2025/26 FPL Season- New Rules & Changes

The 2025/26 FPL Season is nearly here, and FPL have announced some groundbreaking changes. We could have the likes of Caicedo, Rice, and Rodri as FPL options this season thanks to the rule changes. In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about the FPL 2025/26 Season Changes- Chips and Defensive Contribution Points.

Link to all our 2025/26 Pre-Season articles including all team pre-season friendly updates, team previews, fixture analysis, position-wise analysis, differentials, players to target, budget enablers and more. Completely free to access as well!

2025/26 FPL Season – New Changes

Points for Defensive Actions:

FPL is adding points for Defensive contributions this season, which means that Center Backs and Defensive Midfielders also now have routes to FPL Points, which makes the game more interesting🔥

Everything you need to know & how it will work:

🔹Defenders will get 2 FPL Points for a combined total of 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions, and tackles (CBIT) in a single match. Note: Defensive contribution points will be capped at two points per match, so if a defender makes 20 CBIT in a match, they would still collect just two points, not four points.
🔹In addition to their clearances, blocks, interceptions, and tackles, For Forwards and midfielders, “Ball recoveries” will also count towards their total of defensive contributions (CBIRT). For defenders, Ball recoveries won’t count.
🔹Midfielders & Forwards have to get 12 defensive contributions to get 2 Points, whereas defenders only need 10.
🔹You will be able to see which players have earned these new points while a match is happening, on the FPL website and app.

Now, let’s take a look at how these Defensive Contribution Points would have been in previous seasons, so as to get an idea of what players to target.

Top players for Defensive Contribution points in the last four seasons:

It is interesting to note that Tarkowski is the only Defender to make this list.

Defenders:

First things, first, James Tarkowski would have been the No.1 Defender for Defensive Contributions(Clearances + Blocks + Interceptions + Tackles) in EACH OF THE LAST 4 SEASONS. So he will surely be an option this season if he comes in at a good price, as Everton are generally strong defensively as well.

Top Defenders for Defensive Contribution Points in 2024/25:

Most FPL Points for Defenders Last Season (if Defensive Contribution Points are added):

Milenkovic- 171
Murilo- 168
Van Dijk- 165
Gvardiol- 163
Collins- 159
Munoz- 156
Alexander Arnold- 154
Tarkowski- 149
Lacroix- 148
Huijsen- 142

Now Let’s Take a look at Top Defenders for each of the Defensive Criteria from last season.

Top Defenders for Clearances last season:

Murilo- 246
Collins- 218
O’Shea- 217
Kilman- 214
Tarkowski- 210
Milenkovic- 200
Lacroix- 199
Burn- 194
Huijsen- 192

Top Defenders for Blocked Shots Last Season:

Collins- 57
O’Shea- 50
Murilo- 45
Harwood-Bellis- 43
Tarkowski- 42
Kilman- 39
Van Den Berg- 38
Bednarek- 37
Faes- 35

Top Defenders for Interceptions Last Season:

Wan-Bissaka- 64
Robinson- 57
Bednarek- 55
Van Dijk- 55
Lacroix- 54
Huijsen- 49
Justin- 44
Schar- 43
Mykolenko- 43
Munoz- 43

Top Defenders for Tackles Last Season:

Munoz- 122
Mazraoui- 116
Robinson- 93
Mitchell- 91
Williams- 88
Ait Nouri- 86
Kristiansen- 84
Udogie- 74
Alexander Arnold -72
Wan-Bissaka- 70

Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB)

**Fantasy Football Hub** is a high-quality FPL website offering a wide range of FPL content, tools, data, planners, and more. Memberships are available for the 2025/26 season at a **50% discount** along with a win-your-mini-league or get-your-money-back guarantee(T&C Applicable). (Click on the image above to claim the offer)

Midfielders:

Top Midfielders for Defensive Contribution Points in 2024/25:

More Chips for 2025/26 FPL Season:

2025/26 FPL Season - Two sets of FPL Chips

FPL Managers will get two of every chip in FPL this season– One for each half of the season. So there will be 2 Wildcards, 2 Free Hits, 2 Bench Boost, and 2 Triple Captains. Usually, the chips are all saved up for the 2nd half of the season to navigate Double and Blank Gameweeks, but this time it’s quite different. You will have a Wildcard, Free Hit, Triple Captain, and Bench Boost that you need to use before GW19.

