On Friday 16th August, after 89 gruelling days without it we finally saw the return of the beloved Premier League, with sports fans worldwide glued to their sofas, remote in hand. As one of the top sporting leagues globally, the Premier League reaches 643 million homes across 212 territories, with a potential audience of 4.7 billion people. Alongside the live action, the Fantasy Premier League (FPL), which was launched in 2002, has become a global phenomenon in its own right. This season alone, FPL surpassed 11 million registrations, making it the world’s largest fantasy football game.

With such impressive engagement, there’s always room to innovate. That’s where Fantasy Football automation through Flows comes in. So, just how could adding Flows to your tech stack take your Fantasy League to the next level?

The problems and how Flows can be the solution

Fantasy Football chat is now commonplace in households, in the pubs, and even in the offices. It seems some fans can’t help but ask every football-supporter they know who they captained this week and which players from the upcoming derby should be a feature in their squad. As the societal obsession with data deepens people have become expectant that all information should only ever be a click away and this concept very much applies to the fantasy footballers as well. So, at Flows, we’ve looked into four common problems that fantasy fans face and four easy ways we can address these issues using our data-driven solutions and Fantasy Football automation.

1. Injured players featuring in your squad despite not being able to play..
2. Not knowing or remembering previous history between two teams.
3. Not having player form data at your fingertips.
4. Lack of incentive to log-in every week and make the relevant changes, especially if you are trending towards the bottom of your fantasy table.

So, let’s take a look at four ideas that can address these problems that many frustrated fantasy players will be facing. And equally, let’s see if the Premier League wants to get in touch with our Sales Team to bring these ideas to life!

How it works: 

1. Injured Players Solution – Create a Flow that receives an API feed of all injured players, including injury type and expected return date. Flows can then collate a list of Fantasy Premier League users with the injured player in their squad and trigger a push notification via the Premier League app, suggesting they replace the player in their active squad.
2. Historical Performance Between 2 Teams – Create a Flow that receives an API with historical match data. Run a Flow to query match scorers from the previous meetings between two teams. If a player has scored in a previous meeting and isn’t featured in a user’s fantasy squad, send a ‘free transfer’ suggestion via email or the Premier League app. This will save users hours of time spent scrolling through the internet for historical data – you’re welcome!
3. Player Form Data Solution – Create a Flow that receives an API containing data around goals scored, assists, clean sheets, assists etc. It’s common knowledge that Opta is the chosen data provider of the Premier League for all this data, so we know this type of API already exists. Set conditions within Flows i.e. if a player scores 3 times or more in the last 5 appearances it triggers a message to be sent to the Premier League Fantasy Football community regarding in-form players that might be worth including in their next line-up. A lovely touch that we know hard-core fantasy fans will appreciate.
4. Gamification to Drive Log-Ins – Create a gamification Flow which rewards users that log-in and regularly change their Fantasy team. Flows can record each time a user logs-in to Fantasy Football and if a user records consecutive 5 weekly log-ins or team changes Flows could trigger a reward straight to their FPL account. This reward could be in the form of additional bonus points, a free transfer, or an extra special chip (i.e. Bench Boost, Triple Captain, Free Hit, Wildcard, or a Mystery Chip). This incentive will encourage players to continue interacting with the FPL throughout the season and not lose interest after the first couple of weeks in the season.

The Impact of Fantasy Premier League Automation

Innovation is a major buzzword in the world of technology. We know firsthand at Flows how the pressure to improve in-house products year on year can build, especially when the user base is so huge and the demands seem never-ending. Flows is a platform that allows teams and companies to innovate without limitations. Our philosophy is that if the data is available we can make it do anything you want. Premier League and FPL fans are always wanting more ways to engage with football and there is an opportunity to accelerate the FPL using all the data that The Premier League has at its disposal. So, if you are reading this Premier League, firstly, please may you send us some tickets for the season? And secondly, let’s talk about product innovation and taking FPL to the next level.

Get in touch to find more about Fantasy Football Automation and how Flows can supercharge your Sportsbook operation.