How do I set up and manage squads?

Squads are the foundation of Clubhouse — they determine which players and coaches belong together, and they scope training, matches, and development tracking. Here's how to create and manage them.

Squads are created a whole program at a time, as part of the club's bigger flows rather than from a button on the squads page:

• A club's first season gets its squads when you import the season's players from PlayFootball — the import creates each program's age groups and fills them. See How do I add players?.
• Following seasons start with empty squads that mirror this season's age groups, which Clubhouse creates as the season winds down. They fill as retention and recruitment offers are accepted.

The team structure follows the programme, so there's nothing to choose: a Mixed JDL age group is created as a Blue and a White team, because Football NSW requires two teams per age group. Every other programme — including Girls JDL, which Football NSW allows a maximum of one team per age group — gets a single squad per age group.

Once the squads exist:

1. Go to the program and tap Squads, then open the squad you want.
2. Use the Add player action to search for registered players.
3. Select players to add to the roster.

Players can belong to multiple squads — for example, a strong U14 player might also be in the U15 squad for play-up opportunities.

Each squad's roster shows Train %, Played, Mins and Avg/G for the season, and they count the same way here as they do on the admin Players page and on the player's own profile.

• Played and Mins are the player's totals for their own age group. On a Mixed JDL age group, B / W takes Played's place and shows how the player's games divided between Blue and White, while Mins adds both teams together. Every other programme, Girls JDL included, shows Played.
• A game only counts as Played if the player actually got on. An unused substitute doesn't add to their count, which would otherwise pull their Avg/G down for a game they watched.
• Games in an older age group are kept out of that total and shown as a small +2 beside Played — hover it for the games and minutes. Separating them is what stops a U20 who came off the bench twice for First Grade from reading like a First Grade regular. Those appearances are gathered in full in the Promotions Report, described at the end of this article.
• Train % is the share of the sessions the player was expected at. A dash (—) means there were none to count yet — a squad with no sessions logged yet shows a dash rather than a discouraging 0%. Sessions for a Mixed JDL colour team are counted on the age group, because that is where training is run.

Coaches are assigned to squads through the program's Coaches section:

1. Go to the program and tap Coaches.
2. Assign staff members to specific squads with their role (Head Coach, Assistant Coach, GK Coach).

Each coach's profile shows their assigned squads across all programs.

FNSW requires clubs to field all teams and meet minimum squad sizes as part of League Compliance. If a squad is too small, it may result in forfeits and fines:

• First forfeited match: $500 fine
• Subsequent forfeits: $1,000 fine each
• Two forfeits in a season: the club must show cause for why the team shouldn't be expelled

Monitor squad sizes on each program's Squads page to ensure every team has enough players registered.

Squads are scoped to a program and season. At the start of each new season, you'll typically:

1. Create new squads for the upcoming season
2. Assign players (many will carry over, but re-assignment allows for age group progression)
3. Update coaching assignments

Historical squad data from previous seasons remains accessible for reference and reporting.

Once your club has created next season, a Season dropdown appears at the top of the programme's Squads page, and choosing the next year — labelled (planning) — opens a provisional lineup built live from your retention offers. Once the programme's season has finished, the page opens on next season by itself. When the programme has moved into next season and players are on its squads, that year shows the real squads instead, without the (planning) label. Each age group there can also be arranged into a formation on a pitch.

See How do I plan next season's squads? for what that view shows, how firm each place is, arranging an age group on the pitch, and planning around recruitment targets you haven't signed yet.

When a player trains or plays with an older squad, Clubhouse tracks those cross-squad appearances through the Promotions Report under Reports. This is valuable evidence for FNSW's Progression & Retention component of the Club Standards.