What are FPL Chips and Rules? When to Use in Fantasy Premier League Season 2025/26?

Marking the most major rule revision in the history of the game, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) formally unveiled revolutionary reforms for the 2025/26 season. The announcements were made through posts on the official Fantasy Premier League Twitter/X account (@OfficialFPL), with the main emphasis on adding defensive contribution points and doubling the chip allowance for managers.

These developments aim to honour defensive players often ignored and give managers more strategic choices throughout the season, possibly letting FPL managers score considerably more points than in past seasons.

New Defensive Contribution Rules

The most radical change for the 2025/26 season is the introduction of defensive contribution points, representing the largest scoring system upheaval since the game's beginning more than two decades ago. Particularly centre-backs and defensive midfielders, who have historically been underappreciated in fantasy football, this new system seeks to reward players who perform brilliantly in defensive efforts.

Two more points can be earned by defenders under the new system if they accumulate 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions, and tackles (CBIT) in a single game. Though there is a critical distinction, defensive contribution points are capped at two points per game, whether a player makes ten or fifty defensive actions.

For midfielders and forwards, the arrangement is somewhat different. They must reach 12 defensive contributions to get the same two points, but an extra category—ball recoveries—among their qualifying activities is included. This means midfielders and forwards score points through tackles (CBIRT), interceptions, blocks, clearances, and recoveries. Ball recoveries cover different activities, and defensive midfielders are good at being first to a loose ball and starting counter-attacks.

During games, like save points and bonus points are now shown, the real-time tracking of these contributions will be visible on the Fantasy Premier League website and app. Managers, meanwhile, will only view players who have attained the necessary threshold; there won't be live tracking for those under the contribution ceiling.

Double the Chips, Double the Points

The second big development for 2025/26 is the debut of a doubled FPL chips system, which provides managers with never-before-seen strategic freedom. Managers will now get two of each FPL chip—two Wildcards, two Free Hits, two Triple Captains, and two Bench Boosts—eight chips for the season rather than the typical single-use chips.

When to Use FPL Chips?

The first series of chips has to be used before the Gameweek 19 deadline. Managers must come up with new tactics for the early portion of the campaign, as these chips cannot be transferred over to the second half of the season. Following Gameweek 19, the second set opens up, giving more tactical choices for the last portion of the campaign.

Since managers have always kept their Free Hit, Triple Captain, and Bench Boost cards for the final stages of the season to negotiate Blank and Double Gameweeks, this change fundamentally alters the FPL approach. Since cup tournaments rarely influence the first half of the season, managers must now find other chances to maximise their chip consumption in individual game weeks.

Early usage of FPL chips can be strategic by going after newly promoted teams, which have historically had difficulty defensively. During the first half of the season, Erling Haaland plays all three newly promoted teams at home, so putting him in the running for Triple Captain. Similarly, Mohamed Salah has good home games against Sunderland and Leeds United before his African Cup of Nations leave.

How are the New Updated Rules Different From Previous Rules

FPL's typical scoring approach—which has remained almost the same since the game's beginning—is radically different from the defensive contribution system. Previously, defensive players' points came from goals, assists, clean sheets, and bonus points alone. Center-backs and defensive midfielders were often ignored because they offered little attacking threat and received little rewards for their main defensive jobs.

James Tarkowski of Everton ranked joint-26th among defenders under the antiquated system, scoring 105 points in the 2024/25 season. With the new defensive contribution rules applied retrospectively, though, he would have earned an additional 44 points, catapulting him to eighth place among all defenders with 149 points. The amazing change shown here shows the transformational power of the revised system.

The effects spread beyond single players to whole position groupings. Although Moises Caicedo of Chelsea only produced 98 points last season with one goal and four assists, his 42 defensive contribution points would have totaled 140. This would have put him ahead of Tottenham's Brennan Johnson, who scored 137 points with 11 goals and six assists but gained zero defensive contribution points.

Historically, defensive midfielders would have ruled the updated points system. With 62 defensive contribution points gathered in the 2022/23 season, Declan Rice would have had the most cumulative points in the last four campaigns. With 44 points in 2021/22 and 46 points in 2022/23, Rodri of Manchester City appears twice in the top performers.

Many managers have responded favorably to these alterations and expressed excitement regarding the improved life of defensive players. FPL content creators have underlined how the new structure might make budget defenders from relegated or newly promoted teams more enticing choices as they usually perform more defensive actions per game.

Many have commended FPL for its effort to better represent actual football contributions; thus, fan responses on social media have mostly been positive, but some traditionalists have also voiced alarm about the complexity of the new system, though, and its possible influence on the game's accessibility for casual players.

Will Assistant Manager chip be there in the new season?

In FPL new rules, the Assistant Manager chip won't be offered during the 2025/26 season. Introduced as a "mystery chip" during the 2024–25 season, this contentious chip let managers choose a Premier League manager for three straight gameweeks and gain points according to their team's performance.

The Assistant Manager chip awarded six points for wins, three points for ties, two points for clean sheets, and one point for each goal scored. It also gave significant bonus points for wins versus higher-ranked opponents. With some managers claiming scores over 50 points from a single use, the chip frequently provided considerably more points than conventional chips.

The decision to eliminate the Assistant Manager chip seems to originate from a number of causes. First, the point ceiling of the chip was significantly greater than other chips, thereby upsetting the scoring system of the game. Second, many casual FPL managers felt the chip was far too complex and difficult to follow, especially concerning the manager pricing and transfer mechanisms.

Reactions from the FPL community to the removal of the Assistant Manager chip have been varied. Some managers found the strategic complexity it introduced to the game to be excellent; others felt it overcomplicated FPL's typically simple layout. FPL can concentrate on the defensive contribution mechanism and doubled chip allocation without adding more complexity because the chip will be gone in 2025/26.

FPL has simplified the chip system by doubling the conventional options that have shown successful across many seasons instead of the Assistant Manager chip. The higher chip allocation and new defensive scoring mechanism help keep the game accessible while also giving more strategic choices.

FPL's dedication to appreciating actual football contributions while keeping the basic appeal of the game to both casual and serious players lies in the emphasis on defensive contributions and doubled chips. With formerly disregarded players now plausible alternatives and managers having unmatched freedom in their chip use, these developments promise to make the 2025/26 season one of the most strategically varied in FPL history.