Team tactics, strategies, previews, predictions, pundit’s views – these are just a few things that football fans look forward to with the commencement of a Barclays Premier League season. Another thing which can be added to the list and has been growing majorly over the past few years is none other than, the game – Fantasy Premier League.
The Fantasy Premier League came into the limelight several years ago and started out with just a few thousand users. This year, they will have over 3 million users actively playing with all their might. The annual revenue of the fantasy website is between $800 million and $1 billion. Along with its monetary incentives for winners, one of the reasons for the overwhelming success of the FPL is the nature of the Barclays Premier League, in comparison to the other leagues around the world.
The Premier League is arguably the most competitive and unpredictable league in the football. Who would ever have tipped Leicester City to win the league last season, or Chelsea to finish 10th? Every season, there are a host of new players who come into the limelight due to their impressive performances. Last season, we saw players like Riyad Mahrez, Dmitri Payet, Jamie Vardy – just to name a few, produce magical performances, while players like Eden Hazard, who was the Player of the Season in the preceding season, did not perform to their potential at all.
During the beginning of last season, more than 50% of the people had picked Hazard and Diego Costa as the first 2 people in their FPL team thinking that they would earn a lot of points, but it was not to be. This unpredictable nature of the Premier League is perhaps what makes FPL the most sort after and exciting game in the world, in fantasy sports.
Why does the game attract so many players?
It’s simple. By playing the Fantasy Premier league, users get a feeling of how it is to manage a football team in real life. Most people would not be qualified enough or have the skills to be a manager in real life, so this game is a platform for those people to show off their skills and qualities. Everyone has dreamt of being in the shoes of an Alex Ferguson or a Pep Guardiola and imitating their tactics in a real world scenario.
"The one thing that unites all fantasy gamers is their passion to win" - said Chris Russo to US News who is the CEO of Fantasy Sports Ventures, an integrated media and marketing firm that provides a platform for over 250 fantasy websites. The passion shown by users of the FPL can even be matched to the football player’s passion, seen on the field during a match.
Also read: EPL 2016-17: 5 early picks for Fantasy Premier League
Another reason that the Fantasy Premier League is so successful and popular among is that it actually mimics what happens during a football season. For example, in the FPL, if you lose a big player, you begin to look for a possible substitute who can fill that player’s role.
Similarly, in real life, when a player gets injured, the manager of the team looks for someone who could perfectly fill the shoes of the injured player. What excites users is when the substitute player chosen by them ends up scoring a goal or getting an assist or two during a match. That moment when a big decision pays off in the game is unmatched.
Another great aspect of this game is that it even attracts those who aren’t frequent football viewers and even a small percentage of people who do not watch football at all. In fact, it helps people learn about the sport and the business related to it, which in turn gets them interested in the beautiful game, thus increasing viewership.
The Fantasy Premier League usually tends to become a hot topic of discussion among friends, foes, business partners and family alike. The competitors feel a great sense of achievement when they get a high number of points in a particular game week. They play to show off their knowledge in their community and to brag about their position in their private leagues.
How does it work?
The basic rules of this game are very easy.
- Users have to create a team of 15 players consisting of 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards.
- They are given a budget of £100 million.
- There can be only a maximum of 3 players of the same team in the user’s team.
- Before each game week, the user will have to pick a starting XI and will have to nominate a “Captain” and a “Vice-Captain” of the team.
There are various other rules of this game which are explained on the official site of the Premier League.
There are a lot of attractive prizes, including VIP tickets to watch a Premier League match for the overall winner of the Fantasy Premier League. FPL also gives out some amazing prizes for the monthly leaders as well. These monetary incentives a huge contributing factor to the success of FPL all over the world.
The Secret of doing well at Fantasy Premier League
Before making a team and before the season starts, the user must be aware of all the transfer rumours and the players’ performance from preseason. This, in turn would help them in picking a good team. Users should stay up to date with which player is performing well and they should make sure not to pick someone who is usually a bench-warmer.
For example, picking a player like Adnan Januzaj or Sergio Romero would prove to be useless for FPL users, as they probably would not be in the starting XI for Manchester United. Users should make sure they pick a well-balanced team which means that they should pick from a range of teams and not just 2-3 teams, to ensure maximum points.
With thousands of new users joining Fantasy Premier League every week and with the increasing revenue generated by this website and by other similar websites, it is safe to say that Fantasy Premier league is here to for the long run.
