1. Draft Your Squad
Pick a formation, then draft a Team Captain from a special pack with better odds — they're auto-placed in their best position (or sent to reserves if nothing fits). Then fill the rest of your XI and your 7-man bench from normal packs (3 choices each, 3 rerolls total). Two of those bench spots are Reserves — see below.
2. Salary Cap Mode (Optional)
Toggle this on from the main menu before you start. Instead of random packs, you get $225M to spend and every regular slot offers 5 priced choices spanning cheap to expensive, so you can splash out on a superstar or build a balanced squad of solid values. The Captain still offers 3 choices like anywhere else. No regular rerolls in this mode, but you get 2 Position Re-spins for the whole draft — a scarce way to get a genuinely fresh set of candidates if none of your options are working out. You can also freely swap out any already-drafted player later (refunding their cost) by tapping their card — except the Captain, who's locked in for good once chosen. Auto-complete respects your remaining budget too.
3. Impossible XI Mode (Optional)
A real constraint, not just flavor text: toggle this on and every pack — including the Captain pack and Auto-complete — is limited to Common and Uncommon players only, no Rares, Epics, Legendaries, or Icons allowed. Winning the whole tournament this way unlocks its own achievement.
4. Challenge Mode (Optional)
Play Daily or Weekly Challenge from the main menu. Everyone gets the same fixed formation, the same packs, and the same opponents in the same order — no rerolls, pure skill and choices. Every pack always includes at least one option sharing a hidden thread for that day — could be a nationality, a league, or a specific season, varying each time — following it consistently guarantees a squad capable of both full chemistry and winning it all. It's one attempt only: leaving mid-run saves your progress to resume later, and once you finish, coming back shows your squad and result instead of letting you replay.
5. Choose Your Manager
Once your squad is complete, pick one of 3 real UCL-winning managers offered to you — choose carefully, this is locked in for the whole tournament and can't be changed afterward. Each one does two things: starters who share their club, nationality, or year get an automatic full chemistry boost, and their real tactical identity — Possession, Gegenpressing, Park the Bus, and more — permanently sets how your team plays in every match: how much you attack, how much you defend, and how the opponent responds. Tap the eye icon on any manager card to preview exactly who benefits, right on the pitch, before you pick.
6. Chemistry & Links
Lines connect neighboring positions from the start. A player only builds chemistry with teammates they're actually linked to:
Hyperlink — same club & nation
Yellow — club, nation, league, or season
Red — no shared bond
Grey — empty or out of position
White Icons (the 10 best players ever, one version each) always form a full green bond with whoever's next to them.
7. Team Styles
100 Chem unlocks Tiki-Taka (dominant possession). Under 50 Chem risks Miscommunications — costly defensive errors.
8. The Tournament
Group stage is now a double round-robin — 6 matches, draws allowed. Knockout rounds are two-legged ties: aggregate score decides it, with the classic away-goals rule breaking ties before extra time and penalties — a live tracker shows exactly where the tie stands during Leg 2. The Final is the one exception — a single match at a neutral venue, no legs, no away goals, straight to extra time and penalties if it's level after 90.
9. Away Days
Some of your group matches and every Leg 2 of a knockout tie are played away — on those days there's a 30% chance the crowd turns hostile, bringing a small strength penalty. The rest of the time it's just a normal away fixture.
10. Penalties
Every so often in open play you'll win a penalty — pick your spot on an interactive shootout-style grid and see if it beats the keeper. Extra time still tied? It goes to a full penalty shootout, same interactive format, best of 5 then sudden death, with a different named player stepping up to take each kick.
11. Injuries, Red Cards & Suspensions
Rarely, a player picks up a red card or a serious injury — either rules them out for your next match, not just the current one. Up to 2 players can be out at once, so you can always still field a full XI. An affected player has to be moved into a Reserve slot yourself — reserves never play and can never be subbed on, so this is the one guaranteed-safe place to put them. You'll get a clear alert both when someone goes out and when they're available again.
12. Adjust Lineup Between Matches
Before any match, tap Lineup on the tournament screen to freely rearrange your XI and bench — same drag-and-drop as drafting. If anyone's injured or suspended, kickoff is blocked until you've moved them to reserves yourself; nothing gets swapped for you automatically.
13. When It's Over
Win or lose, you can generate a Team Sheet, share a squad image, or copy a text summary — champions also get saved to your Hall of Fame.
