Erik Ibsen, 23, reveals five FPL tips after winning last season’s competition

Erik Ibsen, a 23-year-old Danish medical student, won last season’s Fantasy Premier League and in an interview with BBC Sport published on 19 August 2026 set out five tips for the 2026-27 campaign. He finished first overall out of 11 million players despite having never played the game before.

Ibsen, an Everton supporter, told BBC Sport he planned his entire chip and transfer strategy in between summer exams and believes his newcomer status was an advantage. "1,000% being new to the game helped me win," he said. "I didn't pay for a service or listened to influencers, I used all my own reasearch and choices."

Ibsen emphasised consistency and patience as cornerstone tactics, advising managers not to overreact to a single poor week. "The biggest thing is being consistent," says Ibsen, noting he was eight millionth in the world after week one while the eventual runner-up was in the top 100. He recommended planning three to five weeks ahead by studying upcoming fixtures and warned against burning transfers to fix short-term problems.

Value across the squad guided Ibsen's drafts rather than concentrating funds on a handful of stars. "Every single draft I've made so far has been about value across the whole team," he said, and urged managers to seek cheaper enablers who allow the inclusion of premium assets. He highlighted Pascal Gross of Brighton as an example, saying: "He takes penalties, free-kicks, corners and only costs £5.5m. You need these kind of picks."

Defensive contribution points (defcon) were a deliberate focus for Ibsen because they provided steady returns. "This is something I targeted from the start last season and it paid off. There was never a terrible week. Every week was pretty much OK because I had defcon points coming in," he said, explaining how those returns smoothed out his scores.

On premium forwards, Ibsen said he kept Erling Haaland almost constantly in his side last season and plans to include him again despite the £15.5m price tag. The City striker was described by Ibsen as last season's highest-scoring player and "There's no-one else like Haaland," said Ibsen. "If you're in doubt about who to captain, you always have him. He's a really nice player to have."

Ibsen also outlined his transfer approach and view of the upcoming Premier League campaign, noting structural factors he uses when planning moves. "You can sit on five transfers one week which is incredible because it becomes like a mini-wildcard," he said, and added that he normally moved "two or three players at a time" to enable bigger rotations such as a planned Chelsea triple-up across consecutive fixtures. He described the new season as "the most difficult to predict ever" and pointed to the fact that nine clubs will start the campaign with new permanent managers, the highest number ever for the top flight's opening weekend.

On team and player targets for managers selecting squads, Ibsen advocated spreading value and cited specific options. "I'm a very big fan of the Tottenham defence," he said, adding that at around £5m per player Spurs defenders could offer strong value if they continue the same style they showed at the end of last season. He also recommended loading up on attack for Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool, saying: "With Liverpool, it hurts to say this an an Everton fan, but I'd go heavy on their attack. Andoni Iraola had such a good attacking system under Bournemouth which I think he will replicate at Liverpool. Go with their attack, but I wouldn't trust their defence."

Ibsen said he ignored friends who urged him to retire with a 100% win rate and has set a new target of finishing inside the top 25,000 this season. Supporters can join the BBC Sport League on the official Fantasy Premier League game using the code bbcfpl.