FPL Gameweek 38 Review: Erik Ibsen Wins Overall on 2,582pts, Haaland Blanks, Dorgu 18pts
The final gameweek of 2025/26 delivered the lowest average of the run-in (41), a 2-1 upset at the Etihad that decided the FPL title race, and a rookie champion who took the crown in his first ever season — by captaining Bruno Fernandes over Haaland on the last day.
Gameweek 38 was a 10-fixture finale all played simultaneously at 15:00 BST. The average crashed to 41 points (top score 117) as Haaland was left out of the Man City squad, punishing the ~62% of the field who captained him and a chunk of the ~330k Triple Captains played. Patrick Dorgu (MUN, £4.1m, 2.4% sel) topped the gameweek on 18 points, with Issa Diop (FUL, £4.3m, 0.1% sel) on 15pts and Bruno Fernandes (MUN, £10.4m, 48% sel) on 14pts — saving VC managers everywhere. Manchester City lost 1-2 at home to Aston Villa, the biggest single-fixture upset of the season's end. Chip play hit season highs: ~745,000 Bench Boosts, ~330,000 Triple Captains, ~204,000 Wildcards, ~121,000 Free Hits and ~8.6M transfers. Here's the full GW38 breakdown — and the story of how a Danish rookie named Erik Ibsen lifted the 2025/26 FPL trophy.
Erik Ibsen — Denmark, Rookie Season, 2,582 Points
From a field of more than 12.99 million entries, the 2025/26 FPL title goes to Erik Ibsen of Denmark, playing under the team name “Ibsen”. His final tally of 2,582 points finished 38 clear of second-placed Ian Foster (“The Honest Trundlers”) on 2,544, with Ivan Peula (Croatia, “Team Peki”) third on 2,538. Even more remarkable: it was Ibsen's first ever season of FPL. He registered his entry for GW1 of 2025/26 and went straight to the top.
The Title-Sealing Captain Call
The decisive moment came on the final day. With Haaland the most-captained pick of the gameweek at 62.5% selection — and the title race tight enough that a single bad call could have lost the crown — Ibsen captained Bruno Fernandes instead. The Portuguese delivered 1 goal, 1 assist, a clean sheet and 3 bonus in Man Utd's 3-0 at Brighton: 14 raw points, 28 captained. Haaland didn't leave the bench.
That single decision was worth ~22 points relative to the template captain — more than enough to convert a narrow lead into an unanswerable margin. The 38-point gap to second place tells you he didn't need it; the captain call tells you he wasn't willing to risk it.
Ibsen's GW38 XI
- GK: Verbruggen (BHA) — 2pts (0-3 home loss to MUN)
- DEF: Pedro Porro (TOT, 10pts), Senesi (BOU, 2pts), Gabriel (ARS, 1pt)
- MID: Bruno Fernandes (MUN, 14pts — CAPTAIN, 28pts), Tavernier (BOU, 10pts), Semenyo (MCI, 6pts), Hinshelwood (BHA, 2pts)
- FWD: Bowen (WHU, 12pts — VC), João Pedro (CHE, 1pt), Thiago (BRE, 2pts)
- Bench: Darlow, Van Hecke, Lacroix, Saka (0 mins, didn't score)
2 free transfers used, 0-point hit. No active chip on the final day. The picks were a textbook example of end-of-season process: spread risk across in-form attackers (Bruno, Bowen, Watkins-like alternatives), avoid the most-captained trap, and stay calm when the template panics.
How He Built the Season
Ibsen used all eight chips in the “new chip system” format. Highlights of his chip calendar:
- Wildcard 1: GW2 (early reset)
- Triple Captain 1: GW6
- Bench Boost 1: GW10
- Free Hit 1: GW13
- Wildcard 2: GW32 (run-in reset)
- Bench Boost 2: GW33 (DGW round) — best gameweek of his season at 112pts
- Free Hit 2: GW34 (Blank Gameweek)
- Triple Captain 2: GW36 (Man City DGW)
Every chip landed on a clear strategic moment — early Wildcard to fix shape, BB into a DGW, FH into a BGW, TC onto a premium with a double. None of the picks looked exotic from the outside; the discipline was in the timing.
