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Football Predictions League 2017-18 sign-up thread


Fog Dude

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Time to get the ball rolling on this for another season.

Here's how it all finished up last time.

Continuing and returning players probably know what to do. 

For the rest of you who are interested, there follows a dauntingly large wall of text explaining how it all works.

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[tl;dr: 3 points for a correct scoreline, 1 for a right result, usually 10 games per weekend, PM me the names of 3 teams to take part]

The FPL is a competition where people try to guess the outcomes of football matches. Who'd have thought it, eh?

  • The most important rule remains, in that there are still three points for getting an exact score spot one and one further point awarded for each correct result.
  • In a normal round (which account for about three quarters of all rounds), there are 10 matches which feature games starting after 2pm on Saturdays and finishing by last thing Sunday night.
  • The 'card' containing each 'set of 10' is generally published in the early hours of Wednesday morning, giving people about 80 hours to make their picks.
  • The one big thread (which will be different from this one) is updated with the results, table and a round-up by the following Tuesday night at the latest.
  • There are special rules for August Bank Holiday & international rounds, in that Friday and/or Monday matches are allowed. The timing of the post containing the fixtures is adjusted accordingly.
  • There are 'doubles' at Xmas, New Year & Easter, which are self-explanatory in that they contain 20 matches each.
  • The so-called 'bumper' rounds for the Third Round of the FA Cup and the final day of the season can include as many games as I see fit.

Bonus points can also be earned in various ways throughout the season.
The main way is through 'Dare2Disagree' (or 'D2D') rounds. Everyone gets at least one turn at that. Last season, we were low enough on numbers that all participants got a second go at this as well.

Basically, a team is assigned to a competitor, which remains a secret until it's that person's turn, so please don't post your choices in this thread. They can choose this team. For popular sides, it's a case of first come, first served. That's why I ask for a PM including at least 3 possible choices of team. It's a fairly open choice, but these are the restrictions on those teams:

  1. Cannot be from below the top 6 tiers in England;
  2. Cannot come from outside the top 4 tiers in Scotland (sorry Rory!); 
  3. Cannot be from outside the top 3 divisions in France;
  4. Cannot come from outside the top 2 divisions in Italy, the US, Austria, Belgium or Germany; 
  5. Must not be from below the top flight if from any other country; 
  6. Just in case nobody understands why I make those the cut-off points, no reserve or youth sides are allowed; and 
  7. All 3 can't be international teams, so at least one must be a club side.

In a change from previous seasons, however, women's teams are permitted.

People can bet against the D2D team to potentially earn 2 bonus points. If that team's result matches the predicted result of the player who chose them, then they get 2 points per person who disagreed with them. So for example, if someone chooses Arsenal, says in their D2D turn that the Gunners will win and 5 people that week think Arsenal will either lose or draw, then that person gets 10 bonuses and will probably be the top scorer for that week and rocket up the standings. It's not as complicated as it sounds, but if it does sound confusing, don't blame me – it was invented by Seph, who ran this gig for a few years before I took over.


Across the season, a few sudden-death games included... but in those cases, penalty shootouts are ignored, although extra time is not.
The campaign begins August on 12th, and entries close on September 1st. The new thread will be started in just 12 days!
The competition should last for 40 rounds this season, although plans can change. That ought to take us up to mid-May.
We make about 8 visits each to the major domestic leagues in Europe (Spain/Italy/Germany), plus the Cup and League Cup in France.
There are occasional trips elsewhere, such as 2 or 3 to Portugal, Holland, Austria and the US, as well as at least one to Australia.

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Thanks for all the entries so far. Please keep them coming in. Just a little update with only 6 days to go until the season-long thread goes live. 

I've received a valid PM from everyone in this thread (except the champion, but he's put down the relevant info here) plus one other continuing player. There are no overlaps among the D2D picks, so everyone has been allocated their first choice. National teams aren't as popular as they used to be – only has been chosen up to now, and that was a third pick! That said, I'm fine with international rounds becoming non-D2D weeks given how complicated and disruptive they've become in recent years.

We don't have any new or returning participants yet, which is a pity, but anyone can join in as long as they play at least one of the first 4 rounds and PM me by the beginning of next month.

I also forgot to mention in that mammoth second post that we'll still have the FPL Cup competition towards the end of the season, but that's fairly self-explanatory anyway.

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I'm in again for another season of D2D failure and all-round general conspiracy against me. Would encourage anyone reading the topic that's not played before to sign up and give this a go. Good bit of fun and the more entries the better my chance of avoiding the wooden spoon.

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