Room to
experiment.
100 credits. Four formations. Build freely and discover what works for your XI.
The next move is yours.
ELEVEN PLAYERS.
ONE BIG IDEA.
Build a squad. Find your approach.
Turn your football thinking into game points.
Free to play. No account. No payments.
Every player, club and result is fictional.
01 BUILD YOUR XI02 CHOOSE AN APPROACH03 MAKE YOUR NEXT MOVE
Welcome to the control room
Your squad. Your call.
A fresh XI, a clear plan and ten matchdays to make it count.
CURRENT RUNFirst Whistle · Open play
100 credits · Four formations · 10 matchdays
Credits remaining100.0
Starting XI0 / 11
Squad rating—
Season points0
Use Quick start, or choose a position to begin.
The selection room
Put your idea on the pitch.
Not saved. Progress will be lost when this page is closed or refreshed.
The player pool
Find your next starter.
Click a player’s name for their role, recent points and next opponent.
Fictional players. Credits are game units, not money. Ratings are scouting hints, not guaranteed points.
Select a position or use Auto-pick to get started.
Welcome to the dugout. Your ten-matchday season starts here.
The manager’s decision
Choose your approach.
Tactics change your manager bonus, not the fictional fixture scores. The bonus is added once per matchday and is not doubled by your captain.
View fixtures & club form Matchday 1
Read the fixture
The fixtures board.
Four fictional clubs · form shows their last three completed results. Fixtures and difficulty are scouting context, not predictions. Your XI selection does not change the scripted match results.
Simulated match centre · not live
Follow the action.
Your squad is locked during the matchday. Progress is committed once, at full time. There is no timer: reveal events at your own pace.
The matchday breakdown
Nothing hidden. Every point.
New limits. New ideas.
Find your next challenge.
All free. All fictional.
No prizes. Just a better game plan.
Room to
Less budget.
More thinking.
Build eleven starters with 80 credits. Find the value without losing your balance.
Own the
middle ground.
A fixed 3-5-2 and 100 credits. Five midfielders, one new way to build.
Your next benchmark
Beat your own best.
Local records. No public leaderboard.
Enable saving to keep them on this device.
Know the game
The game plan. No guesswork.
Build. Watch. Review.
- Choose one of three fictional seasons. Open play gives 100 credits; Budget Builder gives 80; Midfield Masters fixes the 3-5-2 formation with 100.
- Pick eleven unique players in the correct positions, within budget. Choose a captain: their player score is doubled, even if negative.
- Choose Balanced, Attacking or Defensive. The manager bonus is calculated from your squad’s attributes and that round’s challenge.
- Start a matchday. Your XI and tactic lock until full time. Reveal each event or skip to the report.
- Make unlimited free changes between rounds. Complete ten rounds to record a personal best for that season and challenge.
There is no bench, live data, account, matchmaking or paid entry. The player pool is 36 fictional players, not complete club rosters. Fixture scores are scripted. The same season, squad and tactic always produce the same points.
Every point explained
- Appearance: +2 per selected player.
- Goal: +6 GK/DEF · +5 MID · +4 FWD.
- Assist: +3.
- Clean sheet: +4 GK/DEF · +1 MID.
- Every two goals conceded: −1 GK/DEF.
- Yellow card: −1. Red card: −3.
Every player earns appearance points. A clean sheet means the club concedes zero over the entire fixture, including for dismissed players in this simplified game. Club team-mates share conceded goals.
The manager bonus
Attack is the average attack attribute of your MID/FWD players; defence is the average defence of GK/DEF; energy averages all eleven players. Each average is rounded to the nearest integer. Attacking uses attack, Defensive uses defence, Balanced uses the lower of attack and defence. The chosen strength is compared with a visible target for that approach. Bonus = floor((strength − target) ÷ 3) + floor((energy − 70) ÷ 8), limited to −8…+12. No random rolls. The exact preview and breakdown appear before and after every round.
Independent by design
Football, on your terms.
Play Football Now is a free, independent football squad-building game at playfootbollnow.co.uk, operated by Oliver Johnson. Build a fictional squad, solve tactical challenges and compare your own completed runs.
The current game has no purchases, subscriptions, advertising revenue features, paid competitions or affiliate ticket links. We do not sell virtual credits, take bets or offer money, goods or other real-world prizes. No future paid features are promised.
Players, clubs, fixtures and results are fictional. The ground image is AI-generated. This is an independent project, not affiliated with any football league or club. It does not provide real-world sports predictions or betting advice.
A real way to reach us
Get in touch.
Operator: Oliver Johnson
Email: info@playfootbollnow.co.uk
For game bugs, accessibility feedback or privacy questions, email us. Please include your browser, device and a description of the problem. Do not send passwords, payment information or identity documents. We do not take payments or sell tickets.
Your device. Your choice.
Privacy & use.
These notices describe this version of Play Football Now. Contact Oliver Johnson at info@playfootbollnow.co.uk for privacy enquiries.
Local saving and privacy
Saving is off by default. If you choose “Save progress on this device”, your squad, captain, tactic, season, challenge, completed match snapshots, unfinished match and up to 30 completed run records are stored in this browser’s localStorage under play-football-now-v1. This data is not sent to us. Turning saving off deletes this saved copy; your current game remains in memory until you close or refresh the page. Browser settings can also delete it. Other people using the same browser profile may access the saved game.
Progress is specific to this website and browser profile. Saves from other websites are not imported. Private browsing and embedded previews may restrict local saving.
This game’s supplied code sets no cookies and includes no analytics, advertising pixels, external fonts or embedded services. Technical requests to the hosting service still occur when a page loads.
Hosting, email and your information
Oliver Johnson operates this website. The website is hosted with Namecheap. When you visit, the hosting service receives technical connection information, such as your IP address, requested URL and browser details. It may process access and security logs to deliver and protect the website.
Hosting logs are managed through the hosting service. Retention depends on the configured access and security logging settings and applicable service requirements. For information about the current logging and retention arrangements, email us. We do not claim that visiting the site is anonymous.
If you email us, we receive your email address and the information you include. We use it to respond, investigate technical issues and handle privacy requests. We do not use game enquiries for marketing or send them to ticket providers. We keep correspondence while needed for the enquiry and any applicable legal obligations; you can ask about access, correction or deletion. Applicable data-protection rights depend on your circumstances and may include a complaint to a competent supervisory authority. Contact info@playfootbollnow.co.uk.
We use service providers to host the site and handle email. Their processing locations depend on the actual service arrangements. Contact us if you need details. Adding analytics, payments, accounts or other services would require an updated notice and a review of consent and other applicable requirements.
Terms of use
Play Football Now is provided by Oliver Johnson as a free recreational game. It has three fictional ten-round seasons and three play modes. Credits, points and records have no monetary value and cannot be purchased, transferred, redeemed or exchanged for prizes.
Results are simulated, not real sporting events. Tactical bonuses affect game points, not actual sports or the scripted club fixture scores. There are no performance guarantees, ticket sales, deposits or withdrawals. Local saves may be lost if browser data is cleared, storage is unavailable or the device changes.
You may play for personal entertainment. Do not misuse the site, interfere with its operation or present its fictional results as real sports information. Names and imagery are used for this fictional game; third-party brand rights remain with their respective owners. We may maintain or update the game. Nothing in these terms excludes statutory rights or liabilities that cannot lawfully be excluded.