How to play Perfect XI

A complete walkthrough of a single run — from your first spin to reading your simulated season. The whole loop takes a couple of minutes, and you'll have it memorised after one game.

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The core loop in five steps

Choose your settings

Pick a formation (the game offers seven classic shapes) and, if you like, narrow the range of seasons you'll draft from. Then start the run.

Spin for a club and season

A wheel lands on a real club from a real campaign — say Arsenal's Invincibles, Newcastle in the 1990s, or Manchester City under Guardiola. Stronger squads come up more often, never filler. You get a limited number of re-rolls for the whole game, so save them for a spin you genuinely can't use.

Draft a player into a position

From the squad you landed on, pick one player and slot them into an open position in your formation. Players can only fill positions they actually played, so a winger won't go in goal. Each choice is a trade-off: take a world-class name now, or hold out and hope a better fit for an empty slot comes along.

Complete your eleven

Repeat until all eleven positions are filled. As your XI takes shape you'll see a running overall rating, so you can tell whether you're building a relegation scrap or a genuine title challenger.

Simulate the season

Lock in your XI and the engine plays a full 38-game league season against the rest of the division. You'll get a final league position, a points total, a full results grid, and a set of awards — then you decide whether to chase something better.

Reading your result

After the simulation you get several things to chew on:

Overall rating — your headline number, based on the ratings of your eleven and how well each player fits the position you placed them in. A balanced team scores better than one carried by a couple of stars.
Projected finish and points — where your XI is expected to land in the table and how many points it should take.
Season odds — your rough chances of winning the league, going unbeaten, or achieving the perfect 38-0.
Results and fixtures — a game-by-game grid of wins, draws and losses, so you can see exactly where a perfect run slipped away.
Awards — top scorer, standout performers, and other highlights from your simulated season.

Modes

Normal vs Expert

In Normal mode, ratings are shown as you build, so you always know how strong a pick is. In Expert mode the numbers are hidden — you see only names and positions and draft purely on football knowledge, with the ratings and final record revealed at the end. Expert is the connoisseur's challenge.

World Cup mode

Build a World XI by drafting one player from each nation you roll, then take your mixed eleven through the tournament — or pick a single country and try to win it all. A different twist on the same satisfying draft loop.

Versus

Draft two teams and play them head-to-head in a single match, with a shareable code so a friend can take on your exact line-up.

Tips for your first few runs

Build the spine first — a strong goalkeeper, centre-backs, a central midfielder and a striker matter more than a fourth flair player.
Don't hoard attackers. A season is won down the middle, and an unbalanced XI is punished by the engine.
Spend re-rolls on spins you truly can't use, not on a squad that's merely "not your favourite".
Mind position fit — a great player out of position drags your rating down.

Want to go deeper? Read the 38-0 strategy guide and the formations guide.

Key terms

Spin / wheel	The draw that lands you on a real club and season to draft from.
Draft	Choosing one player from the squad you landed on for an open position.
Re-roll / swap	A limited token to skip a spin you can't use (club swap or era swap).
Overall (OVR)	Your team's headline rating, weighted by position fit and balance.
Spine	The central core of the team — goalkeeper, centre-backs, central midfield, striker.
38-0	A perfect season: 38 games, 38 wins, no draws and no defeats.
Expert mode	Drafting with ratings hidden, on football knowledge alone.