This also makes Bench Boost in GW1 a good option as well. You will have 15 good players going forward, which enables good rotation and will also help you to get rid of the chip early. You can focus on other chips and also reduce the size of the bench if needed, and focus only on the Main 11.

Potential Windows to Play the First Triple Captain Chip:

Saka vs Leeds(H) – GW2
Palmer vs Sunderland(H)- GW9
Haaland vs Burnley(H)- GW6
Haaland vs Leeds(H)- GW13
Haaland vs Sunderland(H)- GW15
Salah vs Sunderland (H)- GW14
Salah vs Leeds(A)- GW15
Salah vs Leeds(H)- GW19 (Likely to miss this due to AFCON)

Potential Windows to Play the First Free Hit Chip:

GW15 Free Hit( Reasoning in Image Below)

2025/26 FPL Season - When to play Free Hit

GW11 Free Hit– City and Liverpool play each other. Arsenal have a good fixture vs Sunderland, Forest are up against Leeds, while West Ham are up against Burnley.
GW19 Free Hit– Same fixtures as GW15(Reverse fixtures)

No Assistant Manager Chip

Assistant Manager Chip, aka Mystery Chip, has been scrapped for the 2025/26 season. It was there in 2024/2,5 but it had mixed views among the audience due to the variance, complexity around scoring and using the other chips, as well as the chip was to be used for 3 consecutive Gameweeks.

2025/26 FPL Season - No Assistant Manager

Elite Global FPL Leagues

In 2025/26 FPL Season, there will be two new leagues – One for managers who finished in the Top 1% in the world rankings last season, and one for managers who finished in the Top 10%.
Managers who finished in the Top 114,319 places have qualified for the Top 1% League.
Managers who finished in the Top 1,143,193 places have qualified for the Top 10% League.
Prizes to be won- There are incredible prizes for winning each of the leagues, including merchandise from new Official Ball Supplier Puma, an official Premier League club replica shirt, an EA SPORTS FC game, an FPL bundle and an exclusive FPL certificate!

FPL Assists- Made Simple

🔹Intended Destination:

In the 2025/26 season , the intended target or destination of a pass will no longer matter and a FPL Assist WILL be awarded when the following two criteria are fulfilled:

The goalscorer receives the ball inside the penalty box
There is only one defensive touch before the ball reaches the goalscorer

Example: This Isak assist was not given as a FPL Assist in the 2022/23 season. But under the new rules, it will be counted as a FPL Assist as it had only one deflection.

The new assist is really good – Simplifies Lots of things..

Isak wasn't given an assist for this in the 2022/23 season😂pic.twitter.com/f2F3SJT6Ih
— ALLABOUTFPL (@allaboutfpl) July 19, 2025

🔹There will be no FPL assist awarded if the defensive touch is a pass – for example a loose backpass – or if the goalscorer loses and then regains possession.

🔹If the goalscorer receives the ball outside the box, the old rules remain in force – a judgment would be made about whether they were the intended target of the pass.

🔹If a pass takes two or more defensive touches before reaching the goalscorer, there will be NO Fantasy assist.

🔹Defensive Errors:

Until now, if a goal was scored thanks to an unforced defensive error, no Fantasy assist was awarded.

But in 2025/26, the only defensive error that will disqualify a Fantasy assist is if the defending player is attempting a pass. Again, there can only be a maximum of one defensive touch for the assist to be awarded.

