How to play
From empty team sheet to the final
A full walkthrough of a single Drafted run, start to finish. It takes a few minutes, and no two runs play out the same way.
1. Set up your side
Every run begins with a blank team sheet. First you choose a formation— the shape that decides which eleven positions you’ll be drafting for — and, if you like, a team name. Prefer a surprise? Leave the name blank and let your badge stay a mystery until kick-off. This is also where you set your difficulty, which changes how much help you get during the draft.
2. Draft your XI
This is the heart of the game. One position at a time, you spin the wheel to pull a legendary player from an iconic European squad and slot them into their real role. A striker fills your striker slot, a centre-back fills a centre-back slot, and so on. Depending on your difficulty you may have a limited number of re-spins to reject a pull and try again — spend them wisely, because once your XI is complete there’s no going back.
3. Appoint a manager
With eleven players locked in, you draft a manager from a second wheel. Each manager brings a small overall lift and one signature trait — from Total Football to a Cup Specialist — that flavours how your team performs in certain situations. Picking the right dugout personality for your squad is a quiet but real part of the strategy. There’s a full breakdown on the managers guide.
4. The league phase
Now the tournament begins. Your side enters a modern 36-club league phase and plays a run of fixtures against other legendary teams. Wins and draws earn points, results feed a single combined table, and where you finish decides your route into the knockouts — a top finish earns a direct seat in the Round of 16, while the pack below drops into a two-legged play-off.
5. Knockouts and the final
From here it’s do-or-die. Ties are played over two legs, decided on aggregate, with penalty shootouts settling the deadlocks. Survive the play-off, Round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final and you reach a one-off final under the lights. Win it and you’re champions of Europe; your completed run is then recorded on your leaderboard. New to it all? A few pointers on the tips page will sharpen your first attempts.