From empty team sheet to the final

Drafted is a football draft game: you build an XI one spin at a time, then take it into a Champions League–style tournament. Here is exactly what happens, in order.

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 against the clubs actually in this season’s draw, each with its real first-choice XI — so PSG press you with Kvaratskhelia and Dembélé, and Atlético make you break them down. 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. Where your picks show up

A back four of 90-90-90-90 is not the same as 92-90-88-83, even though they average almost the same — one has a weak link in it and sides get found out there. Every unit is charged for the distance between its average and its worst man, and the figure beside that unit on your panel is what it plays at once the weak link is paid for — so a back line reading 83 with two 91s in it is telling you exactly where to look. Two squads that look identical on paper can be half as likely to win the thing.

This is where a re-spin earns its keep, and where it matters which slot you drop an awkward pick into. It is capped, though: the wheel can make your run harder, never hopeless.

6. 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.