For 12.99M managers chasing the same crown next season, the lesson is unfashionable but consistent: process beats picks. Ibsen had no chip moonshots, no off-grid punts on his GW38 XI and no unique players in his front six. He had a clean run, a calm head, and the willingness to fade Haaland on the day everyone else didn't.
GW38 Snapshot — All 10 Fixtures (15:00 BST simultaneous kick-off)
- Manchester City 1-2 Aston Villa: Watkins 13pts (2G, 3 bonus), Haaland 0 mins (omitted), Foden 2pts. The biggest result of the day — Villa snatch a Champions League place and end City's title bid in the worst possible way for the millions captaining Haaland.
- Brighton 0-3 Man Utd: Dorgu 18pts (1G, 1A, CS, 3 bonus), B. Fernandes 14pts (1G, 1A, CS, 3 bonus), Mbeumo 9pts (1G, CS), Amad 7pts (1A, CS), Lammens 6pts (CS). United's back-line and Bruno cleaned up — the highest team total of the gameweek.
- Fulham 2-0 Newcastle: Diop 15pts (1G, CS, 3 bonus), Castagne 8pts (CS, 2 bonus), Leno 6pts (CS). The 0.1%-owned Diop the second-top scorer of the GW. Newcastle blanked out of European qualification.
- Tottenham 1-0 Everton: Palhinha 12pts (1G, CS, 3 bonus), Pedro Porro 10pts (CS, 2 bonus), Danso 8pts (CS), Udogie 7pts (CS), Kinsky 5pts (CS). Spurs' cheap defensive stack delivered.
- West Ham 3-0 Leeds: Bowen 12pts (1G, 1A, CS, 3 bonus), M. Fernandes 9pts, Mavropanos 8pts (CS), Taty 8pts (1G, CS), Hermansen 7pts (CS). Bowen rewards the 666k+ who transferred him in (most-transferred-in of GW38).
- Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal: Madueke 11pts (1G, CS-equivalent, 3 bonus), Martinelli 7pts (1A, 2 bonus), G. Jesus 5pts (1G), Mateta 6pts (1G in 13 mins). Saka 0 mins — managers who held him through GW37 finally got burned.
- Sunderland 2-1 Chelsea: Hume 8pts (1G), Palmer 8pts (1G, 2 bonus) for Chelsea. Sunderland end their season with a home win; Chelsea blank-template owners punished.
- Liverpool 1-1 Brentford: C. Jones 10pts (1G, 3 bonus), Kelleher 6pts (2 bonus from saves), Schade 7pts (1G for BRE). Salah 6pts (1A in 73 min), Virgil 2pts — the Liverpool template officially over.
- Nottingham Forest 1-1 Bournemouth: Tavernier 10pts (1G, 3 bonus), Gibbs-White 9pts (1G, 2 bonus). Two even sides cancel out.
- Burnley 1-1 Wolves: Flemming 9pts (1G, 3 bonus), Armstrong 7pts (1G). Two of the lowest team averages of the season produce a flat draw.
The Final-Day Haaland Captaincy Disaster
With Manchester City's title hopes still mathematically alive heading into GW38 — and Haaland the most-owned forward in FPL history — the captain pick looked obvious. 62.5% of the field captained him. Around 330,000 managers triple-captained him. Pep didn't pick him. Haaland sat on the bench for the entire 90 minutes as Villa won 2-1 at the Etihad and ended City's season.
The numbers: Haaland captains 0 points. Haaland triple-captains 0 points. Vice-captains saved the templated managers — Bruno Fernandes (48% VC, 14pts → 28 captained) was the difference between a green-arrow GW38 and a top-1% disaster. Without the Bruno VC, the template manager's gameweek was unrecoverable.
