Game Guidelines

As a Telegraph Fantasy Football manager, your task is to assemble a team of 11 players to score you fantasy points based on their performances in the 2025/2026 Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup competitions.

This year there's a prize pool of £10,000 to be won and you can manage up to five teams for free.

Everything else you need to know about the game can be found within these Game Guidelines – how to select your teams, how to create and join leagues and what you can win.

We hope you enjoy the season, good luck!

Within a £50m budget, pick a team of 11 players to line up in one of seven formations.

You can change your team as much as you like during the transfer amnesty, which runs right up until the first scheduled Premier League kick-off on August 15, 2025. After that, you'll get 45 transfers to last you for the season with a maximum of 5 per game week.

Your chosen players score points for your team based on their performances in the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup matches throughout the season.

The aim of the game is to finish as high up the leaderboard as possible by scoring as many points as you can.

Points are awarded for appearances, scoring goals, creating goals and, for some positions, tackles, making saves and keeping clean sheets. Points are lost for yellow/red cards and for conceding goals (see 'Scoring Points' for more details).

You'll be able to follow your team scores in real-time within the TFF live scoring.

Select your team of 11 players by tapping the + sign next to their names in the player list. Each player has been valued in £millions and the total value of your team must not exceed £50million.

There are no limits on the number of players you can select from any one club and you can choose from any of the following seven formations:

• 4-4-2
• 4-3-3
• 3-5-2
• 4-5-1
• 3-4-3
• 5-4-1
• 5-3-2

Using the dropdowns, you can filter the player pool by the following:

• Player name (Search)
• Position
• Team
• Price
• English nationality (to help pick your team for the Three Lions league)

Additionally, you can sort the player pool by any of the in-game stats (Goals, Assists, Clean Sheets etc) as well stats exclusive to Assistant Manager if you are a subscriber (Projected Scores, Fixture Difficulty).

Once you're happy with your team, click "Submit", give it a name and continue on to registration.

Remember, you can change your players as much as you like and as often as you like right up until the first scheduled Premier League kick-off time at 8pm on August 15, 2025. After that, you'll have 45 transfers to use throughout the season with a maximum of 5 allowed each game week (Tuesday to Monday).

In order to register to the TFF platform, you must provide us with the following details:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email
• Password
• Date of Birth

Additionally, the following fields are non-mandatory for you to answer:

• Gender
• Supported Team

If you played Telegraph Fantasy Football in the 2020/2021, 2021/2022, 2022/2023, 2023/2024, 2024/2025 or either of the European Championships or World Cup games, you do not need to re-register.

Simply login with your existing credentials, and all you will need to do is accept the Terms & Conditions for the new season and you can start playing!

You can change your team around as much as you like during the transfer amnesty, which runs up until the first scheduled Premier League kick off at 8pm on August 15, 2025.

After that, you can make up to 45 transfers per team. You can use these during the season to replace injured, suspended and under-performing players with those that are in-form to keep your points tally ticking over. A maximum of five transfers can be used in any one Gameweek (Tuesday to Monday).

IMPORTANT: Your Gameweek transfer allocations will reset at midnight on Tuesdays following the completion of a Gameweek. Example: your Gameweek 2 transfer allocations will become available at 00:00 on Tuesday, August 19th 2025.

In the event of an international break, transfer allocations for the Gameweek after the break will be available when the previous Gameweek has finished, giving managers two weeks to use their allocation instead of one. You will not receive any additional transfers during the international break.

Contrary to previous seasons, you will now be able to make changes right up until kick-off times of all matches. The previous 2-hour rule will no longer exist.

In some Gameweeks, Premier League teams will play more than once due to:

• Mid-week EPL fixtures
• Rearranged EPL fixtures
• FA Cup fixtures
• League Cup fixtures

When this happens, players in your fantasy teams may have the opportunity to score points in multiple matches. Additionally, you can still make transfers to change your team between games. Here's how it will work:

• All players will remain transferable throughout the Gameweek
• If you transfer a player out of your team who has already featured in the Gameweek, you will not receive points they earn from their future matches in that Gameweek - but you will keep the points from their original fixture
• If you transfer a player in to your team who has already featured in the Gameweek, they will only score points for their remaining fixtures in that Gameweek - you will not receive points for the fixture they have already played

The aim of the game is to score as many points as possible during the season.

Your selected players will score points as follows:

All players:

• Starting XI appearance (2 pts)
• Substitute appearance (1 pt)
• Goal scored (5 pts)
• Assist (3 pts)
• Red card (-3 pts)
• Yellow card (-1 pt)
• Missed penalty (-2 pts)
• Own Goal (-3 pts)

Goalkeepers only:

• Saves (1pt per 2 saves)*
• Penalty save (5pts)

Goalkeepers/defenders only:

• Full Clean Sheet - player plays 60 mins or more (5 pts)**
• Part Clean Sheet - player plays fewer than 60 mins (2 pts)**
• First goal conceded (0 pts)
• Each additional goal conceded (-1 pt)***

Midfielders only:

• Tackles (1pt per 2 tackles)****

Points are not awarded for penalty shoot-outs.

*A 'Save' is defined as a goalkeeper preventing the ball from entering the goal with any part of his body when facing an intentional attempt from an opposition player.

**Clean sheet bonuses:

In order to earn a Full Clean Sheet bonus (5 pts), your player must complete at least 60 minutes of the match and his team must keep a clean sheet for the entire match (including extra time but excluding penalty shoot-outs).

If a player is on the pitch for less than 60 minutes and his team keeps a clean sheet for the full match, he'll score a Part Clean Sheet bonus (2 pts).

All players earn 2 points for starting a match and 1 point for coming on as a substitute.

