First week of fantasy action begins Monday, April 4.

Kick-off of the 2005 NFL Europe season is now upon us, and you can get in the mood for the start of the season by registering for Fantasy NFL Europe 2005.

Now in its second season, Fantasy NFL Europe is new and improved in 2005, but the idea remains the same - pick a team of eight players each week and compete against NFLEL fans around the world to win a trip to the 2006 Pro Bowl.

This season's game features several exciting upgrades, including:

• This year's NFLEL players will be put into different salary bands, and team managers will only have a limited budget of $18 million to work with in choosing their eight players.

• The top scorer in the league each week will receive a signed game jersey from their favourite NFL Europe League team, as well as other NFL Europe merchandise. So if you don't enter Fantasy NFL Europe from the start, you still have plenty to play at any stage of the season.

• As well as entering the overall competition for the Pro Bowl prize, you will automatically have your team entered into several mini-leagues based on your answers in the registration. These will include leagues based on which NFL team you are a fan of; your favourite NFLEL team; the NFLEL team fan club you belong to; the local newspaper you read; the TV network where you watch NFLEL action - and more. If you think you are the most knowledgeable Chargers fan in the world, now you have the chance to prove it. Some of the mini-leagues will offer prizes, some will be just for you to earn bragging rights. Former NFL Europe stars now playing in the NFL will be competing in the NFL teams' leagues, so you can match your knowledge with some of the former European standouts.

• As well as entering the overall competition and several Mini Leagues, you and your friends can start up a private league. We will only have a limited number of spots available for these leagues, so start recruiting players now and be ready to apply to join one of these from Monday April 4.

Once again, entry will be completely free of charge and you will be able to change your team as often as you like.

All entrants will receive weekly notification showing them where they stand overall and giving them information on every league for which they have entered. There will also be news on changes in players' values, so that managers can keep on top of that all-important salary cap.

The action will start in Week 2 of the season, which falls on the weekend of April 9-10, so you can review the performances of the players you are scouting in the first week of the regular season.

The action this year should be more exciting than ever with 271 NFL players allocated to NFLEL teams. You may want to pick a team made up entirely of players from your favourite NFL team. Or maybe you want to make sure your favourite local players from Germany, the UK, or anywhere else in the world are on your roster. The choice is yours.

For now you can register to play the game, and browse through the site without being able to make any changes to your team or check the all important stat tables. You'll be able to select your teams on Monday April 4, once the opening weekend's action is out of the way. Throughout the season, you'll be able to access special Fantasy tips and features to help you make your player selections, as well as the latest news from around NFL Europe.

Fantasy NFL Europe will also give you the opportunity to enter a separate competition to see how good you are at forecasting the winners of each weekend's games, with the competition's winner getting a ball used at Yello Strom World Bowl XII signed by the game's MVP.

Register now to get in the game and then check back on Monday, April 4 to pick your team for the first week of Fantasy action.

You can find all the rules, terms and conditions for the game on the Web site.

Click here for a list of Packers playing in NFL Europe.