So, Adobe will be letting Premier League fantasy football fans – like myself – loose with Adobe Express and Firefly tech to create content for our teams.
I can’t help but wonder if the California-based software titan understands quite what it’s letting itself in for. My mind immediately went to that viral video of bored Barnsley fans shoving a plastic plant pot on people’s heads while chanting: “He’s got a plant pot on his head”.
Recent news revealed that Adobe is now the Premier League’s Official Creativity Partner, which will “seamlessly integrate” Adobe Express and its Firefly AI into the Premier League’s new website and app for the 2025/26 Fantasy Premier League season – enabling users to create custom badges and kits for their fantasy football teams.
But that’s not all. Fans will be able to use exclusive Premier League templates in Adobe Express as well as AI-powered tools such as Generate Video and Clip Maker to create social content.
Quite how much creative autonomy users will get remains to be seen; however, the screenshots displayed here appear to suggest a much more restrictive user experience than using Adobe Express or Adobe Firefly directly, which is to be expected.
Still, it’s hard not to be excited about all this as a fantasy football fan. I’m a bit of a gamer in my spare time, too, and there’s nothing that gamers love more than customization. But what I’m really looking forward to is how the cheeky fanbase is going to be wielding its newfound creative powers.
I mean, look no further than @theunitedstrand, who became a social media star through refusing to cut his hair until Manchester United won 5 games in a row (his barnet’s currently going strong on day 279). Or a seemingly never-ending songbook of chants such as: “He’s big, he’s red, his feet stick out the bed,” famously directed at 6' 7" legend, Peter Crouch.
And let’s not forget the thousands of traditionally ridiculous fantasy football team names, such as “MurderOnZidanesFloor”, “I'mSorryNicJackson” and “Crouch Potatoes”, which all featured last season.
I’ve no doubt the fans will take the Adobe integration and run with it, potentially helping it to blossom into something even bigger and better as the seasons progress. The more I think about it, the more I think this could benefit Adobe's AI aspirations immensely.
Despite having a limited free plan, Firefly isn’t as accessible to the masses as, say, ChatGPT and Gemini. I think a lot of that is down to the fact that Adobe is synonymous with Photoshop, which even non-photographers know as professional software.
As such, I wonder if Firefly’s link to Adobe can be a bit of a turnoff for casual users. Adobe’s partnership with the Premier League, then, is an opportunity for Adobe Express and Firefly to expand its reach to a much larger and more casual audience – and that can only be a good thing for the software’s development and Adobe's development as a brand.
Plus, if this works, who's to say we couldn't see Adobe integration rolling out to other fantasy sports? Maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself…
Right then, while I patiently wait for the fantasy football season to kick off again, I'm off to go play with Adobe Firefly, “Man with plant pot on head standing in football stadium, logo.”
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