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Fantasy Premier League

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Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is the official free-to-play fantasy football game of the English Premier League. With over 10 million players, it is the largest fantasy football game of any domestic football league.[1]

History

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For more information, see Fantasy football (association).

Created by ISM (International Sports Multimedia)[2] and owned and operated by the Premier League, Fantasy Premier League was introduced in 2002 for the 2002–03 Premier League season.[3] It was launched in conjunction with the creation of the Premier League website.[4]

In its first season it had 76,200 players with first place winning a VIP trip to a Premier League match of their choice.[5] The player base has grown annually with the exception of the 2012–13 and 2023–24 season, surpassing one million players for the first time during the 2006–07 season and over 10 million entries for the first time during the 2022–23 campaign.

Gameplay

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Classic

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The classic Fantasy Premier League game is open to the public and is contested annually by millions worldwide. Participants must select a team based on real-life Premier League footballers who scored fantasy points based on those players' real-life statistical performances. Points accumlate across the season in order to declare a champion. As well as the overall global leaderboard, there are smaller automatic public leaderboards categorised by home country and Premier League club supported.

  • Team selection: Participants select a squad of 15 players from the Premier League within an allocated £100m budget. A maximum of three players can be selected per club. Starting XIs must contain one goalkeeper and a minimum of three defenders.
  • Team management: Managers are permitted to make one free transfer per gameweek with the opportunity to roll over four (previously one until 2024) on a weekly basis for a maximum of five. Additional transfers can be made for a -4 points deduction per transfer. Users also select a captain, whose score is doubled for the round, and a vice-captain, who will become captain automatically should the chosen captain not play. Changes must be made before the gameweek deadline. Substitutes are automatically activated in order of bench order preference and within the formation restrictions if a starting player does not play.
  • Points scoring: Points are awarded based on real life player performance with actions such as goals, assists and clean sheets earning points while points are deducted for bookings and conceding goals. A bonus points system also rewards players for underlying stats with the top three scoring players in metrics such as pass completion and tackles earning bonus points. Since 2012, Opta has been the data provider for FPL.[6] The game runs across the length of the entire Premier League season and the overall winner is the manager who has accumulated the most points at the conclusion of the season.
  • Chips: Since 2015, managers have been equipped with several chips to use throughout the season. They must be activated prior to the gameweek deadline and may be only used once during the season (except for wildcard). Chips include:
    • Wildcard - unlimited permanent transfers at no cost. Managers are given two during the season. One must be played in the first half of the season (GW 1 - 19) and the other in the second half on the season (GW 20 - 38)
    • Triple captain - selected captain's points are tripled instead of doubled.
    • Bench boost - points from a manager's substitutes are added to the total.
    • Free hit - unlimited transfers at no cost for a single gameweek. The previous gameweek's team will be restored at the end of the round.
    • Mystery chip - ahead of the 2024–25 season, FPL announced a new "mystery chip" available to play in January 2025.[7]
    • All out attack (discontinued in 2017) - enabled managers to play a 2-5-3 formation i.e. start an extra attacker at the expense of a defender.
  • Mini-leagues: Users can create their own mini-leagues and invite others to join. Scoring can either be in the standard format or in a head-to-head league whereby teams face off against one other each gameweek, earning three points for a win or one for a tie.
  • FPL Cup: A knockout cup competition runs concurrently during the season. Managers are randomly drawn against an opponent and face off in a head-to-head match using their regular FPL team with only the winner proceeding to the next round.

