Hello RotoBallers! Today I’m going to introduce you to a new fantasy game that I fell in love with last season. It’s the English Premier League’s official “Fantasy Premier League” game. 

If you want to try the game, you can play in my free “RotoBaller Invitational” league that I’ve set-up. Here are the details to join:

• Join Link: https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/gvpc1z
• League Code: gvpc1z

This first article will serve as a general introduction to playing the game. The next article will dig into some strategies for beginning players. Then, I will publish team-by-team preview articles as we run up to the Premier League season which starts on Friday, August 13 when newly promoted Brentford takes on Arsenal.

What is “FPL”?

“FPL” is a commonly used shorthand for the English Premier League’s official “Fantasy Premier League” game. FPL is a season-long salary-cap based contest where every manager plays against every other manager in the game in a bid for Fantasy Premier League supremacy.

Why play FPL?

Firstly, FPL is a fantastic way for an outsider to learn about the players in the 20-team English Premier League without feeling overwhelmed by depth. Because of how the game is set-up, you can rely on your knowledge of a handful of star players to start building your team. As you move along in the season, you will find yourself digging deeper to find the next “big thing” to climb up from the lower levels of the EPL.

Secondly, FPL is a unique fantasy experience because every user plays the exact same format. Each player only gets one team to manage. This means that every player is presented with the same puzzle. You are testing your skill against every other FPL player in the world on a level playing field. The only limits are your own knowledge, strategic, and tactical decision making.

Thirdly, the global FPL community is huge. There were approximately 8 million global players in the 2020/21 season. And because there is no entry fee to play the game, the FPL fantasy community is more representative of the EPL fan community at large. There are countless FPL pages to follow on Twitter and Facebook, giving out tons of free tips and hilarious banter.

Fourthly, playing FPL is just an excellent excuse to watch more Premier League soccer. The league is highly entertaining at the moment with top-level players from all over the world. FPL will have you following the action across the whole table with games throughout the week in a season that stretches from August to May.

Finally, the official FPL app is just a delight to play on. The UI is nice, the graphic design is great, and there’s tons of information, data, and stats to dig into.

Where to play FPL?

You can sign up on your computer via the official site or use the official app on the Apple app store or Google Play store.

How to play FPL?

There are two general ‘flavors’ of the official FPL game. The first and most popular is the fantasy salary cap game. Every owner gets a budget of £100m to roster 15 players from the EPL. Every player in the fantasy salary cap game could theoretically roster Mohammed Salah, for example. Whether you chose to or not depends on your salary situation and overall strategy.

The second version of the game is ‘fantasy draft’. This will be familiar to American fantasy sports players. You join a public or private league and draft a team of 15 players regardless of salary. Ownership is exclusive, so once the player with the first pick has drafted Mohammed Salah, you won’t be able to select him for your squad.

How does the scoring work?

The primary scoring system for the game awards position-specific points for activities recorded by your players during a real life game. 

Goalkeepers primarily score points by their team keeping ‘clean sheets’ (4 points if their team allows no goals during the match) and making saves (1 point per each 3 saves). Goalkeepers are penalized points (-1) for each set of 2 goals their team gives up in a match.

Defenders primarily score points by keeping team clean sheets (4 points), but also can score by assisting on goals (3 points) or scoring goals themselves (6 points). Defenders get a bonus for scoring goals because it happens so infrequently. Like Goalkeepers, Defenders are also penalized points for giving up goals in sets of 2.

Midfielders primarily score points by assisting on goals (3 points) or scoring goals (5 points). A Midfielder gets a 1 point bonus over a forward for scoring goals as they are not generally their team’s primary goal scorers. Midfielders also gain a 1 point clean sheet bonus if their team keeps a clean sheet.

Forwards primarily score points by scoring (4 points) and assisting (3 points) on goals.

All players are awarded 1 point for appearing in a match. They gain 2 points if they play at least 60 minutes in the match.

In each match, the three best players will also earn 1, 2, or 3 bonus points. For you hockey fans, this is like awarding points to the “three stars” of the night. The bonus point system is involved, but basically ranks players based on how active and impactful they were during the match.

Players can also lose points. Players lose points for taking a yellow card (-1 point) or red card (-3 points), scoring an own goal (-2 points), and missing a penalty (-2 points). While a player’s overall score is usually positive, there is the possibility of a player scoring negative points in a gameweek.

How does the gameplay work?

To start the game, you select a team of 15 players that fit in a budget of £100m. Your team must consist of two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders, and three forwards. You cannot pick more than three players from the same real-life team.

The season is divided into 38 “gameweeks”. A gameweek doesn’t necessarily equate to a calendar week. In fact, some calendar weeks will have multiple gameweeks, while other gameweeks will take place across a couple calendar weeks. 

Generally, each EPL team plays one match per gameweek. There are exceptions to this in the form of blank (no matches), double (two matches) and even triple (three matches) gameweeks. I’ll dig into these situations more in my next article on introduction to FPL strategy.

Each gameweek, you set a lineup of one goalkeeper and ten outfield players. Your outfield players can fit into a number of formations, but you must always have three defenders and one forward in your lineup. Your set the priority order of your bench, and if one of your starting players doesn’t appear in a real-life match, then your bench players are automatically substituted in.

You also select a captain and vice-captain each gameweek. Your captain has his scoring haul doubled for the gameweek. The vice-captain fills in if your captain doesn't play for some reason.

Between gameweeks, you can elect to transfer players in and out of your 15 player squad. You ‘sell’ one of your players for his current salary and buy any other player from the EPL that fits in under your salary cap and within your squad limitations. Each week, you get one ‘free’ transfer. You can make more than one transfer each gameweek, but each extra transfer will deduct four points from your overall total (the equivalent of a defender’s clean sheet or goal scored by a forward).

Finally, each gameweek you can elect to play a 'chip'. Each 'chip' gives your team a bonus for the week. The 'bench boost' gives your the points from all the players on your bench in addition to your active lineup. The 'free hit' allows you to make unlimited free transfers for a single week, then your team reverts back to its old self. The 'triple captain' has your captain score triple points instead of double points for the week. And the 'wildcard' lets you make unlimited permanent transfers in a gameweek.

Scoring is cumulative points over the entire 38 week season. Your team will be ranked in any leagues you play in, and you’ll also get an overall ranking in the entire FPL player universe as well as for your home country. Your ranking will update after each gameweek.

Congratulations, if you made it to here you have more than enough information to play! Join my RotoBaller Invitational and give it a shot! And follow me for more strategy articles during the summer to get yourself ready to play.

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