Chelsea tell staff to be cautious over Fantasy Premier League use
Chelsea have warned staff to be careful about using the Fantasy Premier League after Joao Pedro's injury appeared to have been revealed through team selections following the club's 2-0 home defeat by Tottenham, the club said on 9 November 2026. An internal email reminded staff of the potential consequences of using inside information on public gaming platforms where team choices could expose which players are unavailable or close to returning.
Joao Pedro has not played for Chelsea since a win against Everton last month and was a surprise absentee for the Tottenham game because of what has since been revealed as a quad injury. The email to staff followed claims that the injury had been disclosed via changes to Fantasy Premier League teams rather than through a club announcement. Chelsea regard the incident as isolated and sent the reminder to reduce the risk of similar disclosures.
Several prominent Fantasy Premier League content creators said they had seen evidence that forward Morgan Rogers and several members of Chelsea staff removed Pedro from their Fantasy teams before kick-off at Stamford Bridge, despite there being no official club statement about his availability. Those reports prompted BBC Sport to ask head coach Xabi Alonso about the matter after the defeat.
Asked about the situation by BBC Sport, Xabi Alonso said he was unaware of it and added: "I am not into the fantasy team thing, so I didn't know that." Since joining Chelsea in the summer, Alonso, 44, has generally been guarded when discussing injury issues in media conferences.
Chelsea have experienced other leak problems in recent seasons, including team selections being revealed before both legs of the club's Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain during Liam Rosenior's four-month spell in charge. It also later emerged that former defender Marc Cucurella's barber had posted on social media that Pedro and Cole Palmer would miss a trip to Brighton after discussing the matter with his client.
The issue is not unique to Chelsea: there have been numerous examples claiming that changes to Fantasy teams revealed information about players from clubs including Arsenal, Liverpool, Leicester and Newcastle, and BBC Sport has identified accounts believed by Fantasy Premier League trackers to be linked to high-profile players and figures at clubs across the division. The most high-profile instance cited was the revelation of then-Aston Villa forward Jack Grealish's omission from the squad before a match against Leicester City in February 2021, and then-Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers later said he had been aware of rumours surrounding Grealish's injury absence before the match, which his side won.
More than 11 million people are said to play Fantasy Premier League. Although there are strict rules prohibiting gambling, the Premier League offers no specific guidance to clubs on how, or whether, those involved in the game should participate, leaving the matter to individual clubs to manage.
Chelsea expect no further restrictions to be imposed and believe the situation can be handled through greater awareness among players and staff rather than additional measures.