A new Premier League is set to kick off when defending champion Liverpool faces Bournemouth in the opening game of the 2025-26 season on Friday.
The start of a new PL season also signals the beginning of a new Fantasy Premier League campaign (FPL) as millions around the world will gear up to tune into the action every week, hoping to earn the most points in their respective leagues.
The pre-season served many lessons regarding team tactics, formations and personnel changes heading into the unknown.
Here are the key changes to the 2025-26 edition of the FPL that you need to know:
Defensive contributions
The 2025/26 season will see defensive players awarded more points for their less-heralded work, apart from the regular clean sheet points.
During a game, any defender who reaches a combined 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles will be awarded two extra points.
For midfielders, apart from the above-mentioned criteria, ball recoveries will also count towards their defensive score. They will need to tally 12 such actions to be eligible for the two defensive points.
Chips
FPL managers will be allowed to use their set of chips twice during a season.
Earlier, only the Wildcard chip was eligible to be used twice in a campaign, but from this edition onwards, Free Hit, Triple Captain and Bench Boost can also be used two times.
All chips must be used once before Gameweek 19 after which they will expire. The Assistant Manager chip has been done away with this season.
Assists
In earlier seasons, FPL assist points were awarded to the player who had the final touch before a goal was scored. The current season will see leniency in awarding assist points, awarding players who had deflected passes to earn points too.
AFCON transfers
FPL managers will be given extra transfers in Gameweek 16 to help plan for the Africa Cup of Nations. The total number of free transfers will be increased to a maximum of five for that Gameweek.