Fantasy Premier League season is upon us. It's time to download the FPL app, get transferring players and come up with a league.
By now, you know the drill. Real-world Premier League players earn points in the game for their on-field actions. Your task is to pick these players for your team while sticking to a budget, just like real clubs do.
For the next nine months, this will be a hot topic among your colleagues. But don't fret, for FourFourTwo has you covered. Our handy guide provides everything you need to know about Fantasy Premier League, from team selection to budget management, all essential tips and strategies are included to help you dominate the office discussions and succeed in your Fantasy league.
Getting started
The basics of FPL
So you've agreed to join with a Fantasy Premier League team this season. What is it and what do you need to know?
Fear not - we've got you covered. Here's the ultimate beginners' guide to FPL, teaching you exactly what it is and how to get started with your team. We'll teach you how points work, how to buy and sell players and how to use the app.
You'll need a team name, too. Sure, "Mike's Team" or "Gary FC" works if you're Mike or Gary, but it's an unwritten FPL tradition to use a pun based on a player, manager, or club. Creative names like "Löw Island" or "Not Mike Dean Forever" add to the fun. You'll be surprised how much a team name can be a conversation starter.
Points can change throughout the gameweek but will be finalised once all matches for that gameweek are completed. In other words, you might need to wait until the Monday night game finishes to see your team's final score.
New rules
In the spirit of a summer in which Dua Lipa headlined Glastonbury, there are new rules around FPL.
The big news comes with free transfers: you can now bank five. Five! Previously, it was two.
This means that should you leave your team for weeks, you can catch up easily: additionally, playing the Wildcard and Free Hit chips no longer resets your saved transfers to zero. This means you can save up to five free transfers, use any of your chips, and still have those five free transfers available for the following Gameweek.
Previously, you could keep two free transfers when using the Bench Boost and Triple Captain chips, and while this remains the same, you now have the added benefit of banking three extra transfers, too.
There are also points changes. Firstly, saving a penalty will be reduced from 15 to nine bonus points, while a goalkeeper scoring has risen from six points to 10. Noice.
There are new additions to the bonus points, too, so players will be rewarded or penalised for more different actions. Goalkeepers and defenders conceding a goal will be worth -4 bonus points, a goalline clearance will be worth three bonus points, a foul won will be worth one and a shot on target two.
Transfers
How do I build an FPL team?
Different positions earn points differently based on their actions during matches. So naturally, building your Fantasy Premier League team depends on predicting where the points will come from.
Once again, we can refer you to our guide on how to score points in FPL, if you're interested in getting to grasps with the nuts and bolts of that. We also have a guide on how you might want to structure your team. Attack-heavy? Defence-heavy? Big stars or reliable names? We explain it all.
Which players do I need to sign in FPL?
Well, if we knew that, we'd win the prizes all for ourselves…
There are six players who have changed positions from last season too. Don't worry - we've listed them all in this guide, with advice on whether they're worth signing or not.
What's an FPL wildcard?
A Wildcard in Fantasy Premier League allows you to make unlimited transfers for your team. You can activate it twice a season: think of it as an extra transfer window to sort out injuries or poor form in your squad.
A Free Hit is similar to a Wildcard. It's a bonus chip that allows you to make unlimited changes to your 15-man squad - but with a twist: the changes are only there for one gameweek, before your squad reverts back to how it was before. This is used for short-term gains.
There are four bonus chips that you can use in Fantasy Premier League. This is the Wildcard, Free Hit - both used in the transfer section - Bench Boost and Triple Captain (both used in the team-picking section).
Each of these bonus chips allows you to maximise your points once or twice a season, offering different bonuses to you and rewarding risks that you take with your strategy.
Just as in the real world, Fantasy Premier League substitutes fulfil a vital role, whether it's covering for injuries or providing the impact your first team didn't manage.
A Bench Boost allows you to collect points not just for the first XI of your side but all four substitutes, too. This is one of your bonus chips and it can be activated once a season.
FPL leagues allow you to compete with other users. As shown in the image, everyone is automatically added to various leagues in Fantasy Premier League, each with its own prizes.
Firstly, you're placed in the Overall league, the main competition where everyone vies for the title of best FPL player. Next, you'll join a league based on your country, competing against others from your nation.
Additionally, the Gameweek league tracks your performance for each specific gameweek, showing how well you did compared to others. Finally, you'll be part of a league for the club you support. When you sign up and select your favorite club, you get added to their specific FPL league, competing against fellow supporters.
These leagues add layers of competition and excitement, providing multiple ways to measure your success throughout the season. Who knows? Maybe you'll top one of these leagues.
How do I create an FPL league?
Creating an FPL league is easy. You can now add a League Cup to your regular league too, this season.
It's not about the taking part, is it? We've got tips to help you rack up a few more points along the way.
YOUR FPL EXPERTS
(Image credit: FantasyYIRMA)
FantasyYIRMA started in 2012 focused primarily on news and previews for the Fantasy Premier League. Following consecutive fantasy coverage across eight years and more than 300 gameweeks, we are confident in saying we’ve wasted a large portion of our adult life on Fantasy Football.
Check out our podcast Bang Average on your listening platform of choice where Ryan, John and MikeP chat all things Fantasy Football related each week.
FantasyYIRMA, who have years of experience and even league-winning seasons in Fantasy Premier League, have written a couple of great guides for FFT on how to get ahead of your mates. There are simple tricks to follow, believe it or not...
FantasyYIRMA's guide of essential tips to master Fantasy Premier League is a must-read for you - whatever your experience or skill level. There, you'll find curated ideas from former winners along with all the best answers for the questions you have ahead of another brand-new FPL season.
Looking for that fast start to get a quick stride over your rivals? Then you'll need FantasyYIRMA's guide of how to get FPL points early in the season, which debunks a few myths and confirms a few biases.
Mark White is the Digital Content Editor at FourFourTwo. During his time on the brand, Mark has written three cover features on Mikel Arteta, Martin Odegaard and the Invincibles, and has written pieces on subjects ranging from Sir Bobby Robson’s time at Barcelona to the career of Robinho. An encyclopedia of football trivia and collector of shirts, he first joined the team back in 2020 as a staff writer.