For managers who saved their Triple Captain for GW38 betting on a Haaland send-off, this was the worst possible script. The lesson — repeated across the GW34 BGW, the GW36 DGW rotation, the GW37 Bournemouth draw and now the GW38 omission — is that rotation risk on a premium captain became the dominant FPL variable of the 2025/26 season run-in.
Top Performers by Position
Defenders and clean-sheet midfielders dominated the leaderboard, with two £4.x m defenders at sub-3% ownership topping the gameweek — and not a single premium forward in the top 10.
Goalkeeper: Hermansen (7pts), Kelleher & Leno & Sá & Lammens (6pts) ⭐
Łukasz Hermansen (WHU, 7pts) was the top keeper — a clean sheet at home to Leeds in the 3-0 win. Caoimhín Kelleher (BRE, 6pts), Bernd Leno (FUL, 6pts), José Sá (WOL, 6pts) and Senne Lammens (MUN, 6pts) all returned 6 points. The takeaway: every single sub-£5m keeper on the final day delivered better than the £6m+ template options.
Defender: Dorgu (18pts), Diop (15pts), Porro (10pts) ⭐⭐⭐
Patrick Dorgu (MUN, £4.1m, 2.4% sel) topped the gameweek with 18 points — 1G, 1A, CS, 3 bonus in 61 minutes at Brighton. Issa Diop (FUL, £4.3m, 0.1% sel) added 15pts (1G, CS, 3 bonus) in the win over Newcastle. Pedro Porro (TOT, 10pts) was the best mid-priced defender; Castagne (FUL, 8pts), Hume (SUN, 8pts), Danso (TOT, 8pts), Mavropanos (WHU, 8pts) all returned at sub-£5m. The cheap defender market closed the season the way it ran it: pure points-per-million.
Midfielder: B. Fernandes (14pts), Palhinha (12pts), Madueke (11pts), Tavernier & C. Jones (10pts) ⭐⭐
Bruno Fernandes (MUN, 14pts at 48% sel) was the headline VC save of the day. João Palhinha (TOT, 12pts, £5.5m, 0.9% sel) was the cheap differential midfielder of the gameweek with 1G + CS + 3 bonus. Noni Madueke (ARS, 11pts) for the Gunners, Marcus Tavernier (BOU, 10pts), Curtis Jones (LIV, 10pts) and Mbeumo (MUN, 9pts) all delivered. Premium midfielders Salah (6pts) and Saka (0 mins) blanked.
Forward: Watkins (13pts), Bowen (12pts), Flemming (9pts) ⭐⭐
Ollie Watkins (AVL, 13pts, £8.7m, 13.0% sel) capped a brilliant final-month run with 2 goals in the upset at the Etihad — back-to-back double-figure hauls (15 + 13 in GW37/38). Jarrod Bowen (WHU, 12pts, £7.8m, 17.5% sel) rewarded the most-transferred-in punt of the gameweek with 1G, 1A, CS, 3 bonus. Zian Flemming (BUR, 9pts) and Taty Castellanos (WHU, 8pts) added cheap returns. Haaland 0 mins, Isak 0 mins, Gyökeres 7 mins for 1pt. The premium-forward graveyard.
Team Performance Analysis
Best Performing Teams
West Ham (6.00 avg) ⭐ — 3-0 vs LEE
The best team average of GW38. Bowen (12pts), M. Fernandes (9pts), Mavropanos (8pts), Taty (8pts), Hermansen (7pts) and a clean sheet across the back. The Hammers' one-off final-day explosion was a brutal joke for any manager who'd faded WHU all season.
Manchester United (5.63 avg) — 3-0 at BHA
Total team performance: Dorgu (18), B. Fernandes (14), Mbeumo (9), Amad (7), Lammens (6) and bonus shared across the XI. United's 90-pt team total was the highest of the gameweek and the highest single-fixture team return of the run-in. For Bruno owners and managers stacking United at £4-5m defender level, GW38 was a green arrow.
