<p>Significant changes to Fantasy Premier League (FPL) were announced on Saturday (July 19) as the launch of the 2025/26 game nears.</p>
<p>Friday saw <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-2025-26-changes-defensive-contributions">major points scoring changes</a> announced as well as <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-chips-2025-26-announced">extra chips and the scrapping of last season&#8217;s Assistant Manager</a> experiment.</p>
<p>And the news has kept coming &#8211; see below for all the latest.</p>
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<ul>
<li>More assists expected to be awarded with change to the definition</li>
<li>Up to five free transfers to be allocated to deal with AFCON from Gameweek 16</li>
<li>Tweaks to the bonus point system confirmed</li>
<li>Elite mini-leagues for last season&#8217;s top 1% and 10% follow scoring system tweaks for defenders and defensive midfielders and additional chips announced on Friday</li>
</ul>
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<h2>New for FPL 2025/26: More assists to be awarded</h2>
<p>FPL has redefined what counts as an assist, a move which if implemented last season would have resulted in 41 more be attributed to various players.</p>
<p>Assists will now be awarded even if their pass or cross was deflected by an opponent away from the intended target.</p>
<p>The &#8216;intended target&#8217; rule caused controversy in a number of cases last season, with disagreements among the community about FPL&#8217;s rulings.</p>
<p>This change will come into force if:</p>
<ul>
<li>The goalscorer receives the ball inside the box</li>
<li>There is only one defensive touch before the ball reaches the goalscorer</li>
</ul>
<p>Additionally, an assist will be earned if a player wins a penalty of free-kick from a handball.</p>
<div id="attachment_73214" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-73214" class="size-full wp-image-73214" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Foden-5.jpg" alt="Phil Foden. Picture by Getty Images" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Foden-5.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Foden-5-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Foden-5-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p id="caption-attachment-73214" class="wp-caption-text">Phil Foden. Picture by Getty Images</p></div>
<h2>New for FPL 2025/26: Extra transfers for AFCON</h2>
<p>Planning in advance for things like the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has been part and parcel of the game.</p>
<p>But now FPL is offering a helping hand.</p>
<p>The tournament is set to take place between Gameweek 17 and 22, with some players also potentially affected in Gameweek 16 if their countries want them to report for duty early.</p>
<p><strong>Mohamed Salah</strong>, <strong>Bryan Mbeumo </strong>and <strong>Omar Marmoush </strong>are among the players likely to be called up.</p>
<p>FPL managers will have their free transfers topped up to five in Gameweek 16 to help deal with absences from their squad.</p>
<p>It makes sense for previously saved transfers to be used up before then to benefit from the maximum amount of extras on offer.</p>
<p>For example, if you go into Gameweek 16 with two free transfers already, you will only receive three more. Someone who has none will get the full five.</p>
<div id="attachment_73348" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-73348" class="size-full wp-image-73348" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Marmoush-Getty.jpg" alt="Omar Marmoush. Picture by Getty Images" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Marmoush-Getty.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Marmoush-Getty-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Marmoush-Getty-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p id="caption-attachment-73348" class="wp-caption-text">Omar Marmoush. Picture by Getty Images</p></div>
<h2>New for 2025/26: Bonus point system tweaks</h2>
<p>Three players in each Premier League match earn bonus points in every game, with one, two and three extra points on offer.</p>
<p>Various actions contribute to a player&#8217;s baseline bonus score (BPS).</p>
<p>The system was <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-bonus-points">tweaked last season</a>, with attackers having the greater advantage. On the face of it, some of the new rules could help rebalance things for defensive players.</p>
<p>And now FPL has announced further alterations to the system:</p>
<h3>Goalkeepers</h3>
<ul>
<li>Previously awarded 2 BPS for each save</li>
<li>Will now earn 3 BPS if shot inside the area and 2 BPS if outside</li>
<li>Penalty saves down to 8 BPS from 9, not including 3 BPS for a save on top</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong>Goalline clearances</strong></h3>
<ul>
<li>Up from 3 BPS to 9 BPS</li>
</ul>
<h3>Penalty goals</h3>
<ul>
<li>New penalty goals scored metric</li>
<li>12 BPS for scoring from the spot regardless of position &#8211; forwards did earn 24, midfielders 18 and defenders 12</li>
</ul>
<h3>Successful tackles</h3>
<ul>
<li>Simplified system introduced</li>
<li>Each tackle won earns 2 BPS</li>
</ul>
<h2>New for 2025/26: Elite mini-leagues</h2>
<p>Did you finish in the top 1% or 10% in 2024/25?</p>
<p>If so, you will be automatically entered into a brand new mini-league this season, with Premier League goodies on offer for the winner.</p>
<p>There were 11.43m FPL managers last season, so those in the top 114,319 will make the top 1% league and top 1,143,193 the top 10% contest.</p>
<p>Find the new leagues in the &#8216;General Leagues&#8217; section when the game launches.</p>
<div id="attachment_73295" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-73295" class="size-full wp-image-73295" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Gyokeres.jpg" alt="Viktor Gyokeres. Picture by Getty Images" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Gyokeres.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Gyokeres-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Gyokeres-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p id="caption-attachment-73295" class="wp-caption-text">Arsenal-bound Viktor Gyokeres. Picture by Getty Images</p></div>
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What’s new in FPL 2025/26? Extra transfers for AFCON, new assist rules and bonus changes

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