Official FPL was introduced before the 2002/03 season(Origin of FPL), the Premier League was already delayed in launching an official fantasy game after the likes of Telegraph, Mirror, and Sun all successfully ran their fantasy games from the mid-’90s. In this blog, let’s find out How Many Play FPL currently and also how many played FPL each season from the beginning of FPL.
Link to all our FPL history blogs covering the highest-scoring players each season, highest-scoring midfielders, defenders, forwards, goalkeepers, the origin of FPL, and more. Give them all a read if you want to know what happened back in the day.
When did FPL start and how many play FPL?
Very first FPL Website screen
Very first FPL Website screen
FPL was first launched just in time ahead of the 2002/03 season. As it was something really new, the first six gameweeks were declared as pre-season, and points scored during the season were not considered in the overall ranking. This meant there were only 32 official gameweeks in the season, resulting in the only season in which the winner has scored less than 2000 points.
Note: Player scores were all recorded, only the manager points weren’t considered.
Here is Henry's record from the very first FPL season. He was the highest-scoring player registering 271 points
Here is Henry’s record from the very first FPL season. He was the highest-scoring player, registering 271 points
The very first goal recorded in FPL
The very first goal recorded in FPL via Reddit
Michael Ricketts for Bolton against Fulham, 17 August 2002. He would go on to score 6 goals in 22 appearances that season(u/papoon)
There were 46,876 managers by GW15 in the first season, and the first season finished with 76,284 managers. From fewer than 100K managers playing FPL in 2002/03, we have now reached 13 million managers in the 2025/26 season.
Gameweek history of the FPL winner from the first FPL Season(2002/03)
2002/03 FPL Winner
2002/03 FPL Winner
Number of FPL Managers Each Season in Millions
Number of FPL Managers Each Season in Millions
Do Note: There will be bots/managers having multiple accounts considered in this data, as there’s no way to remove them from the data!
FPL reaches the milestone of 10 Million on 01/09/23
FPL reaches the milestone of 10 million on 01/09/23
25/26 GW38: 13.1 Million (First time FPL has crossed 13 million)
25/26 GW4: 11.76 Million (On 15/09/25)
25/26 GW1: 9.5 Million
24/25 GW38: 11.50 Million (8.55 Mil managers right before GW1 deadline)
23/24 GW38: 10.91 Million (10,905,021)
23/24 GW1: 8 Million (8,057,466 managers right before GW1 deadline, 245,772 increase from 22/23 GW1 deadline total. First time FPL has crossed the 8 Million barrier before GW1 deadline)
22/23: 11.45 Million(7,811,694 – 7.81 Million prior to GW1 deadline)
21/22: 9.17m
20/21: 8.15m
19/20: 7.63m
18/19: 6.32m
17/18: 5.19m
16/17: 4.50m
15/16: 3.73m
14/15: 3.5m
13/14: 3.22m
12/13: 2.61m (First year in which there was a dip in FPL managers compared to the previous year)
11/12: 2.78m
10/11: 2.35m
09/10: 2.1m
08/09: 1.95m
07/08: 1.7m
06/07: 1.27m
05/06: 810,000
04/05: 472,251
03/04: 312,026
02/03: 76,284
Sources of the numbers are from Wayback Machine
The reason for the dip in total FPL managers during the 12/13 season was because of the fact that prior to the GW1 deadline of the 11/12 season, the game crashed. FPL had to give a free Wildcard to managers, but some of them could never play it seriously because of the crash, and this might have caused a dip in registrations for the 12/13 season.
Number of FPL Managers Each Season in Millions
Here’s also a summary of the numbers from @FPLIran’s tweet
Yellow fields are estimates and white fields are absolute numbers.
Update: 2011/12 GW38 number is 2,785,573
When did FPL start?
FPL started in the 2002/03 Premier League season. 76,284 managers played the first season of FPL
When did FPL reach one million managers?
FPL hit one million managers by the 2006/07 season, the fifth season after the game was launched
Further FPL History Content from ALLABOUTFPL
Most FPL Points Scored by Players in an FPL Gameweek | FPL History
Highest FPL Gameweek Scores In FPL HistoryBest Bargains in FPL History- Under priced Budget PicksMost Bonus Points in an FPL Season | FPL HistoryFPL Prices over the years- Most Expensive players in FPL since 2002/03
FPL Dream Team every season from 2002/03Top 10 FPL Triple Captain Hauls – FPL History
Lowest Scoring Gameweeks Ever in FPL History | Worst FPL GWs
All Time FPL Dream Team Since The First Season in 2002/03 | FPL History
FPL History: Highest Scoring FPL Goalkeepers Since The First FPL Season
FPL History: Highest Scoring FPL Defenders Since The First FPL Season
FPL History: Highest Scoring FPL Midfielders since the first FPL season
FPL History: Highest Scoring FPL Forwards Since the First FPL Season
Number of People Who Played FPL Each Season | How Many Play FPL?
List of FPL Winners Since The First FPL Season in 2002/03
FPL Now vs Then | How Has FPL Evolved since the Early Years
FPL History: Highest Scoring FPL Players Since The First FPL SeasonHistory Of Fantasy Football And Origin Of FPL
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