Line-up in the football manager – guide

Terms

Formation

Basic shape (e.g. 4-4-2). Defines the positions on the pitch.

Playing style

Sets the tactical sliders (pressing, tempo …) and affects the match.

Total strength

Average of your starting eleven, including the position bonus.

Position bonus

Players in their learned (sub-)position play stronger.

Good to know

• Drag players to swap them between pitch and bench.
• "Auto" picks a sensible eleven; the assistant coach (Premium) finds the strongest.
• Slots you leave empty are filled automatically at kick-off with the strongest matching players - for you and for every opponent.
• Separate tabs for league, cup and Global Championship - without an own line-up the league tactics apply.
• Under "Set pieces" you decide who takes penalties, free kicks and corners. Without a choice the coaching staff picks the best available taker.
• The "Match plan" tab holds your in-game instructions - see its own help there.
• The captain gets extra experience points after every appearance. He has no effect on the match itself.
• The strength on the card is the effective strength: position fit, fitness and morale are included. A pulsing ⚠ over the profile picture means fitness below 55 and injury risk. The play style sets the "fitness use" (bars next to the selection): attacking costs the most, defensive the least. The co-trainer rotates tired players out when the substitute is almost as good.
• Players on "Resting" (💤) cannot be fielded: they are removed from all lineups, and auto-assign and the co-trainer skip them. You switch it in Training.

Change history

• October 4, 2026

  Fitness becomes a rotation question: the play style decides how much fitness a match costs (attacking the most, defensive the least). Below 55 fitness there is an injury risk, shown with ⚠.