01What we'd like to cover
Three areas. Plus one lens that applies to all of them.
01
Data widgets and dashboards
02Making it work for the casual fan
The cornerstone BWSL fantasy isn't FPL. We'd like every Opta proposal to start here.
The BWSL audience is generally newer to the game than the typical FPL player. Football IQ is lower on average. A lot of fans are still learning the league, the players and the clubs. We don't want a product that only lands with the hardcore.
This isn't a request for dumbed-down content. It's a request for content that meets newer fans where they are, while still rewarding the people who are deeply engaged. The hardcore are easy. The casual fan is where the work is.
The ask: for every tool, every editorial product and every data feed in this brief, we'd like Opta's view on how to make it work for someone who isn't an expert yet. That should be the cornerstone of any proposal Opta puts together, not an afterthought tacked on at the end.
03Data widgets and dashboards
The list below is what fans told us they want, taken from our recent content survey. It's provisional. The percentages are demand signal, not a prescription. What we need from Opta next is your view on what's deliverable, in what form (widget, embedded data feed, dashboard, raw API), and what the trade-offs are.
Provisional list. We want Opta's read on what's practical. 04Editorial content
Fans want editorial that's data-led and useful for making decisions. The strongest signal by a clear margin: a weekly Players to Know roundup, with 67% wanting it. That's where we'd suggest starting.
Players to Know
67%
Weekly. Thursday or Friday, ahead of the deadline.
Club-by-club primers
42%
Pre-season. One per club, both divisions.
Manager and team style guides
37%
Pre-season. Refreshed mid-season.
Match reports with stats
Survey theme
Per match. Within 24 hours.
Form guide (hot/cold)
Survey theme
Weekly. Rolling.
A Scout-style figure
Survey theme
Weekly column plus social.
The Scout figure
A named, recurring Opta voice across the season.
One thing that came back repeatedly in open-text answers: fans want a named, recurring figure who picks their team each week and shows their working. The reference is the official FPL Scout. They specifically named it.
That's a natural role for a named Opta analyst. Visible byline, consistent voice, weekly column plus social, building their own following through the season. We'd like to know if this is something Opta could put a person behind.
An official "scout" would be a great feature. Someone who posts their team on the app each week, with their reasoning.From a fan
05Real-time data feeds
72%
The biggest pain point
Lineups, injuries and team news. By 17 points the single biggest weekly problem fans have.
The data is patchy in the women's game today. Press conferences sit behind paywalls. Long-term injuries often aren't reflected in the fantasy data. Closing that gap matters more than anything else we could do on launch.
What we need from the feed
Five components, both divisions, tagged to player IDs.
Injury status changes. Severity and expected return window where known.
Availability flags. Suspensions, international call-up risk, fitness uncertainty.
Lineup confirmations. Starting XIs when they drop, with a confidence indicator on predicted lineups beforehand.
Rotation risk. Particularly around fixture pile-ups, European weeks and international windows.
Post-match status. Injuries picked up in-game, yellow-card accumulation triggering suspensions.
Often a player is not flagged at all but has a long-term injury that has been reported, but the fantasy content hasn't included it.From a fan
One stop shop for team news ahead of fantasy deadlines so I don't have to watch every single presser.From a fan
06Cadence. When fans want it
Friday is the peak. Over a third of fans also want something every day. Monday matters for the review.
Friday. Deadline prep.
48%
Thursday. Early team news.
24%
07What we'd like back from Opta
We're very open to ideas around the game. The list below is a starting point, not the limit. We're also conscious we shouldn't try to do everything. A focused set of higher-impact items will serve fans better than spreading thin, so we'd value Opta's view on where to concentrate effort. Five things would be useful in a first response.
01
A casual-fan approach
For every product below, how would you design or write it so it lands with newer fans, not just the hardcore. This is the cornerstone, not an afterthought.
02
A view on the widgets and tools
The list in Section 03 is provisional. What can you deliver, in what form (widget, data feed, dashboard, raw API), and what would each look like commercially?
03
An editorial offer
Players to Know weekly, the pre-season primer set, and a named Scout-style figure. What could Opta take on, and on what terms?
04
Real-time feed scoping
What the injury, availability and lineup feed would include for both divisions, latency expectations, and how status changes flow.
05
A timeline
What needs agreeing by when.