Sidelines (if played like I played it) is essentially 3 games in 1. D8 to D3 is game 1. D2 is game 2. D1 is game 3. This is a guide to game 1.

Game 1 is likely 6 weeks, and the rest of the game lasts ages, so game 1 should (IMO) be used as preparation. You play your game, but here’s my suggestion.

In order to thrive in D2, you need as large a stadium as possible, with the highest stadium quality, and a first team with a line up rating of about 1,200.

In order to get there, pour as many resources into Stadium Quality as you can. That can never be too high, and it goes into the thousands percentage wise. This is key.

Go for tier 3 league domination all the way up to D3 when it ends. That will earn you loads of free seats. If you consider tier 4, get advice, as that comes with double promotion. You can ignore T4 if you hit it, and take T3 instead.

You can find the league dominance info on the league page. Any season you don’t promote, the LD requirement increases, so it makes sense to promote each season. Seasons up to D3 are 1 week.

If you collect free seats with league domination. Consider storing and not using the seats. The bigger your stadium, the longer seats take to build. I found building seats early on, and keeping free seats for later, to be quite helpful.

Just keep in mind that this will mean a loss of income early on though. I think it’s a reasonable pay off, but if you’re struggling for finances, use the seats earlier. Different people have different views about keeping or using seats.

I have been reliably informed of the tier requirements if you promote each season. Tier 1 – 300. Tier 2 – 500. Tier 3 – 800. Promotion is 200.

Ideally you want to build to 2 teams of 11, so 22 players to rotate 2 teams. You can get by with 20 players if you need to save wages, but just make sure you’ve got the right players to rotate based on your formation at the time.

When your 1st team is in, you need a line up rating of 1,200 in D2. If we break that down over the seasons, each of those numbers should enable you to get T3 each season.

Here is a high end suggestion of what your 1st team line up should be at the END of each season. D8 – 200. D7 – 400. D6 – 600. D5 – 800. D4 – 1,000. D3 – 1,200. Don’t stress if you don’t hit this, but aim for it.

These figures are overkill for the individual seasons, but merely here to prepare you for D2. The main aim is to get the desired League Dominance target each season.

If you get an average goal difference (GD) per game of over 3.5 in a season, you’re likely strong enough for the next division up. This will depend on you player the required games to hit the targets.

Training players is great, as it increases their value and keeps them relevant longer, but you likely won’t keep up with the growth. Buying and selling players is key. I have a whole masterclass on that.

So, play loads of games, keeping an eye on energy, and rotating teams while the other rests. The league points are essential goals difference. Game 1 is go, go, go, but enjoy it, game to slows right down.

So, that’s game 1 in a nutshell. Keep going until you hit D2, then stop and ask for my D2 ‘camping’ masterclass to prepare for D1 where it all changes. Before you go, here are some more tips.

1. If you start playing the game midweek, don’t promote in your first part season. Get under the promotion score. Then give it a good go in the first full week season. This helps you have a good go at tier 3 LD.

2. Join a pub if you haven’t already. Ask questions, and get help from experienced players. The more you learn about this game, the more you discover there is to learn. It’s relatively easy to play, but very detailed when you get into it.

3. Play games, complete the daily sponsor challenges every day, and replace older lower rated with newer better ones as you go up the tables. D2 is where the game changes, but enjoy the ride up to that point.

4. Players have ratings, but they also have individual skill ratings. Pay careful attention to those, and pick players who fit the skillset you think they should have. Train them in the skills they lack.

5. Have a look through the merits, and plan your games, tactics, formation, strategy, etc around those. There are some useful ways to make money and tokens there, so pick the ones you want to go after.

6. If you can buy the recruits, do so. Even if you just sell them immediately. List them for 22.9% and they will sell within about 12 hours. A bot will buy them if a human player doesn’t. This will make you money.

7. Get your daily free tokens from the accountant page. On the first Sunday of each month, get three days premium for free, which doubles those free tokens for that period.

8. Try not to let the players tire down to less than about 85/80, then leave them to rest. Doing a spa can rest them (and increase their VIT) but don’t overdo them, as tokens are better spent on stadium quality.

9. Keep an eye on your home/away income/loss. Stadium Quality let’s you increase ticket prices. A full stadium means you’re under charging. Ideally you want to be about 100-150 fans short of a full house. This is required to offset the wages.

10. When you sign a sponsor contract, make sure you get it in time. That can bring in some very useful resources. Cash it in as soon as you can, you’ll continue to get the win bonus. Check the options and requirements when signing one.

11. When you get the option to offer free beer. Do so. Raise your ticket price by 20 straight away. Then balance your ticket price as above. The increase should more than cover the price of the beer.

12. Keep an eye out for ‘bacon’ codes. Random text that appears in match commentary that contains the word bacon. Replay the match, slow it down and get a screenshot, then enter the code for a reward.

13. When you get access to AI games, give me a shout, because I’ve got a masterclass for tackling that too!

14. Ask about TR cups and the main tournament, but don’t let those distract you from your plan. If your plan is to take your time, those can be loads of fun, but too detailed to discuss here.

15. Set up the training programme to train all players as required. When you can have more trainers, make sure they’re all involved in training at least one player to get the maximum bonus. Training straight after a spa will give you a big boost.

So, that’s it! My D8 to D3 masterclass. I hope that has helped. If you have any questions, please ask. I hope this has given you a game plan. Enjoy the game!

I have written a masterclass for the lower divisions ( D8 to D3 Masterclass ) and one for D1 ( Promoting to D1, How to Prepare and What to Expect ). These are both one ‘extreme’ approach. The reason I advise this and did so myself, is to get the most out of the game in the shortest time. The D8 to D3 guide is all about efficiency and speed, while the D1 guide is all about utilising the 2 safety seasons to get as much club reputation as possible.

