What is Bench Boost in FPL?
For one gameweek, the four players on your bench score for you as well as your starting eleven. Their points are added in full, your captain still scores double, and nothing else about the gameweek changes. Because everyone counts, the bench order and automatic substitutions stop mattering for that week.
You play it from the Pick Team or Transfers screen before the deadline, and you can cancel it any time until the deadline passes. It cannot be played in the same gameweek as any other chip.
| Rule | Bench Boost |
|---|---|
| How many | Two — one for each half of the season |
| First Bench Boost | Gameweek 1 to the Gameweek 19 deadline (13:30 GMT, Sat 2 Jan 2027); unused, it is lost |
| Second Bench Boost | Gameweek 20 to Gameweek 38 |
| Who scores | All fifteen players; the four bench players add their full points |
| With other chips | No — one chip per gameweek |
| Cancelling | Allowed any time before the deadline |
When does Bench Boost reset?
It does not reset in the sense of coming back after you use it. You have one Bench Boost for the first half of the season and one for the second. The first expires at the Gameweek 19 deadline, 13:30 GMT on Saturday 2 January 2027, whether you have played it or not; the second becomes available for Gameweek 20 and lasts to the end of the season.
So the first-half chip has a hard deadline in the busiest part of the festive fixtures. If no double gameweek arrives before then, the best single week before the deadline — all fifteen playing, four starters on the bench, kind fixtures — is better than letting it lapse.
Why double gameweeks are the sweet spot
The textbook Bench Boost target is a double gameweek — one in which some clubs play twice. A starter playing both fixtures has two chances to score, so when your bench is made of double-gameweek starters the chip multiplies an already-inflated baseline.
If a double with good fixtures arrives in the half you are planning for, it is almost always the right week. Hold the chip for it rather than burning it in a routine week just because it has been sitting in your account — but not past the deadline that takes it away.
How to prepare your bench in advance
A Bench Boost rarely works if you plan it the week before. Pick your target gameweek several weeks out, then replace bench fillers with genuine starters during normal transfers.
Aim for all four bench players to be players who reliably start for their clubs. Set-piece and penalty takers and attack-minded defenders give the highest ceiling. Avoid cheap rotating forwards: a £4.5m midfielder who starts every week is worth more under a Bench Boost than a £7m striker who plays one game in three.
Finally, check that all fifteen have a fixture in the target week. A starter with no game is as useless as a bench filler.
Bench Boost vs Triple Captain in a double gameweek
When a big double gameweek arrives you may want both, and you cannot have both: one chip per gameweek.
Triple Captain rewards one elite player; Bench Boost rewards squad depth. If three or four of your bench and squad players have doubles of similar quality, Bench Boost captures more. If one premium has an outstanding double, Triple Captain may edge it. Bench Boost is usually the steadier of the two, because its value comes from four players rather than one.