Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is free, it takes ten minutes to start, and it turns every weekend of football into your own competition. This guide walks a complete beginner through the whole game — squad, points, captain, transfers, chips and deadlines — with no jargon left unexplained.
The idea in one line
You get a virtual budget of £100.0m and build a 15-player squad of real Premier League footballers. When those players do well in real matches — score, assist, keep clean sheets — you earn points. The manager with the most points wins.
Building your squad: the rules
Your 15 players must be exactly:
- 2 goalkeepers
- 5 defenders
- 5 midfielders
- 3 forwards
Two more limits keep everyone honest: you can pick a maximum of 3 players from any single club, and the whole squad must fit inside the £100.0m budget. Every player has a price (roughly £4.0m to £15.0m) that rises and falls across the season based on how popular they are.
Starting XI and formation
Only 11 of your 15 players score each week. The other 4 sit on the bench and step in only if a starter does not play. You choose the formation, with three fixed rules: exactly 1 goalkeeper, at least 3 defenders, at least 1 forward. So 3-4-3, 3-5-2, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 5-3-2 and 5-4-1 are all legal. If a starter is benched or injured, your highest-priority substitute is swapped in automatically.
Captain and vice-captain
Each week you name one player your captain — he scores double points. If your captain does not play, your vice-captain takes over automatically. Picking the captain is the single most important decision you make every Gameweek, which is why we run a dedicated Captain Picks page.
How points are scored
The essentials:
- Playing up to 60 minutes: 1 point; 60+ minutes: 2 points.
- Goal: 6 (goalkeeper or defender), 5 (midfielder), 4 (forward).
- Assist: 3 points.
- Clean sheet: 4 (goalkeeper/defender), 1 (midfielder).
- Every 3 saves by a goalkeeper: 1 point; penalty save: 5.
- Bonus: the three best performers in each match earn 1–3 extra points.
- Deductions: yellow card −1, red card −3, own goal −2, penalty miss −2, and goalkeepers/defenders lose 1 point per 2 goals conceded.
Since the 2025/26 season FPL also rewards hard defensive work directly: a defender who reaches 10 combined clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles in a match earns 2 extra points, and midfielders and forwards get the same for 12 defensive actions (ball recoveries count for them too). Scoring details are refreshed from time to time — it is always worth a glance at the official rules before a new season.
Transfers and price changes
Between Gameweeks you get 1 free transfer. Save it and you can carry a small number of free transfers over. Any extra transfer costs −4 points — a “hit”. Take hits sparingly: chasing every piece of news with −4s is the fastest way to bleed points. Prices also drift daily; buying a player before he rises earns you a little extra budget, but never let price alone drive a decision.
Chips: your special weapons
Chips are one-off boosts you play at the perfect moment:
- Wildcard — unlimited free transfers for one Gameweek (great for a full squad rebuild).
- Free Hit — unlimited transfers for one Gameweek only; your squad reverts afterwards.
- Bench Boost — your bench points count too, for one Gameweek.
- Triple Captain — your captain scores triple, not double, for one Gameweek.
Since 2025/26 you get two full sets of chips: one for the first half of the season (use it before the Gameweek 19 deadline — it does not carry over) and a fresh set for the second half. That means two Wildcards, two Free Hits, two Bench Boosts and two Triple Captains across the season — the chip panel in the official game always shows what you have left.
Bench Boost and Triple Captain shine in Double Gameweeks (when a club plays twice); Free Hit rescues you in Blank Gameweeks (when clubs do not play). Our Recommended Squad page flags these weeks automatically. The game occasionally adds new chips too, so confirm the full list for the current season.
Deadlines and Gameweeks
The season is split into 38 Gameweeks. Before each one there is a deadline — 90 minutes before the first match kicks off. Lock in your team, captain and transfers before then; after the deadline everything is frozen for that week. Missing a deadline is the classic beginner mistake, so set a reminder.
Mini-leagues
The game is most fun against people you know. Anyone can create or join a mini-league with a short invite code and compare scores all season. We run one too — the code lives on our Mini League page.
How Fantasy PL Edge helps
Every tool on this site is built to answer one Gameweek question:
- AI Player Rankings — who is worth buying right now, scored 0–100.
- Fixture Ticker — which clubs have the easiest upcoming matches.
- Injury Centre — who is fit, doubtful or suspended, with source reliability.
- Captain Picks — the safest and boldest armband options.
- Recommended Squad — a full, budget-legal 15 to copy or adapt.
Five tips for your first season
- Spend on attackers. Goals and assists score more reliably than clean sheets.
- Do not overreact. One bad week is not a reason to take three hits.
- Plan around fixtures. Target players with a run of easy matches.
- Captain premiums. Your captain should usually be a top attacker in good form.
- Save your chips. The best weeks to use them come later in the season.
That is the whole game. Start simple, learn a little each Gameweek, and let the data do the heavy lifting.
Research and data analysis supported by AI (our own rating engine); reviewed and edited by the author. Rules described here are the classic FPL format — always confirm the official rules for the current season.