While I promote these approaches, it would be only fair that I give the other extreme alternative (anything in-between is good too). So, I will call this the Slow and Steady method.

From D8 to D3, instead of going full throttle, you could take your time. One of the main reasons for my initial plan, was to get the tier 3 league dominance to get free seats. You could simply take your time in the lower leagues and build the seats yourself. Some people like to take their time, play in TR cups, have a few seasons in each division before promoting, and generally enjoying the ride. If you do decide to take this approach, you can use my D2 Camping masterclass to help with that, just remember to convert the numbers (like 200 to promote and not 400 etc).

When you get to D1, instead of blasting through the gates and chewing through tokens, you could take it season by season. Each season making small advancements on last season’s score, and therefore opening the gates with minimal tokens.

One of the beauties of this game, is that there are so many ways to play it, and none are necessarily better than others. My other two plans do go more towards the ‘speed and efficiency’ route, but there is always this more ‘slow and steady’ route. Many use this strategy and are likely less stressed than the rest of us!

So, however you choose to play, enjoy the game!

Getting the right assistant (who is also a scout) can help you. So here is some general information about hiring assistants. Click club, and scroll across to assistant.

Each division higher, the assistants improve (I’ll explain how shortly) so it’s best to hire a new assistant as soon as possible after promoting. You can’t do so without first firing your current assistant, which you can’t do if they’re off on a scouting mission.

When going to D1, I’d advise not sending your scout out, so you can sack him as soon as you arrive in D1. Recruits from the D1 scout will get a discount on wages once club rep is earned. This doesn’t apply to lower divisions, so less important then.

An assistant does 2 things. Negotiates sponsor deals, and finds recruits. They have 3 ‘ratings’. One for how good they are a negotiating sponsor deals. One for how likely they are to find a recruit. And one for how good that recruit is likely to be.

The ratings for the contract negotiation is a number. These range from 100 to 320. The higher the number, the better they are at negotiating higher sponsor contract bonuses.

Their determination determines their liklihood of finding a recruit. These ratings are as follows, and in this order from worst to best:

Super chill 》Relaxed 》Dependable 》Dedicated 》Resolute.

Their experience will determine how good the recruit will likely be. These ratings are as follows, and in this order from worst to best:

Student 》First job 》Journeyman 》Senior 》Veteran 》Expert.

So, upgrade your assistant as soon as you can, and if you have various options, then determine what attributes are more valuable to you. All this is balanced with their cost too, although that becomes less of an issue the bigger your club gets.

I hope this has helped.

This is a masterclass about buying, selling, and recruiting players. There are 2 (3 if you count unofficial ways) to acquire players, and 3 ways to get rid of them (or retuning a loan, unofficial way). This should explain.

Buying 1 – Buying from the market. Go to the market and view players using the filter. They are arranged by rating, so you can see if any prices seem ‘out of sequence’. That should show lower and higher priced players.

There is a formula for working out the markup %, but it’s complicated. I can tell you that players showing ‘No history available’ when clicked on, are listed at 50%, which is high. Most players are listed lower (see selling players).

When buying players, consider the number of career games they have played, as that will affect their VIT. You can also see players advertised in pubs, they will appear on the market, if even only briefly.

Deals can also be done in the pubs, so look out for people offloading players, especially if the prices are low. Ask around if looking for a specific position / rating, as people might have players to sell.

Buying 2 – Recruiting. Buying all recruits is advisable, even if you don’t keep them. You buy recruits at 0% and you can sell them for more (see below). So, if you keep recruits, they’re cheaper than most market players.

Selling recruits straight away will make you money. See below about listing players but do so quicky if you’re not keeping a recruit, as you pay 25% of their wage while they are listed.

You can sell recruits immediately. If you buy a player from the market, you can ‘beach’ them after 24 hours, and only sell them after 3 days.

Buying 3 – Loan (unofficial). We call it a loan, but actually it is a buy and sell. If a manager agrees to sell a player to another manager, only to buy them back again at a later date, we call this a loan.

If you do loan a player, just make sure to talk about expectations like training, price, term, etc before doing the loan. Please honour any agreements made.

Selling 1 – List on the market. When listing a player, anyone can buy them from the market, and if no one does, after some time (see below) the ‘bots’ will buy them.

To list for the bots, 20% will sell in about 8 hours. 22.9% will sell in about 12 hours. 24.9% will sell in about 24 hours. Any games played while a player is listed, will cost 25% of their wage, so keep this in mind.

Selling 2 – Sell in a pub. If you ask around (this applies to buying too) you might find deals to be done in pubs. If you do find an opportunity to do a deal, discuss prices BEFORE listing.

Some managers might buy at a higher rate, or sell at a lower rate, to help new managers. When you list a player, you pay a 5% listing fee. So, if you then relist them, you lose the first fee and pay the second.

There are ‘transfer boosts’ which means you can only buy a limited number of players listed below 0% or list a limited number above 25%, so make sure both parties have the required boosts when doing a deal.

Discussing markup % before listing, means you only pay one listing fee. Then link the player once listed, so the other manager can complete the deal. When you list a player, they will appear on the market, so someone else could ‘steal’ them.

Selling 3. If all else fails, you can ‘beach’ a player. However, this is done so at -20%, so really not profitable. If you have to offload a player urgently, then consider this, but if you can list him for at least 8 hours, do that rather.

Players with VIT under 75 will not be bought by bots. So, you can list them, but a human manager will need to buy them. It might be a plan to find such people in the pubs before listing, or to beach the player.

I hope that has helped, and not confused the issue. It’s a lot to take in, but it should make sense as you go along. Even if this just makes you aware of some options, then ask questions and we can help further.

