BUILD YOUR
NATION

The match engine is tuned against real tournament data. Across hundreds of thousands of simulated tournaments we checked that the right teams win at the right rate, that upsets land about as often as they do in life, and that goals per game and the share of ties going to extra time and penalties all line up with the record books. Stronger sides win more, but nothing is ever a foregone conclusion.

Every player is rated by hand across nine attributes: pace, shooting, passing, dribbling, defending, physical, composure, work rate and goalkeeping. Each one is read through a per-position lens, so the same player is judged differently at left back than on the wing. A defender pushed up front, or a winger dropped into a holding role, is rated for the job he is actually asked to do, not the one he is best at.

Work rate sits apart from the rest. It does not flatter a player's overall rating. Instead it feeds a team pressing meter, so an eleven full of runners defends better as a unit. Composure does the quiet work in the big moments. It sets the nerve in a shootout, where the coolest heads step up first, as well as affecting finishing and last-line defence.

Goals are never handed out at random. Each one is weighted by who was on the pitch and how they play, so an elite finisher tops the charts far more often than a full back ever could. Every goal and assist is tracked for all forty eight nations across the whole tournament, which is how the Golden Boot, the assist chart and the Player of the Tournament are settled fairly.

Alongside the football there is a running tally of your own. Wins, clean sheets and deep runs all score, with quieter rewards for an underdog squad, for drafting with restraint, and for owning a tournament award winner. A few are easter eggs worth hunting for, and the draft challenges give the whole thing a fresh shape every time you play.