Games

Sign up now as new Fantasy management game ‘Virtual FPL’ launches this weekend

A new simulation-based Fantasy game launches this weekend to help us fill a Fantasy Premier League-shaped void.

With Premier League football on lockdown and in no danger of restarting any time soon, we look set to be deprived of our FPL fix for a good while yet.

Enter Ragabolly, a long-time friend of Fantasy Football Scout and the mastermind behind the excellent LiveFPL site, who has been hard at work in recent weeks developing ‘Virtual FPL‘.

We are thrilled to be joining forces with Ragabolly to bring you content on this new game, which will include regular round-ups of this simulated season.

The Virtual FPL Gameweek 1 deadline is on Saturday 11 April at 19:00 BST, so we urge you to head over to the sign-up page to register your details and begin picking your team.

SIGN UP HERE

But first, a quick guide to this easy-to-play new game.

How Does it Work?

Ten times more intelligent than the rest of the Scout team put together, Ragabolly has come up with a Fantasy game that is very similar to FPL – but with the key difference, of course, being that the matches are simulated.

This isn’t just any old random results generator, though.

Ragabolly’s advanced simulator takes into account actual player and FPL data to statistically generate line-ups, substitutions, attacking movements, shots, injuries, cards and so on.

Games are played out on a play-by-play basis, much like in Football Manager/Championship Manager:

At the end of each game, a match report is generated detailing player scores (including bonus!) along with an ‘underlying stat’-type summary of how often certain Fantasy assets were involved in their team’s attacks:

As with FPL, the basic idea of the game is to pick a team and make transfers based on your knowledge and interpretation of the simulator results – as well as your previous Fantasy Premier League expertise.

Form, suspensions and injuries can all have an impact on team line-ups in Virtual FPL, just like in real life.

What Are the Rules and Scoring System?

Anyone who knows how to play FPL will be able to pick up Ragabolly’s game very easily.

Managers are handed £100m to pick a squad of 15 players (two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders, three forwards), with the player prices being the same as they were in real-life FPL as of Gameweek 29.

To make life a whole lot easier, there won’t be any price changes throughout the season.

Virtual FPL bosses are limited to three players from each club, as is the case in FPL.

Once signed up, managers will be able to cycle through the usual ‘My Team’, ‘Transfers’ and ‘Fixtures’ tabs as they would in Fantasy Premier League.

The chips are the same as regular FPL, too, along with the scoring system (five points for a goal scored by a midfielder, four points for a defender who keeps a clean sheet etc) and free transfer allowance.

Every Gameweek, each manager gets to arrange five extra friendlies – more on which later.

What Are the Fixtures?

Virtual FPL is a full season with a completely fresh set of fixtures scheduled for Gameweeks 1 to 38.

You can access the full Season Ticker here, while Legomané has also produced his own matrix for the first eight Gameweeks.

Liverpool certainly catch the eye over the opening ten sets of fixtures, while Southampton and Aston Villa also look like they have decent starts.

When Are the Gameweek Deadlines?

As we mentioned in the introduction, the Gameweek 1 deadline is at 19:00 BST on Saturday 11 April – so get your teams in fast.

Five top-flight games will be simulated on Saturday and the other five on Sunday, with the results released every ten minutes starting at 20:00 BST on each day.

Ranks and points will update as soon as a game is released, so there’s none of the usual hanging around and waiting for the site to refresh.

Ragabolly tells us that Gameweek 2 won’t take place until the following Saturday, just to give him extra time to ensure that the simulation is working as well as expected.

From that point, the plan is to stage four Gameweeks every week, with deadlines on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday at 19:00 BST.

We’ll keep you posted if there are any changes on that front.

Why are the Pre-Season Games and Mid-Season Friendlies Important?

Once signed up, Fantasy managers are handed an initial set of pre-season games to run in their own time.

There are ten matches in all, with all 20 Premier League clubs involved.

