💯 FPL 2025/26 Season Recap: DefCon, Bruno & A Rookie Champion
Last summer I predicted that defensive contribution points would shake up the template, and they really did. The 2025/26 season rewarded busy centre-backs and hard-working midfielders, and no one got close to Salah's 344 points from the year before.
Here are the top scorers by position, the best-value picks, a £100m squad in hindsight, the overall champion, and my lessons for next season.
🌟 Top Scorers by Position (2025/26)
🧤 Goalkeepers
- David Raya (ARS): 162 pts. He started at £5.5m, kept 19 clean sheets and won his third straight Golden Glove. Nobody else came close. Kelleher (BRE) was the next best, roughly 19 points behind.
🛡️ Defenders
- Gabriel Magalhães (ARS): 209 pts. He was the only defender to pass 200, finishing four points short of Andy Robertson's all-time defender record (213 in 2018/19). His 30 bonus points were the most of any defender.
- Marc Guéhi (CRY/MCI): 179 pts. He started at £4.5m and kept scoring after his January move to City.
- Marcos Senesi (BOU): 175 pts. He collected 50 DefCon points and 6 assists.
🎯 Midfielders
- Bruno Fernandes (MUN): 235 pts. He had 12 double-digit hauls, and only Haaland scored more points.
- Antoine Semenyo (BOU/MCI): one of only two midfielders to pass 200 points.
- Morgan Gibbs-White (NFO): 188 pts. He had just 64 at the halfway mark, then scored 124 from GW20 onwards.
- Elliot Anderson (NFO): 180 pts. His 52 DefCon points were the most of any player.
⚔️ Forwards
- Erling Haaland (MCI): 239 pts. He won the Golden Boot with 27 goals and averaged 7.03 points per match. He was the game's top scorer.
- Igor Thiago (BRE): started at £6.0m and scored 22 goals, with 8 penalties, the most from the spot of any player.
- Jarrod Bowen (WHU): FPL reclassified him as a forward this season. He had 12 assists going into the final day, then hauled in GW38.
💎 The Best-Value Picks
DefCon made budget defenders the story of the season:
| Player | Start Price | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Marc Guéhi | £4.5m | Best value in the game: 35.1 pts per £m |
| Adrien Truffert (BOU) | £4.5m | Second-best value, plus a 13-match run of returns |
| Marcos Senesi | £4.5m | 175 pts and the most DefCon actions of any defender |
| Elliot Anderson | £5.5m | 31.6 pts per £m, the best value of any midfielder |
| Igor Thiago | £6.0m | 22 goals from a budget forward |
Honourable mentions go to Eli Junior Kroupi (BOU, £4.5m), who had scored 13 goals by GW37, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (LEE, £5.5m), who had his second-best FPL season.
🧠 The Ultimate £100m Squad in Hindsight
Total Cost: £99.0m (at launch prices)
This is my pick of the most efficient 15-man squad you could have built in August. All prices are launch prices. I'm leaving out an exact squad total because I couldn't verify every player's final points figure.
🧤 Goalkeepers
- David Raya (ARS): £5.5m, 162 pts
- Caoimhín Kelleher (BRE): £4.5m
🛡️ Defenders
- Gabriel (ARS): £6.0m, 209 pts
- Marc Guéhi (CRY): £4.5m, 179 pts
- Marcos Senesi (BOU): £4.5m, 175 pts
- Adrien Truffert (BOU): £4.5m
- Virgil van Dijk (LIV): £6.0m
🎯 Midfielders
- Bruno Fernandes (MUN): £9.0m, 235 pts
- Morgan Gibbs-White (NFO): £7.5m, 188 pts
- Elliot Anderson (NFO): £5.5m, 180 pts
- Antoine Semenyo (BOU): £7.0m, 200+ pts
- Declan Rice (ARS): £6.5m, the fourth-highest-scoring midfielder
⚔️ Forwards
- Erling Haaland (MCI): £14.0m, 239 pts
- Jarrod Bowen (WHU): £8.0m
- Igor Thiago (BRE): £6.0m
One premium forward, one premium-ish midfielder, and a budget-heavy, DefCon-heavy defence. Fitting Haaland into a £99m squad without Salah tells you everything about this season.
🥇 The Overall Champion
The 2025/26 FPL champion is Erik Ibsen from Denmark, and remarkably it was his first ever season of Fantasy. He was ranked No. 1 from Gameweek 29 onwards, captained Bruno Fernandes on the final day, and won by 38 points. He's the first Dane to win the game. As someone who has played for years, I find that both inspiring and slightly insulting.
🧾 Lessons Learned
- DefCon is real. Anderson, Senesi, Guéhi and Truffert won people mini-leagues. Next season I'm checking defensive action numbers before clean sheet odds.
- Premium doesn't mean safe. At a record £14.5m, Salah was nowhere near the previous season's heights. Saka (£10.0m) had made only 25 starts by the final week. Fernandes at £9.0m did far more than both.
- Use both sets of chips properly. Chips that expire at GW19 punish hoarders. Plan both halves from day one.
- Back the best defence. Raya and Gabriel together were the season's most reliable pairing. My Arsenal bias was justified for once.
- Watch the January window. Guéhi and Semenyo both moved to City mid-season, so mid-season transfers can change a player's outlook overnight.
🔮 Looking Ahead
With 2026/27 prices coming soon, I'll be watching which defenders get a DefCon price bump. A rookie just proved you don't need a decade of experience to win this game. You need value, timing, and a bit of nerve.
Value still wins championships.