Merits are relatively easy to figure out, as they’re all listed on one page with alerts, but here’s some information about them that you may find useful.

Merits are an excellent way to earn cash and tokens. I’d advise Reading through the merits to see what is available for you to earn, and what you need to do to get them.

Some merits consist of various other merits. Like the Manager Rank and Ultimate Strategist. Get all the individual merits, and get the combined merit too.

Some merits repeat. The ones with the 🔁 icon. That’s why it’s important to collect merits after every game, so you don’t lose out on those that repeat.

Some merits unlock things. Like the Bring it On merit that unlocks the invitation to the tournament. Whatever stands to be unlocked will be in blue under each merit.

Many merits refresh for the next level once done. So, when you get what’s required for the merit, it will put the next level up. Like Challenge Accepted. When you hit the target and claim the merit, it puts up a higher target with a higher reward.

You can gain access to formations, gain more trainer spots, get access to TR cups, unlock new game features, gain tournament access, and even get a different colour star next to your name through merits.

You can see where you are with each merit, as well as look at those you’ve completed. Just remember to collect them after each match, and reap the rewards!

This is a masterclass I regularly get requested; however, this is part of the game where there is no right answer, and it is purely up to your preferences. I get asked, “What skills should I focus on for what positions?”. Ask this to 5 different managers, and you’ll get 5 different answers. That what makes each team unique. The player skills should complement the formation and strategy, so no answer is correct here. I will show the skills below, show what the game says about each skill, and then give my views (note, they are just my views, you need to make your own mind up here) on each skill.

TALENT

What Sidelines says:
Determines the player’s potential and rate of learning skill improvement. Keep an eye on your player’s skill increases over time to get an idea of what his potential is!

What I have to say:
This is always hidden, but you can get an idea of how talented a player is by how they train. This talent can increase if the player is inspired through inspiration points from AI games. Don’t neglect a player with low training gains, if they do a job for you at the time. Especially in lower leagues when you turn players over quicker, and your trainers are not that great.

STRENGTH

What Sidelines says:
Improves the ability to oppose tackles and withstand physical impact. Improves positioning ability and heading skills when pressured. Reduces vitality deterioration rate and the likelihood of getting injured.

What I have to say:
Strength is one of two skills I insist on for all payers. I also think it keeps your players more energised for longer, as I found that I conceded fewer goals in the last few minutes with stronger players. I don’t know if that is what helped, but I would recommend this for all players purely for the facts stated above. I try to have the strength rating at least at the overall rating level for all players.

PLAYMAKER

What Sidelines says:
The player’s desire to create opportunities for his teammates rather than attempting to dribble or shoot. A playmaker prefers to make things happen over doing the legwork. Having great intuition amplifies what a playmaker is able to do.

What I have to say:
I would suggest having playmaker OR dribbling when midfielders are involved. It seems pointless to have both given what we read above. Also, I find having this skill in defenders seems to make them more creative when passing from the back. I would not recommend this skill for strikers, as you want them to shoot, not faff about looking for opportunities for others.

INTUITION

What Sidelines says:
The player’s general understanding of the game, and ability to predict the movement and actions of other players and position himself on the pitch. Improves mental abilities and calmness. Reduces the likelihood of carrying out an ill-timed tackle. Your captain’s knowledge and behaviour influences his teammates.

What I have to say:
This is the second skill I insist all my players should have (at least up to their overall rating score). This is basically their intelligence and awareness, which is key for all players. If you don’t insist on them all having this skill, I’d say at very least the keeper, strikers should have it. Given what it says above, I really think this should be present in all players. Also, pick a captain with good intuition.

TACKLING

What Sidelines says:
The players ability to intercept passes and shut down dribbling attempts. Also improves goalkeeper shot-stopping capabilities.

What I have to say:
This is obviously good for defenders and goalkeepers but keep this in mind also for midfielders. If your midfielders are good at tackling, they can win more balls before they become a problem. While most don’t consider this skill for strikers, I have had a few who have been good at tackling, and they did win a few balls being passed around the back. I nice to have though, I wouldn’t prioritise this.

PASSING

What Sidelines says:
The players ability to deliver the ball to a teammate.

What I have to say:
Does what it says on the tin. I expect this from all my players except the strikers. Don’t get me wrong, a striker who can pass will lose fewer balls trying to do so, but I would prefer if my strikers just shot rather than pass. Don’t underestimate this skill on defenders and keepers, because they pass the ball around too, and you don’t want to lose possession to a striker who can tackle.

DRIBBLING

What Sidelines says:
The player’s ability to move the ball past an opponent without losing control of the ball.

What I have to say:
I like this skill in strikers, so they can beat their man to take a shot. I also fancy this in some of the midfielders. Just remember to consider not having midfielders who are playmakers AND dribblers, as the skills appear to work against each other (playmakers prefer to set someone else up than to dribble). Whether your keeper and defenders can dribble is up to you, but I don’t usually prioritise that.

SHOOTING

What Sidelines says:
Shooting power and precision.

What I have to say:
This for me is the job of strikers, ad should be their number one skill in my opinion. The question you will likely have is whether or not to have some midfielders who can shoot. The choice is yours. Having a midfielder chipping in with some goals is useful. But, they can also stop rainbow merits, which can be frustrating. Defenders get the occasional shot on goal (especially from corners) but I don’t think prioritising this skill is the answer, unless part of an elaborate plan.

So, there are the 8 skills on offer, what Sidelines has to say, and my thoughts on each. I hope that helps!

When you start playing sidelines, and often later in the game too, you might be tempted to spend tokens on various things. What are the most productive things to use tokens on? This will vary throughout the game, do here are the things you can spend tokens on, and how they benefit you. I’m referring to tokens (in orange) and not money (in green). Many purchases require a mix of both.