🔹Removal of Forced Handball Rule:

Until now the “forced handball” rule meant that, for a Fantasy assist to be awarded, the defending player had to be deemed to have been “forced” into the handball, for example by the quality of a cross. But the “forced” element is no longer necessary for a Fantasy assist to be awarded.

In 2025/26, if an attacking action or touch directly leads to a handball by a defensive player, and the resulting penalty or free-kick is scored, a Fantasy assist will be awarded.

However, if the handball follows a touch from another defensive player, NO assist will be given.

Video examples of these rules covered here on the Premier League Website.

AFCON Transfers

24 African countries will take part in AFCON which takes place midway through the Premier League season, starting on Sunday 21 December 2025 and finishing on Sunday 18 January 2026.
Salah, Wissa, Mbeumo, Marmoush, Sarr, Ait Nouri, Amad will be some of the key players who will be part of AFCON.
It will be between GW17 -GW22 with most players leaving their Premier League before GW16.
FPL will be giving all managers Five Free Transfers ahead of GW16 due to AFCON.

Tip:

Make sure you have ZERO free transfers in the bank by the end of Gameweek 15. Irrespective of how many transfers you have rolled, you will have 5 Free Transfers heading into GW16. So it is wise to use all rolled Transfers by GW15.

Changes in Bonus Points and Bonus Points System(BPS)

🔹Bonus Points Ties are resolved as follows:

Tie for 1st place➡️ Players 1 & 2 will receive 3 points each and Player 3 will receive 1 point.
Tie for 2nd Place ➡️ Player 1 will receive 3 points and Players 2 and 3 will receive 2 points each.
Tie for 3rd place➡️ Player 1 will receive 3 points, Player 2 will receive 2 points and Players 3 & 4 will receive 1 point each.

🔹Goal Keeper Saves:

3 BPS if Shot taken inside the penalty area.
2 BPS if Shot taken outside the penalty area.
A penalty save will get you 8 BPS this season. Added to the three BPS for saving a shot that was taken from inside the box, this gives a gives a total of 11BPS for penalty save.

🔹Goal-Line Clearances:

9 BPS for Goal line Clearances compared to 3 BPS last season.

🔹Penalty Goals:

A player will earn 12 BPS for scoring a penalty, REGARDLESS of his position in Fantasy. In previous seasons it was 24 BPS for FWDs, 18 BPS for MIDs, 12 BPS for DEFs.

🔹Successful Tackles:

2 BPS for Tackles won in a match. Previously it was 2 BPS for Successful Tackles (Net) which is (“Tackles Won” – “Tackles Lost”)

Like everyone, we are looking forward to the Price Reveals as well. More articles are coming in after the price reveals and game launch. Stay tuned!

Position Changes for 2025/26 Season:

The position of these 11 players have been changed ahead of the 2025/26 season.

Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW1 of the 2025/26 FPL Season

If you’re new to FPL, here is a link to all our FPL Beginners Guide including FPL Beginner’s Guide- How to play?, Bench boost, Team value, Triple captain, Effective ownership, Price Changes, Free Hit, Bonus Points, and more.

Link to all our 2025/26 Pre-Season articles including all position-wise analysis, team previews, fixture analysis, position-wise analysis, and more. Completely free to access as well!

Thanks for reading the ‘FPL 2025/26 Launch’ blog. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for regular blogs and updates. Also, follow our 190,000+ community on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay updated on regular Posts and FPL updates throughout the pre-season.

What’s next from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL Gameweek 1 of the 2025/26 FPL Season?

We’ll be covering team previews, FPL team structures, must-own players, player comparisons, differential picks, fixture analysis, captaincy metrics, multiple FPL drafts with pros and cons, chip strategy, rules guide, beginners guide, FPL tips, and more. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for all our blogs and subscribe to our free newsletter through the link below. We’ll also be posting regularly about the same on our social media accounts, so follow us on Twitter/X, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook keep our notifications ON.

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2025/26 FPL Season- New Rules & Changes | What’s New in FPL?