Retro Fantasy Football

FPL rule changes by season

By Craig · Published

Fantasy Premier League launched in 2002 with no wildcards and no chips. The first wildcard arrived around 2008/09, chips in 2015/16, and from 2025/26 every chip can be played twice, once in each half of the season.

This is every major rule change we can date, season by season: transfers, wildcards, chips, formations, clean sheets and the bonus system. For the story behind them, from postal leagues to 13 million managers, read The History of FPL.

FPL rules, season by season

2002/03

  • FPL launches in August 2002: 15-player squads, a £100m budget and one free transfer a week.
  • Unused free transfers are lost, and there are no wildcards or chips.
  • Ten formations are allowed, including 2-5-3 and 5-5-0.
  • Midfielders score two points for a clean sheet.
  • Three bonus points go to any player judged to have played excellently, with no limit on how many get them.
  • The first six gameweeks are a pre-season, so the overall competition runs over 32 gameweeks.

2004/05

  • The 2-5-3 and 5-5-0 formations are removed.

2005/06

  • Midfielders score one point for a clean sheet rather than two.

Mid-2000s

  • A statistics-based measure, the Actim Index, brings in the familiar three, two and one bonus points.

Around 2008/09

  • The first wildcard arrives.
  • Over the following seasons come a second wildcard, the ability to carry over an unused free transfer, head-to-head leagues and the FPL Cup.

2011/12

  • EA Sports’ Player Performance Index takes over the bonus points.
  • After many managers could not log in to the relaunched site before the opening deadline, FPL grants a free wildcard.

2012/13 or 2013/14

  • Opta becomes the data provider and its statistics form the Bonus Points System (BPS). Sources differ on the season.

2015/16

  • Chips arrive: bench boost, triple captain and all out attack.
  • The wildcard is split into one for each half of the season.

2017/18

  • The free hit chip replaces all out attack.

2024/25

  • Managers can bank up to five free transfers.
  • A one-off assistant manager chip scores points from a real Premier League manager’s results over three gameweeks.

2025/26

  • The assistant manager chip is withdrawn, and every chip is available twice, once in each half of the season.
  • Defensive contribution points reward defenders who make ten combined clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles, with a higher threshold for midfielders and forwards.
  • Managers get extra free transfers to cover the Africa Cup of Nations.

2026/27

  • Points, ranks and mini-league tables update live during matches, with projected bonus points shown after 20 minutes.
  • The BPS is rebalanced to reduce its overlap with defensive contributions.
  • The game adds an official price-change predictor.

Some early changes are hard to date. Where sources disagree or give only an approximate season, the heading says so. Season links go to that season's page, where you can draft a squad from it.

What has stayed the same

The core of the game is unchanged since 2002: a 15-player squad, a £100m budget and a scoring system close to today's. Winning scores have still climbed, from 1,940 in the first season to a record 2,844 in 2021/22; see every FPL winner.

Pick a season and play it out

Sources

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