1. Stadium Quality

Hands down the best way to spend tokens, especially at the start. The higher your stadium quality, the more you can charge for tickets. This gate money is your lifeline. Pour as many tokens as you can into stadium quality (SQ). Your SQ goes well above 100%, so don’t pace yourself. When you’re charging 10,000 per ticket, stop putting money into this, but until then, this should be your priority with regards to spending tokens. The token requirements increase each time, but so does the percentage gain, and therefore the ticket price. This seems like a bottomless pit for tokens, but it does and and it is worth it.

2. Changing names

This is something you may want to do from time to time, but it doesn’t help generate money. You can change player names, your manager name, club name, and stadium name. Yes, there is a merit for having 11 named and recruited players, and yes, there is a merit for playing named players. Anything you spend on these will outweigh the merits by far, so save these for later in the game when you’re bored.

3. Squad places

This is something you need to buy, but likely in stages. The more your team grows, the more players you can afford, so you’ll slowly need more squad space. You’ll also likely want various teams for various purposes as you get higher up, so slowly growing your squad is important. I’d suggest growing this as needed. Any tokens put into squad size won’t be regretted, but it’s possibly more important to increase your SQ unless you specifically need a bigger squad.

4. Speed ups and boosts

You can speed up stadium builds. If you do this, do so immediately after instructing an addition of seats. This is worked on a percentage of works outstanding, so the sooner you do this after starting a new build, the better. Having said this, it might not be worth it early in the game when stadium builds are quicker.

You can use tokens to train players before they are ‘ready’ from the last training. I wouldn’t do this in the early stages as training is not vital then, and it’s a waste of tokens in my opinion.

You can boost your recruit. Getting him back sooner might be required from time to time for a conveniently timed recruit, or giving him a better chance of finding a recruit might be tempting. If these are worth while to you, consider them. Just keep in mind that they happen often, and if you pay each time, it will add up. Just consider if that’s worth it, or if tokens are better spend on SQ.

5. Health Club

The health club enables your players to recover from training quicker (to train again) and gets your players 1 energy replacement faster. This consists of 40 levels. The first one costing 250 tokens, but then starting at 10 tokens and increasing by 10 each upgrade. Each upgrades gain is marginal, but the overall gain from level 1 to 40 is considerable. I would leave this until later in the game (D1), but would then seriously consider it. From start to finish it will cost about 8000 tokens (what you spend less what you earn in merits).

6. AI challenges (the first one is free).

After doing an AI challenge, you have the opportunity to redo it, which costs 50 tokens the first time, then 200, and up from there. In my opinion it’s worth doing the first redo for 50 tokens, IF you’re making money doing AI games, and need the cash. Exchanging tokens for cash is often not as great as simply redoing the AI challenge as you could well make more that way. Read my masterclass on AI challenges to help you decide if this is a good use of tokens.

7. D1 ‘gates’ to unlock club reputation

I won’t go too much into this, as I’ve written a whole masterclass on promoting to D1 which covers this. I will say that if you wish to unlock all these gates while under protection, you’ll need a load of tokens when promoting to D1. See that masterclass for more details.

8. Some TR cups require tokens to enter

You’ll have to decide if it’s worth joining a cup that costs tokens. If you think you can get past the first round, go for it. If you’re trying the cups out, maybe start with one’s that don’t require tokens to enter (if there’s no token prize money). I’ve written a masterclass on TR cups that will explain more.

9. Sending the players to a spa

You need to do a spa each Sunday for the sponsor challenge. Doing so will replenish up to 15 energy and 2 VIT. It will also give you a training bonus if you train straight after doing a spa. Spas cost money, but each day the price drops (to a point). If you’re playing loads of games you might need to do more spas. Just try not to spend too much unnecessarily on spas.

I hope that helps. Tokens are a valuable resource, so it’s helpful to know how best to use them. I didn’t get this right my first time around, and ultimately had to restart. I hope this gets you on the right track from the start.

Training players is useful in lower divisions, vital in higher divisions, but a little confusing, so here are some points on what to consider.

Firstly, you need trainers. As you progress, you get access to more trainers, until the max of 4. Each trainer has 3 ‘levels’ to their training.

What they are expert, proficient, and decent at. You pick a skill each for the first two, and the ‘decent’ applies to all other skills. Pick the skills you think you’ll train the most for the first 2.

If possible, make sure the lowest rating (for all other skills) covers the highest skill level of any player. That way, you can train any player at any skill.

If your player skill levels outweigh the trainer’s ability in that skill, the players won’t train as well. The players essentially outgrow the trainer. Train them in a different skill, or get better trainers.

Each training session costs money, based on the level of your trainers. It also cost money to fire trainers, so when upgrading trainers, try and do so generously.

When you have multiple trainers, try and include them all in the session, even if not needed. This provides a boost to the training. It’s more expensive, but it does get better results.

Players train according to their talent, which is hidden. So, generally speaking, the better their training results, the higher talent. You can gain talent from positive scores in the AI challenge.

Go through all your players on the training page, assign them a skill to train, and assign a suitable trainer. Then once you’ve trained, you’ll see all the clipboards down the right with numbers.

The higher that number, the better their training result. Also, have a look at any red or yellow clipboards, and they’ll explain what happened.

Red are often missed training. Yellow often show if a player has reached his potential or if a coach is not good enough. As players reach their potential, their training results drop.

So, what skill should you train players? This depends. You need to decide the ideal skill proportion for each position, and then train what’s lacking. This will help you achieve the desired proportion of skill.

Ask around what skills others value in certain positions, and then make your mind up. The objective of training is to get those skills into proportion by training the ones lacking.

Make sure you review your training quite often. You don’t want to over train one skill while neglecting others, or not realise a player is not training well.

