When is the FPL chips deadline?
FPL 2026/27 gives every manager two sets of chips: a Wildcard, a Free Hit, a Bench Boost and a Triple Captain in each half of the season. The first set must be played by the Gameweek 19 deadline, on New Year's Day 2027. The second set opens in Gameweek 20 and runs to the end of the season.
The table below reads every window straight from the FPL game's own chip rules, with the deadline each first-half chip must be played by, in UK time.
| Chip | First half | Use by | Second half | Played so far |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildcard | GW2–GW19 | GW20–GW38 | 31.5% | |
| Free Hit | GW2–GW19 | GW20–GW38 | 13.5% | |
| Bench Boost | GW1–GW19 | GW20–GW38 | 18.4% | |
| Triple Captain | GW1–GW19 | GW20–GW38 | 33.2% |
Windows read from the FPL game’s own chip rules. A first-half chip not played by the GW19 deadline is lost; the second set opens at GW20. Plays so far count both halves, as FPL reports them.
What happens to a chip you don’t use by Gameweek 19?
It is lost. A first-half chip cannot be carried into the second half: when Gameweek 20 opens, every manager gets the second set, whatever they did with the first. A manager who reaches New Year's Day with three chips unplayed simply has three chips fewer over the season than one who used them.
Only one chip can be played in a gameweek, so the deadline is tighter than it looks. Four chips need four different gameweeks; from mid-November there are only a handful left before Gameweek 19.
How many managers have already used their chips?
The last column of the table above is the share of all FPL managers who have played each chip this season, as FPL counts it. It is a rough guide to how unusual your position is: if most of the game has already played a Triple Captain and you have not, your chip is a chance to gain ground on them, not to keep pace.
How should you plan the rest of your first-half chips?
Work backwards from Gameweek 19. Christmas brings four gameweeks in eleven days, and the fixtures for all four are already known, so it is the natural home for at least one chip. The grid below shows every club's fixtures over that run.
Play the Wildcard first. A Wildcard rebuilds the squad that every other chip then uses, so a Bench Boost or Triple Captain is worth more in the weeks after it. Then put the Triple Captain on the single fixture you trust most and the Bench Boost in the week your bench has its kindest fixtures. Without blank gameweeks before January, the Free Hit has less to do in the first half; use it to dodge a week of injuries or a run of bad fixtures rather than let it expire.
| Club | Avg | GW17 | GW18 | GW19 | GW20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHE | 2.5 | COV (A) | IPS (A) | NEW (H) | CRY (A) |
| LIV | 2.5 | HUL (A) | AVL (A) | COV (H) | SUN (A) |
| ARS | 2.8 | CRY (A) | FUL (A) | IPS (H) | BRE (H) |
| BRE | 2.8 | IPS (A) | COV (A) | CRY (H) | ARS (A) |
| MCI | 2.8 | NEW (A) | EVE (A) | TOT (H) | LEE (A) |
| NFO | 2.8 | MUN (A) | NEW (A) | FUL (H) | HUL (H) |
| FUL | 3.0 | BHA (H) | ARS (H) | NFO (A) | TOT (H) |
| LEE | 3.0 | AVL (A) | HUL (A) | EVE (H) | MCI (H) |
| AVL | 3.3 | LEE (H) | LIV (H) | BOU (A) | EVE (A) |
| BOU | 3.3 | TOT (A) | CRY (A) | AVL (H) | BHA (A) |
| BHA | 3.3 | FUL (A) | TOT (A) | MUN (H) | BOU (H) |
| COV | 3.3 | CHE (H) | BRE (H) | LIV (A) | IPS (A) |
| EVE | 3.3 | SUN (H) | MCI (H) | LEE (A) | AVL (H) |
| HUL | 3.3 | LIV (H) | LEE (H) | SUN (A) | NFO (A) |
| MUN | 3.3 | NFO (H) | SUN (H) | BHA (A) | NEW (H) |
| SUN | 3.3 | EVE (A) | MUN (A) | HUL (H) | LIV (H) |
| CRY | 3.5 | ARS (H) | BOU (H) | BRE (A) | CHE (H) |
| IPS | 3.5 | BRE (H) | CHE (H) | ARS (A) | COV (H) |
| TOT | 3.5 | BOU (H) | BHA (H) | MCI (A) | FUL (A) |
| NEW | 3.8 | MCI (H) | NFO (H) | CHE (A) | MUN (A) |
Each cell is that club’s fixture in the gameweek; a dash is a blank, two chips are a double. Clubs are ordered by average difficulty across GW17–20, easiest first. Fixtures are coloured by FPL’s own difficulty rating, green easiest to red hardest.