How do I set up my starting lineup and bench?

Full walkthrough: Pick your team each week in the guide covers this step by step.

Before kick off, you build your lineup using the interactive pitch view. Players are placed into formation positions on the pitch, with unused players sitting on the bench.

1. Tap Matches in the navigation.
2. Tap the upcoming fixture.
3. The pitch view is the main area of the match detail — a green pitch graphic with position slots arranged in your current formation. The formation button under the pitch shows the shape and opens the others for your match format; the formations answer covers choosing one and making your own.

There are two ways to assign a player to a position:

Tap an empty slot — a player list appears showing available players from your squad. Players whose default position matches the slot appear first, followed by the rest sorted by shirt number. Tap a player to assign them.

Drag and drop — press and hold a player on the bench and drag them onto any slot on the pitch. You can also drag players between positions on the pitch to rearrange them.

Players not placed on the pitch sit on the bench, shown below the pitch view. When no one has been placed on the pitch yet, the bench area displays "Choose Starting {X}" (where X is the number of positions in the formation, e.g. 11 or 9). Once you start placing players, it switches to "Bench".

You can also set the same lineup from the Starting XI slide of the match's pre-match deck, and a change in either place shows in the other. Build and present a deck covers the deck.

If you need a player from a younger age group to play up, or need to add a guest player for this match:

1. Tap + Add Player at the bottom of the bench.
2. Search for and select the player.
3. They are added to your bench for this fixture and appear with a badge showing which squad they normally play in.

To remove a promoted player, tap and hold them on the bench and confirm the removal.

Drag one on-pitch player onto another on-pitch player's slot to swap their positions. Both players stay on the field — they just exchange slots.

Drag a player from the pitch back to the bench area to return them to the bench.

On larger screens (tablets and desktop), the pitch view sits on the left with the bench, coach notes, and scouting panels on the right. On phones, the bench appears below the pitch.