Are footballers allowed to play Fantasy Premier League?

The Premier League allows members of playing and support staff at its clubs to play Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

FPL is a globally popular game played by over 10 million people worldwide in which participants select squads of 15 players and earn points based on their Premier League performances.

The Premier League does not prohibit players or its own staff members from participating in FPL, but clubs can have their own rules on playing the game.

Arsenal, Bournemouth and West Ham all allow footballers and staff to play. Fulham players and staff can also participate, but staff are advised that they should avoid picking players from Fulham in their teams.

All other Premier League clubs have been approached for comment by BBC Sport.

Current Newcastle players Aaron Ramsdale, Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes, Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier have been known to be FPL players in previous seasons.

During the 2020-21 season, an Aston Villa fan from Norway was behind a string of leaked team news information.

Based on knowing the identities of certain FPL accounts of staff members, Henning was able to work out that then Villa winger Jack Grealish was injured before their 2021 match against Leicester City after he was transferred out of their teams.

Villa lost the game 2-1 and later, then Villa manager Dean Smith launched an internal investigation over who leaked the information of Grealish’s injury.

Brendan Rodgers, who was the Leicester manager at the time, said he had heard the rumours of Grealish’s injury before the game.

The Premier League kicks off on Friday and so does fantasy football.

You can join the BBC Sport League on the official Fantasy Premier League game using the code bbcfpl – or by clicking this link.

Alistair Bruce-Ball, Statman Dave and Chris Sutton from the FPL Podcast from BBC Sport will be among the BBC experts taking part – can you beat them?

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