Draft

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As well as the standard format, FPL introduced a draft mode for the first time in 2017. In this instance, managers join small private leagues of between 2–16 managers. There is no budget and instead managers take turns to select players for their 15-man squads. However, once a player has been selected, they are not available for any other managers in that specific private league to select.[8]

Challenge

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In March 2024, FPL launched a beta version of a new DFS game called FPL Challenge. The mode is separate to the main game and requires players to build a squad for one single gameweek with a particular challenge unique to that gameweek also active e.g. unlimited budget, players in certain positions or for certain clubs score double etc. Unlike the classic and draft modes, the game is a short-form "daily" game with scores resetting back to zero after each round meaning there were no cumulative season-long leaderboards and prizes are awarded to the top three scoring managers for each individual round.[9] However, ahead of the first full 2024–25 season, FPL added a season-long leaderboard and the ability to create mini-leagues. Events were also introduced. An event is a short collection of four or five gameweeks with a broader theme e.g. five-a-side teams rather than the classic XI. Managers are able to track their mini-league standings during events as well as single gameweeks and season-long points.[10]

Winners

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List of Fantasy Premier League champions
Season Players[1] Winner Nationality Team name Points Ref
2002–03 76k Graeme Haddow  South Africa Wee Wullie Winkie FC 1,940[nb 1] [11]
2003–04 312k Muir O'Connor  Ireland The Lonely 11 2,151 [12]
2004–05 472k Andy Tomlins  England Palace Excile 2,253 [13]
2005–06 810k Tommy Wilson Blue Bridge Brigade 2,326 [12]
2006–07 1.27m Mike Dolan Divers & Cheats XI 2,268 [12]
2007–08 1.70m John Frisina  Australia FRISK UTD 2,466 [14]
2008–09 1.95m Sir Moult  Australia MOULTANIC 2,264 [12]
2009–10 2.10m Jon Reeson  England Westfield Irons 2,668 [15]
2010–11 2.35m Chris McGurn  England Morons FC 2,372 [16]
2011–12 2.78m Sam Pater  England SamCity 2,414 [17]
2012–13 2.61m Matt Martyniak  England Divine Mercy 2,472 [18]
2013–14 3.22m Tom Fenley  England Captain Suarez! 2,634 [19]
2014–15 3.5m Simon March  England Atletico Marchid** 2,470 [20]
2015–16 3.73m Dimitri Nicolaou  England Dimitris gavles 2,458 [21]
2016–17 4.50m Ben Crabtree  England FC Crab Dogg 2,564 [22]
2017–18 5.19m Yusuf Sheikh  Tanzania Yusuf's Team 2,512 [23]
2018–19 6.32m Adam Levy  New Zealand #TheyAreUs 2,659 [24]
2019–20 7.63m Joshua Bull[nb 2]  England The Bulldozers 2,557 [26]
2020–21 8.15m Michael Coone  Ireland Teddy Bears Utd 2,680 [27]
2021–22 9.17m Jamie Pigott  United States Futbol Is Life 2,844 [28]
2022–23 11.45m Ali Jahangirov  Azerbaijan FPL Gunz 2,776 [29]
2023–24 10.91m Jonas Sand Låbakk  Norway Onkel Blaa 2,799 [30]
  1. ^ Points did not start accumulating in the first FPL season until gameweek 7 with the first six weeks considered preseason, allowing players to familiarise themselves with the game.[6]
  2. ^ Aleksander Antonov finished on 2,575 points but was disqualified two weeks later by FPL "due to a breach of our terms."[25]

Highest scoring players

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Below is a list of players who have finished a season as the highest-scoring Fantasy Premier League player.

