When to use your first FPL Wildcard in 2025/26
Not sure when to use your first FPL Wildcard chip of 2025/26? Well, you’re at the right place.
FPL are providing managers with two of each chip, as part of a series of changes. This gives the community more opportunities to utilise them, rather than simply on Blank and Double Gameweeks.
Everyone has until Gameweek 19 to use their first Wildcard, so let’s highlight some of the best opportunities for it.
Gameweek 4
A generally disliked tool, getting the Bench Boost done and dusted in Gameweek 1 seems to be a popular strategy among FPL managers. To maintain this aggressive use of early chips, using a Wildcard soon afterwards offers a quick route out of it.
Otherwise, such squad depth is taking precious funds out of your starting XI. That could instead afford another premium asset.
What’s handy about the build-up to Gameweek 4 is that its two-week international break gives more time to increase squad value during the early season’s notoriously busy period of price rises and falls.
The real-life transfer window will have just closed, while there’ll likely already be an idea about which players are starting. Any equivalent Christopher Nkunku or Valentin Barco errors can be fixed!
Additionally, with there now being an extra Free Hit to use and Gameweek 16’s automatic top-up to five free transfers, there’s less reason to wait.
Gameweek 7
Meanwhile, managers can look at fixture swings to identify when they should go little and big on the most attractive teams – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Newcastle.
The Gunners and the Magpies have particularly tough starts, on paper. It finishes with their meeting at St James’ Park, before things get nicer for both, starting from Gameweek 7. That coincides with the conclusion of attractive Nottingham Forest and Brentford runs.
Wildcarding here allows immediate Bench Boost users to have a well-rounded squad for six rounds, where the depth can help free transfers accumulate. Then, from Gameweek 7, a Wildcard can introduce cheap bench fodder, an extra premium and a bunch of saved-up transfers.
This new team gets a good run before December’s AFCON transfer top-up. A Free Hit can also be used in this period.
Gameweek 13
Interestingly, Fantasy Football Scout’s ‘Jump on, Jump off’ article shows a fixture swing here.
Between Gameweeks 13 and 19, we’ll see Liverpool, Man City and Newcastle each play three promoted teams. Basically, the teams you want to top the Fixture Ticker tend to, while Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley have a tough time.
These added Gameweek 16 transfers encourage even more aggressiveness. The tricky bit is holding off on the Wildcard for so long, but at least there’ll now be other chips to use.
