How to pick fair football teams
Close games are more fun for everyone, including the side that would have won 10–2. Here are the four ways groups usually pick teams, what goes wrong with each, and what actually keeps games close week after week.
Method 1: Captains pick
Two captains take turns choosing. It's traditional, and the best two players do end up on opposite sides. But it's slow, it's public, and somebody is always picked last, every week. The captains also tend to pick their mates, so the middle of the order is anything but balanced.
Method 2: Random
Bibs out of a bag, or alternate people as they stand in a line. Quick and nobody's feelings get hurt. The trouble is that random means random: some weeks the three best players end up together, and the game is over after ten minutes.
Method 3: Snake draft
Rank everyone from best to worst, then deal them out A, B, B, A, A, B, B, A and so on. Doubling back each round evens out the advantage of going first. It's much fairer than straight alternating, as long as the ranking is right, and that's the catch: one person ranking everyone is a guess, and people argue about it.
Method 4: Balance by rating
Give everyone a rating, then look for the split where the two teams' totals are as close as possible, with the keepers on opposite sides. By hand that's a lot of sums, since even ten players can be split into two fives in 126 different ways. A team generator checks them all in a second and gives you the fairest. Got a set number? Fair teams for 10, 12 or 14 players.
Try the free team generatorGetting the ratings right
Every balanced method is only as fair as the ratings behind it. A few things help:
- Rough is fine: five levels from "among the best" to "here for the fun" is plenty to start with.
- Rate how they play, not who they are: the quiet one who never misses a tackle counts.
- Split the keepers: a team without one, or with both, is decided before kick-off.
- Spread the positions: two sides with the same total can still be lopsided if one gets every defender. If that happens, reshuffle for another fair split.
- Odd numbers: give the side with fewer players the slightly stronger ones.
- Watch the scores: if one side keeps winning by five, the ratings need a nudge.
Fair every week, not just tonight
The fairest ratings don't come from one person at all. In Squadcard, everyone rates everyone else out of 10 after each game, and only totals are ever shown. The ratings come from the people who were on the pitch, they move with form, and the app picks the teams from them, so the games get closer the longer you play.
Start a squadQuestions
What's the fairest way to pick football teams?
Balancing by rating: give everyone a level, then split them so the two teams' totals are as close as possible, with keepers apart. It beats captains and random picks because it looks at the whole team, not one pick at a time.
How do I pick teams without anyone being picked last?
Don't pick in public. Use a team generator or have one person sort the teams before the game and post them in the group chat.
What is a snake draft in football?
Captains pick in the order A, B, B, A, A, B and so on, so the side that picks first doesn't keep getting the better player in every round.
How do I make teams fair with an odd number of players?
One side plays with an extra player, so give the smaller side the slightly stronger players to make up for it.