Number of multiple wins shown in brackets.
Highest scoring players per season
Season Player Position Starting price Club Points Ref
2002–03 Thierry Henry Forward £11.0m Arsenal 271 [31]
2003–04 Thierry Henry (2) Forward Arsenal 242 [32]
2004–05 Frank Lampard Midfielder £10.0m Chelsea 269 [33]
2005–06 Thierry Henry (3) Forward £14.0m Arsenal 239 [34]
2006–07 Cristiano Ronaldo Midfielder £10.0m Manchester United 244 [35]
2007–08 Cristiano Ronaldo (2) Midfielder £12.0m Manchester United 283 [36]
2008–09 Frank Lampard (2) Midfielder £11.0m Chelsea 226 [32]
2009–10 Frank Lampard (3) Midfielder Chelsea 284 [32]
2010–11 Luis Nani Midfielder £8.0m Manchester United 198 [37]
2011–12 Robin van Persie Forward £12.0m Arsenal 269 [38]
2012–13 Robin van Persie (2) Forward £13.0m Manchester United 262 [39]
2013–14 Luis Suárez Forward £11.0m Liverpool 295 [40]
2014–15 Eden Hazard Midfielder £10.0m Chelsea 233 [41]
2015–16 Riyad Mahrez Midfielder £5.5m Leicester City 240 [42]
2016–17 Alexis Sánchez Midfielder £11.0m Arsenal 264 [43]
2017–18 Mohamed Salah Midfielder £9.0m Liverpool 303 [44]
2018–19 Mohamed Salah (2) Midfielder £13.0m Liverpool 259 [45]
2019–20 Kevin De Bruyne Midfielder £9.5m Manchester City 251 [46]
2020–21 Bruno Fernandes Midfielder £10.5m Manchester United 244 [47]
2021–22 Mohamed Salah (3) Midfielder £12.5m Liverpool 265 [34]
2022–23 Erling Haaland Forward £11.5m Manchester City 272 [48]
2023–24 Cole Palmer Midfielder £5.0m Chelsea 244 [49]

