Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is the official free-to-play fantasy game of the English Premier League. With over 11 million players in 2023, 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 conjuction with 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 based has grown annually with the exception of the 2012–13 season, surpassing one million players for the first time during the 2006–07 season. As well as the standard format, FPL introduced a draft mode for the first time in 2017.[6]

Winners

List of Fantasy Premier League champions
Season Players[1] Winner Nationality Team name Points Ref
2002–03 76k Graeme Haddow  South Africa Wee Wullie Winkie FC 1,940 [7]
2003–04 312k Muir O'Connor  Ireland The Lonely 11 2,151 [8]
2004–05 472k Andy Tomlins  England Palace Excile 2,253 [9]
2005–06 700k Tommy Wilson Blue Bridge Brigade 2,326 [8]
2006–07 1.3m Mike Dolan Divers & Cheats XI 2,268 [8]
2007–08 1.7m John Frisina  Australia FRISK UTD 2,466 [10]
2008–09 1.9m Sir Moult MOULTANIC 2,264 [8]
2009–10 2.1m Jon Reeson  England Westfield Irons 2,668 [11]
2010–11 2.4m Chris McGurn  England Morons FC 2,372 [12]
2011–12 2.78m Sam Pater  England SamCity 2,414 [13]
2012–13 2.61m Matt Martyniak  England Divine Mercy 2,472 [14]
2013–14 3.2m Tom Fenley  England Captain Suarez! 2,634 [15]
2014–15 3.5m Simon March  England Atletico Marchid** 2,470 [16]
2015–16 3.7m Dimitri Nicolaou  England Dimitris gavles 2,458 [17]
2016–17 4.5m Ben Crabtree  England FC Crab Dogg 2,564 [18]
2017–18 5.2m Yusuf Sheikh  Tanzania Yusuf's Team 2,512 [19]
2018–19 6.3m Adam Levy  New Zealand #TheyAreUs 2,659 [20]
2019–20 7.6m Joshua Bull[nb 1]  England The Bulldozers 2,557 [22]
2020–21 8.2m Michael Coone  Ireland Teddy Bears Utd 2,680 [23]
2021–22 9.1m Jamie Pigott  United States Futbol Is Life 2,844 [24]
2022–23 11.4m Ali Jahangirov  Azerbaijan FPL Gunz 2,776 [25]
  1. ↑ Aleksander Antonov finished on 2,575 points but was disqualified two weeks later by FPL "due to a breach of our terms."[21]

References

  1. 1 2 "Season by Season FPL Managers Growth". ALLABOUTFPL. 1 June 2022.
  2. ↑ "The Online Era: The History of Fantasy Football". fpltips.com.
  3. ↑ "The FPL Era: The History of Fantasy Football". fpltips.com.
  4. ↑ "Fantasy Premier League (Info)". fantasy.premierleague.com (Web Archive).
  5. ↑ "Fantasy Premier League (Prizes)". fantasy.premierleague.com (Web Archive).
  6. ↑ Rehman, Abdul. "How to play Fantasy Premier League Draft". The Athletic.
  7. ↑ "Genesis of Fantasy Premier League". FPL Discovery. 12 May 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "List of FPL Winners Since The First FPL Season in 2002/03". ALLABOUTFPL. 6 June 2022.
  9. ↑ "Fantasy Premier League? Completed it, mate!". Crystal Palace F.C. 31 March 2019.
  10. ↑ "Fantasy football winner reveals secrets of success". CNN.
  11. ↑ "An Interview with Jon Reeson". Fantasy Football Scout. 30 May 2010.
  12. ↑ "View From The Top - An Interview with Chris McGurn". Fantasy Football Scout. 21 May 2011.
  13. ↑ "FPL champion reveals nerve-racking season finale". www.premierleague.com.
  14. ↑ "Fantasy winner reveals simple secret of success". www.premierleague.com.
  15. ↑ "How 2013/14 FPL champion sculpted perfect season". www.premierleague.com.
  16. ↑ "Flexibility key to FPL champion's success". www.premierleague.com.
  17. ↑ "Premier Leagu's Interview with FPL 2015/16 Winner Dimitri Nicolaou". Fantasy Premier League Happy Hour. 25 May 2016.
  18. ↑ "Meet the boss who beat 4.5 million managers to top spot". BBC Sport.
  19. ↑ "Yusuf Sheikh wins FPL Crown". Fantasy Football Scout. 13 May 2018.
  20. ↑ "Fantasy Premier League: The Kiwi who defied the odds". RNZ. 15 May 2019.
  21. ↑ "Fantasy Premier League champion disqualified and stripped of title". The Independent. 11 August 2020.
  22. ↑ "Fantasy Premier League new winner after disqualification". BBC News. 11 August 2020.
  23. ↑ ""It went to the bitter end" – Meet the Irish man who toppled 8.3m players to win Fantasy Premier League". Irish Independent. 24 May 2021.
  24. ↑ "Liverpool differentials steer US manager to FPL glory". www.premierleague.com.
  25. ↑ "Azerbaijan's Ali Jahangirov crowned winner of 2022-23 Fantasy Premier League". www.t-vine.com.
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