It costs per training session per trainer. It depends in the level of trainer. 4 x max trainers costs about 100 million to train each session.

Once you’ve trained, there’s a time period until you can train again. You can reduce this time by upgrading your health club. Tokens are best spent elsewhere, but the first upgrade might be worth it.

When signing a new player or recruit, remember to add them to the training schedule, as they are not automatically added. You’ll need to reassign everyone when sacking and replacing trainers.

Players don’t train when injured, but do when banned. Training straight after a spa gives you an extra training boost. I hope this has helped!

When it comes to choosing sponsor contracts, there are a few things to consider:

1. Some are 1 week and some are 2 weeks. Ideally find a sponsor contract to match your season length, but it’s not essential.

2. Make sure you are going to play/win enough games to meet the contract terms. Especially in D2 when camping, you can only win so many games to get under 399 points.

3. Also check how many points you need for each contract. As above with the wins, make sure you’ll get enough to meet the requirements.

4. If you have to wait a few days without a sponsor (to line them up with your season), don’t worry. Building up your daily sponsor challenges will increase your sponsor rewards.

5. If you’re after tokens, it’s quite simple to get the best deal, as it’s clear which ones offer the most tokens. Just make sure you can achieve them.

6. Claim your reward as soon as you can, as you could go back under the requirements if you lose a game. You will still get the win rewards per game after claiming.

7. If you’re after cash rather than coins, there are some contracts that are better than others, depending on how many games you plan to win over a 2 week period.

Up to 150 wins, 256KB is best. Over 150 wins, Bad Visor takes over as the best. For tokens, and D2 Camping, I advise Serious Balds. I hope that helps.

Here are the numbers from my calculations (based on my level at the time). Your numbers will vary, but the comparison between the sponsors should be similar (the values at the top are the wins required, and it is all based on two weeks):

If you go to the bottom of this page, and click the link to see the spreadsheet templates, there is one to help compare sponsors based on your numbers.

Many don’t understand the relationship between VIT, energy, and how that affects players, so hopefully this will clarify some things for you.

VIT is vitality, their general state of health I suppose. Players who have played more games, will drop VIT quicker.

The only way to improve VIT is to spa. Each spa will increase VIT by 2. It only shows up to 100, but technically goes up to 102. So it is worth doing a spa for a player on 99 for example.

You need to do a spa on a Sunday for the daily sponsor challenge, so save one for then. If you do more, keep in mind the price drops by 15 tokens each day. The highest is 150, lowest 105.

Running a spa not only increases VIT by 2, but energy by up to 15. It also trains players in skills, as well as provides a boost in training if you train straight after a spa (it decreases over time). Injured players don’t train skills but do recover VIT and energy.

The combination of VIT and games represents a player’s ‘age’. So, you can ‘keep a player young’ but it will take more and more spas to do so.

Low VIT players lose energy faster, so can play fewer games before needing a rest, and tire quicker in games. Training strength will help a player to tire less quickly, so it’s worth training players in strength.

As a side note, when selling low VIT players, the bots will not buy players with VIT lower than 75, so if they are lower, you’ll need to find a human buyer.

Energy recovers as you rest your players (time without playing). The rate they recover, is determined by your Health Club (under training, under squad).

You can upgrade this, but it requires tokens. So, check the current times, and what the next upgrade offers, and see if it’s worth the tokens to upgrade.

The maximum level Health Club is 40, and that will get you 1 energy every 10 minutes, and your players will be ready to train after 2h 45 min.

Upgrading this reduces the time it takes for each player to regain 1 energy, as well as the time it takes before you can retrain your players, without having to use tokens.

I hope that helps. Remember to check VIT and games played when purchasing players, as that represents their age. Recruits are ‘youngsters’ as they’re on 0 games and 100 VIT.

TR cups cause a lot of confusion, both with people playing them and with people organising them. I see people complaining about ‘big’ clubs playing in lowers cups, so I thought I’d explain how it all works.

TR stands for Target Rating, so a target to aim for which uses your average team rating to determine any penalties against you. Any penalty exceeds any advantage, so if your team is too highly rated, it will disadvantage you.

It uses the top 11 players out of all the 11 playing players AND any substitutes. You need at least 3 substitutes but can have as many as 7. It takes the best 11 player from these and calculates the average score.

It also checks for any players rated more than 30% above, or less than 30% below the TR rating. Your team also needs to be within the acceptable range, and you need to have unlocked the specific TR cup.

If your TR is within range, and you’ve unlocked that TR, you can play the next cup match. If your TR is at or lower than the cup TR rating, and all players within 30% above the target rating, you’re good to go.

You can have a player lower than 70% of the rating without being penalised, but you’ll be using more ‘rating budget’ for that player, so your other players will need to be lower rated.

If you break any of the rules above, the penalty you occur will exceed any advantage. So, a team of 502 in a 500 TR cup, will be worse off than one of 498. This prevents bigger teams from bullying smaller cups.

So, when preparing your team for a TR cup, here are some tips to remember:

1. ​Try and field a team that is bang on the TR rating. If you can’t do so, go under the rating rather than above it if all possible. Make sure you don’t have any really low or high players (more than 30% either way).

2. Make sure the bench players are rated lower than the playing 11. Any higher player on the bench will count towards the TR, but not actually play (unless they come on) which is a waste.

3. Check that all players are playing in their strongest position. A 480 rated striker who is actually a 500 mid, will still be counted as being 500 rated, although you only benefit from the 480.

4. It is debateable as to which formations are better in cups. Having said that, I have found playing with a lone striker to be advantageous. It may be my imagination, so do what you wish.

5. Make sure you are ready for each cup match. Accidentally having the wrong team in at each match, could even see you forfeit the cup if too high or too low.

