How to play Fantasy Premier League: A beginner’s guide with everything you need to know

Every season, millions of football fans around the world take part in Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

Whether you’re trying to beat your friends, climb the overall global rankings or simply want to make watching the matches more exciting, FPL is one of the best fantasy games available.

If you’ve never played before, don’t worry. It might look complicated at first but once you understand the basics, it’s incredibly easy to get the hang of.

This guide explains everything you need to know to get started.

What is Fantasy Premier League? 

FPL is a free online game where you build a squad from the real Premier League players.

Your selected players earn fantasy points based on how they perform in their club’s games. Goals, assists, clean sheets, saves and bonus points all contribute to your score.

It’s important to note that FPL points only come from matches in the Premier League itself — not any other competitions that they play in for their club, or indeed national team.

The aim is to score more points than everyone else playing FPL over the course of the season, which for the game’s purposes is divided into 38 gameweeks.

You compete against millions of managers worldwide in the overall table but can also create private mini-leagues with friends, family members or work colleagues.

Building your squad 

Every manager is given a £100million budget to build a squad of 15 players.

This must consist of:

• Two goalkeepers
• Five defenders
• Five midfielders
• Three forwards.

There are also a couple of important rules:

• You can only own a maximum of three players from the same club
• Your total squad must always stay within that £100m budget.

One of the biggest challenges in FPL is deciding where to spend your money.

A good starting strategy is to spend heavily on a few premium assets — the expensive, big-name Premier League players — while surrounding them with good-value picks and budget options.

Finding those bargains is often the key to having a successful FPL season.

Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland is FPL’s most expensive player this season with a price of £15.5m (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Picking your starting XI 

Although you own 15 players, only your starting XI score points each gameweek.

Before every gameweek’s deadline, you’ll need to select your starting team and decide which four players among your 15 will sit on your bench.

These (though not the second goalkeeper) also need to be set up from first- to third-choice substitute, as FPL will automatically elevate players into your team in that order if someone in your starting XI doesn’t participate in a gameweek.

You can use any valid formation, provided you always start with:

• At least one goalkeeper
• At least three defenders
• At least two midfielders
• At least one forward

Popular formations include 3-4-3, 3-5-2 and 4-4-2.

Choosing your captain 

One of the most important decisions every gameweek is who will be your captain.

That’s because your chosen captain scores double points, meaning a player who gets 10 points will instead earn 20 if they are your skipper — making the right call here goes a long way to accumulating a hefty points total in any given gameweek.

You also choose a vice-captain. If your captain doesn’t play any minutes, the vice-captain automatically assumes the captaincy and his points are doubled instead.

How players score points 

As mentioned earlier, players earn FPL points for their real-life performances.

They can do this by:

• Playing 60 minutes or more in a match
• Scoring goals
• Providing assists
• Keeping clean sheets (goalkeepers and defenders only)
• Making saves (goalkeepers only)
• Defensive Contributions
• Bonus Points.

Bonus Points are awarded to the three best-performing players in each match, while Defensive Contributions (also known as DEFCON) points are rewards for actions such as tackles, clearances, interceptions and recoveries.

This means defenders and defensive midfielders can still score well even if they don’t contribute goals or assists.

It’s important to note that players can also receive minus points for certain actions:

• Receiving a yellow or red card
• Missing a penalty
• Scoring an own goal
• Conceding goals (goalkeepers and defenders only).

Making transfers

Once the season starts, you’ll receive one free transfer every gameweek.

Transfers allow you to replace your players. You are free to use them as you wish but usually they are best used to replace squad members who are injured, suspended or simply out of form.

Unused free transfers roll over, allowing you to build up a maximum of five.

If you make more transfers than your free allowance, you’ll receive a four-point deduction for each additional change.

These deductions are known as taking a ‘hit’, and experienced FPL managers usually avoid them unless they expect the player they are bringing in to quickly make up those lost points.

Using chips 

One of the most exciting parts of FPL management is the chips.

These are effectively boosters that can improve your score, however only one chip can be used in any gameweek.

The four chips are:

Wildcard 

• This allows you to make unlimited transfers without any points deductions. This is usually saved for fixture swings — where you look to capitalise on a club having a favourable run of games — or if your squad is in really bad shape.

Free Hit 

• This lets you make unlimited transfers for one gameweek only, before your squad automatically returns to its previous state.

Bench Boost 

• Normally, only your starting XI score points but Bench Boost allows all 15 players in the squad to earn them during the gameweek concerned.

Triple Captain 

• Instead of scoring double points, your captain’s total is tripled.

It is important to note there are two sets of these chips available to you during a season: one to use in its first half and one in the second. You have to play your first set of chips by Gameweek 19, which is at the beginning of January. If you don’t use them before then, sorry, you lose them.

Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes broke the Premier League assists record last season – and was therefore excellent in FPL (Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

Double and blank gameweeks

Double and blank gameweeks are key parts of the FPL season.

A double gameweek is when a club have two matches in that period, giving their players two opportunities to score points. A gameweek becomes known as a blank gameweek when there are one or more teams who don’t play at all, meaning that any of their players that you have selected will not score points that gameweek.

Planning your transfers and using chips such as Triple Captain, Bench Boost and Free Hit during these gameweeks can provide you with a significant advantage over your rivals.

Deadlines 

Every gameweek has a deadline.

This is always 90 minutes before the first match of a gameweek. Once it passes, you can no longer make changes to your team.

Join and create mini-leagues 

While competing in the overall rankings is fun, many FPL managers care most about their mini-leagues.

You can create private leagues with friends, family or work colleagues, or join public leagues featuring thousands of other managers.

Quick tips for beginners 

When starting out, try not to overcomplicate things.

Focus on selecting players who:

• Start every week for their club
• Play for the best attacking or defensive teams
• Have favourable fixtures
• Are likely to be involved in goals, assists or clean sheets.

Perhaps the biggest mistake new managers make is chasing last week’s points. Just because a player scored twice in one match doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll do it again in the next one.

Instead, think long term and trust good players who have kind upcoming fixtures.

Final thoughts 

The best FPL managers aren’t necessarily those who make the most transfers or constantly change their team. They’re the ones who stay patient, plan ahead and make informed decisions based on fixtures, form and underlying stats.

Whether you’re aiming to finish inside the top 10,000 overall — considered the mark of an elite manager — or simply do better than your friends, family members or colleagues, FPL adds another layer of excitement to watching Premier League games.

Most importantly, do remember to enjoy it.