This document outlines all major and minor features and improvements included in the World Championship DLC.
The game now features national teams, the World Championship, and the opportunity to be invited to manage a national side. Additionally, national teams can now be used in Hotseat mode, a new type of modification for national teams has been added, and a new World Championship 2026 mode is available.
This is a comprehensive set of mechanics, which I will detail further below:
Every footballer now has a nationality. A flag is displayed in all footballer profile windows. You can hover over it to see a tooltip with the country's name.
Youth academies in each country now produce footballers specifically of that nationality.
In the League Editor, you can now assign nationalities to footballers.
If you have enough countries in your game world, the World Cup takes place every 4 years.
It consists of a Qualifying stage, held separately on each continent, and a Final stage.
The Final stage features 32 national teams.
National teams call up footballers from clubs for international matches.
If footballers from your club are called up, you receive Glory for each player.
Upon the footballers' return to the club, you receive additional Glory if your players participated in national team matches.
When generating the calendar, the system attempts to keep the international break week free from matches. If the league week cannot be cleared, it at least moves cup matches to other weeks.
As with all other tournaments, the game collects and displays detailed World Cup statistics for both the tournament and the participating footballers in a convenient format.
The game also features a national team ranking, updated after every match using the Elo system, taking into account home and away factors, goal difference, and the tournament stage.
Similar to the World Cup, every 4 years each continent hosts its own separate championship - for example, the European Championship, the American Championship, etc.
The mechanics are similar to the World Championship, but since some continents may have a small number of countries, the final stage of a Continental Championship might consist of fewer teams. Depending on your settings, there may not even be a qualification stage.
A unique cup and shield have been created for each continent's final celebrations.
If your Reputation is high enough, you may be invited to manage a national team. Notably, it is often much easier to get into some weaker national teams than into top-tier clubs.
You will manage the national team alongside your club duties.
Every national team aims to exceed its previous achievements, so they will set fairly ambitious goals. However, they won't ask you to do the impossible. If a team has never progressed past the World Championship group stage, they won't task you with winning the tournament.
Your work involves selecting footballers for the national squad specifically for matches. If you are a manager who knows how to motivate players, use Reputation to inspire them in crucial matches.
You can start a campaign immediately with national team offers. To do this, select Sandbox mode, grant yourself 2000+ Reputation points, and start by looking for a job. After choosing a club, you will receive offers from national teams.
The new mode is located in the Main Menu alongside other local multiplayer modes.
In this mode, you can manage a fictional national team in the World Cup 2026 final stage.
This tournament mirrors the real-world format, featuring 48 national teams with a selection similar to reality. However, the calendar, footballers, and certain other details differ.
The mechanics of this mode are identical to the existing Hotseat Tournament mode. You can play alone with one team or select any number of teams to manage - you can even play against yourself. You can also play with friends on one screen or online via Steam Remote Play.
Each friend can manage one or several teams.
You can also just simulate the World Championship to see who wins (by simulating your own team's matches).
We have added a large number of new pre-set national teams and updated the old ones.
Previously, the Hotseat Tournament mode only allowed for club tournaments. Now you can create national team tournaments. For example, you can create a league of 18 teams where everyone plays each other once or twice. Alternatively, you can set up a knockout cup or recreate a tournament's final stage with a group phase followed by playoffs.
A National Team Editor has been created.
You are no longer restricted to the abstract teams built into the game. You can customise teams to your liking: change footballers, their Attributes, appearance, national colours, and upload a logo.
The Editor has two main functions:
Editing all teams in the game (you can choose to edit only the ones that interest you).
Editing the rules for the World Championship 2026 mode. If you want to recreate the exact tournament specifics of the real World Championship, you can. The editor is designed for 48 teams.
You can share modifications in the Steam Workshop and subscribe to mods created by others.
All local multiplayer modes allow the use of modified national teams.
You can use this link to browse mods that feature modified national teams.
You can select a footballer and click the "Loan Out" button. A window will appear where you can choose where to send the player, though this costs Glory. This feature is unavailable in the Amateur League.
Other clubs with strong youth players lacking match practice will occasionally send their footballers on loan to lower-league clubs. These players' profiles will display their parent club's logo.
During open transfer windows, other clubs may occasionally send you offers to take a player on loan. Accepting costs Glory, but if the player gets match practice with you, you could potentially earn even more Glory back.
You no longer need to check every club manually when searching for footballers. Open Transfers, go to the Search screen, enter the desired Attributes, Skills and other characteristics, and click Search.
This tool can also be used to explore the game world. For instance, you can check how many footballers with Giftedness 5 exist globally.
On the calendar screen, you can now switch to the Watching Matches tab.
Select the tournament scale (national teams, international club, local), continent, country, and the specific tournament. The system will show you the full schedule, and you can select any matches you wish to watch.
This allows you to follow the World Championship, the European Championship, matches of your league rivals, and any other tournaments of interest.