Analysing the line-ups, results and scorers in these friendlies can help with your Virtual FPL squad selection for Gameweek 1 and beyond.

Of course, these pre-season games equate to just one trial match per team – a very small sample size.

However, Virtual FPL managers can supplement this information by scouting more games for the teams/players they are interested in.

With that in mind, each manager gets to arrange five more friendlies every Gameweek to get a better understanding of how the simulator works and to monitor player performance.

When arranging a friendly, you can only specify one team and whether the game is home or away.

Mini-Leagues

Virtual FPL managers can now set up their own mini-leagues.

We’ve set one up already (imaginatively titled ‘Fantasy Football Scout’) and you can join by entering the code 9RV4A via the below link.

JOIN THE FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT VIRTUAL FPL LEAGUE HERE

Coming Soon…

Once Gameweek 1 is up and running, managers will be able to see additional tabs:

  • “My Points” – where managers can see their points and rank live.
  • “Overall Standings” – where the table of all players is updated live.
  • “Stats” – where managers can see most-selected players, most-captained players, chip usage etc.

As if he hasn’t done enough for us already, Ragabolly tells us he is planning to buy an actual trophy for the eventual winner.

Make sure to also follow the game on Twitter and give him a follow.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below and either ourselves or Ragabolly will attempt to answer them.

A previous Hot Topic from the game’s creator has responses to a number of the most frequently asked questions.

90 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Blue&White85
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Great effort, just created a team. Does it allow you to join / create leagues?

  2. Soto Ayam
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Many thanks ragabolly and FFS

  3. Bow Locks
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Moved up one place in the overall rankings. Not sure if I can handle anymore excitement.

  4. Sloane426
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Abraham a good pick again now with the long lay off?

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Could be. Decent shout.

        1. FPL Virgin
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 7 Years
          3 years, 11 months ago

          Can't believe a word China says. They often make these announcements to placate the West (for example when they said the Yulin dog meat festival was cancelled) and then quietly resume things at a later date.

          1. Swanremainsthesame
            • 8 Years
            3 years, 11 months ago

            & here rabbits are both in butchers shops & in pet shops.
            Pigs are generally smarter than cats and not far behind dogs - yet most people happily eat bacon sannies.
            Also pop raw oysters down their throat.
            The biggest killer across history came from western hemisphere cows

            Basically unless you are a vegan moaning about what some other nation/races choose to eat or not smacks at best of one eyed hypocrisy.

    2. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Tammy's 3-game purple patch in GW 3-5 was epic - in those 3 games weeks, he scored 7 goals from an XG of 2.41

      GW3 2 goals from 0.22 XG
      GW4 2 goals from 1.19 XG
      GW5 3 goals from 1.00 XG

      It's also interesting that on the season, in 24 starts he has 13 goals & 5 assists from 12.4 XG & 1.8 XA - which on the face of it looks like he's a slightly above average finisher who has also benefited massively at times from his team-mates being able to fashion his low-ish quality passes/assists into goals...

      But if you remove the 3 game explosion from GW3-5, in 21 starts he actually only has 6 goals & 5 assists from 10.0 XG & 1.8 XA... which arguably means he's been a way below average finisher for the vast majority of the season, who has also benefited massively from that aforementioned ability of some of his teammates to somehow fashion goals from his poor quality passes (through either luck or skill, or both)

      Obviously all of this is subject to the usual health warning with statistics that we are using positively TINY sample sizes to try to forecast forwards, which is a placebo effect at best, and delusional at worst (relying on samples of anything less than hundreds, if not thousands of games for trends, regression, progression etc is a bit mad - and is why we get so many people complaining that "I did the right thing but the casuals ended up beating me")

      The way the FPL scoring system is set up, particularly with the scarcity of transfers and cost of transfer hits, decisions driven by a bit of patience and a longer term eye for a player will beat decisions driven by shorter term factors/stats every day of the week imo - its just not as rock & roll & can counter intuitively feel a bit like under-management...