If you create a cup, here are a few points to remember:

1. ​You can only create two and enter one cup at a time, and there can only be two cups at each TR rating open at any one time. So, don’t create a cup if you’re already in another, as you won’t be able to join your own cup.

2. Create the new cup for as soon as possible. Creating a cup for a week in advance, simply means others can’t create another cup in the meantime, and anyone who joins is locked out of other cups.

3. Consider how many teams are at your TR rating, before creating larger cups. If all else fails, do one with 8 teams first, and test the water. If it’s really popular, consider more teams the next time.

4. I prefer cups with games 1 hour apart, so that you can get the cup done with quite quickly. You might prefer to get some league games in between cup matches, but that takes planning.

5. Cup entry and prize money. That is up to you, but there are players who don’t want to spend tokens on entering cups, so if you’re scared of it not filling, go for cash only options.

If you click on the ‘Cup info’ it will open a screen explaining the cup details. Click on the red/yellow/green dot or the yellow fit rating for your current TR details. Click the Target Rating ? for more info.

I’d strongly suggest checking your team rating here before each cup match (as explained above). This will help you see that you’re in the best position you can be, because there are many factors in play here.

I hope this has helped you to understand TR cups, and how to create them, and also to not get upset when bigger teams enter smaller cups. Hopefully this has also helped you prepare for them.

1. Buy recruits, even if you don’t want them. When you buy a recruit, you do so at 0%. You can sell recruits straight away, so if you sell them for 22.9%, they will sell in 12 hours.

2. Don’t bring on subs. If a player plays (if brought on) you pay 100% of their wage. If they stay on the bench, you pay only 25% of their wage.

3. If you buy a low VIT player who is rated higher than your current players, he will not only boost your recruits rating, but you can give him spa’s, increase his VIT, and then sell him off again. There are some things to consider, so see my ‘Buying a Low VIT Player to Boost Recruits’ masterclass.

4. If you want cash over tokens, see my ‘Choosing Sponsors’ masterclass to see which sponsor deals are better for cash.

5. Increasing your Stadium Quality will let you charge more for tickets, which will boost your income. This is very important. Increasing stadium size will also bring in more fans and increase gates revenue.

6. If you see players being sold at 5% or less, you could buy them, wait 3 days, and then sell them at 22.9%. This will make you some money, unless you are playing loads of games with the extra players, as that increases your wages.

7. When playing in the main tournament group stage, you can increase your ticket prices for home games by 25%. Just remember to put them back down to what they were after the match. This is only for the main tournament (only home games) group stage. Not on the knockout stages or the TR cups.

8. Play AI games when you get the chance. I’ve written a whole masterclass on that called ‘Intro to the AI-1000 Challenge’ which explains everything.

9. Have a look at the ‘Merits’ masterclass. Collecting some repetitive merits can bring in some much-needed cash.

10. Keping players longer. Now, there are pros and cons for this, because the longer you keep players, the more their VIT drops, but they also get a reduction in wages. Every 10 matches they play, their wage decreases by 1%. So, after 100 games, you get 10% off, but they are still considered ‘young’.

Bacon codes are random text codes containing the word “Bacon” that appear roughly every 500 games in commentary text. If you miss them, they’ll appear more regularly until you claim them, so don’t stress.

They only appear in home games, so if you see one in an away game (I don’t even know if you will) then that’s for the opposition. They can appear against humans or bots.

If you spot one, replay the match. Slow the game right down when it gets near to the time it’s shown, and take a screenshot. The commentary text usually goes over 3 rows, so they’re easy to spot.

Before entering that code (SL Hub > Options > Secret code), it’s worth considering what the code could unlock, so you know when best to use it. These are the 3 potential rewards:

1. 500 Free seats. It doesn’t really matter when you get this one, as they simply sit there until you’re ready to use them. If your stadium expansions are quick, don’t worry about this.

If you take the best part of a week to do a stadium upgrade (with a larger stadium) then a Thursday or Friday, as you end a build for the merit, would be best to use this straight away. Before you start the next build.

2. Training boost. This lasts for 48 hours. Ideally, you want to train your players with this in effect, just after doing a spa (which also boosts training) to get the best training results.

If you only do the Sunday spa, then accepting this from Fri (after your Sun spa time) to Sun is best. That means that this would be active during your Sunday spa, to supersize the training straight after.

3. Swift scout. This returns your scout immediately, and then the next few scouts return after 12 hours instead of 24. This is the tricky one.

If you’ve got the space and funds for 4 recruits, then use the code just after you’ve sent your scout out. If you don’t, then either use the code when you’ve sent your scout out after he’s come back empty handed, or reject the recruits on offer.

The 12 hour return is relatively easy to deal with, just sell a player straight after recruiting one. 22.9% will sell in 12 hours, otherwise 20% to be sure, which will sell in 8. Both will make you money if you sell your recruit.

When you use a Bacon code, it actives immediately, and could be any one of these. So, keep all these in mind when deciding exactly when to enter your code. Good luck!

In D6, you’re able to play AI games against a team of robots, named after Sidelines players. It starts every Wednesday, and you need to play 8 games to complete the round.

All 8 games are at home, and depending on your final score (average goal difference), you can earn inspiration points, which will later be applied to random players as talent.

This is the main reason for AI games, to earn inspiration points, which will be added at random to players after matches. You’ll see when this happens because the ‘Exit Match’ will be in blue. You can then see which player has been inspired.

You’ll find the AI games on the cups page, under the main tournament. If you want to play a second round of 8 games, you can pay 50 tokens to do so if you think its worth it.

All players rated 100 and above, will be adjusted to 1000. So, a 100 rated player will be multiplied by 10, and a 5000 player divided by 5. This means your players will be rated at around 1000 (same as the robots).

