The FPL community has set a new record after a whopping 844,000 managers signed up for Fantasy Premier League on launch day.
Fantasy Premier League is officially back for another season ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
The free-to-play game has continued to grow in popularity since launching in 2002-03.
With more than 11 million total players last season, the FPL community has made it the largest fantasy football game for any domestic league.
And on Tuesday, the official FPL Twitter (now X) account confirmed another record has been smashed.
Record broken 💥
With 844,000 managers signing up on day 1, we had our biggest-ever launch day 🚀
Thank you for being the best community 🫶#FPL pic.twitter.com/yWoTqkYs4l
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) July 22, 2025
FPL Community Breaks Launch Day Sign-Ups Record
With 844,000 FPL managers signing up on the opening day of the 2025-26 game, it was a record-breaking launch day for FPL.
That’s a massive increase from the first season’s player base.
The inaugural FPL season had just 76,200 players in total, meaning 11 times as many players signed up for this year’s game on day one than played at all when it first launched.
Fantasy Premier League broke the million player mark in 2006-07, hitting 10 million users in 2022-23.
How Does FPL Work?
Team selection
FPL players select a squad of 15 from the Premier League, using a budget of £100m.
Up to three players can be chosen from any one club, while starting XIs must contain at least three defenders and one goalkeeper.
Team management
Each gameweek, players can make one free transfer, and are allowed to roll these over on a weekly basis up to a maximum of five.
Any further transfers can be made at a cost of -4 points per transfer.
New for this season, there is an FPL AFCON boost, allowing further free transfers in the run up to the Africa Cup of Nations in December.
Managers also select a captain and vice captain each week. The captain’s score will be doubles, while the vice captain will become the captain automatically should the captain not play.
All changes must be made ahead of that week’s deadline.
FPL points scoring
Points in FPL are awarded based on players’ real life actions. This included goals, assists and clean sheets, while points are deducted for bookings and goals conceded.
Data for these stats is provided by Opta, with the FPL season running alongside the real Premier League schedule.
FPL chips
For the last ten years, FPL managers have also had several tools to use throughout the season.
Known as FPL chips, they must be activated ahead of a chosen gameweek, and can usually be utilised once per season.
Chips for 2025-26 include:
Wildcard
The Wildcard allows players to make unlimited transfers at no extra cost.
There are two permitted in a season, with each having to be deployed in the first and then second half of the campaign.
Triple Captain
A massively important part of the FPL season is choosing when to play the triple captain.
That’s because instead of the usual double points for that week’s captain, this chip triples the points, allowing the potential for a massive boost.
Bench Boost
The Bench Boost means all of a player’s substitutes will also have their points added to the total, which usually does not happen.
Free hit
The Free Hit allows unlimited transfers for a single gameweek. Unlike the Wildcard, after the free hit, a player’s previous team will be restored at the end of the round.
Assistant Manager
A new one for last season, the Assistant Manager chip was introduced in January 2025.
When activated, it allows FPL players to select a Premier League manager to contribute points to their team for three weeks, based on real life manager performance.
FPL Price Changes
One of the most hotly-anticipated features of a new fantasy season is the FPL price reveals on some of the league’s top stars.
And few have seen a bigger jump compared to last season than Newcastle’s Alexander Isak.
The Swedish striker will cost players £10.5m from day one this season.
Comparatively, he was just £7m at the start of last season, rising to £9.4m by the end.