      So if you're going for Tammy - best to pick & stick either way

      1. FPL Virgin
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Giroud complicates things. He was playing well. Also Tammy has a shooting goals added of minus 1.81 this season which is why Lampard was always moaning about Chelsea not taking their chances.

  5. Fpl Richie
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Signed up for this - thanks ragabolly.
    It's a bit tricky to work out whether players will get dropped or rotated in the same way. Is McCarthy at Southampton (nailed in fpl) now a risk like he was prior to the season for example?

    1. Ragabolly
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      He is as nailed as he is in FPL. Lineups are generated based on FPL minutes this season. Then form will kick in and also change that slightly

      1. Fpl Richie
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Thanks man. Awesome concept!

      2. Playing_the_Numbers
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Hi Ragabolly,

        Are players as nailed as they were prior GW1 in FPL or they are as nailed as they were after GW29 in FPL?

        Thanks

  6. Fpl Richie
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    My fpl team pre-2ft...
    Krul (Button)
    TAA Egan Doherty (Stephens Holgate)
    Salah Bruno Kdb Barnes (Dendo)
    Ings Jimenez Auba
    1.4itb

    A) button to pope/McCarthy/de gea
    B) Ings to dcl
    C) Stephens to awb/maguire/Taylor

    Sadly I've been priced out of pope+dcl+Awb now by 0.1... stupid rises 🙂

  7. Ragabolly
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Thank you so much Neale and FFS for the article! And thanks everyone who signed up, we currently have between 500-600 managers total, and we will be all in one big league.

    Might add a leagues feature in the coming weeks, but for now I think the game is ready for the launch tomorrow!

    1. Skonto Rigga
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      It was my pleasure - you've done all the hard work here so you deserve every ounce of credit!

  8. gooberman
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    The friendly simulator has just had West Ham win 1-0 away to Everton. Mmm really??

    1. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      And therein lies the curse of building a simulator - the "better" (i.e. closer to reality) you make it - the less people will believe it 🙂

      Imagine if it came up with Leicester winning the league for example, Solksjaer taking 6 points from Guardiola this season, Sterling getting only 98 points from his last 22 league games after getting 254 in the 35 league games prior to those...

      1. gooberman
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Yeah, obviously it's normal to have unlikely results now and then so that should be built in to the simulator but this was the first one I ran on the simulator.

        1. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 11 months ago

          Imagine if it had Watford beating Liverpool 3-0!

        2. pingissimus
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 11 months ago

          Everton? Last time I looked they were in the bottom half of the table. You need to go back to 2016/7 to find a season where they were more than a six pointer ahead of complete mediocrity.

    2. Ragabolly
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Not claiming perfection at all, but there must be an element of unpredictability in the simulation. But I assure you that in all simulation runs, West Ham are a strong relegation candidate, so results average to the expected results.

      1. bitm2007
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Are the friendly's different for different players ? Arsenal v Liverpool turned out exactly the same as in the screen shot in this article for me, but my version of the game has West Ham playing Spurs, not Everton as stated in this post.

      2. gooberman
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        It's a great idea mate. I'm up for giving it a go.

      3. bitm2007
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Hi Ragabolly. You might already be aware of this, but our teams and ID's keep changing, see the posts at the bottom of this page.

    3. Sloths
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      How long before signing up before you can enter your team in this Virtual FPL thing?

      Or is it some sort of scam?

    4. ramunas
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      One of my friendlies finished Wolves 7 - 4 Liverpool !

      1. bitm2007
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Wolves do have a good record against the big six !

      2. gooberman
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Oh dear! That is stretching it!

        1. The Polymath
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 11 months ago

          Yep. No way would Liverpool have managed 4 goals.

        2. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 11 months ago

          Wait until TAA scores a hattrick & sets up 4 in a 7-0 win for a casual 39-pointer

  9. Fpl Richie
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Anyone sharing their virtual fpl line up? This is one I put in as a first draft a few weeks ago. Looks a bit boring now actually...

