The Premier League has confirmed the headline changes for Fantasy Premier League 2026/27. Most of last season's structure survives — but the detail matters, and a couple of the smaller tweaks will quietly move points around. Here is everything that has been announced, and what each change actually means for how you play.
Two chip sets again — and one date to put in your diary
Managers get two full sets of chips for the second season running: a Wildcard, Free Hit, Triple Captain and Bench Boost in each half of the season — eight chips in total.
- The first set must be used before the Gameweek 19 deadline: 13:30 GMT on Saturday 2 January.
- Unused first-set chips do not carry over — they expire.
- A fresh set of all four unlocks from Gameweek 20.
The strategic consequence is the same one sharp managers learned last season: an unused first-half chip in late December is free expected value evaporating. If your Bench Boost or Triple Captain is still in hand at GW17, start engineering a use for it rather than letting it die on 2 January.
Bonus points are being rebalanced
The BPS — the scoring system underneath bonus points — gets “some tweaks” for 2026/27. The Premier League's stated aim: reduce overlap with defensive contribution points and improve the bonus-point prospects of goalkeepers, full-backs and attacking players.
Read that as a redistribution. Centre-backs who farmed defensive-contribution points and then double-dipped into bonus should see their bonus share shrink; keepers, attacking full-backs and forwards should see theirs grow. The exact mechanics have not been published yet, so treat last season's bonus patterns as a rough guide rather than gospel until a few gameweeks of 26/27 data are in.
One quality-of-life change alongside it: projected bonus points will appear from 20 minutes into each match and update live, rather than arriving late in the game.
Defensive contributions stay
The defensive contribution points introduced last season are staying for 2026/27: two points, once per match, for defenders clearing the combined clearances-blocks-interceptions-tackles threshold and for midfielders and forwards clearing the slightly higher recoveries-inclusive bar. If your drafts leaned on high-volume defensive midfielders last season, that edge survives — subject to the BPS rebalancing above.
Scores go final later: the 9am lockdown
The Gameweek “lockdown” — the moment scores stop moving — shifts to 09:00 UK time the morning after the final match of each gameweek, rather than an hour after the last whistle. The extra window lets late Opta stat reviews feed into bonus points before anything is settled.
In practice: no more going to bed certain you have won your mini-league. Final bonus — and the occasional reassigned goal or assist — now lands with your morning coffee.
New: an official Price Change Predictor
FPL is also shipping a Price Change Predictor for 2026/27 — a first. It uses official transfer-activity data to show each player's progress towards a price rise or fall as a percentage, with statuses like “Very Likely to Rise”; anything over 100% signals an imminent change. It lives on a dedicated page, on player profiles and inside the transfer screens.
Two details worth locking in: price changes process each day at 00:00 UK time, and all prices are locked until the Gameweek 1 deadline — 18:30 BST on Friday 21 August. In other words, there is no preseason price-rise race this year: you can tinker with your draft all summer without watching your targets tick up. FPL's own caveat applies — the predictor “will always be a guide and doesn't guarantee a price change”.
What is not changing
- Free transfers still roll, up to a maximum of five.
- No extra December free transfers this season — there is no Africa Cup of Nations mid-season.
- Squad structure, budget mechanics and the core scoring values were not touched in this announcement.
Still to come this week: prices and position changes
The Premier League has said more announcements are coming this week — including player prices and position reclassifications. That is the piece that actually shapes your draft: which forwards become midfielders, what the premium bracket costs, and how the promoted clubs — Coventry City, Hull City and Ipswich Town — are priced. We cover what to expect (and how to see every price against last season's closing values the moment they land) in our companion piece: When do FPL 2026/27 player prices come out?
Get ahead of the launch: the Squad Planner is already open for 26/27 drafting with the full fixture list and last season's closing prices, the Captain board projects Gameweek 1 from the opening fixtures, and the FPL Command Center ties it all together. Everything switches to live 26/27 data automatically the day FPL opens.
