Welcome to the Fantasy Football Scout Head-to-Head Leagues, the largest community-run Fantasy Premier League (FPL) competition.
How to enter
To take part simply register an FFS account, paid or free, and join the Head-to-Head Entry mini-league on FPL ahead of Gameweek 1.
The code you need to join the mini-league is i0kbsc
**Remember – even if you took part last year, you must join the Entry mini-league to be included this season.**
We use the Entry mini-league to get your new FPL ID, which is needed for your score each Gameweek.
Managers will not be allowed to enter after Gameweek 1.
How the competition works
The Head-to-Head leagues are structured into a pyramid of leagues and divisions.
At the top, League 1 contains just one division, whereas at the bottom League 9 can have up to 256 divisions.
Last season nearly ten thousand managers took part giving League 9 a total of 241 divisions.
There are 20 teams in each division, with divisions weighted equally within each league.
Teams play each other twice over the course of the campaign.
At the end of the year, five teams will be promoted from each division to a division in the league above. And ten teams will be relegated from each division to a division in the league below.
Managers joining the Head-to-Head Leagues for the first time will begin life at the bottom of the pyramid.
What Happens next?
After Gameweek 1, when the total number of managers taking part is known, the fixtures will be generated.
An announcement will be made when this has happened, you can then check back here to find out who your opponents are for the first half of the season.
FAQ
Can I still enter the Head-to-Head Leagues?
Yes!
The code to join the FFS H2H League – Entry mini-league is i0kbsc
All new entries will start in the bottom league.
Who can join the Head-to-Head Leagues?
All Fantasy Football Scout Community members can join the Head-to-Head Leagues, you just need a free membership.
What is a Head-to-Head League?
A Fantasy head-to-head (H2H) league is like a real life football league, where teams play matches against each other to win points.
Teams are ranked according to the points gained in Head-to-Head matches.
This differs from a “classic” mini-league in Fantasy Premier League, where teams are ranked by overall points.
How do the Head-to-Head Leagues work?
In the FFS Head-to-Head Leagues, every team plays another team in their division each Gameweek.
With a division containing 20 participants, teams play each other twice over the 38 Gameweek season.
The points scored by each manager in Fantasy Premier League, minus any points hits, determine the outcome of the matches.
Three points are awarded for a win, one point for a draw, and none for a loss.
What happens if teams finish level on points?
Overall FPL rank will be used to separate teams that are level on points.
Who is “Mr. Average”?
If a division has 19 teams instead of 20, we add a “Mr. Average” to make up the numbers. This ensures each team has a fixture every Gameweek.
Mr. Average is the average score of all the managers in the division.
For the 2023/24 season, there were 17 divisions in League 9 containing a Mr. Average.
How many managers took part last season?
There were 9,903 managers spread across the nine leagues.
Previous Winners of the Head-to-Head Leagues
The reigning Head-to-Head League Champion is Adam Ferguson, who claimed the 2023/24 title by a single point.
He dethroned the 2022/23 winner Ignazio La Rosa.
In second place heading into Gameweek 38, Ignazio won on the final day to overtake long-time leader Sameer Sohail and beat a total of 9,509 people to snatch the crown.
Sameer, the front-runner for 31 Gameweeks across the season, lost his last round tie to the inaugural winner of the Head-to-Head Leagues Craig Johnson (aka Bouncebackability), the champion in 2019/20. Remarkably, Craig has never finished outside the top ten, gaining a top-five place on three occasions.
Ignazio dethroned Martin Stubbs, the winner in 2021/22.
Martin had taken an early lead only for Justin Spiegel to gradually reduce the gap, overtaking Martin as they approached the finishing line. Entering a climactic Gameweek 38, Justin looked set to claim the title but defeat saw Martin leapfrog him on the final day.
An equally dramatic conclusion saw Ville Tuominen (aka Santigold) emerge the victor in 2020/21. Three points behind Aleksander Våge Nilsen with one game to go, Ville triumphed on FPL Rank after results went in his favour.
Winners from 2022/23 (top left), 2021/22 (top right), 2020/21 (bottom left) and 2019/20 (bottom right)
A History of the Head-to-Head Leagues
The original incarnation of the Fantasy Football Scout Head-to-Head Leagues was way back in the 2009/10 season. Their introduction coincided with the launch of private head-to-head leagues on Fantasy Premier League, following on from the appearance of public head-to-head leagues a year earlier.
