Riding the ups and downs of the Spark Fantasy Premier League

If you’re not aware of Fantasy Premier League (FPL), it’s a game where you choose an imaginary team of footballers and collect points based on their performance in real-life games. It’s simple stuff, but the game has a huge following, with millions of players around the world, and we’ve even set up our own league here at Spark. So what makes it so compelling?

Based on my experiences, the best way to describe an office Fantasy Premier League season is a rollercoaster of emotions! Fasten your seatbelts - here’s a brief run-through of some of the ups and downs you can expect to face:

Up – Your striker Harry Kane scores two goals on Saturday. Great news!

Down – Arriving at the office on Monday only to be told that everybody else selected him as their team’s captain, so they earn twice as many points as you do. Disaster!

Up – You hear a useful bit of team news – Stoke City’s manager Tony Pulis is complaining that all his defenders are injured. You take advantage by putting a Chelsea striker in your team, as they’re playing Stoke this weekend. They’re bound to score loads of goals!

Down – Despite the fact that people are incredibly open in the Spark office, you avoid passing this tip onto colleagues. You then feel bad for the rest of the day.

Up – The team you support in real life (woo, Bournemouth!) wins a game. Great news!

Down – Remembering you don’t have Josh King, Harry Arter or any of their other players in your FPL team, so you don’t profit from their success. Then you make every effort to avoid talking about the win, as people are bound to whether you had any of those players in your FPL team. A rare gloating opportunity is missed!

Down – The team you support in real life loses a game. Sometimes this happens when you’re a Bournemouth fan.

Up – When a colleague asks why you went down to a defeat at West Bromwich Albion, remembering that you’re a snake, the worst fan in the world, who doesn’t even believe in their own team enough to have any of their players in your FPL team.

Down – Realising that no matter how hard you try, some colleagues will always be better than you at the game (I try so hard, but am currently fourth out of twelve).

Up – Remembering the hilarious name you came up with for a team (Groß Margins, named after Brighton player Pascal Groß) and feeling really proud of yourself.

Fantasy football helps beat the Monday morning blues – footy chat, light-hearted abuse and occasionally some kudos sets us up for the 10am ‘what’s happening this week’ meeting. Journalists, former and future colleagues and clients are welcome to join our league. Drop us a line if you have a team but no-one to play against and can cope with the high-pressure world of football management.