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Understanding FPL transfers is one of the most important foundations of the game. Maybe even the most important foundation… apart from, y’know, actually picking the right players.
Whether you’re brand new to Fantasy Premier League, or you’ve been playing for many a year like the FPL addicts running this website, knowing your transfer rules inside out will save you points, headaches, and at least some of the enormous amounts of despair that FPL inevitably delivers year in and year out.
(But we still love it anyway, of course).
In this guide, we’ll cover absolutely everything you need to know – how many FPL transfers you get, how banking transfers works, when to take a points hit, what the best FPL transfer strategy actually looks like, and more!
Let’s start at the beginning. A crazy idea, I know.
Every week in Fantasy Premier League, you can make changes to your squad by swapping players in and out. This is what’s known as making a transfer.
Not exactly rocket science.
The basic rule is equally straightforward – you get one free transfer per gameweek. That means you can swap one player in your squad, for one other player, at no cost to your overall score.
If you want to make additional (non-free) transfers in a single gameweek, you can. But, it’ll cost you four points for each additional transfer.
These are known as hits, and they’re one of the most endlessly debated topics in all of FPL – every single season.
Transfers must be made before the gameweek deadline, which is usually 90 minutes before the first match of that gameweek kicks off. Miss the deadline, and not only will your transfers not count, but you’ll feel like a real silly sausage too.
Before we get into all the strategy and whatnot, here are the core FPL transfer rules:
Your FPL free transfers are the only cost-free swaps you get each week.
If you don’t use your transfer in a given week, it rolls over to the next gameweek – and this is where things get interesting (maybe).
If you don’t use your free transfer one week, it rolls over to the next gameweek, giving you two free transfers to use.
Back in the old days (i.e., before 2025), you could only have up to two transfers.
Then FPL Towers went and spoiled us, and nowadays you can bank up to a maximum of five free transfers. How generous.
Needless sarcasm aside, this really is one of the most significant changes FPL has made in recent years.
Now, if you’re patient and disciplined (which most FPL managers aren’t), you can save up to five free transfers – which is enough to change a third of your whole entire squad in only one week, without spending a single of your hard-earned points.
We tend to refer to these as ‘mini-wildcards’, which really can turn your fortunes around.
Beware, though – once you hit five banked transfers, that’s it. Any further rollovers are lost to the ether, for ever and ever.
A hit is when you make an extra transfer beyond your free allocation, costing you four points per additional transfer.
So, if you make two transfers when you only have one free, that’s -4 points. Three transfers with one free is -8 points. And so on, and so forth.
Hits are deducted from your gameweek score, regardless of how your team performs. And, since points are hard to come by in FPL, that’s obviously less than ideal.
That said, hits aren’t inherently bad.
It basically just boils down to guesstimating whether or not the maths works in your favour. If you are taking a hit, you’d better be sure you’re making up more than those 4pts within the foreseeable future – otherwise you’ve just wasted a transfer.
Also, with the aforementioned ability to bank up to five transfers nowadays, the bar for taking a hit has arguably risen. Less often is there a need to spend -4 points, or -8, when a bit of patience can get you there for free.
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Let’s get into this in a little more detail, since it really is one of the eternal (and unsolvable) FPL debates.
The general rule of thumb, again – a single hit needs to be worth at least 4 points to break even.
That means the player you’re bringing in needs to score at least 4 more points in that gameweek (or at least over the course of the time you intend to own them), than the player you’re binning.
Sounds simple enough. In practice, like all things in FPL, it rarely is. Lacking a crystal ball, you’re making that judgement before the gameweek has been played, and can never, ever know what’s going to happen.
(The only exception in FPL is when you’ve got a genuine 50/50 choice over captaincy. In that case, even if you just flip a coin, you will pick the wrong player 100% of the time).
Here are some select situations where taking a hit does tend to be worth it:
Beware once more, though, for these are some of situations where you should think twice:
Overall, again – with up to five banked transfers now available, the case for taking a hit is weaker than before. If you possibly can, build your transfers up instead, and make your moves for free.
It’s easier said than done, especially when you’re absolutely fuming after a bad week. But one of the biggest golden rules of FPL, year in and year out, is to remain patient.
It’s fair to say that James and I (Joe) have played our fair share of FPL, and made a mistake or two (thousand) in our time.
So learn from our lessons, dear reader, and follow these hard-earned pearls of wisdom.
With five possible free transfers, banking has become even more important than before.
Look ahead to the mid-term whenever you can, and think about where you’ll want maximum flexibility – a big fixture swing, a blank gameweek, a double you want to attack – and start building towards that several weeks in advance.
Having five free transfers going into the right gameweek can have a huge impact, in addition to simply making you feel very smug (not to be underestimated).
The best time to decide on your transfer is not 11:59pm the night before the deadline – nor indeed one minute before the deadline. Give yourself time to weigh up the options, check the injury news, and look at the fixture runs ahead. Read lots of FPL content to help you weigh up your options (ours is the best, obviously).
The best FPL managers are almost always thinking at least two or three gameweeks ahead.
They’re looking at good and bad upcoming fixture runs, international breaks, European competitions, and so on, and – even though luck obviously plays a role in the eventual outcome – making the most informed decisions they can.