Leicester City fan Andy, one of the very first contributors to the site, took advantage of this new feature to set up five leagues. To begin with, they all acted as qualification leagues ahead of implementing a tiered system for the 2010/11 campaign.
But Andy hadn’t anticipated the competition being quite so popular, so he later added a reserve league to accommodate all those who wanted to take part. All six leagues served as qualifiers for the main event the following year.
The end-of-season summary mentions matzi11a qualifying for the top tier, more on Mat later, and future Head-to-Head Leagues winner Bouncebackability gets a nod for topping the Scout League in the “Can You Kick It? FA Cup Challenge“.
Heads will roll
Seven leagues plus a reserve league were announced for the first season proper. There was also the novel idea of a “golden ticket”, used to fill up any unclaimed places. This saw ShipstonTrev, who finished 51st in the world the previous season, jump straight into the top division.
Despite being 14 years ago, you may recognise a few of the participants from that original season still active on the boards today.
Jason Gomez (aka crazy88s) became the very first Head-to-Head Leagues Champion, while Pro Pundit Zophar gained promotion from the oversubscribed Reserve League.
Growing pains
The organisers added two extra leagues for the start of the following campaign, bringing the total to nine leagues plus the Reserve League.
Together with a handful of unclaimed places, this created room for 60 new entries. That number included golden ticket-winner Impressive Tackle, who earned a place in ‘H2H 1’ after coming 14th in the overall standings.
The high-flying newcomer would go on to take the title at his first attempt.
The eagle-eyed among you will notice a few familiar names in the tables above, including YouTube host Joe (then called Jonty), Last Man Standing organiser TorresMagic, Fantasy Football Scout founder Mark, and CEO El Fozzie, among others.
Propping up the ‘H2H 7’ table is MIR, who would later play a crucial role in restarting the competition because, sadly, 2011/12 proved to be the last edition of the original Head-to-Head Leagues.
The community on Fantasy Football Scout had continued to grow at a rapid rate, making the pen-and-paper approach to running the leagues too onerous.
But the story doesn’t finish there!
Chapter Two – It’s a Long and Winding Road
Community member Doosra, ably supported by Ginkapo, picked up the baton, starting a head-to-head leagues for site regulars.
Together they launched the ‘It’s a Long and Winding Road‘ website, which featured a classic league and seven private head-to-head leagues, entitled “Stairway to Heaven“. And, if that wasn’t enough, the proactive pair also came up with a 128-team knockout cup competition, called the FA Cup of Tea. A local tea distribution company provided sponsorship.
The first of these invite-only versions of the tournament took place in 2012/13. Former site moderator Evs won ‘Clound Nine’, the imaginatively-named top division in ‘Stairway to Heaven’, with Joe (aka Jonty) triumphing in ‘Le Corbusier’, the second tier league.
Joe then went one better the following year, adding the ‘Cloud Nine’ title to his trophy cabinet.
Doosra and Ginkapo were both guests on the Scoutcast during this time. While Ginkapo professed his love for Aleksandar Kolarov, Doosra’s appearance in episode 97 featured the extraordinary true story of him rescuing Joe’s dog. A much-loved member of the community, Doosra is also the subject of, I suspect, the most upvoted comment this site has known.
Despite the FA Cup of Tea and classic league continuing until 2016/17, the head-to-head leagues appear to have wound down by then. The task of administering the leagues proved too time consuming.
A new approach was needed.
Chapter Three – The wait is over
The spark arrived in 2019 when MIR, aka Mark Reynolds, contacted then Community Manager Geoff Dance (formerly known as Pukka) about restarting the competition. It soon became clear, however, that the Head-to-Head leagues required a radical rethink if they were going to be fully inclusive and manageable.
Nearly 6,000 managers applied to join the 2019/20 competition, necessitating a new structure. Mark and Geoff together with Mat, came up with the idea of having an increasing number of equally-weighted divisions within each league. Thereby reducing the total number of leagues from 300 to eight.
Mat, aka matzi11a from the very first edition of the tournament, deserves the biggest thanks, because it was his ingenuity that allowed the Head-to-Head Leagues to break free of the old hands-on approach. He successfully automated the creation of the leagues and, cleverly, found a way to match managers across different seasons.
A word of gratitude must also go to our scribes, Richard and Roy, aka RedLightning and Lord, who graciously give up their time to cover all the H2H ups and downs in their articles.
The character of the Head-to-Head Leagues has undoubtedly changed given the volume of people taking part but the challenge, if anything, has increased. There will be no one-hit wonders winning the largest community-run Fantasy Premier League competition.