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A full walkthrough of SubPlan FC — team setup, building a match plan, and running it live on the sideline — covering every feature on the site.

Sign in

Sign in with your Google account — there's no separate SubPlan FC password to create or remember.

Create a team, or join one

If a coach has already set up your team, they'll send you an invite link — open it, sign in, and you're in. Otherwise, create your own team from the Team Hub and you become its owner.

Add your roster

Add each player by name from the team page. You can rename or remove a player at any time.

Set position eligibility

For each player, mark which positions they can play and how strongly to favor each one: Primary (their main spot), Secondary (a regular fill-in spot), or Occasional (backup coverage only). This is what auto-generate uses to build lineups later, so it's worth setting up early.

Build your formation

Define the positions your team actually plays — not locked to a fixed 7v7 or 11v11 template. Group positions into columns so related spots (like your two center-backs) sit together on the board.

Pick your colors

Set a color for each position type so the lineup is easy to read at a glance. These carry across every match plan for the team — edit them from the Colors section on any plan's board (you won't see the effect until you're looking at a board anyway, so that's the only place it lives). Every pick applies immediately, and Reset to defaultsputs the original palette back at any time.

Set your team color

Separately, pick an overall Team color from the team page — it fills your rotation table's header and border, the minutes bar on the summary page, and PDF exports. Choose from the presets or use the custom option to match your team's real color exactly.

A rotation plan is what you build for one specific match. Start a new one from your team page.

Halves and rotations

Set how many halves the match has, how long each is, and how many rotations to split it into. You can fine-tune individual rotation lengths afterward directly on the board.

Choose who's playing

Pick which players from your roster are available for this particular match — handy when someone's out sick or on vacation. Unchecking a player greys out their whole row, and if the board has already been generated, clears them from it right away — no need to wait for the next auto-generate to see it take effect.

Match settings

Under Match settings on the plan page, you can set:

• How many players stay on the field each rotation (vs. rotating out)
• Goalkeeper rotation: one GK per half, a new GK every rotation, or assign manually
• Optional rule: a player who just played center mid and stays on the field must move to a defensive spot next rotation
• Optional rule: same idea, but for forwards — a player who just played striker or winger and stays on the field must move to a defensive spot next rotation. It's a separate switch, so you can turn on either one, both, or neither.
• With one GK per half and two halves, an optional “outfield rotation” toggle: the other half's keeper gets one guaranteed outfield rotation during this half (you choose which rotation number) before sitting the rest of it out.

Auto-generate

Click Auto-generate rotations to fill every rotation automatically, based on each player's position eligibility and your match settings.

Drag players to adjust

Not happy with a spot? Drag any player to a different slot, or to the bench, within that same rotation.

Lock what you want to keep

Click the lock icon on any player to protect their spot — the next auto-generate will build everything else around locked players instead of overwriting them. You can also lock an entire rotation at once from the rotation label.

Fill in a gap without rebuilding everything

If a player didn't show up (or anything else leaves empty slots on an already-built board), a Fill empty slots button appears next to Auto-generate. It fills in only what's empty and leaves every other slot exactly as it was — no need to lock everything else first.

Warning flags

A player's name gets flagged if they've been benched too many rotations in a row, or kept on the field too many rotations in a row without a break — a quick visual check for fairness before you lock anything in.

Arrows between rotations

When a player stays on the field between two rotations, an arrow on the board shows where they moved from and to.

Playing time

The Playing Time section shows total minutes for each player, and the Position Breakdown table shows how those minutes split across positions — the fastest way to confirm everyone's getting a fair share.

From the team page, copy the invite link and send it to an assistant coach. Anyone who opens it and signs in gets full access to that team's roster and plans — sending them the link is your approval, there's no separate request to accept.

The Coaches with access list on the team page shows everyone who's joined. If someone shouldn't have access anymore, the team's owner can remove them from there at any time.

Print or download

Use Download PDF on any plan for a clean, printable sheet to bring to the field.

Reuse a plan

Use Duplicate on any existing plan to start a new match from a copy of it, instead of building from a blank board every time.

SubPlan FC works on phones and tablets, not just a laptop. Builder Mode's rotation table is wide, so on a phone you'll scroll it sideways to see every column — for actually running a match sideline-side, use Match Mode instead.

Open Match Mode

From any plan, click Match Mode to switch into a full-screen view built for the sideline — no wide table to scroll, just the current rotation and what's coming up next.

List and Field views

Toggle between List (each position as a row, with who's up next) and Field (the same lineup on a pitch diagram) — same data, whichever's easier to read in the moment.

The clock

Tap the play button to start the rotation timer yourself — it never starts automatically. Pause and resume any time; the countdown picks up exactly where it left off, even after locking your phone or switching apps.

Confirm each rotation

When the timer runs out (or whenever you're ready), tap Next Rotation to see exactly who's coming off, who's coming on, and any position swaps — confirm to advance. If two of the players coming on should trade which position they're heading to, tap one, then tap the other, to swap them right there — this only affects that one rotation and doesn't change the rest of your plan.

Preview without disrupting the live match

Tap any other rotation number to preview it — this never touches the running clock or the live rotation, it's just a look ahead. Back to live returns to what's actually happening; Start live here jumps the live match to whatever you're previewing, in case the clock ran on while your phone was locked and the plan's drifted from where the real game is.

Quick Sub — substitute or swap on the fly

Tap any player on the field (in either view) to substitute them out for a bench player right now, or swap them with another on-field player — no waiting for the next scheduled rotation. Choosing a replacement shows what that specific choice leads to — like a new fairness concern for someone else — right in the list, before you confirm. Confirming applies it immediately and rebuilds every rotation after it around the change; a banner with an Undo confirms it went through.

Marking an injury

When substituting a player out, check the is injured — don't plan them back in this match box before picking their replacement. Their already-played rotations stay exactly as they happened, but they won't be considered for any rotation after this one — unlike a normal substitution, where they're still eligible to rotate back in later.

Restart

The restart button in Match Mode's header resets the clock and returns to Rotation 1 — including undoing any Quick Subs made this match. Use it if you started the timer by mistake or want a clean slate.