A beginner's guide to Fantasy Premier League – the FPL game your mates don't shut up about every year
(Image credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images for Premier League)
FPL is back – and you've been invited to participate in a Fantasy Football league but you have absolutely no idea what it is or how it works. You don't want to ask your mates because you've already said yes and now you're desperately trying to find out what it is you've subjected yourself to…
Luckily for you, FourFourTwo is here to help. We might not be Magnus Carlsen (you'll laugh at that joke someday) but we do know how to play the game. So grab yourself a cup of tea and let's get cracking – you'll be arguing over when to best use your wildcard in no time and working out how to get ahead in your league early on.
N.B. this explanation is based on the official Fantasy Premier League website version of the game. Other websites exist and may have slightly different rules, so be sure to check which version you are playing and adapt these lessons accordingly.
1. What is Fantasy Premier League (FPL)?
Erling Haaland of Manchester City (Image credit: Alamy)
Fantasy Premier League is an online game in which players collect points based on how real-life footballers perform each week. Simply put: you choose a virtual team of Premier League footballers, and if their real-life counterparts do well, you get points.
If you have Erling Haaland in your FPL team and he scores a goal for Manchester City, you will earn points. Simple, right? Similarly, if you have Jordan Pickford as your goalkeeper and he keeps a clean sheet, you will be rewarded.
As these examples illustrate, your team must consist of all the necessary positions like a real football team – you can’t just fill it with 11 forwards. You need goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and substitutes for each position.
2. How do the points work?
Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool (Image credit: Getty Images)
Each position on the field has a unique points system. Goalkeepers and defenders earn points for actions like saving a penalty (five points) or keeping a clean sheet (four points). Midfielders get points for assists (three points) and forwards for scoring goals (four points).
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However, players can earn points for various actions depending on their position, and it's important to know how much each action is worth. For example, a defender who scores a goal earns six points, while a forward earns four points for the same action. Midfielders also earn points for defensive actions, getting one point if their team keeps a clean sheet.
Additionally, players can lose points for negative actions like being sent off (-3 points) or missing a penalty (-2 points). Your captain earns double points each week, so if your captain scores a goal, they get eight points instead of four. If your captain doesn't play, your vice-captain will take over.
3. Buying and selling players
Son Heung-min of Spurs (Image credit: Alamy)
At the start of the game, you are given £100m to spend on your team. This has to cover the cost of all 15 players (including subs), so spend it wisely! You can't simply buy the best players as that will be too expensive. You need to balance your team with hotshots and cheaper buys. If this is too daunting to begin with, you can also ask the game to "auto-fill" you a team to get you up and running. Even some top players do this, to give them some ideas to begin with. So use it if you feel you need to.
Each week, you can make a transfer by selling one of your players and buying a new one. Players have different values based on their points potential, with high-scoring players like Son Heung-min and Mo Salah being expensive, while a third-choice Bournemouth goalkeeper will be cheap.
Remember, you must replace a player with someone from the same position. Any leftover money from a transfer is saved in your bank balance for future changes. You might make a transfer if a player is injured, sold to a foreign team, or not playing regularly. However, making transfers is optional.
You can make more than one transfer each week if you like to bring in better players, but it will cost you points (four per change) if you make more than one. So be careful.
4. Bonus chips
There are four bonus chips which you can use once each throughout the season. These are as follows:
Wildcard: The Wildcard lets you permanently change your entire team without incurring any points deductions. It is best saved for when you are at least a few weeks into the season, and have better idea about who is performing well and who isn't.
Free Hit: A Free Hit is exactly the same as the Wildcard, except your changes will only last one game week. Your team will go back to how it was before once that game week ends.
Triple Captain: Does exactly what is says on the tin – Triple-captaining a player will get TRIPLE points that week, instead of double.
Bench Boost: Use your Bench Boost and all players on your bench (who don't normally score points unless a member of your starting XI misses the match) all score points as well for one game week.
Ed is a staff writer at FourFourTwo, working across the magazine and website. A German speaker, he’s been working as a football reporter in Berlin since 2015, predominantly covering the Bundesliga and Germany's national team. Favourite FFT features include an exclusive interview with Jude Bellingham following the youngster’s move to Borussia Dortmund in 2020, a history of the Berlin Derby since the fall of the Wall and a celebration of Kevin Keegan’s playing career.