Fulham (4.44 avg) & Tottenham (4.44 avg) — 2-0 vs NEW / 1-0 vs EVE
Two cheap defensive stacks pay off in a low-scoring final day. Fulham's Diop (15pts), Castagne (8pts) and Leno (6pts) at sub-£5m, plus Tottenham's Palhinha (12pts), Porro (10pts), Danso (8pts), Udogie (7pts) and Kinsky (5pts). The points-per-million play of the gameweek.
Aston Villa (3.25 avg) — 2-1 at MCI
Not the highest team total of the day, but the most consequential. Watkins (13pts) and Pau Torres (5pts as a defender) drove the team total; the bigger value was the result itself, sealing Champions League qualification and ruining ~62% of FPL captains.
Teams to Avoid (in retrospect)
Brighton (1.19 avg) & Newcastle (1.50 avg) ⚠️
The two lowest team averages of GW38. Brighton conceded three at home to United with Verbruggen (2pts) the only real return. Newcastle lost 2-0 at Fulham — Pope (1pt), Trippier (1pt) and Isak (didn't start) all blanked. Two end-of-season collapses that hit a lot of templated mid-tables.
Leeds (1.56 avg) & Chelsea (1.67 avg)
Leeds shipped three at the London Stadium with no returners. Chelsea lost 2-1 at Sunderland — only Palmer (8pts) saved the day, with João Pedro (1pt) and Cole Palmer's teammates all flat. Chelsea-stack managers, in particular, leaked rank on the final day.
Manchester City (2.00 avg) & Liverpool (2.31 avg)
The two giants of the season closed it out with a whimper. City lost 2-1 at home to Villa with Haaland on the bench (Foden 2pts, Doku 4pts, O'Reilly 1pt). Liverpool drew 1-1 with Brentford — Salah (6pts) and Virgil (2pts) the only meaningful template returns. Two season-defining templates blanked when it mattered.
Key FPL Statistics — GW38 & Season Summary
The final week of 2025/26 hit nearly every chip-usage peak of the season:
- Average score: 41 pts (down from 53 in GW37 — lowest of the run-in)
- Highest score: 117 pts (entry 1,457,502)
- Top element: Dorgu (MUN, 18pts, £4.1m, 2.4% sel)
- Most captained: Haaland — 0 pts (0 minutes, omitted from squad)
- Most vice-captained: B. Fernandes — 14 pts (1G, 1A, CS, 3 bonus)
- Most transferred in: Bowen (WHU) — rewarded with 12 pts
- Bench Boosts: ~745,000 (season-high)
- Triple Captains: ~330,300 (second-highest of the season after GW36)
- Wildcards: ~204,200
- Free Hits: ~120,900
- Total transfers: ~8.6M
- Total ranked entries: 12,991,567
- Best team avg: West Ham 6.00, Man Utd 5.63, Fulham 4.44, Tottenham 4.44
- Worst team avg: Brighton 1.19, Newcastle 1.50, Leeds 1.56, Chelsea 1.67
Tactical Takeaways from the 2025/26 Season
1. The Most-Captained Pick Is Not Always the Right Captain
Haaland was the most-captained player in every gameweek of the run-in from GW33 onward. Across GW34 (BGW blank), GW35 (single-digit), GW37 (9pts at Bournemouth) and GW38 (0 minutes), template Haaland captains lost ground in four of five rounds. Erik Ibsen's title-sealing decision in GW38 was to read the room and fade.
2. Cheap Defenders Carried the Season
Three of the top-five GW38 scorers were £4.x m defenders at sub-3% ownership (Dorgu 18, Diop 15, multiple 8pt CS hauls). Across the run-in, De Cuyper (GW36), Robinson (GW37), Morato (GW37), Dorgu (GW38) and Diop (GW38) all produced 12+ point hauls. Use our player stats & form leaders to track the next set.
3. Chip Timing Matters More Than Chip Selection
Erik Ibsen used the same eight chips as every other manager — but landed them in clear moments (WC1 GW2, FH1 BGW13, BB into a DGW, TC2 into the City DGW). The chip system is no longer about “clever” chips; it's about disciplined timing. Use our fixture planner for next season's windows.
