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]
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.
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.
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]
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]
| Season | Winner | Nationality | Team name | Points | Ref | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 76k | Graeme Haddow | Wee Wullie Winkie FC | 1,940 | [11] | ||
| 2003–04 | 312k | Muir O'Connor | The Lonely 11 | 2,151 | [12] | ||
| 2004–05 | 472k | Andy Tomlins | Palace Excile | 2,253 | [13] | ||
| 2005–06 | 810k | Tommy Wilson | Blue Bridge Brigade | 2,326 | |||
| 2006–07 | 1.27m | Mike Dolan | Divers & Cheats XI | 2,268 | |||
| 2007–08 | 1.70m | John Frisina | FRISK UTD | 2,466 | [14] | ||
| 2008–09 | 1.95m | Sir Moult | MOULTANIC | 2,264 | |||
| 2009–10 | 2.10m | Jon Reeson | Westfield Irons | 2,668 | [15] | ||
| 2010–11 | 2.35m | Chris McGurn | Morons FC | 2,372 | [16] | ||
| 2011–12 | 2.78m | Sam Pater | SamCity | 2,414 | [17] | ||
| 2012–13 | 2.61m | Matt Martyniak | Divine Mercy | 2,472 | [18] | ||
| 2013–14 | 3.22m | Tom Fenley | Captain Suarez! | 2,634 | [19] | ||
| 2014–15 | 3.5m | Simon March | Atletico Marchid** | 2,470 | [20] | ||
| 2015–16 | 3.73m | Dimitri Nicolaou | Dimitris gavles | 2,458 | [21] | ||
| 2016–17 | 4.50m | Ben Crabtree | FC Crab Dogg | 2,564 | [22] | ||
| 2017–18 | 5.19m | Yusuf Sheikh | Yusuf's Team | 2,512 | [23] | ||
| 2018–19 | 6.32m | Adam Levy |
| 2,659 | [24] | ||
| 2019–20 | 7.63m | Joshua Bull | The Bulldozers | 2,557 | [25] | ||
| 2020–21 | 8.15m | Michael Coone | Teddy Bears Utd | 2,680 | [26] | ||
| 2021–22 | 9.17m | Jamie Pigott | Futbol Is Life | 2,844 | [27] | ||
| 2022–23 | 11.45m | Ali Jahangirov | FPL Gunz | 2,776 | [28] | ||
| 2023–24 | 10.91m | Jonas Sand Låbakk | Onkel Blaa | 2,799 | [29] |
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.
| 2002–03 | Thierry Henry | Forward | £11.0m | Arsenal | 271 | [30] | |
| 2003–04 | Thierry Henry (2) | Forward | Arsenal | 242 | [31] | ||
| 2004–05 | Frank Lampard | Midfielder | £10.0m | Chelsea | 269 | [32] | |
| 2005–06 | Thierry Henry (3) | Forward | £14.0m | Arsenal | 239 | [33] | |
| 2006–07 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Midfielder | £10.0m | Manchester United | 244 | [34] | |
| 2007–08 | Cristiano Ronaldo (2) | Midfielder | £12.0m | Manchester United | 283 | [35] | |
| 2008–09 | Frank Lampard (2) | Midfielder | £11.0m | Chelsea | 226 | ||
| 2009–10 | Frank Lampard (3) | Midfielder | Chelsea | 284 | |||
| 2010–11 | Luis Nani | Midfielder | £8.0m | Manchester United | 198 | [36] | |
| 2011–12 | Robin van Persie | Forward | £12.0m | Arsenal | 269 | [37] | |
| 2012–13 | Robin van Persie (2) | Forward | £13.0m | Manchester United | 262 | [38] | |
| 2013–14 | Luis Suárez | Forward | £11.0m | Liverpool | 295 | [39] | |
| 2014–15 | Eden Hazard | Midfielder | £10.0m | Chelsea | 233 | [40] | |
| 2015–16 | Riyad Mahrez | Midfielder | £5.5m | Leicester City | 240 | [41] | |
| 2016–17 | Alexis Sánchez | Midfielder | £11.0m | Arsenal | 264 | [42] | |
| 2017–18 | Mohamed Salah | Midfielder | £9.0m | Liverpool | 303 | [43] | |
| 2018–19 | Mohamed Salah (2) | Midfielder | £13.0m | Liverpool | 259 | [44] | |
| 2019–20 | Kevin De Bruyne | Midfielder | £9.5m | Manchester City | 251 | [45] | |
| 2020–21 | Bruno Fernandes | Midfielder | £10.5m | Manchester United | 244 | [46] | |
| 2021–22 | Mohamed Salah (3) | Midfielder | £12.5m | Liverpool | 265 | ||
| 2022–23 | Erling Haaland | Forward | £11.5m | Manchester City | 272 | [47] | |
| 2023–24 | Cole Palmer | Midfielder | £5.0m | Chelsea | 244 | [48] |
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.[49] [50] Draft Fantasy Football is an independent platform that offers both snake and auction draft games.[51] FanTeam is a gambling site that offers daily games as well as a pay-to-enter season-long game.[52] 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.[53]