FPL confirm major changes ahead of 2026/27 season launch with one that will change your mini league forever

Fantasy Premier League will have a host of new changes for the 2026/27 season including one that fans have been demanding for years.

The 2026 World Cup is now behind us and with Spain crowned champions, football fans are now looking ahead to the resumption of the club season in the coming weeks.

It's now just four weeks until the 2026/27 Premier League season kicks off on August 21 as champions Arsenal welcome newly promoted Coventry City to the Emirates for the opening match.

And with a new Premier League season, of course comes a new season for friends, families and colleagues to settle who has the best football knowledge with a new season of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

With the 2026/27 season rapidly approaching, the launch of the next FPL season is imminent, with fans eager to learn the prices of some of the Premier League's biggest names.

But before any price reveals are confirmed, FPL's official social media account has confirmed that a host of new changes will be introduced for 2026/27 that could massively impact how the game is played.

By far the biggest change will see points and ranks updated live while matches are being played, allowing fans to check just how good, or bad, a goal can be for their team.

This change will also allow mini league positions to move in real time, meaning you can see how much certain moments in matches impacts you and your rivals throughout the season.

Another major change appears to be a response to feedback surrounding the introduction on defensive contribution (DEFCON) points last season.

Although DEFCON points will remain in place for 2026/27, FPL have altered how the bonus points will be awarded for some players in order to ensure that full-backs, who became less popular due to their poor DEFCON potential, are once again relevant.

The changes are intended to limit any crossover in players earning both DEFCON points and bonus points in the same match, and to boost the potential of attacking players instead.

In another alteration to the bonus point system, players will no longer be punished for being tackled, which in previous seasons would result in a BPS reduction of -1 every time.

This will benefit flair players who dribble more often, mostly wingers and full-backs, with Morgan Rogers, Jarrod Bowen and Antonine Semenyo the three players who would have benefited the most from this change had it been in place last season.

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The final change will see the points for each gameweek locked down a little later, giving more time for DEFCON or bonus point changes after a game finishes.

Last season, there were several cases where OPTA (who provide the stats used by FPL), found an extra pass or tackle or removed one that would have changed a player's points but didn't because the gameweek had already locked.

Now, this situation is far less likely with points only locking at 9am the following morning after a gameweek ends.

As for the chips, like last season, all managers will be given two of each of the chips, with the wildcard, free hit, triple captain and bench boost all available to use in each half of the season.

When will FPL launch?

With all these changes in place, the question now is when can we expect the 2026/27 FPL game to actually launch?

As it stands, it is not known exactly when the game will launch, but the announcement of these changes would suggest that it's very likely that we will have the game later this week.

Before then, we can expect the official social media accounts to start teasing and revealing some of the prices for star players over the coming days, allowing eager fans to start thinking about rough drafts in their mind ahead of the official launch.

Last year, FPL went live for 2025/26 season on July 21, further suggesting that we can expect this season's game to launch this week.

But, with the World Cup only finishing last weekend, it's possible that we may have a little bit longer to wait to allow the hype to build even more for next season's FPL game.