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When do most managers play their wildcard?

2 min readwildcardchip usagecrowd data2026/27

So far, Gameweek 4. 760,682 managers played their Wildcard in Gameweek 4 of 2026/27, the most of any gameweek. But most managers haven't played theirs yet. 2,217,287 first-half Wildcards were played in Gameweeks 2–5. That's about one in five of the game's 10,951,388 managers.

Every chip, every gameweek so far

Gameweek Wildcard Free Hit Bench Boost Triple Captain
1 — — 814,606 250,816
2 279,227 78,863 338,660 233,946
3 709,478 421,239 144,735 1,787,071
4 760,682 328,740 170,070 323,226
5 467,900 295,196 135,186 226,208
6 (so far) 198,822 41,611 43,906 33,070

The Gameweek 6 row is the count as at 22 September, with the deadline still 18 days away on 10 October.

The biggest single chip count of the season is Gameweek 3's Triple Captain: 1,787,071. That's more than double any other chip in any gameweek. Bench Boost peaked on the opening weekend, 814,606 in Gameweek 1, and hasn't reached half that since.

What Gameweek 6 is set up for

Gameweek 6 comes after the September and October international breaks merged into one, 19 days without Premier League football. The first-half Wildcard can be played up to Gameweek 19, so nearly four in five managers still have one to use.

198,822 managers had already locked in a Gameweek 6 Wildcard by 22 September. That's more than two-fifths of Gameweek 5's total, with 18 days still to go. If the pace holds, Gameweek 6 will pass Gameweek 4's 760,682. That's a projection from one reading, not a certainty.

Reading your own timing against this

Playing with the crowd isn't a mistake in itself. A Wildcard in Gameweek 6 gives you the whole break to plan it. But if most of your mini-league wildcards in the same week, the chip gains you less against them. A Wildcard in a quieter week is where it can separate you.

The chip counts come from FPL's own game data, which publishes them for every gameweek.

One of ten FPL questions we answered with our own data.