Rules

The season is split into gameweeks: a batch of real matches, usually about a week. Before each gameweek’s deadline you set your team, and once the matches are played you collect points.

Pick players and earn points from their performances to move up your league’s table.

15 players, 11 of them in your starting team, bought with a budget of 100. You can pick at most 3 from any one real team.

Your starters also have to make one of these shapes, written as defenders-midfielders-forwards: 3-4-3, 3-5-2, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 5-4-1, 5-3-2, 5-2-3.

A player’s price reflects how strong their team is and how well they played in recent seasons.

Prices are set before the season and never move, and a player always sells for exactly what you paid for them.

The 4 players who aren’t in your starting lineup sit on your bench. Bench players don’t score, but they are your cover if a starter doesn’t play.

If one of your starters doesn’t play a single minute, we bring on a bench player in their place automatically, so you don’t lose out for missing the news. You don’t have to do anything.

The order you put your bench in is the order we try them in, so put the player you most want brought on first. A goalkeeper can only be swapped for your other goalkeeper.

One catch: your lineup still has to be a legal formation afterwards. If bringing someone on would leave you with too few defenders, midfielders or forwards, we skip them and try the next player on your bench, so a bench player who played can still end up scoring nothing.

While the Bench Boost chip is on, everyone already scores, so there is nothing to substitute and automatic subs are skipped for that round.

Every player in your team earns points from what they do in real matches. The values differ by position.

• Every 3 saves1 point for Goalkeeper
• Every 3 tackles1 point for Midfielder
• Every 2 chances created1 point for Midfielder
• Every 2 shots on target1 point for Forward

A second yellow card in the same match is a red, and both still count: the booking (-1) and the sending-off (-2) come to -3 in total. A straight red card costs -2 on its own.

A saved penalty pays the penalty-save points only. It isn’t also counted toward the bonus for every 3 saves.

When a team plays twice in one round, each match is scored on its own and both count toward that round.

Each round you name a captain: their points are multiplied by 2. You also name a vice-captain. You pick both before the deadline, and if your captain doesn’t play that round, your vice-captain’s points are multiplied instead.

If you transfer out your captain, your vice-captain becomes captain. An empty armband goes to your best starter who is fit to play, not to the player coming in. You can change both before the deadline.

Scouting bonus: spot a hidden gem. If a player scores at least 4 points in a round, and is either in fewer than 5% of all teams or owned by you and nobody else in the competition, you earn 2 extra points.

A transfer swaps one player in your squad for a new one. You make them between rounds, before the deadline.

• You get one free transfer each round.
• Unused transfers carry over. You can have up to 3 free transfers available next round, including that round’s allowance.
• Top a round’s predictions in one of your leagues and you get 1 extra free transfer for the next round, on top of what you already have.
• Each transfer beyond those costs 4 points.
• Until your first deadline, transfers are unlimited and free. If you join after the competition has started, that is the first deadline after you pick your squad.

A chip is a boost you can play on one round. Each is optional, and each can be used once in the competition.

You can play only one chip per round. To switch to another, take back the one you played before the deadline, if it can be taken back.

• WildcardRebuild your whole squad in one round without paying for transfers. Once played, it cannot be taken back.Not available in your first round, whether that is the competition’s first or the one you joined in.
• Star CaptainYour highest-scoring starter becomes your captain automatically for that round.
• Extra PlayerAdd one extra player to your squad for a single round. The pick is free: it costs no budget and does not count toward the limit per real team.
• Free HitRebuild your whole squad for a single round without paying for transfers. Your previous squad returns the round after. Once played, it cannot be taken back.Not available in your first round, whether that is the competition’s first or the one you joined in.
• Triple CaptainYour captain’s points are multiplied by 3 instead of 2 for one round.
• Bench BoostEvery player on your bench scores points for one round too. Because everyone is already scoring, automatic substitutions are skipped that round.