The FPL glossary
The vocabulary of Fantasy Premier League, explained by the Butler in plain words. Pick a term to read the full entry.
Assist
An assist in FPL is worth 3 points, the same for a goalkeeper, a defender, a midfielder or a forward, and it is awarded for the final touch before a goal, including a pass that is deflected on its way to the scorer. FPL uses a wider definition than official football statistics, so several passages of play that are not credited elsewhere do earn an assist here.
Autosub
An autosub is an automatic substitution: if a player in your starting eleven does not play a single minute in the gameweek, Fantasy Premier League replaces him with the highest player on your bench who did play. The swap is confirmed when the gameweek locks, from 2026/27 at 09:00 UK time on the morning after the last match, and it is only made if your formation stays legal.
Bench Boost
Bench Boost is a Fantasy Premier League chip that makes your four substitutes score for one gameweek, so all 15 players in your squad count instead of the usual eleven. It is activated before the deadline and applies to that gameweek only.
Blank and double gameweeks
A blank gameweek (BGW) is a gameweek in which one or more clubs have no fixture at all, so their players score nothing. A double gameweek (DGW) is the opposite: a club plays twice in the same gameweek, its players score in both matches, and both matches are added together.
Bonus points (BPS)
Bonus points are the 3, 2 and 1 extra points given to the three highest scorers in the Bonus Points System in each match. BPS is a separate running score that rates every action a player takes on the pitch, and players who finish level on BPS share the bonus between them.
Captaincy
In Fantasy Premier League you name one captain and one vice-captain before every deadline, and the captain scores double points for that gameweek. If the captain does not play a single minute, the armband passes automatically to the vice-captain.
Clean sheet
A clean sheet is awarded when a team concedes no goals in a match and the player has been on the pitch for at least 60 minutes. Goalkeepers and defenders score 4 points for it, midfielders score 1 and forwards score nothing.
Defensive contribution (DefCon)
Defensive contribution is a 2 point bonus awarded once per match to a player who reaches a set number of defensive actions: 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles for a defender, or 12 of those plus ball recoveries for a midfielder or forward. It was introduced in 2025/26 and is unchanged for 2026/27.
Differential
A differential is a player owned by only a small share of Fantasy Premier League managers, commonly under 10 percent, picked precisely because most rivals do not have him. When a differential returns, you gain on the field; when he blanks, you lose only what the field gained elsewhere.
Effective ownership
Effective ownership, usually written EO, is the share of managers in a given field who own a player, with every captain counted twice and every triple captain three times. Because captaincy multiplies, EO can exceed 100 percent, and it is the number that tells you what a player is really worth to your rank rather than to your score.
Enabler
An enabler is a cheap player, typically priced between 4.0m and 5.0m, bought so that the budget he frees up can be spent on premium players elsewhere in the squad. The best enablers actually start for their club, so they return points as well as money; one who never plays is only a budget device and a bench slot.
Fixture difficulty (FDR)
The fixture difficulty rating, or FDR, is FPL's official rating of how hard an upcoming fixture is for a team, on a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is the easiest and 5 the hardest. It is based on the strength of the opposition and whether the match is at home or away, and it is updated through the season.
Form
Form in Fantasy Premier League is a published statistic: the average number of points a player has scored per match over the last 30 days. It is calculated by the game itself and sits next to the player's price, ownership and total points.
Free Hit
Free Hit is a Fantasy Premier League chip that gives you unlimited transfers for one gameweek at no points cost, and then returns your squad to exactly what it was before at the next deadline. It buys you a one week team, not a permanent one.
Gameweek
A gameweek is one round of Premier League fixtures, scored in Fantasy Premier League as a single block. A season has 38 of them, and each one has a single deadline 90 minutes before its first kick-off, at which your team is locked.
Gameweek deadline
The gameweek deadline is the cut-off point, 90 minutes before the first kick-off of that gameweek, after which your team, transfers, captain and chip choice are locked for the round. Anything you change after it counts for the next gameweek instead.
Haul and blank
A haul is a big single gameweek score from one player, usually taken to mean 10 points or more, while a blank is a return of appearance points only, 1 or 2 points with no goal, assist, clean sheet or bonus. Neither word is official Fantasy Premier League terminology: both are community shorthand for the two outcomes that decide most gameweeks.
Hit
A hit is the points cost of an extra transfer: every transfer you make beyond your available free transfers in a gameweek costs 4 points, deducted from that gameweek's score. Two extra transfers cost 8 points, three cost 12, and the deduction is shown as a negative next to your gameweek total.
ITB (in the bank)
ITB stands for in the bank: the money left in your budget once all 15 players in your squad are paid for. It scores no points on its own, but it decides which transfers are available to you, and together with the value of your squad it makes up your team value.
Mini-league
A mini-league is a private league inside Fantasy Premier League that you join with a league code, usually made up of friends, family or colleagues. In the standard classic format everyone is ranked by total points, and the table updates after every gameweek.
Overall rank and arrows
Overall rank, usually shortened to OR, is your position among every Fantasy Premier League manager in the world, ordered by total points for the season. A green arrow next to a gameweek means your overall rank improved compared with the previous gameweek, and a red arrow means it fell.
Price change
Player prices in Fantasy Premier League move in steps of 0.1m, applied once a day and driven by net transfers: a player bought by far more managers than sell him rises, and a player being sold in numbers falls. Prices are updated once a day, at midnight UK time, including while a gameweek is in progress, and no player moves more than 0.1m in a night.
Rotation
Rotation means two things in FPL. Rotation risk is the chance that a club manager rests or changes his side so that your player is not a guaranteed starter, most common in European cup weeks and congested fixture periods, while a rotation strategy is deliberately pairing two cheap players in the same position whose fixtures alternate, so that one of them always has the easier match.
Set-piece taker
A set-piece taker is the player a club trusts with its penalties, direct free kicks and corners. The role matters in Fantasy Premier League because it hands one player a guaranteed share of his team's best chances every match, which raises both his goal and his assist ceiling regardless of how well he plays from open play.
Template
The template is the set of most-owned players that a large share of Fantasy Premier League managers hold simultaneously. Owning the template keeps you moving with the field, so gains and losses come almost entirely from the players and the captain you pick outside it.
Triple Captain
Triple Captain is a Fantasy Premier League chip that makes your captain score three times his points for one gameweek instead of the usual double. It is activated before the deadline and applies only to that gameweek.
Wildcard
A wildcard is a Fantasy Premier League chip that lets you make unlimited transfers in a single gameweek without paying any points, and unlike the Free Hit the squad you build is permanent. It is played before the deadline and the changes stand until you transfer them away yourself.
xG and xGI
xG, expected goals, measures the quality of the chances a player has had: how many goals an average player would have scored from exactly those shots. xGI, expected goal involvements, adds expected assists on top, so it captures a player's total attacking output whether or not the finishes went in.
Now check your own league
Benchmarks are one thing. The Butler applies them to your own mini-league: a verdict after every gameweek, awards for the heroes and the blunders, and a season archive that never forgets. Enter your league code and see where your table really stands.
See your league