The Best FPL Side Competitions for Your Mini-League

Updated for 2026/27

Most mini-leagues start well. Twenty managers, a busy group chat and everyone convinced this is their year. The problem usually arrives around November, when the table settles and half the league can see they're not winning it. The overall standings only really work for the three or four people at the top.

The fix is giving everyone something else to play for. Here are the side competitions we've seen work best, and roughly which leagues they suit.

Manager of the Month

The simplest one. Points reset each calendar month and the best score takes the title, whatever is happening in the overall table. It gives mid-table managers a genuine reason to keep setting their team, because a good month is always within reach.

A knockout cup

A straight elimination bracket running alongside the league. Win your tie and move on; lose and you're out. One bad gameweek matters in a way the league table never quite manages, and the later rounds tend to take over the group chat entirely.

Survivor formats

The lowest scorer each gameweek (or each month, if you want it gentler) is eliminated, and the last manager standing wins. There's no hiding in mid-table with this one. It works particularly well in bigger leagues, where the bottom half would otherwise switch off early.

The Chase

Set a target score each week. Beat it and you survive; miss it and you're out. Because you're playing the target rather than each other, it stays interesting whatever the standings look like, and it suits smaller leagues where elimination formats run out of people too quickly.

Head-to-head

A fixture list where you face a different manager each gameweek, with wins and losses building their own table. It creates the kind of one-on-one rivalries the classic format doesn't, and an average team on a good run can still top it.

Divisions with promotion and relegation

The big one for larger leagues. Split the table into divisions, with the top of each going up at the end of the season and the bottom going down. It gives managers something to play for right through the table, not just at the top, and it's something the official game doesn't do at all.

Chip challenges

Side prizes for the best (and worst) use of chips across the season. Best Bench Boost, most points from a Triple Captain, that sort of thing. Low effort to run and it rewards the decisions people already argue about.