Articles on: Patch Notes

Picks changes for 2026-27

We’re updating Picks to make it easier to understand who you can select, how to qualify for rewards and what determines your payout.

Picks is getting simpler

The format of Picks isn’t changing: you’ll still select five players, choose a Captain and compete against other managers in your division. The changes are focused on removing some of the pain points managers experienced during the first version of Picks.

One clear target: beat your division average

Under the current system, your Picks Bonus depends partly on individual players in your lineup finishing in rewarded positions. This can make the connection between your overall Picks performance and your final reward difficult to follow.

We’re replacing this with a clearer target: Beat the average Picks score in your division to qualify for a reward.

Your complete Picks lineup will determine whether you qualify. Managers who score above their division average will qualify, while managers who score at or below it will not.

How far you finish above the average will matter too. Qualifying managers will receive different performance weights based on their final position in the division, with the strongest performances receiving the greatest reward weight.

This will make rewards more closely reflect your overall Picks performance. A great differential selection can still help you beat the average or finish near the top of your division, but rewards will no longer depend on individual Picks reaching separate rewarded player positions.

A larger Picks reward pool

The share of the overall tournament reward pool allocated to Picks will increase from 10% last season to 30% for 2026–27.

The way this is divided between the Picks divisions will remain the same (50% of the pool goes to Elite, 30% to Diamond and 20% to Gold). The change means each division will receive its existing share of a larger Picks reward pool.

Rewards will reflect your performance and your Picks ownership

Your Picks reward will be influenced by two things:

how well your lineup performs relative to your division;
the eligible value you hold in the five players you selected.

As before, only ownership connected to that round’s Picks lineup will count. Players elsewhere in your squad will not increase your Picks reward.

We also want rewards to reflect meaningful ownership across the lineup. Concentrating almost all of your eligible value in one player will not allow that single Pick to dominate the reward calculation. You’ll still be able to submit an unbalanced lineup, but the Picks screen will clearly show when some of a player’s value will not add further reward weight.

In simple terms: Beat your division average. Finish higher to increase your performance weight. Own what you pick to strengthen your potential reward.

Loans will be much clearer

We’re also simplifying loans - one of the biggest sources of confusion in the first version of Picks.

Currently, managers can select a player without necessarily owning enough eligible shares. That player is then treated as a loan, affecting reward eligibility and potentially applying penalties. It hasn’t always been obvious when a player is a loan or how that changes the outcome.

The new rules remove that uncertainty:

Bronze and Silver

Managers in Bronze and Silver will be able to use as many free loans as they need to complete their lineup.
Free loans will:

be clearly identified in the Picks UI;
not cause a penalty to be applied to the Picks score or Skill Rating;
allow managers to experiment with players while developing their squads.

A free loan can contribute to your Picks score, but it is not treated as a player you own and does not add eligible ownership value to your reward calculation.

Gold, Diamond and Elite

Managers in Gold, Diamond and Elite will select Picks from the eligible players they own.
Players who would previously have been treated as loans will no longer appear as selectable loan options. If an owned player is not yet eligible, the Picks screen will explain why and show what action is needed - for example, buying more shares or renewing a contract.
This means there will be no hidden loan status and no loan penalty to calculate: a player will either be eligible to select from your squad or clearly unavailable.

The progression is simple: Use free loans to learn and experiment in Bronze and Silver. Build and compete with your own eligible squad in Gold, Diamond and Elite.

Free loans for special events

There may be occasional events where it isn’t reasonable to expect managers to build a normal eligible squad - for example, a short tournament with a limited player pool.
For these events, free loans may be enabled across all divisions. If free loans are active, this will be clearly displayed in the Picks screen and they will be unlimited and penalty-free for the event.

Clearer results after every round

Once a Picks round has settled, we want every manager to be able to understand their outcome.

The results will show the information behind your reward or non-reward, including:

your final Picks score;
your division average;
whether you qualified;
your finishing position or performance level;
the eligible value represented by your Picks;
any adjustment where value was heavily concentrated in one player.

The aim is to give you a clear answer to the question: “What did I need to do, and why did I receive this result?”

We’ll share the final performance bands, ownership calculation and worked reward examples before the updated Picks model launches.

Updated on: 14/08/2026

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