    McCarthy (Button)
    TAA Lascelles Holgate (O'Connell Taylor)
    Mane Sarr Kdb Barnes Bruno
    Auba DCL (Long)

    1. Fpl Richie
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Scrapped it already. Alonso in and Everton defenders.. Nah!

    2. pingissimus
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Axed KdB to get this

      McCarthy Pope
      TAA Taylor Lascelles Egan Ngakia
      Mane Lord Fernandes Barnes Sarr
      Auba Vardy DCL

  10. Botman and Robben
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Cheers ragabolly. Signed up and ready to go.

    Out of topic but has anyone here played Resident Evil 3 Nemesis remake? Is it any good?

  11. bitm2007
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    There are plenty of football match and management games you there, but I don't think there are any fantasy football games that don't rely on real-life events. It's an interesting concept that could work commercially, I was thinking other day if such a game existed I would give it a try, now it does and it's free (at least for now).

  12. goriuanx
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Ragabolly is a genius. He's taken FPL to a whole new level with his work. I really hope FPL Towers get him on board so he can implement his features and ideas into the game.

  13. fusen
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    With simulated fixtures, in my head it would seem they should be easier to predict as unless there is just a rand() used, it won't be able to be as chaotic and strange as real life

  14. Sloths
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Are we sure this isn't some sort of scam?

    I've just signed up and it wont let me log in. Minutes later my anti virus is going nuts trying to keep something out. Not happy

    1. bitm2007
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      McAfee didn't have any issue with it on my PC, I expect it something else causing your anti virus issues. The game gets a big thumbs up from me, I was going to get Football Manager 2020 to keep me occupied during the lockdown, but I think I will stick with this now.

    2. Now I'm Panicking
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Yes, obviously a scam 🙄

    3. OverTinker
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Turn off your laptop and stay away. Wash your hands too.

    4. GreennRed
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      That's what your AV is supposed to do when it see's an unfamiliar site and unfamiliar activity. Better that than feeding a village of cyber thief's. Ragabolly's site is great.

  15. OverTinker
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Can't wait for it to start - thanks Ragabolly

    1. bitm2007
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Me either how does this look for GW1

      Pope (Button)
      TAA, Soyuncu, Stephens (Egan, Hanley)
      Salah, Bruno, Grealish, Barnes (Hayden)
      Auba (c), Vardy (vc), DCL

      0.0m iTB

      I've avoided Manchester, City, Spurs and Wolves based on the fixtures.

      1. pingissimus
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        On something very similar. Think Lund as a 4.8 mid is value given fixtures - done ok in preseason 🙂

        1. bitm2007
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 11 months ago

          Salah and Egan to Mane and Lund ?

          1. pingissimus
            • 5 Years
            3 years, 11 months ago

            Lund is a mid!

            I have Sarr Lund over Grealish Hayden. Currently on Mane over Mo with McArthy as back up keeper. Not sure that adds up really.

            1. bitm2007
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 9 Years
              3 years, 11 months ago

              Thanks missed that. I assumed that if the pricing is the same as FPL, the players position would be as well.

  16. GreennRed
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    https://myquiz.org/

    A few of us have been going on site above, compiling our own quizzes, then meeting up on Zoom. Mighty craic and a nice distraction from the isolation.

  17. Dr. Agabuse
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    I just created a team.
    ID 670
    The i logged in and was my name Dr.Agabuse but iD11 and a completely different team.
    Logged out and had an old window open where i still was 670 and finished my transfers.
    Then it said ID11 after i did the transfers again.

    So i am afraid that i ruined the 11th guy team now or that ive taken over his team at least
    o.O

    1. bitm2007
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Same here. I had a I'd around 600ish, went back in and team was different then after correcting the team my ID is 20.

    2. Treadstone
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Same here had a ID around 500 and on logging back in team still in my name but showing ID 205 and the team relevant to that ID.Hope this can be sorted .