Other games

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As well as the Premier League's own official game, there are numerous other fantasy football games based on Premier League play, some of which predate FPL. Media outlets such as The Telegraph and Sky Sports offer cash prizes for winning their own variations of the classic format.[50][51] Draft Fantasy Football is an independent platform that offers both snake and auction draft games.[52] FanTeam is a gambling site that offers daily games as well as a pay-to-enter season-long game.[53] Sorare is a cryptocurrency-based game where users create teams by collecting and trading player cards and NFTs. The company signed an official four-year licensing deal with the Premier League in January 2023.[54]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Season by Season FPL Managers Growth". ALLABOUTFPL. 1 June 2022.
  2. ^ "The Online Era: The History of Fantasy Football". fpltips.com. 5 June 2023.
  3. ^ "The FPL Era: The History of Fantasy Football". fpltips.com. 6 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Fantasy Premier League (Info)". fantasy.premierleague.com (Web Archive). Archived from the original on 2002-10-16. Retrieved 2023-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. ^ "Fantasy Premier League (Prizes)". fantasy.premierleague.com (Web Archive). Archived from the original on 2002-10-16. Retrieved 2023-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ a b Reeves, Jamie (6 June 2023). "The FPL Era: The History of Fantasy Football (Part 3)". FPL Tips.
  7. ^ "What does the Mystery Chip mean for 2024/25 FPL?". www.premierleague.com.
  8. ^ Rehman, Abdul. "How to play Fantasy Premier League Draft". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Shand, Holly (25 March 2024). "What is the new FPL Challenge game?". The Athletic.
  10. ^ "FPL Challenge 2024/25 is LIVE!". www.premierleague.com. 24 July 2024.
  11. ^ "Genesis of Fantasy Premier League". FPL Discovery. 12 May 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d "List of FPL Winners Since The First FPL Season in 2002/03". ALLABOUTFPL. 6 June 2022.
  13. ^ "Fantasy Premier League? Completed it, mate!". Crystal Palace F.C. 31 March 2019.
  14. ^ "Fantasy football winner reveals secrets of success". CNN.
  15. ^ "An Interview with Jon Reeson". Fantasy Football Scout. 30 May 2010.
  16. ^ "View From The Top - An Interview with Chris McGurn". Fantasy Football Scout. 21 May 2011.
  17. ^ "FPL champion reveals nerve-racking season finale". www.premierleague.com.
  18. ^ "Fantasy winner reveals simple secret of success". www.premierleague.com.
  19. ^ "How 2013/14 FPL champion sculpted perfect season". www.premierleague.com.
  20. ^ "Flexibility key to FPL champion's success". www.premierleague.com.
  21. ^ "Premier Leagu's Interview with FPL 2015/16 Winner Dimitri Nicolaou". Fantasy Premier League Happy Hour. 25 May 2016.
  22. ^ "Meet the boss who beat 4.5 million managers to top spot". BBC Sport.
  23. ^ "Yusuf Sheikh wins FPL Crown". Fantasy Football Scout. 13 May 2018.
  24. ^ "Fantasy Premier League: The Kiwi who defied the odds". RNZ. 15 May 2019.
  25. ^ "Fantasy Premier League champion disqualified and stripped of title". The Independent. 11 August 2020.
  26. ^ "Fantasy Premier League new winner after disqualification". BBC News. 11 August 2020.
  27. ^ ""It went to the bitter end" – Meet the Irish man who toppled 8.3m players to win Fantasy Premier League". Irish Independent. 24 May 2021.
  28. ^ "Liverpool differentials steer US manager to FPL glory". www.premierleague.com.
  29. ^ "Azerbaijan's Ali Jahangirov crowned winner of 2022-23 Fantasy Premier League". www.t-vine.com.
  30. ^ "An interview with FPL 2023/24 champion Jonas Sand Låbakk". Fantasy Football Scout. 27 May 2024.
  31. ^ "Thierry Henry's 2002/03 Season Record". Reddit. 2 June 2022.
  32. ^ a b c Marco, Raphael (4 July 2023). "The Highest FPL Points Scorers In Each Season So Far". GiveMeSport. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  33. ^ "2004–05 Fantasy Premier League player list". 9 August 2004. Archived from the original on 9 August 2004. Retrieved 17 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  34. ^ a b S, Srinivasan (4 June 2023). "Most Expensive FPL Players Ever Since the 2002/03 Season". ALLABOUTFPL. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  35. ^ "2006–07 Fantasy Premier League player list". 19 July 2006. Archived from the original on 19 July 2006. Retrieved 17 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  36. ^ "2007–08 Fantasy Premier League player list". 10 August 2007. Archived from the original on 10 August 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  37. ^ "Team of the Season - Nani". Fantasy Football Scout. 31 May 2011.
  38. ^ "First Impressions - FPL 2011/12 Price Guide". Fantasy Football Scout. 21 July 2011.
  39. ^ "Team of the Season - Robin Van Persie". Fantasy Football Scout. 3 June 2013.
  40. ^ "Team of the Season - Luis Suarez". Fantasy Football Scout. 23 May 2014.
  41. ^ "Team of the Season - Eden Hazard". Fantasy Football Scout. 31 May 2015.
  42. ^ "Best Bargain FPL Assets of All Time". ALLABOUTFPL. 25 June 2023.
  43. ^ "Sanchez takes centre stage for Fantasy midfielders". www.premierleague.com. 27 May 2017.
  44. ^ "Team of the Season - Mohamed Salah". Fantasy Football Scout. 27 May 2018.
  45. ^ "FPL prices: Salah drops and stays in midfield". www.premierleague.com. 27 June 2019.
  46. ^ "2019/20 Season Review". Fantasy Football Fix. 28 July 2020.
  47. ^ "FPL in demand: Price rise not putting managers off Fernandes". www.premierleague.com. 27 June 2021.
  48. ^ "How much should Haaland cost in FPL next season?". Fantasy Football Community. 11 June 2023.
  49. ^ "FPL season lessons: Why midfielders dominated in 2023/24". www.premierleague.com.
  50. ^ "Telegraph Fantasy Football help". Telegraph.
  51. ^ "Sky FantasyFootball". www.skysports.com.
  52. ^ "Getting Started - Draft Fantasy Football". Draft Fantasy Blog.
  53. ^ "FanTeam - Daily Fantasy & Betting". www.fanteam.com.
  54. ^ "Premier League backs Sorare's NFT fantasy football game despite crypto crash". www.ft.com.
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