So, how do you get the advantage? Tactics, formation, and the proportion of skills in individual players. If your score is good, you might finish high in the rankings and get some extra perks.

Now, given the adjustment of ratings, the 8 home games, the fact that AI matches don’t use energy, and the assumption that all players are at max energy, there are some other reasons to play AI games.

As mentioned, the inspired players who then have increased talent is the main perk here, but there are some other advantages to playing AI games.

Money. If you play lower rated players (big clubs often buy 100 rated players to do this) you pay lower wages, but still charge the same gates for 8 home matches in a row. That can earn you good money.

AI matches can be used to all-star players too. They can also be used to run down injuries and bans. However, players can get injured in AI games. You can also play while your players recover energy, as it’s assumed full.

Please note, the max multiplier for player ratings is 10, so players under 100 will not reach their potential. Player VIT is affected in AI games. Also, remember to put your league team back in before playing a league game!

If you do pay 50 tokens to play a second round of 8 games, it will take your best round score. Your score is the average goal difference for the 8 games. Around 3 to 4 is a good score.

I hope this has helped. Click the ? next to the AI-1000 Challenge, and read some more about this, but once you’ve got your head around this, it’s well worth a go. Enjoy!

OK, D2 camping. The ideal here is to complete all daily challenges, and get the sponsor bonus, while ending on less than 400 points. Ideally 399. Just remember that D2 is 2 weeks long and not 1.

Sync your sponsor with the season, and pick a sponsor that requires fewer than 400 points to get, I think Seriously Bald is the max. Then divide the number of points by the number of games. I think the answer is around 4.

Then you need to limit your scoring to that number per game (check throughout the season). This will help you to reach both targets together without overshooting the points.

To limit your scoring, buy some low rated players and sub them in for your strikers when you hit the target each game. Set midfielders to not attack.

Then you need to pace your games. You need to make sure you have enough games to achieve each daily challenge, and to get the sponsor bonus, but still stay under 400. Don’t overshoot it, but don’t leave too much to do on the last day.

Then at the end of the season, you’ll have to make a choice as to what’s more important. Position (for the bonus) or win bonus (if you have it). Trying for both of these could put you in trouble.

If position, then try and get 399 exactly. If you go over, lose a game and go for 399. If win bonus, stop short, if you go over you’ll have to lose to come down.

So to recap. Get the daily challenge, get a sponsor bonus, and pace your games to do it in a season. Limit your scoring (if needed). Then at the end, once all is achieved, decide how close to get to 399. It’s all about finding that balance. Tricky, but possible!

All-starring is the term for getting a player proficient in all 4 positions, GK, def, mid, striker. They are considered proficient when they reach 95 in each position.

You can gain position points by playing players out of position, in the position you wish to improve. So, playing a keeper as a striker will improve their ability as a striker.

There are a few criteria that determine your chances of gaining a position point in a game. Here are 4 criteria that affect your chance.

1. Better trainers improve faster. Max talents are good to all-star.

2. Higher energy. The higher the energy level of the player in the game, the better the chance. So, a player at 100 energy is more likely to gain in a position than a player on 70 energy.

3. The time they play. The longer they play in a match the higher their chances. Playing 90 min is better than 45 for example.

4. The higher the rating for a position, the longer it takes to gain more position points. So, when the player’s on 25, they progress nicely, but don’t be surprised when taking them from 94 to 95 takes much longer.

There are two kinds of all-stars. A regular one where all 4 positions reach 95. Then an Ultimate Allstar where a recruited (never sold) player gets all 4 positions to 100.

Getting each position to 95 will earn you a merit, as will getting a player to 3 positions and then 4 (all star). There are a few things to consider when all-starring:

1. You can all-star in league games, AI games, and TR cup games. You can’t do so in the tournament and friendlies.

2. You only gain position points if you win a match. I’d you lose or draw you don’t.

3. It’s often considered wise to all-star goalkeepers. Firstly because they tend to bottle-neck trying to get that role. Also, there’s another reason below.

4. Some positions are closer to all-star to start off with. A defender will have 100 rating in def but 50 in mid. Where as a mid will be 100 in mid, 50 as a def, and 50 as a striker.

5. If you get players with multiple roles, adding more will still get you the relative merits. Also, you only get credit when taking a position from 94 to 95.

Now, there’s a term you won’t find in the game called a ‘playable’ all-star. I just made it up. This is what I call an all-star that is not only efficient in the positions, but also has the skills.

Just to be clear, this is not required for any of the merits, but is useful if you want players with the best ratings in each position. Here’s my plan:

1. Start with a keeper, as he usually has the same skills as a defender. Play him as a defender while training him with the skills he needs as a midfielder.

2. Then play him as a midfielder, while training him in striker skills. Train him as a striker last while completing his skills training.

3. An all-star with a balance of skills will perform better than one who is technically an all-star but is lacking skills for certain positions. This is not necessary for the merits though.

While we’re talking about merits, keep one thing in mind. You can only get one of the same merit per game. So, if you have 2 players on 94. Only play one. If they both go to 95 in the same game, you only get the merit for one.

All starring is a good way of earning merits, but it does likely weaken your team, so find the balance. I hope this has helped you to do that.

There have been some questions raised about buying a lower VIT player, who is higher rated, and keeping them in the reserves. This is to boost the value of recruits while camping in D2.

This is not advisable when pushing in the league, so not really relevant to lower leagues. This is because wages are taken into effect, and the more games you play, the higher they will be.

This can actually be a ‘break even’ exercise cost wise, because of the value gained by sending the player to the spa and increasing his VIT. So, it all comes down to listing fee %, games played (while he’s in the reserves) and VIT rating.

