This afternoon we reveal the first round ties in our open to all Fantasy Premier League cup competition.
More than 2,500 took part in Gameweek 15’s qualifying round, which saw 1,016 managers join eight former winners, donnellyc, Gribude, Ninja_Fit_Saints, Wild Rover, Mark, A Manager Has No Name and our reigning champion, Sleepysi, along with myself in this weekend’s first round encounters.
The qualifying score was 55 points, which was 11 points above the Gameweek average. Entry was decided by rank and, for the first time in this competition, goals scored.
Mufasa scrapes through thanks to a total of four goals from Manchester City’s David Silva, along with Chelsea duo Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata.
But Ifyoutinkeryoullhaveastinker just misses out – he reached the same ranking cut off point (of 42,101) among those with 55 points and made the same number of transfers (18) as Mufasa but his squad scored just three goals by comparison.
The goals scored in a Gameweek rule is applied by the Fantasy Premier League in tie-breaks in cup matches, with fewest goals conceded and then a virtual coin toss then deployed if the tie is still drawn.
A scan of the draws reveals a mixed set of fixtures for our champions, with 48,313th-ranked Sleepysi looking to defend his crown against Tossed & Blown In My, who is 31,129 places below him.
A Manager Has No Name, who at 495th is the highest ranked former champion, should be in confident mood as he prepares to take on 116,270-placed QueSalahSalah.
Meanwhile, 387,764-ranked Wild Rover meets Wulffricc, who is 89,805 places behind him.
The draw has also been kind to me, as my 23,511-ranked team prepares to battle 1,3330,951 placed Shimmy. Similarly, Gribude (ranked 50,828) squares up to 680,217 placed Oscor5.
In contrast, 101,705 ranked Mark has to navigate his way past johnygs11, who sits in 4,389th spot after handing the armband to Hazard in Gameweek 15 to earn a fourth green arrow in a row.
Ninja_Fit_Saints, who is placed at 661,038 in the overall rankings, has a potentially tricky tie, against 296,966-ranked wadester.
The nerves of 154,847-placed donnellyc may also be frayed by the weekend ahead of his clash with anthonyheredia, who sits in a lofty 4,951st spot.
Drawing the short straw this round is 548,652-placed Ryssel who takes on the first round’s highest ranked manager Whats the mata, who rose to 84th in Gameweek 15. Like johnygs11, he also captained Hazard.
Other eye-catching matches include a community veterans tussle between 11,206 placed RoysCallerAnne and 209,870 ranked FrankieTheGent, while community writer Your Mums Athletic (ranked 1,283,023) braces himself for an encounter with 42,003-placed The Snazzy Viking.
Elsewhere, the Scoutcast’s Az takes his 4,983 ranked side into a match up with 135,036 placed Gers95.
The full first round draw can be found here.
FFS Cup Round Dates
Round 1 – Gameweek 16
Round 2 – Gameweek 17
Round 3 – Gameweek 18
Round 4 – Gameweek 19
Round 5 – Gameweek 20
Round 6 – Gameweek 21
Round 7 – Gameweek 23
Quarter-Final – Gameweek 24
Semi-Finals – Gameweek 25
Final and third place play-off – Gameweek 26
Prizes
The prizes are as follows:
1st Place: £150 Amazon voucher
2nd Place: £100 Amazon voucher
3rd Place: £50 Amazon voucher
FFS Members Cup and FPL Cup reminder.
Gameweek 16 sees the qualifying round for the Members Cup take place, ahead of Gameweek 17’s first round fixtures.
Fantasy managers can enter their teams from now right up to 10.30am on Monday December 11, when we’ll stop entries and make the first round draws shortly after.
In addition, it is worth remembering that Gameweek 16 is the qualifying round for FPL’s own cup competition.