      1. Treadstone
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Logged in again and I'm ID 6 now and with their team.

    3. pingissimus
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Yikes system gone wild.

      Was ID 12 saved team and I got 295 - horrid team btw

      1. Debauchy
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Hey ! Im 295

        1. pingissimus
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 11 months ago

          Whoops 🙂

          Decided not to improve it for you. Now on ID111 - might muck that team up instead.

    4. bitm2007
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      I just signed in again and team and ID have changed again it's now 32.

    5. TorresMagic™
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Same, passed it on to Ragabolly.

      1. bitm2007
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Thanks TM

    6. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Maybe just double check your bank accounts are also still intact 😉

    7. Rotation's Alter Ego
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      For those of you affected in this thread (and on this page), have a read of Ragabolly's HT if you haven't seen it yet 🙂

      https://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/comment/21825040

  18. Marjie
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    I signed up to virtual FPL this morning and created a team. Went in just now and when I log in, it shows someone else’s ‘better’ team!

    1. TorresMagic™
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Scroll up.

  19. The Polymath
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Don't Forget, GW 33 deadline tonight at 7pm followed by another free transfer for your slow wildcard.

    1. Baps hunter
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      My team is linked. I have made big mistake losing .1 million value with Stekelenburg. What would you recommend?

  20. Meganuts
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Like some of the folk above I am getting warnings that the website is not secure (via my iPhone). It is just asking for email address and password (which seems a bit dodgy)

    Just want to make sure no undesirables have put something in there?

    1. Ragabolly
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      I was updating the site (liveFPL) and so had to take it down which showed that screen somehow. All secure and good now, thanks a lot for your feedback!

      1. Meganuts
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Perfect - all working now as expected. Signed up and ready to go.

  21. albert
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    I also signed in and got a completely different team and ID. I'll wait and see what Ragabolly comes up with before attempting to re-enter

    1. Ragabolly
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      I had to reset some teams because of a technical issue, so try to login now. You will either find your old id and team back, or you will be asked to create a new team.

  22. Norman Conquest
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Just signed up looks great cheers

  23. TAT
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Mistakenly put in my team name in the manager name field when registering. Is there any way of correcting this?

    1. Ragabolly
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Email me at livefpl@gmail.com and I will sort it out

      1. TAT
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Will do! 🙂

  24. ManeManeMane
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Maybe I missed this but are players currently injured IRL all available here, as though the season was starting from scratch?

  25. George James
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Anyone having issues with the site currently cant get on to do my team 🙁

    1. Ragabolly
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Try logging out by clicking here http://www.livefpl.net/logout then login again

      1. Corgz Dark side of the Loon
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        Hi Ragabolly. I have logged out and log back in but it keeps giving me a different player ID and ask me to pick a team again ??

        1. Ragabolly
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 11 months ago

          Send me an email at livefpl@gmail.com with the email(s) you used to signup

  26. Champions League Varane
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Best defender for 4.0?

    Jaanmat?

    1. Gentle_Turks
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Non starter.

    2. Gentle_Turks
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 11 months ago

      Kiko?

      1. Gentle_Turks
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 11 months ago

        4.2

        1. Champions League Varane
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 11 months ago

          Jaanmat doesn’t start?

          Only have 4.0 unfortunately

          1. bitm2007
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 11 months ago

            Hanley is a starting 4.0m in Virtual FPL (4.1m FPL proper),

          2. Gentle_Turks
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 6 Years
            3 years, 11 months ago

            Are you talking about virtual FPL? Sorry, thought you meant real FPL.

  27. Tambling5
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 11 months ago

    Played a few friendliest now. Liverpool seem to be at an even greater level than they were in the real thing. Just beat Chelsea 4-0 away with best team out, whilst Chelsea had strange team with Tomori at left back. Chelsea lost at home to Sheffield United who were then beaten by Tottenham. Looks like Chelsea form prior to lock-down being ignored. May have to change team, as seems little point not having Pool triple up.