How PL Pairs works

Rule 01

Entering the game

PL Pairs is invite-only. There is no public account, registration form or self-service entry flow.

• Ask to join through the Portal’s WhatsApp action; Nick decides whether a league place and private entry form are available.
• Preseason registration must arrive while the PRE window is open and before its configured deadline.
• Every registration is checked and applied manually by the Game Lord.

Rule 02

Building your squad

A complete squad contains eight Club + Player pairings. Half a tactical masterplan is still just half a submission.

• Choose two pairings from Tier 1, two from Tier 2, two from Tier 3 and two from Tier 4.
• The selected player must belong to the paired club when the submission is validated.
• Every registration or transfer-window submission replaces the complete eight-pair squad for that window.

Rule 03

Club tiers

The 20 Premier League clubs are configured across four tiers, with five clubs in each tier.

• Tier placement controls squad construction and the opponent-strength multiplier.
• Each squad always contains exactly two pairings from every tier.
• The Portal shows the tier attached to each published pairing; it does not recalculate tiers.

Rule 04

Club and player usage

The good options are deliberately finite. Use them now, or save them for the version of you who definitely has a plan.

• A club can appear at most twice across all approved windows in the season.
• Carrying a club into a later window consumes another use.
• Selecting the same club twice in one squad consumes both permitted uses.
• A player may appear in only one approved window for that manager and cannot be carried into the next window.
• Usage limits apply per manager. Different managers may select the same player or club.

Rule 05

Real-world player transfers

Player and club membership is checked against the authoritative player list when a submission is validated.

• A later real-world transfer does not rewrite an already approved historical squad snapshot.
• The player remains identified by the same stable player record for scoring and history.
• Any exceptional correction is a Game Lord decision; the Portal only displays the resulting published record.

This describes current backend behaviour. A separate automatic mid-window replacement rule has not been introduced.

Rule 06

Club scoring

Each completed Premier League fixture produces the Club half of a pairing score.

• Win: 6 points. Draw: 3 points. Loss: 0 points.
• Each goal scored: 2 points.
• Clean sheet: 2 points.
• In a Double Gameweek, the club’s adjusted fixture scores are added together.
• A club with no fixture in a completed Gameweek receives a zero Club Score.

Rule 07

Player scoring

The Player half uses the official FPL points for that specific Gameweek.

• The authoritative value is the player’s official FPL event-live total_points for the requested Gameweek.
• Aggregate season totals are never substituted for missing weekly data.
• A Blank or Double Gameweek uses the single official Gameweek value returned by FPL.

Rule 08

Tier multipliers

The whole Club base score is multiplied when the result comes against a higher-tier opponent.

• Same-tier or lower-tier opponent: 1.00×.
• Opponent one tier above: 1.10×.
• Opponent two tiers above: 1.25×.
• Opponent three tiers above: 1.50×.

Rule 09

Pair scores and rounding

Club output carries most of the weight; the FPL player adds the boost.

• Pair Score = (Adjusted Club Score × 0.55) + (FPL Player Points × 0.45).
• The Club component and Player component are each rounded to one decimal place.
• The final Pair Score is rounded to one decimal place.
• A manager’s Gameweek score is the total of all eight published Pair Scores.

Rule 10

Weekly head-to-heads

Your weekly total is compared with one randomly drawn opponent.

• Higher total wins the fixture; equal totals produce a draw.
• A win earns 3 league points, a draw earns 1 and a loss earns 0.
• Every active manager receives one fixture in each of the 38 Gameweeks.
• Repeat opponents can occur; luck of the draw is part of the competition.
• The draw blocks immediate consecutive rematches.

Rule 11

Transfer windows

Changes are allowed only at the configured submission points.

• The planned windows are preseason, first international break, start of December, post-January window, March and one final configured window.
• The Game Lord controls when each window opens, its deadline and the Gameweek from which the squad takes effect.
• You may resubmit while a window is open. Only the latest valid submission for that manager and window is applied.
• Earlier Gameweek-effective squads remain immutable history.

Rule 12

Results and publication

The Portal is the presentation layer, not the scorekeeper.

• Official football data, Club Scores, Player Scores and Pair Scores are validated in the private backend.
• The Game Lord processes and locks the Gameweek manually before an in-season public data release.
• Only the backend’s validated, privacy-safe publication is shown here.
• There is no fixed publication clock; results appear after the required official data and checks are complete.

Rule 13

Awards

Awards add the glory, shame and receipts once the backend has something official to publish.

• The Portal displays only award records explicitly included in the public backend contract.
• Production award categories and criteria are not yet a separate codified scoring rule.
• No award is inferred or calculated in the Portal.

Rule 14

Game Lord decisions and corrections

The Game Lord runs the competition and keeps the official record coherent.

• Processed Gameweeks may be corrected through standard reprocessing until they are locked.
• A locked Gameweek cannot be reprocessed through the normal scoring workflow.
• Registration corrections and exceptional administrative fixes are handled manually.
• If an official correction changes the public record, the Portal reflects it only after a new validated publication.