UK and Rep of Ireland, 18+ only. T&Cs apply. 

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