What is Fantasy Premier League (FPL)?
There will be millions of active worldwide FPL managers for the 2024/25 season and here’s a brief explanation of what it is.
The letters stand for Fantasy Premier League, a free-to-play game based on players’ real-life performances in England’s top division.
When taking part, managers are usually motivated either by achieving a high overall ranking or beating family, friends and colleagues in a range of mini-leagues.
Both Fantasy Football Community and Fantasy Football Scout provide popular, in-depth coverage of FPL, alongside other beloved games.
HOW TO PLAY FPL
Your £100m budget is used on a squad of 15 players, who come at a range of already-determined prices. Up until each Gameweek’s deadline – 90 minutes before the first kick-off – managers get to pick a starting XI, make transfers and select a captain whose score will be doubled.
Then, as matches take place, points are gained – hopefully!
SCORING FPL POINTS
These arrive via goals, assists, clean sheets and goalkeeper saves. Furthermore, at least a trio of players will later be awarded a maximum of three bonus points per match.
On the other hand, points are deducted for own goals, penalty misses and being shown a card by the referee. Goalkeepers and defenders also lose one for every two times they concede.
Should one of your starters be completely absent, someone from your substitutes’ bench automatically steps in for them.
TRANSFERS + CHIPS
Every Gameweek, teams are handed one free transfer to use, allowing desired assets to replace the unwanted.
If nothing needs doing, it can be rolled over to the next week but no more than two can be accumulated. Alternatively, if additional moves need making, they’ll cost four points each time.
To add some strategy to FPL, managers begin each campaign with five chips to use at their convenience – Free Hit, Bench Boost, Triple Captain and a couple of Wildcards.
- FREE HIT: A squad for one week only
- BENCH BOOST: Where all 15 players contribute points
- TRIPLE CAPTAIN: As opposed to the armband’s usual double points
- WILDCARD: Unlimited transfers to transform squads for current and future Gameweeks.
HOW TO REGISTER FOR FPL
Once the game has launched for 2024/25, simply go to the official site and set up an account.
From there, choose a team name and start thinking of your final Gameweek 1 squad. You won’t get punished for making transfers before this first deadline, so being indecisive is fine.