On any given week, you can almost guarantee some cheap/lesser-owned player will explode for a big score. You can also guarantee that player will rise in price, as everyone rushes to bring them in.
Doing so immediately is a trap said FPL managers fall into constantly. Don’t be most FPL managers. Look at that player’s underlying numbers, the team they play for, their track record, and so on. Then work out whether they’re actually going to keep scoring lots of points. The answer is usually ‘no’.
FPL deadlines are usually 90 minutes before the first game of the gameweek. That does not mean the deadline will always be late on a Saturday morning, UK time.
Early deadlines happen regularly – particularly around midweek fixtures, and periods with fixture congestion. Make a habit of checking the deadline date and time nice and early (e.g. on a Monday morning), rather than assuming it’s a Saturday as usual.
Sometimes the answer to a massive squad problem isn’t taking a hit, but using a chip instead.
Back in the old days (… again, before 2025), we had to guard chips closely. Nowadays – since we have two copies of each chip – we can be a bit freer with them.
If you’re staring at a -8 or a -12 hit to fix your terrible squad, then a free hit, or even a wildcard, might be a better answer.
Equally, if you’ve been responsibly banking transfers, and you’re sitting on four or five, ask yourself the same thing in reverse. Do you actually need to use that wildcard, or would you be better just doing a mini-wildcard for now?
There are two ways to make unlimited transfers without taking any points hits.
First is the wildcard.
You get two of these per season (one per half). Activating your wildcard allows you to make as many transfers as you like, and you keep your new squad going forward. It’s basically just a full reset of your team.
Then you have the free hit.
You also get two of these per season (again, one per half). Like the wildcard, it allows unlimited transfers. Unlike the wildcard though, your squad reverts back to how it was after that gameweek. It’s a short-term fling of a team, for a single gameweek only.
A rather important note: your first-half chips – including your wildcard and free hit – expire at the Gameweek 19 deadline, and cannot be carried into the second half of the season. Use them or lose them (preferably use them).
Also rather important: if you play a free hit or wildcard with banked transfers already saved up, you keep those banked transfers for the following gameweek. This is another change from how it used to work back when I was a lad – previously you dropped back to one transfer after playing a chip. Difficult times, let me tell you.
Coincidentally, we actually have full guides to both the FPL wildcard and FPL free hit, brimming with everything you need to know about those particular chips. How about that!
The mechanics are incredibly simple, but I should probably cover them anyway – since I’m supposed to be explaining FPL transfers, after all.
A couple of things to note, based on the experience of a certain Full 90 FPL writer who may or may not be writing this article right now.
If you have the transfers screen open, but haven’t confirmed, nothing has been saved – always remember to actually hit confirm.
And, stick that player straight into your starting lineup, assuming you actually want to play them. This will not happen automatically!
Nothing in this world is more infuriating than bringing in the ‘right’ player, only to realise you left them on your bench. And I mean nothing.
Transfers are the driving force of FPL. Getting them right consistently is obviously easier said than done, but remains the main way to separate yourself from the pack over the course of a full season.
The ability to bank up to five free transfers has changed the game enormously. Patience has always been a virtue in FPL, but now it’s more important than ever. Roll when you can, avoid panic/rage hits, and always be thinking at least a couple of gameweeks ahead.
And, most easily of all, you can just listen to us.
We’ll tell you who we’re actually bringing in each week, along with all of our transfer tips and gameweek previews and favourite fixture runs and whatnot, all in the Latest Tips section.
How many transfers do you get in FPL?
You get a measly one free transfer per gameweek. If you don’t use it, you can bank it and carry it into the following week. Nowadays, you can bank up to a maximum of five free transfers at once.
What is a hit in FPL?
A hit is when you make more transfers than your current free allocation. Each extra transfer costs you 4 points, deducted from your gameweek score. Two extra transfers gives you a -8, and so on.
Can you make unlimited free transfers in FPL?
Yes – but only when you activate your wildcard or free hit chip. Both allow unlimited transfers at no points cost. You get two wildcards and two free hits – one for each half of the season.
When is the FPL transfer deadline?
The transfer deadline is 90 minutes before the first game of each gameweek. This is typically a Saturday late morning/early afternoon UK time, but can fall on a Friday, or a midweek evening. Always check the deadline in the app.
Is it worth taking a -4 hit in FPL?
It depends on the situation… but most hits don’t pay off. As a rule of thumb, the player you’re bringing in needs to score at least 4 more points than the player you’re removing to break even. Now that you can save up to five transfers, staying patient is usually the better option.
What happens if I don’t use my FPL transfer?
It rolls over to the next gameweek, and you can bank up to five free transfers this way. After that though, you’ll simply lose them.
Do I keep my banked transfers after using a chip?
Yes – which is another recent change. If you play your free hit or wildcard with banked transfers already saved, you keep those transfers for the following gameweek. Previously, playing a chip cruelly reset you back to one free transfer.
What happens to my chips if I don’t use them in the first half of the season? They simply disappear – forever! Your first-half chips – including your wildcard and free hit – must be used before the Gameweek 19 deadline. They cannot be carried over into the second half of the season.
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Want even more FPL strategy content?
Aww, go on then.
Here are our equally comprehensive guides to the FPL Wildcard, FPL Free Hit, FPL Bench Boost, and Triple Captain.
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