Tactics & Formations

The Tactics tab is where you commit who plays and how they’re arranged. Your saved lineup + formation drive every match you kick off.

Formations

FoxLeague offers eight formations. Some share the same base shape (two variations of 4-4-2, three of 4-3-3) but adjust player positioning and attacking style differently. Pick the one that matches your squad’s strengths.

A ninth, 4-4-2 - All-Out Attack, is not offered yet because the match engine cannot play it. A team that saved it earlier plays 4-4-2 - Balanced in its matches until it is available. Its card stays in Tactics marked Coming soon, with a notice.

4-4-2 family

• 4-4-2 - Balanced. Classic. Four defenders, four midfielders, two strikers (even coverage across all areas).
• 4-4-2 - Offensive. Midfield pushes up into a 4-2-4 attacking shape with four forwards.

4-3-3 family

• 4-3-3 - Attacking. Three forwards, strong attacking power with wide play (midfield can be exposed).
• 4-3-3 - Balanced Attack. Balanced 4-3-3 that maintains shape in both phases (same attacking and defending).
• 4-3-3 Wide - Wide Play. Wide 4-3-3 in attack, drops into 3-4-3 in defense. Wing forwards stretch the opposition with maximum width.

Other shapes

• 4-2-3-1 - Counter Attack. Modern setup. Double pivot shields the defense and collapses to 3-1-3-3 when defending.
• 5-3-2 - Solid Defense. Five at the back, three midfielders link play to two forwards.
• 5-2-3 - Wing Attack. Five defenders transition into 3-2-3-2 when attacking. Wing-backs push forward to support three forwards.

Pick by clicking the formation card at the top of Tactics. The pitch view animates to the new shape and fills it with your best XI for that shape as an unsaved draft. Nothing changes until you click SAVE. Clicking your saved formation again brings back your saved lineup.

Setting your XI

The pitch view shows position slots. Drag a player from your roster (left side) into a slot. Constraints:

• Position must match (a Defender can’t fill a Forward slot)
• Player must be eligible (not listed for sale, not in a transfer cooldown)
• One slot per player (you can’t field the same player twice)

Each slot shows the position requirement (GK / DEF / MID / FWD) and the assigned player’s OVR. Empty slots are red.

Save your lineup

On the formation you have saved, every change you make to the lineup (a drag, a tap swap, BEST XI) is saved at once. A different formation card opens as an unsaved draft: the SAVE button appears at the top of the page next to BEST XI. The draft (with any change you make to it) is committed only when you click it. The saved formation carries a green Saved badge. The Squad Readiness widget on PlayMatch shows the formation you saved next to its ready / owned count.

If you leave a draft unsaved, your saved formation and lineup stay in effect.

Rotating reserves in

If you own more than 18 players (e.g. you’ve bought extras on the marketplace or fused new ones), the surplus shows up in a Reserves strip below the bench. You can rotate them into the lineup or onto the bench directly from Tactics. No need to bounce out to the Squad page.

The flow is tap-to-select, tap-to-place:

1. Tap a Reserve card. It gets an orange outline and the hint above the strip reads Tap a highlighted lineup or sub slot to swap. Tap reserve again to cancel. Only the slots of the same position (in the XI or on the bench) accept the tap; an empty one reads Tap to swap here.
2. Tap a highlighted slot. The Reserve swaps in. Whichever player was occupying that slot is displaced. They drop back into the Reserves pool.
3. On your saved formation the swap is saved at once. On an unsaved formation draft, click SAVE to commit it.

You can cancel a selection by tapping the same Reserve again.

Position still matches strictly. A Forward Reserve can only swap into Forward slots. Listing or fusing a Reserve still happens on the Marketplace → Fusion / Marketplace → Sell flows.

What actually drives the match

When you kick off:

1. Your saved lineup decides who’s on the pitch.
2. Each player’s synced stats drive their on-pitch performance: passing range, shot power, recovery, decision-making. Any training that isn’t synced yet won’t show on the pitch.
3. Your formation decides starting positions and roles.
4. The match plays out live (around 10 minutes). Watch the action unfold, then check your History to relive past matches anytime.

Level does not change in-match performance. Condition does: every stat of a starter is scaled by condition, from full strength at 100 down to half strength at 0. Condition also decides availability (see below). Your synced stats, the right players in the right positions and the formation that fits them are what win games.

Squad Readiness widget

The widget on PlayMatch shows ready / owned players, where ready means the player’s condition is at or above the match floor (currently 30). It’s a health check, not the kickoff gate. To kick off you need a saved lineup of 11 starters + 7 substitutes, at least 18 unlisted players in your wallet, no starter at 0 condition and none of the 18 (starters or bench) in a transfer cooldown or listed for sale.

While one of your 18 is listed for sale, KICK OFF stays disabled and the line under it reads 1 player is listed for sale: cancel the listing or swap it out (with two of them: 2 players are listed for sale: cancel the listing or swap them out). Below it, My Listings opens your listings to cancel one; Open Tactics lets you swap the player for a reserve.

Reasons a player might NOT be ready:

• Below the condition floor: condition under 30. In tournaments and 1v1s such starters are auto-substituted from the bench; if fewer than 11 fit players remain the match is forfeited 3-0

Reasons a player can’t be fielded even when ready:

• In transfer cooldown: 21 days (504h) after a wallet-to-wallet receive, which you can pay to cut to a 3-day floor, every day of it or only some, in Marketplace → Shop → Reduce Cooldown. A card moved before its match gate: 21 days plus 6 hours for every missing match, shorter only with match waivers
• Listed for sale: escrowed on the marketplace until you cancel the listing

Kickoff can also be blocked at the account level: from 1 hour before one of your tournament or 1v1 matches is scheduled until its broadcast ends, casual and ranked play is off.

The widget breaks down by position so you see if you’re short of, e.g., midfielders.

Tips

• Match stats to position. A high-Defense Defender is worth more than a high-Defense Forward. Stats interact with their role on the pitch.
• Sync and lineup are independent. A sync writes every card of yours that has unsynced training (or the one card you sync from its profile), whether or not it is in your XI. Saving the lineup changes nothing about what is synced.