How Many FPL Managers Quit by Mid-Season?

Based on 16,000 FPL managers' actvity from Gameweek 1 to Gameweek 21.

Fantasy Premier League starts with optimism every season. But a large fraction of managers quietly disappear long before the season is over.

In this short analysis, we answer two simple questions:

1. How many managers have already quit by mid-season?
2. Which fan groups quit more?

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Summary

• 39% of FPL managers in this sample have quit by GW19.
• Managers without a favourite club quit the most.
• Fans of smaller clubs quit the least.
• The next step is understanding why managers actually stop playing.

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Dataset and Definitions

We sampled 16,000 FPL managers, split evenly across these groups:

• Arsenal (2,000)
• Chelsea (2,000)
• Liverpool (2,000)
• Man City (2,000)
• Man United (2,000)
• Spurs (2,000)
• Other clubs (2,000)
• No favourite club selected (2,000)

We track activity from GW1 to GW19.

What counts as “quitting”?

A manager is considered inactive (quit) if they have:

3 consecutive gameweeks with no team changes

This means:

• No transfers
• No chip usage
• No captain change
• No starting XI change

The abandonment gameweek is defined as the first GW of that 3-GW inactive streak.

Managers who are still active by GW19 are treated as still active (not quit yet).

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1. How many managers quit by mid-season?

39% of all managers in the sample have already quit by GW19.

The shape of the curve shows:

• A large drop very early in the season (many people never really get started)
• A steady bleed throughout the season
• A small bump near GW19 caused by the 3-GW inactivity definition (a right-edge effect)

The main takeaway is simple:

Nearly 4 in 10 FPL managers are gone before the season even reaches its halfway point.

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2. Which fan groups quit more?

Quit rate by GW19:

• No favourite club: 45.1%
• Chelsea: 41.8%
• Liverpool: 40.9%
• Spurs: 37.8%
• Man United: 37.4%
• Man City: 36.2%
• Arsenal: 35.7%
• Other clubs: 34.3%

Two patterns stand out:

Managers without a favourite club are much more likely to quit.

Fans of smaller clubs are the least likely to quit by mid-season.

This suggests that having an emotional attachment to a club - especially a non-elite one - is associated with higher persistence in FPL.

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Important Caveats

• “Favourite club” is taken from what managers selected in FPL. This is a proxy for fandom, not a perfect measure.
• This is a mid-season snapshot. Many managers who are still active may quit later.

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What this does not answer

So far, we have only answered:

Who quits more?

We have not yet answered:

How do people quit?
Or what actually triggers someone to stop playing?