If your captain and vice captain don’t play in most fantasy games, you simply lose the captaincy bonus for that round – nobody else gets double (or triple) points.

What the rule usually is

Across popular fantasy formats (like FPL, Fantasy EFL, NRL Fantasy and similar):

  • If your captain doesn’t play , the captaincy normally moves to your vice captain, who then scores the bonus.
  • If both captain and vice captain don’t play , you get no double‑points player at all for that gameweek/round.
  • Any auto‑substitutions (bench players coming on) will still score, but their points are not doubled , even if they replace your captain or vice.

In forum and social discussions, people sum it up bluntly as:

“You lose the double points. No captain bonus for you this week.”

Example to make it clear

Imagine a football fantasy team:

  • Captain: Player A – doesn’t play
  • Vice captain: Player B – also doesn’t play
  • Bench: Player C comes on as auto‑sub and scores 8 points

What happens:

  • Player C’s 8 points are added to your total as normal.
  • You still get 8 , not 16 – no one is treated as captain, so there’s no doubled score.

Mini tips to avoid this

  • Always set a reliable vice captain who plays for a different team or on a different day where possible.
  • Before each deadline, quickly check that both your captain and vice captain are likely to start (fit, not suspended, etc.).
  • If your game has rolling deadlines or late swaps, keep an eye on late injury news so you can switch captain if needed; otherwise, once the round locks, you’re stuck.

Forum / “latest news” angle

This topic pops up regularly on fantasy forums and social groups, usually when:

  • A popular star is unexpectedly benched or injured last minute.
  • Managers realise both their captain and vice blanked and they’ve “wasted” the gameweek’s captain bonus.

You’ll often see comments like “You’re cooked, nobody gets the armband” or “No double points this week, lesson learned for next time.”

TL;DR: In nearly all fantasy formats, if both your captain and vice captain don’t play, no one gets double points and you just score normal points from whoever does play.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.