The first deadline of the 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League season has passed—and the opening FPL template has finally been revealed.
Who was the most-owned player?
Did FPL managers prefer Erling Haaland or Bruno Fernandes with the captain's armband?
And how many decided to attack Gameweek 1 with an early chip?
Using data from Fantasy Football Fix's FPL Statistics tool and Insight Live tool, we have analysed the key FPL Gameweek 1 statistics following Friday's deadline.
A total of 8,945,344 managers had registered an FPL team when the Gameweek 1 deadline passed.
That is down from approximately 9.5 million managers at the beginning of last season, a difference of around 555,000 teams.
However, this is only a snapshot taken at the opening deadline—not the final participation figure for the season.
New managers can continue registering teams after Gameweek 1, so the total is still likely to grow considerably throughout the campaign.
Erling Haaland begins the season as the most-owned player in Fantasy Premier League, appearing in 69.3% of all squads.
Chelsea forward João Pedro follows closely on 64.3%, while Bruno Fernandes was the only other player selected by more than half of all managers.
Here are the 10 most-owned FPL players at the Gameweek 1 deadline:
1️⃣ Erling Haaland — Manchester City — £15.5m — 69.3%
2️⃣ João Pedro — Chelsea — £7.5m — 64.3%
3️⃣ Bruno Fernandes — Manchester United — £12.0m — 51.9%
4️⃣ Dominik Szoboszlai — Liverpool — £7.0m — 41.8%
5️⃣ Riccardo Calafiori — Arsenal — £5.5m — 39.8%
6️⃣ Bryan Mbeumo — Manchester United — £8.0m — 38.9%
7️⃣ David Raya — Arsenal — £6.0m — 37.6%
8️⃣ Dominic Calvert-Lewin — Leeds United — £6.0m — 31.3%
9️⃣ Gabriel — Arsenal — £8.0m — 29.7%
🔟 Antoine Semenyo — Manchester City — £8.5m — 26.3%
Three Arsenal defensive assets made the top 10, with Calafiori, Raya and Gabriel all heavily backed for the opening round.
Manchester United’s favourable early fixtures also encouraged managers to double up on Fernandes and Mbeumo.
Haaland and João Pedro were the only players to break the 60% barrier, underlining just how central the two forwards were to the opening FPL template.
The overall template tells only part of the story.
Our Elite XI: Team Reveal tracks the squads of proven Fantasy Premier League managers who have recorded 81 top-10k finishes between them.
Here were the most-owned players among the Elite managers following the Gameweek 1 deadline:
1️⃣ Bruno Fernandes — 100%
2️⃣ Dominic Calvert-Lewin — 100%
3️⃣ Antonín Kinský — 92.3%
4️⃣ Riccardo Calafiori — 92.3%
5️⃣ Bryan Mbeumo — 92.3%
6️⃣ João Pedro — 92.3%
7️⃣ Bart Verbruggen — 69.2%
8️⃣ Erling Haaland — 61.5%
9️⃣ Harry Maguire — 61.5%
🔟 Pascal Groß — 53.8%
Christos Tzolis was also selected by 53.8% of the Elite managers, placing him level with Groß.
Elite managers placed considerably more faith in several players. Calvert-Lewin was owned by 31.3% overall but appeared in every Elite squad, while Kinský reached 92.3% Elite ownership despite missing the overall top 10.
Fernandes rose from 51.9% overall to 100% among the Elite, with Mbeumo climbing from 38.9% to 92.3%.
Haaland moved in the opposite direction. Despite being the game’s most-owned player, several Elite managers went without the £15.5m forward to spread funds elsewhere.
👉 See every Elite manager’s FPL team and follow their Gameweek 2 changes live
Haaland was not only the most-owned player—he was also comfortably the most popular Gameweek 1 captain.
Images taken from the FPL Statisticstool.
Here are the five most-captained FPL players:
1️⃣ Erling Haaland — 50.3%
2️⃣ Bruno Fernandes — 17.2%
3️⃣ João Pedro — 6.5%
4️⃣ Alexander Isak — 3.9%
5️⃣ Bryan Mbeumo — 2.4%
Just over half of all FPL managers handed Haaland the armband, giving him almost three times the captaincy backing of Fernandes.
Fernandes remained the clear alternative. His opening fixture against newly promoted Hull encouraging 17.2% of managers to captain the Manchester United midfielder.
The opening deadline also produced an immediate split in chip strategy.
Images taken from the FPL Statisticstool.
A total of 8.7% of FPL managers activated Bench Boost in Gameweek 1.
Based on the number of teams registered at the deadline, that equates to approximately 778,000 managers.
The overall figure was considerably lower than the usage among our Elite managers, with all but two activating Bench Boost in Gameweek 1.
The exceptions were five-time top-10k finisher Corey Baker and four-time top-10k finisher Lari Ahti. Both have instead activated the chip for Gameweek 2.
👉 View their latest squads on the Elite XI: Team Reveal tool
A further 2.7% of managers used their Triple Captain chip, representing approximately 242,000 teams.
With Haaland selected as captain by more than half of the game, his home fixture made him the obvious candidate for managers choosing to attack Gameweek 1 with the chip.
Fernandes also offered an alternative route through Manchester United’s favourable opening match against Hull.
Combined, approximately 1.02 million managers used either Bench Boost or Triple Captain at the first deadline.
The opening FPL template centred on Haaland, João Pedro and Fernandes, while Elite managers placed greater faith in Calvert-Lewin, Kinský, Mbeumo and Calafiori.
With 69.3% ownership and 50.3% captaincy, Haaland was the player most likely to influence ranks in Gameweek 1.
All statistics were captured after the deadline using Fantasy Football Fix’s FPL Statistics and Insight Live tools. Follow Fix for the latest ownership trends, live points and Elite manager decisions.
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