Football Sim Lab
How to play: a reproducible tournament example
Last reviewed:
1. Choose a setup
Open the 2026 teams to replay the 48-team format. Switch to manual teams before drawing a different field. The 2030 preset contains projected participants.
2. Try a controlled score
In Group Ranking, turn off “Use real results” and enter 1–0 for the first listed Group A match, Mexico vs South Africa. Keep it fixed when simulating. From this match Mexico earns 3 points, 1 goal for and 0 against. South Africa earns 0 points, 0 goals for and 1 against. Other matches contribute separately to the final table.
Change that score to 0–0 and recalculate. Each team now receives 1 point from the match. This is a consequence you can verify independently of random results. Record your overrides and whether real results are enabled to distinguish fixed scores from simulated matches.
3. Compare possibilities
Simulate at standard chaos, increase Chaos Factor and repeat. Stronger teams can win at high chaos or lose at standard chaos. Compare many runs before describing a tendency. One champion is not a probability. Do not mix runs with different overrides without recording that difference.
4. Follow the bracket
Review the top two teams in each group and eight qualifying third-place teams. Continue to Knockout Stage and play through to a champion. Changing a group result can change both qualifiers and bracket branches, so review the new bracket before comparing outcomes.
5. Keep a useful record
Record the year, teams, draw, chaos setting, real-results setting and score overrides. Image and PDF exports stay on your device. Public links upload the selected result. Local saves do not transfer between domains. See Privacy for the difference.
Create your own World Cup or custom tournament
Open Free Tournament and open Tournament settings (Settings on mobile) to start with a 24, 32 or 48-team template. Under Customize rules, choose the number of groups, teams per group, automatic qualifiers and extra qualifiers. You can use up to 128 teams; the total qualifiers must form a 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64-team knockout bracket. Invalid combinations cannot be applied.
For a 64-team tournament, use 16 groups of four, two automatic qualifiers per group and zero extra qualifiers. This produces a 32-team knockout stage. Start with ranked pots and edit the countries in each pot, or turn seeding off. Confederation limits, a fixed host group, host advantage, the third-place match and avoiding immediate group rematches are optional.
Use Draw groups for a random draw or Arrange manually to place the teams yourself. Simulate each group or enter match scores, then continue to the knockout stage. For a tied knockout score, enter unequal penalty scores to decide who advances.
Simulate one football match
The football match simulator runs one game between two teams from the bundled 2026 field. Choose Form matters or More upsets, then play the matchup. The displayed probabilities describe 90 minutes; extra time and penalties resolve a drawn knockout game. Results do not change a tournament or career.
Player Career
Create a fictional prospect, select training and clubs, then review seasons and national-team opportunities. Career choices do not change the separate tournament mode. Progress is local to this browser. Read Methodology for the tournament formula and limitations.