What is a Wildcard in Fantasy Premier League?

Fantasy Premier League is the most popular fantasy sports game in the world which gives you points based on real-life events. To make the game more enjoyable and challenging overall, some unique concepts get added from time to time. Chips are one such concept. Essentially they are ‘boosts’ to help your team at any chosen gameweek of the season but they can only be used once throughout the campaign.

The Wildcard is the most popular and impactful chip when we talk about Fantasy Premier League. It is the chip that basically lets you reset your entire team at any given game week. Basically what it does is that it lets managers make an unlimited number of transfers till the deadline of any given week in the game. This means that they can change their entire team, or as much of it as they want, without taking any hits or minus points. This is not possible in a normal gameweek and therefore if used properly, the Wildcard is a phenomenal tool everyone possesses in their kitty.

How many Wildcards are there in a season?

Fantasy Premier League provides us with two wildcards for the course of the entire season. Each is to be used on either side of Gameweek 20. This means that you can restructure your team twice within the season depending on scenarios.

How to use FPL wildcards?

The FPL wildcard is available under the Transfers tab. After you make all your transfers, what you have to do is just click next on the ‘Wildcard Available’ button, which will lead to it saying ‘Wildcard Active’, after which you just have to confirm it. If you are on a PC or a web browser, you can click the Wildcard button at the top of the screen. This will bring up the pop up and then all you need to do is click ‘Play Chip’.

Do you have to make your transfers in one go when Wildcard is activated?

No this is not the case for Wildcard in FPL. Once you have activated the chip for the wildcard, you can at any time before the deadline of the next gameweek, make an unlimited number of transfers, without having the fear of a points deduction.

What happens to saved transfers when you play the Wildcard?

From the 2024/25 season, if you have accumulated, say 3 transfers, and then you play the Wildcard, you will retain those 3 transfers for the next gameweek. This however was not the case before this season as your transfers would go back to 1 after the Wildcard had been played. This change is an important thing that managers should keep in mind while or before playing the Wildcard.

Can I use Triple Captain and Wildcard together in FPL?

FPL gives you 4 chips at the start of each season – Bench Boost, Triple Captain, Wildcard and Free Hit, with another mystery chip set to be introduced later this season. However the answer to the question is no. You can only use one chip at a time in FPL.

When is the best time use your Wildcard?

The decision about when to play the Wildcard can be an extremely personal and team specific decision. It can depend on a number of your players being out of form or injured or your key players have a poor run of fixtures. It can simply depend upon your whim and fancy as well.

That being said, the best time to actually use your Wildcards are during international breaks and double gameweeks. FPL experts recommend using the first Wildcard during before either of Gameweek 4 or Gameweek 8 or Gameweek 12 when the international breaks take place. This is because it allows you time to reset and think about the transfers you really want to make. International breaks also see a lot of injuries and fatigue due to travel and fixture congestion, so that is a factor in this as well. During the second half of the season, we see a lot of double gameweeks, wherein some or all the teams play twice in a week and the lines between two gameweeks are blurred. This happens due to postponement of some fixtures due to domestic cup or continental tournament knockouts. With the European competitions assuming a new complex system this season onwards, this will be the case even more so.

How to deal with price changes in terms of Wildcard?

Players rise and fall in price all the time in FPL and this affects how much money you have to build your future Wildcard team. This is particularly more relevant in the first Wildcard as the price changes are more volatile then. If you activate your Wildcard soon after the end of the gameweek, you can move in players who are rising in price to boost your team value.

FAQs