4. The Premium Forward Market Is Broken
On the final day, the three most-popular premium forwards (Haaland, Isak, Gyökeres) played a combined 7 minutes for 1 point. Salah and Saka both blanked. The 2026/27 season starts with a hard question: is a single-premium build still the right template, or is the points-per-million game now the dominant strategy?
Looking Ahead: 2026/27 Pre-Season
With 2025/26 in the books, attention turns to the new season. A few early planning notes:
What to Watch in Pre-Season
Price changes, new signings, manager changes (especially at City, Liverpool and Arsenal after a season-defining run-in), promoted-club squad-builds, and the FPL chip system tweaks. New transfers and new managers reshape the template before GW1 even begins.
First-Season FPL Managers
Erik Ibsen's win shows the bar is reachable. A first-year manager just took the trophy on a 2,582-point season with no exotic chips and a textbook XI. Use our captain picks tool, mini-league simulator and terminology guide to get up to speed before GW1 26/27.
Season Over — Thanks for Playing
Gameweek 38 closed the 2025/26 FPL season with a final-day Etihad upset, the lowest average of the run-in, and a rookie champion from Denmark named Erik Ibsen. FPL Pulse tracked every gameweek with live tools, fixture grading, captain comparisons and the Monte Carlo mini-league simulator — and we'll be back for 2026/27.
Congratulations to Erik on the 2,582-point title — and to every manager who finished the season with their sanity intact. Until GW1 26/27.
FAQs
- Who won FPL Overall in 2025/26?
- Erik Ibsen from Denmark, playing under the team name “Ibsen”, won FPL Overall in 2025/26 with 2,582 points — finishing 38 points clear of second-placed Ian Foster (“The Honest Trundlers”) on 2,544. Remarkably, it was Ibsen's rookie season — he registered his first FPL entry for GW1 of 2025/26 and went straight to the top of more than 12.99 million entries. His best gameweek was GW33 (112 pts) and his worst was GW11 (34 pts). The decisive move in GW38: captaining Bruno Fernandes over the template Haaland, banking 28 points while Haaland captains blanked.
- Who was the top FPL scorer in Gameweek 38?
- Patrick Dorgu (Manchester United, £4.1m, 2.4% sel) was the top element of GW38 with 18 points — a goal, an assist, a clean sheet and 3 bonus from 61 minutes in United's 3-0 win at Brighton. Issa Diop (Fulham, £4.3m, 0.1% sel) was second on 15 pts, with Bruno Fernandes (MUN, 14pts) third. Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa, 13pts) scored twice in the 2-1 upset at the Etihad. Two £4.x m defenders at sub-3% ownership topping the final-day leaderboard was peak end-of-season FPL chaos.
- Was Haaland a good captain pick in GW38?
- No. Haaland was the most-captained player again at 62.5% ownership but played 0 minutes — left out of the Man City squad for the home defeat to Aston Villa. Roughly 330,000 managers played their Triple Captain in GW38, the vast majority on Haaland, and most banked zero. Bruno Fernandes was the most-popular vice-captain at 48% and delivered 14 points (1G, 1A, CS, 3 bonus) in United's 3-0 at Brighton — a massive VC save for anyone who didn't triple-captain. Watkins captains (26pts) and Bruno captains (28pts) won the gameweek; Haaland captains lost it.
- What was the average score in FPL Gameweek 38?
- The GW38 average was 41 points — the lowest of the season's run-in — with a top score of 117 (entry 1457502). The low average is explained mainly by Haaland's 0-minute blank punishing two-thirds of the field, plus Liverpool, Newcastle, Brighton, Chelsea and Leeds all under-returning. Season-high chip use: ~745,000 Bench Boosts, ~330,000 Triple Captains, ~204,000 Wildcards and ~121,000 Free Hits — and ~8.6M transfers as managers cleared accounts before the final whistle.