Planning Line-ups and Substitutions

Planning Line-ups and Substitutions

Line-up Plans let you set out your starting line-up, plan every substitution before kick-off, and sketch tactics straight onto a pitch. Build a plan once, link it to the match, and your line-up and subs timeline are ready before you even get to the ground.

What you'll learn

• How to create a new line-up plan and place players on the pitch
• What phases are and how to plan a substitution
• How to draw runs, passes, press triggers and shapes with the arrow tools
• How to link a plan to one or more matches
• How to duplicate a plan and how auto-save works
• How to share your plan as an image

Quick Steps

1. Open Line-up Plans — From the drawer menu tap Line-up Plans, then tap New Plan.
2. Name it and choose a team — Type a name (for example "4-3-3 vs Riverside"), pick the team from the dropdown, then tap Create Plan.
3. Place your starters — Tap a player on the Bench strip, then tap a spot on the pitch to drop them there. There's no fixed formation to pick from — you place every player exactly where you want them.
4. Add a phase for your subs — Tap + Phase above the pitch. Each new phase copies the line-up from the one before it, so you only need to change what's different.
5. Make the substitution — On the new phase, tap the bench player coming on, then tap the player on the pitch going off. SquadTracker swaps them and logs it under Substitutions.
6. Draw your tactics (optional) — Use the Run, Pass, Press, Shape or Draw buttons to sketch moves on the pitch, then tap Clear to wipe the arrows on that phase.
7. Link it to a match — Tap Link match in the header, then tap any matches you want this plan attached to.
8. Share it — Tap Share to generate an image of the current phase, then Share or Save to Device / Download PNG.

Phases and substitutions

A plan can have up to five phases — Starting, then Sub 1 through Sub 4. Every phase after the first inherits the previous phase's line-up, but never its arrows, so you only move the players who are actually changing. The Substitutions panel above the bench shows who came Off and On at each phase so you can check your plan at a glance. You can delete any phase except Starting — tap the ✕ next to the active phase tab and confirm.

Tapping a player already on the pitch, with no bench player selected, removes them and sends them back to the bench — handy if you change your mind.

Linking to matches and sharing

A plan isn't limited to one match — tap Link match to attach it to as many upcoming fixtures as you like, and unlink it the same way. From a match's own page, the Line-Up Plans card lets you attach an existing plan or jump straight to it.

Share builds an image of the pitch, the player list and the full substitutions timeline for the phase you're viewing, in your team's colours and badge. On your phone this opens the share sheet so you can pick WhatsApp, Messages or another app; on the web it downloads straight to your device. If generating or sharing fails, SquadTracker tells you rather than failing silently.

Saving, duplicating and who can see a plan

Every change — moving a player, adding an arrow, adding a phase — saves itself about half a second after you stop editing. The small indicator next to the plan name shows Saving…, a green tick once it's saved, or an amber dot if a save failed and needs retrying.

To reuse a plan, tap the duplicate icon next to it on the Line-up Plans list, give the copy a name under Name for duplicate, and tap Duplicate — the copy starts with no matches linked. Tap the ✕ next to a plan to delete it and confirm; this can't be undone.

Line-up plans are private to the coach who created them — even another coach on the same team won't see your plans in their own list.

Consent and player names

Players show as their first name with a last initial on the pitch and bench. If a parent or guardian has explicitly declined consent for a player, that player is shown as initials only everywhere in the planner, including on a shared image — a reminder appears under the bench whenever this applies to your squad. Pending and approved players are always shown by name. Parents and guardians set this for players under 16; players aged 16 or over can set it for themselves.

See also Teamsheet, Recording a Result Without Live Tracking, Sharing a Match Result Image and Player Consent Explained.