Roll one dice each to determine who will be manager 1 in the first season. Highest roll wins. The manager to the left of manager 1 is manager 2 etc. Place 16 players face up on the board. Go clockwise around the table picking one player each until the board is empty. Manager 1 starts the first round, manager 2 the second round etc. Repeat the process as many times as there are managers in the game so that every manager ends up with 16 players in their starting squad. After the draft, flip the board to discover The world of football. 

Note! No Garibaldi in the draft. He’s too good to be drafted. If he comes up, simply replace him on the draft board with another player card from the deck. Once the draft is over and before the player cards are divided into continents, shuffle Garibaldi back into the deck.

Game pieces

Each manager has two game pieces, a squad token and a point marker. The squad token should always mark the total strength of your full squad, meaning the amount of stars on all your player cards combined (not including the Given goalkeeper, potential stars, chemistry, captain boost or key staff advantages, just full stars on player cards). Do this right after the draft and move it up and down the table as you strengthen or weaken your squad. If your squad is strengthened or weakened during the season (only happens with Game changer cards), both pieces must be moved up or down the table. The point marker is used in the season (see the Season section).

Each manager starts with the basic training facilities, a normal training pitch, giving you the opportunity to fill one hollow star for one of your players. Choose the player you want to develop and roll 1 dice. You need to roll at least the number eyes/dots that you want your player to reach. The champion goes first, and you continue clockwise around the table.

• Develop to 2 stars (roll 2 or higher)
• Develop to 3 stars (roll 3 or higher)
• Develop to 4 stars (roll 4 or higher)
• Develop to 5 stars (roll 5 or higher)
• Develop to 6 stars (roll 6) 

As you upgrade your training, you gain the ability to develop multiple players by multiple stars every season, but the dice always decides how much your talents will develop (with the exception of the top level training complex, allowing you to give one player one star without rolling the dice. In this case, you must assign your guaranteed star before you start rolling).

Upgraded players are found in the Developed attackers/midfielders/defenders decks. The number in the top left corner on the player card shows where in the deck you find the upgraded player.

Example:
You’ve invested 30M in a nice Training Centre, giving you the opportunity to add up to 3 stars to each of 3 players cards. You choose to develop a player card with 2 full stars and 6 star potential.

• If you roll 1 eye, nothing happens – try again next season!
• If you roll 2 eyes, nothing happens – try again next season!
• If you roll 3 eyes, your player card is upgraded to 3 stars.
• If you roll 4 eyes, your player card is upgraded to 4 stars.
• If you roll 5 eyes, your player card is upgraded to 5 stars.
• If you roll 6 eyes, your player card is also upgraded to 5 stars.

(If you had the state of the art 60M Training Complex, your player card would have been maxed out with that one roll of the dice).

The matches are played in three thirds and start with midfield versus midfield. Count the full stars in each midfield line-up, add Captain boost, chemistry stars and key staff effects, throw 2 dice and add the scores together. The manager with the highest total (stars, boost, staff and dice eyes) wins the third.

The winner then goes on the offensive with their attack versus the opponent’s defence. In case of a midfield draw, the home side, as seen in the fixture list, goes on the attack first. Repeat the process described above.

PS. Goalkeeper stars count towards your defensive total.

If the same player has won both thirds, the game is over. You don’t play the last third. If it’s 1–1, or even 0.5–1.5 (a draw in one of the thirds), the last third is played to determine the winner (or seal the draw).

Points during the season are represented on the board by the Point marker (see page 6). Start from the base, and add points earned during the season.

Match points are as follows

Win: 6 points
Draw: 2 points
Lose: 0 points

Note: Matches are, whenever possible, played simultaneously. If you’d like a longer game, you can play home and away matches against each opponent (already recommended on the chart for heads up games). If you do this, then half the points awarded for each match: 3, 1, 0. In this case, follow the fixture list on the board until every match is played twice.

Simulated matches

There are 5 matches every season, giving the possibility of 30 points from matches. When playing fewer than 6 players, simulate the remaining matches as instructed in the fixture list on the board.

To simulate a game, simply roll two dice. The strength of your squad (squad token) determine how likely you are to win a simulated match. You can see what you need to roll to win on the board to the right of the table under SIM-roll. After the simulation, use the point marker to mark these points on the board as you would after a normal match.

There are no Game changers or injuries in simulated matches.

Injuries and Game changers

If you roll double dice (two equal) (1+1, 2+2, 3+3 etc.) you either get an injury or a Game changers card.