The dust has barely settled on the 2025/26 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) campaign, but before you know it, we’ll soon have our minds on next season – if they’re not already.
Before our World Cup Fantasy coverage begins to escalate, here we look at a few key dates for FPL managers over the summer.
WHEN DOES THE TRANSFER WINDOW OPEN?
This time, it’s back to being straightforward, having seen FIFA add a mini window in advance of 2025’s Club World Cup that then shortened the main period.
Therefore, all clubs can make transfers from Monday 15 June, until 23:00 BST on Tuesday 1 September.
WHEN ARE THE PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES OUT?
The Premier League fixtures will be released on Friday 19 June at 10:00 BST.
Once this happens, we’ll take a comprehensive look at the schedule and its opening fixture runs.
WHEN DOES THE 2026/27 PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON START?
The 2026/27 Premier League season is scheduled to get underway on Saturday 22 August, though there is usually a Friday night match.
That is a week later than the 2025/26 season, to help player recovery following the World Cup.
Meanwhile, the 2026 UEFA Super Cup will pit the UEFA Champions League winners (Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain) against the UEFA Europa League winners, Aston Villa, on Wednesday 12 August.
While the November and March international breaks will continue as normal, the September and October ones will merge into a single, bigger period. It means there’ll be a three-week gap between FPL Gameweeks 5 and 6.
Although it is still some time away, the AFC Asian Cup will occur in January 2027.
WHEN WILL FPL 2026/27 LAUNCH?
The million-dollar question and one we’re all waiting for an answer to, as those at FPL Towers never advertise the date.
What tends to happen is that, after an ‘updating’ phase, they’ll tease us with a slow social media release of key player prices to build anticipation. Eventually, the site will officially go live.
Recent launches have looked like this:
| SEASON | LAUNCH DATE | DAYS BEFORE GAMEWEEK 1 |
|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | 21 July | 25 |
| 2024/25 | 17 July | 30 |
| 2023/24 | 5 July | 37 |
| 2022/23 | 5 July | 31 |
| 2021/22 | 23 June | 51 |
| 2020/21** | 15 August | 28 |
| 2019/20 | 27 June | 43 |
| 2018/19 | 5 July | 36 |
| 2017/18 | 12 July | 30 |
| 2016/17 | 19 July | 25 |
** This 2020/21 season was different because of the Covid pandemic
Last summer, we mentioned that the post-Euro 2024 launch happened slightly later than usual. But then 2025/26’s went on to take even longer!
The average of these nine – not including the exceptional 2020/21 circumstances – is 34 days before Gameweek 1.
Working backwards from the Friday night opener, that would make 2026/27’s equivalent be Saturday 18 July.
However, this is World Cup final weekend, so perhaps Wednesday 22 July – several days later – is a better estimate.
Either way, hang in there!