Doing 2 spas a week, and selling a player when you get to 100 VIT, you can play 14 games a day to break even. I’ve done a few calculations, and it appears that 50 games per spa is roughly the break even point.

So here’s the bottom line. If you buy a lower VIT player at 22.9%, and you play within 50 games for each spa that you do, and his VIT increases by 2 each time you spa (so you sell before or when he gets to 100), you should break even.

Here are the assumptions. He doesn’t actually play a game. This is based on zero growth in stats, so if he improves through training, that is a bonus. I have tested this from 250 to 5000 rated players. Remember to include any games played while the player is transfer listed, as you are still paying their wages.

If you sell for more than 22.9% you’ll make more. Just keep in mind that selling for more means keeping him longer, which means more games played and higher wages. I’ve taken the listing fee into account too.

I tested this from 80 VIT to 100, over 5 weeks. However, changing those figures always brought us back to the 50 games per spa figure for all ratings. So, it appears that that is the number to aim for.

Playing more than 50 games per spa will see you make a loss (the more games, the bigger loss) and playing fewer than 50 games per spa will see you make a profit (the fewer games the more profit).

When the player gets to 100 VIT, sell them, and buy another lower VIT player, and start again. I tested from 80 VIT to 100, but it appears that the VIT doesn’t matter as long as it improves. Just remember you can’t sell <75 VIT players to bots.

You don’t have to wait for a player to reach 100 VIT, you can sell them at any stage. As long as the games/spa ratio is met, and they’re constantly improving their VIT. Selling just after a spa is best if possible.

Since writing this, the following tournament ‘buckets’ have been added, based on the top 11 average. These determine your opponents in the group stage of the main tournament.

Bucket 1: Up to 300.
Bucket 2: 301 – 600.
Bucket 3: 601 – 900.
Bucket 4: 901 – 2000.
Bucket 5: 2001 +

Keep these in mind when using a recruit booster, if you plan on entering the tournament. Of you’re not playing your recruit booster, it would be a disadvantage to use one if he pushed you into a higher bucket.

I previously wrote that the recruit was based on the median of the top 16. That is incorrect. Ejay confirmed that it was the average. So, buying a better recruit booster will help.

But, to be clear, this doesn’t mean that your recruit will be the average of the top 16. The recruit ‘range’ is mostly below that average. You could get a recruit better than most of your other players, but the chances is that he will be lower than most. Having said that, the ratings of the recruits will raise from what they would have been without the recruit booster.

If you want this recruit booster to help with boosting your cup team, make sure he’s no better than 30% above the cup TR rating.

I hope that has helped you to make your decision.

So, you’re considering promoting to D1. It’s different to the rest of the game, so there are a few things to consider before promoting. Club reputation is key, but there’s a method to get it.

You go through ‘gates’ and each one unlocks more club rep. One gate unlocks free each season. So, if you want to get 50 points first season, 100 points next season, etc. You don’t need much to promote. You have to reach each gate for the next to unlock next season.

However, most want to smash through all the gates as soon as possible, to get the club rep sooner, while you’re still under protection from playing the bigger teams (first 2 seasons of D1).

In order to do this, you need to consider the number of games you need to play. I was doing a spa daily at least. That’s a lot of tokens plus the funds if your home/away income is negative. You need to make sure you’ve got these resources.

The bots are about 1000 points greater than your points balance. So, when you get to 1000, you’ll face bots at or just over 2000. A rule of thumb is to add 1500 to your desired D1 score, and make sure you’ve got two teams at or over that rating.

A good minimum D1 total to aim for is 1500 (that’s where the distance between club rep gates increases). That means that a TR of 3000 is advisable. Let’s look at where these gates occur based on your score (goal difference):

From 50 to 800 points there’s a gate every 50 points. From 800 to 1500, they are every 100 points. Then up to 7000 they happen every 250 points. Up to 9000 every 500 points. Then up to 10,000 every 1000 points.

So, I got to 2500 points, which is 27 gates. That earned me 2700 club rep points. This means 27% off of wages of D1 recruits, and I can end the sponsor bonus when I get to the last 27% of the time.

Each gate gets 100 club rep points, and each gate costs 200 tokens to unlock it (except for 1 free one per season as mentioned). So, if you get 1500, that’s 23 gates for 2300 club rep at a cost of 4600 tokens!

So, you need to budget for club rep gates, match costs (wages), spas, and possibly buying players. Decide what total you’re shooting for, add 1500, and get your team(s) to that rating. Go for it in one of your first two (protected) seasons.

Check for merits for promoting to D1, as there’s one for 1000 tokens. These plus prize winnings from D2 are most helpful. Club rep is huge, because 20 odd % off wages is a huge boost! There is some financial help in terms of money (not as many tokens).

There’s something called Rising to the Top which gives you cash rewards for goals scored (not goal difference). This only lasts for the first 5 seasons in D1. It starts again each season, so hit these targets and get these rewards:

20 goals = 200m. 40 goals = 250m. 65 goals = 300m. 100 goals = 350m. 150 goals = 400m. 200 goals = 500m. 300 goals = 600m. 400 goals = 800m. 500 goals = 1b. 750 = 1.5b. 1000 goals = 2b.

The rewards in D1 for your finished position are better than other divisions, and not just for the top few, so money and tokens come easier, but the first push (as you can see) is costly.

You need to hire the best assistant as early as possible in D1 to get the better recruits. So, let your previous sponsor deal run out in D2, and don’t sign a new one that will extend to D1. Don’t send your scout out the night before either. Then, first thing in D1, fire your scout, hire the best guy, sign a sponsor deal and send him out!

I hope that helps. There’s a lot of info there, so consider your goals, and then work out what resources you’ll need, and what’s expected of you. It’s fun once you’re in D1. It’s also not so bad when protection ends.