Fantasy Premier League Updates for the 2026-27 Season

The Fantasy Premier League (FPL) has returned for the 2026-27 season with several updates to player prices, positions, and new features designed to enhance gameplay. With less than a month until kickoff, here’s what managers need to know.

Assistance for Selecting Starting Teams

Picking an initial squad within a £100m budget, spanning 15 players, can be challenging. This season introduces a new tool that helps build your starting team by asking simple questions about your favourite club and preferred playing style. You can still customize the suggested lineup freely until the deadline for gameweek one.

Live Mini-League Updates

Mini-leagues remain a popular way for friends and colleagues to compete. Previously, league tables updated only after all daily matches ended. Now, standings will refresh live during matches, showing real-time competition progress. Bonus points will also appear from the 20th minute of each match rather than after full confirmation.

Price-Change Predictor

A new feature forecasts how likely a player's price is to rise or fall at midnight the following day. The prediction categories are:

• Very likely to rise
• Likely to rise
• Unlikely to change
• Likely to drop
• Very likely to drop

This tool doesn't guarantee price changes but provides an indication of market trends.

Adjustments to Bonus Points and Timing

Following last season's overhaul of the bonus-point system, tweaks include removing penalties for being tackled, which previously reduced bonus points. This mainly impacts attacking midfielders, who made up nine of the top ten most-tackled players last term, including Chelsea's Morgan Rogers and Manchester City's Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku. Full-backs like Djed Spence (Tottenham) and Nico O'Reilly (Manchester City) also benefit.

Defenders now require three clearances, blocks, or interceptions (CBIs) to earn a BPS point, increased from two, making high defensive bonus scores rarer.

Goalkeeper saves no longer differentiate between shots inside or outside the penalty area; all saves earn two BPS points. An extra BPS point is awarded when denying a big chance, effectively balancing changes despite penalty save points dropping from eight to seven.

Bonus points finalisation lockdown has moved from one hour post-match to 09:00 UK time the next morning, allowing Opta more time for data review.

Continuing Features from 2025-26

The two major changes from last year remain:

• Chips can be used twice per season—once in the first half and once from gameweek 20 onward. These include:

• Bench Boost: Points from all four substitutes count in one gameweek.
• Free Hit: Temporary unlimited transfers for a single gameweek, reverting afterward.
• Triple Captain: Captain’s points are tripled instead of doubled for one gameweek.
• Wildcard: Unlimited permanent transfers in one gameweek.

• Defensive contribution points (Defcon) continue. Outfield players earn bonus points for defensive actions: every 10 actions for defenders yields two points; every 12 for midfielders and forwards.

This has notably shifted how managers value players, boosting certain individuals’ point potential significantly.

Player Price Changes and Position Updates

Erling Haaland of Manchester City remains the priciest FPL player ever, rising to £15.5m from £15m two seasons ago. Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, who set a Premier League record with 21 assists last season, jumped from £9m to £12m. Arsenal defender Gabriel now costs £8m, tying as the joint-most expensive defender in FPL history.

Several players have switched positions for this season:

• Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Lamare Bogarde (Aston Villa), Keane Lewis-Potter (Brentford), and Patrick Dorgu (Manchester United) moved from defender to midfielder.
• Eli Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth) changed from forward to midfielder.
• Mats Wieffer (Brighton), Rio Cardines (Crystal Palace), Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham), and Eric Moreira (Nottingham Forest) shifted from midfield to defense.
• Omar Marmoush (Manchester City) and Georginio Rutter (Brighton) moved from midfield to forward.

New Tools: History Checker and Weekly Recaps

The history checker lets you compare your current ranking with previous seasons and see your best percentage finish, not just overall rank. Weekly recaps will offer visual summaries of your performance, highlighting your top scorer each gameweek.

BBC Sport FPL League

BBC Sport will run its own FPL league again this season. Details on how to join will be announced closer to the start of the campaign.