Don’t count your Fantasy chickens when the full-time whistles blow in Gameweek 38.
Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points, ranks and league tables will remain provisional until the post-match data review process by Opta has been completed.
WHAT’S DIFFERENT?
We’re used to scores being locked an hour or two after the final match(es) of a Gameweek have taken place.
Not so, this time.
FPL are doing this to help ensure players are correctly awarded the right number of defensive contribution (DefCon) points, baseline bonus points etc. These are event statistics totted up by Opta and reviewed well after the full-time whistle in each game.
We’ve often seen in the past that those reviews happen too late for, for example, players involved in the Sunday/Monday games.
Maxence Lacroix (£5.2m), for instance, should have bagged DefCon points in Gameweek 3. However, he was left stranded on nine contributions when the Gameweek was ‘locked’ and finalised. A post-lock update took him up to the all-important 10 threshold.
WHEN WILL THE GAMEWEEK 38 SCORES BE FINALISED, THEN?
“The final set of post-match data is expected to be received within six hours of the final whistle of the final Gameweek 38 fixture. Based on expected match timings, we anticipate that Gameweek 38 scoring will remain provisional until approximately 00:00 BST on Monday 25 May.”
During this lull, points, DefCon, bonus, mini-league standings and overall ranks may still change.
FEWER HARD-LUCK STORIES IN 2026/27?
FPL add that this new approach “will be carried over into the 2026/27 Fantasy and will be confirmed in the rules when the game is launched this summer”.
So, that will mean later Gameweek locks, but fewer players unfairly missing out on/being erronously awarded DefCon points etc.
