"IwasscepticalatfirstasI'veneverplayedafantasygameacrosstwoleagues...I'vebecomereallyinvestedinitthisseason."Participants response
Leg One of Fantasy is done, and you've had your say. Three in four of you rate the game 4 or 5 out of 5, the top performers share a clear set of habits, and injury news is the thing you want us to fix first. Here's what the survey told us, and what's changing before Leg Two starts on Saturday 17 October.
Check out the full results here.
Leg One by the numbers
In its first leg, Fantasy brought together 38,179 teams from players in 126 countries, competing across 5,466 private leagues.
It's a game that's bringing new people in. Of the players we surveyed, 27% had never played a fantasy game before, while 73% came with previous experience.
Three in four of you rate it highly
Across everyone surveyed, 74% rated Fantasy 4 or 5 out of 5, with an average score of 3.9.
Newcomers were the happiest group. 86% of first-time fantasy players gave it 4 or 5, an average of 4.2, compared with 72% and 3.9 among those who had played before.
What you love
Planning transfers came out on top. It was the biggest theme in your comments, and 63% of you named planning transfers between matchweeks as one of your favourite parts of the game. Watching points come in live and picking your captain followed close behind.
Beyond the mechanics, you told us you enjoy competing with friends and family, discovering new players, and having more reasons to watch every match.
Barclays WSL2 is winning people over
The option to pick Barclays WSL2 players is adding depth to squads, and some of you are even starting to support a Barclays WSL2 club as a result.
"PlayingthisfantasygamehasmadememoreexcitedthanInormallywouldbetowatchcertaingames."Participants response
There's no minimum or maximum on Barclays WSL2 picks. The only limit is three players per club.
What you want us to improve
Injury and availability news was your most requested update, with 80% of you asking for it. It's the first time availability has been covered like this in women's football, and it was never going to be perfect from day one. Improving it is one of our top priorities, working with our data partner Opta to make it faster and more accurate.
You also asked for easier transfers and subs, clearer rules and scoring, fixtures, scores and stats in one place, staying logged in, and a vice-captain and more chips.
Coming soon: a new squad view menu that lets you sort by next opponent, price, Opta Player Rating, ownership and average points; clearer Fixture Difficulty Ratings; Opta Player Ratings in the game; and a much more detailed Stats section.
What top performers do differently
The survey revealed a clear gap between the highest and lowest-ranked managers. Top performers were:
- More likely to check fixture difficulty before transfers (74% vs 50%)
- Twice as likely to read Scout's Team Pick before each deadline (35% vs 17%)
- Three times as likely to look for differentials, good players few others own (21% vs 7%)
- More likely to follow Fantasy on social media (55% vs 26%)
- More likely to check team sheets before kick-off (66% vs 49%)
Scroll through the full results here, including all nine habits that set the top managers apart.
Ready for Leg Two
Every leg is a fresh start. Leg Two runs from Matchweek 6 to Matchweek 11, Saturday 17 October to Sunday 22 November, and everyone gets unlimited free transfers in Matchweek 6.
There are no Barclays WSL2 matches in Matchweeks 6, 8 or 11, so if you've got a Free Hit left, those weeks are worth a look.
Leg One wasn't perfect. Some data was slower than we'd like, and some rules weren't as clear as they should be. We hear you, and we're working on it. Thank you to everyone who took the time to tell us what you think.