So, for example, if your goalkeeper/defender starts the match, plays an hour or more, and his team finishes the match with a clean sheet - they will score 7 points.

***Goals Conceded Rules:

Goalkeepers and defenders are only penalised for 'Goals conceded' during the time that they are on the pitch

If a goalkeeper or defender is substituted off, they will not be penalised for any further 'Goals conceded by their team'

The exception to this is if the goalkeeper or defender receives a red card. In this scenario, they will continue to be penalised for all 'Goals conceded' by their team after they were sent off

****A 'tackle' is defined as where a player connects with the ball in a ground challenge where he successfully takes the ball away from the player in possession. The tackled player must clearly be in possession of the ball before the tackle is made. The final destination of the ball (to the tackler, to a teammate, to an opposition player, out of play) is not considered. A tackle will only be deemed unsuccessful if the player tackled retains possession of the ball.

You can follow your team's points and Private League position(s) during every match via the TFF Live Match Centre. Live score updates are purely to enhance your enjoyment of the game and points should be regarded as indicative only.

All in-play points are subject to verification and will not be considered final until the game week is complete.

The best way to enjoy Telegraph Fantasy Football is in a Private League with your friends and colleagues.

You can also choose to join our unique Telegraph Fantasy Football Tournaments.

Each team can be entered into up to five Private Leagues, five Tournaments and one of the four Public Leagues: Facebook League, Twitter League, Three Lions League and Fantasy Football Hub League.

By managing at least four teams you will be able to join each of the Public Leagues.

Creating a Private League for you and your friends is the perfect way to build up local rivalry and banter throughout the season.

If you were a League Chairman in the 24/25 season of TFF, you will have the opportunity to restart your previous Private League(s) for the upcoming season. You can find your leagues from last season under the 'Restart Leagues?' section of the My Leagues page.

A League History section will also be available to Assistant Manager subscribers, to see who the best (and worst) performers were from the previous season.

There's nothing better than getting one over on your mates and, with live league tables during matches, you'll find everything you need to make it a great season for your group.

When creating a league, you can now set a deadline Gameweek for when teams must have joined by. After this Gameweek starts, your league will no longer be listed on the 'Join Leagues', and users will not be able to join, even with the league code. This setting is optional, and can also be amended at any time during the Season.

Our unique Tournaments provide yet another opportunity to test your managerial skills.

Once a Tournament fills you will be able to view the table for that league and see your 15 opponents. Throughout the season your league will run as a standard private league, however prior to the beginning of Month 7 (January 28th) the knockout cup begins. The knockout cup is a group of 16 tournament, in which you will be placed in a head-to-head battle with another manager for an entire month. The winner at the end of the month will advance to the next round while the loser is eliminated from the cup.

Want to create your own Tournament for you and your mates? You will need to be an Assistant Manager subscriber - scroll down to the Assistant Manager section below to find out how.

The Season Points (i.e. points scored from the start of the season) for each team will be used, regardless of when the Tournament fills.

Note: Tournaments can only be joined up until the beginning of the 7th month (January 28th) when the knockout cups begin

These head-to-head leagues give you the chance to pit your wits directly against other TFF managers.

Super 16s don't start until the first match of Gameweek 8 (currently, October 18th), however managers will be able to opt-in once the season is underway by nominating one of their teams to be entered into the draw and placed into a league with 15 other managers (hence the name).

Each team in a Super 16 league will play each of the 15 other teams twice.

Points are awarded on the basis of points scored by each team in that Game Week (Tuesday to Monday):

• Score more points than your opponent (3 pts)
• Score the same number of points as your opponent: (1 pt)
• Score fewer points than your opponent: (0 pts)

The deadline to opt-in to Super 16s is midnight on October 14th.

Looking for even more ways to win in the 2025/2026 season? Our One League give managers the chance to compete against fellow managers but with a limit of one team entry into the One League.

To be in with a chance of winning the £500 first prize, choose your team wisely and enter it into the One League by the first scheduled kick off of Gameweek 5 on September 21st.

You can also enter our four Public Leagues as well:

• Facebook League
• X League
• Three Lions League
• Fantasy Football Hub League

In order to be eligible for these leagues your teams must be entered by the first scheduled kick off of Gameweek 5 on September 20th.

However, there are restrictions to which teams you can enter in to Public Leagues. You can only enter one unique team per League. Therefore, if you enter a team in to the Facebook League, it will become ineligible for the Twitter League, Fantasy Football Hub League or the Three Lions League. (Note: this does not include the 'One League')

Therefore, you must create at least four teams in order to participate in all leagues.

In the Three Lions League, your team can only include players that are eligible to play for England. If you transfer in a non-english player whilst entered into the Three Lions League you will be disqualified from this league and not allowed to re-enter (you will be warned prior to the transfer).

You can filter the player pool by only players eligible for this league.

If a player swaps international allegiance away from England during the season, they will remain an eligible selection for your Three Lions team.

Assistant Manager is your premium Fantasy product fully integrated across the site to provide you with the extra stats and info needed to improve your team. It can improve your chances of winning your league and possibly some great prizes.

Subscribing to Assistant Manager will give you the following benefits:

• Create additional private leagues that are open for any user to join
• Create Tournament and Super 16 leagues
• Projected points. Our unique formula will assist in predicting a players score for their next match by analysing their form, upcoming venue & opponent
• Fixture Difficulty Calculator. Our fixture difficulty calculator takes into account the opponent, venue and the players form so you can assess whether the players next fixture is easy, medium or hard to make the most informed choice in your transfers
• View League History of restarted leagues
• Receive a weekly email review of insights for Private Leagues you are Chairman of
• Reduce the amount of ads displayed around the game

Why not try out the Assistant Manager subscription with a 2 week free trial before deciding on a monthly or yearly subscription.