A screen has also been added showing all matches scheduled for viewing.
If your match takes place on the same day as scheduled viewings, your match will be played last. This means you will know your rivals' scores in advance.
While watching, you cannot view footballer Attributes. However, you can hover over players on the pitch to see their surnames.
By default, league and cup matches now require at least 6 footballers from your own country in the squad.
You can change this number to any value when starting a campaign. Setting it to 0 removes the limit.
The AI will take this setting into account when buying footballers in the transfer market.
If a team lacks enough domestic players to start a match, they will forfeit with a 3:0 technical defeat. However, the game will prevent you from starting a match if you exceed the foreign player limit.
The format of this tournament is identical to other continental competitions (qualification, group stage, knockouts, final).
This tournament includes one team from each country, as well as clubs that were eliminated in the late qualification stages of more prestigious continental tournaments.
This tournament can be disabled when creating a campaign.
New RNG type: Reduced+. This option changes the lower threshold for numbers that footballers with different Giftedness levels can roll:
Giftedness 0 --> Minimum roll 1.
Giftedness 1 --> Minimum roll 10% of potential.
Giftedness 2 --> Minimum roll 20% of potential.
Giftedness 3 --> Minimum roll 30% of potential.
Giftedness 4 --> Minimum roll 40% of potential.
Giftedness 5 --> Minimum roll 60% of potential.
This option makes gifted footballers significantly more powerful.
The "Reduced" RNG has been refined. Previously, its lower threshold started from 30% of a footballer's potential but did not apply when using Skills (e.g., Cannon Shot). It now functions during Skill use as well.
New option "Giftedness Strength" - adjusts the difference between Skill potentials for footballers with different Giftedness levels.
The option ranges from +1 to +5.
+1 reflects how Skill potential worked previously on Normal difficulty.
+2 reflects how Skill potential worked previously on High difficulty.
You can now increase this gap even further, making gifted footballers far superior.
Hidden Opponent Formations:
Before a match, you will not see the formation chosen by the opponent. However, the footballers selected for the match will be displayed, allowing you to guess their positions.
You can spend Glory to reveal the opponent's formation before the next match.
The cost of revealing the formation depends on the tournament's difficulty.
The screenshot shows the mini-pitch without the opponent's formation revealed, with the "Analyse the Opponent" button at the bottom:
Limited Formation Changes:
Formations can no longer be changed at any time during a match.
Formation changes are only available during half-time.
The screenshot shows the mini-pitch screen greyed out during the match, indicating that footballers cannot be dragged to new positions:
Countries with Minimal Presence:
Previously, when choosing countries for a campaign, you could select:
Full Simulation - all leagues from Amateur to Premier are simulated. These countries can offer you jobs.
Premier League - only the top flight is simulated. You cannot work there, but the country functions fully in transfers, international tournaments, etc.
Disabled - the country is not simulated.
A new simulation type, "Minimal Presence" has been added:
Matches are not simulated, there is no economy, stats are not collected, and clubs do not buy players (however other countries might purchase footballers from the Minimal Presence countries).
Top-flight clubs from these countries exist to participate in continental tournaments. Footballers develop, age, and are replaced by youth in a simplified manner.
These countries also have national teams that call up players from existing clubs.
Clubs and footballers from these countries cannot be viewed or interacted with except during continental or national team matches.
This allows for a large number of national teams in the game world and fills continental tournaments without significantly affecting simulation speed.
The option to disable individual tournaments:
Now, when creating a campaign, you can disable international tournaments that don't interest you.
For instance, if you aren't a fan of the new third continental cup, you can turn it off.
Alternatively, if you want to keep only the primary continental cup - the equivalent of the Champions League - you can leave just that one active.
However, tournaments can only be disabled based on their level of importance. You cannot disable the primary cup while keeping the second or third tiers active.
You also have the freedom to disable the Club World Cup and national team tournaments.
The number of substitutions has increased from 3 to 5.
The penalty for long-distance headers has increased. Previously, in the formula [25 + (Skill Potential x 4) x Skill level], the further the attacker with the Header skill was from the goal, the lower the first value became (25 / 15 / 5). Now, the multiplier also changes (4 / 3.4 / 3).
Rainbow Feint now consumes less energy.
If a team starts a turn with the ball, loses it in the same turn, and commits a foul while tackling, the injury probability for the player who intercepted the ball is now 0%. This primarily addresses issues where Defensive Midfielders would intercept a pass and then get injured by a tackle from behind by the forward.
If a referee sends off 4 footballers from one team, the match ends in a technical defeat for that team.
The cost of sending a scout for transfers has been reduced fivefold.
The player's starting team on Normal and Easy difficulties used to be quite "old". We have significantly rejuvenated the starting squad and added several talented prospects.
Previously, on Normal and Easy, AI footballers developed twice as slowly as on High difficulty. Now, AI footballers develop at the same speed as the player's across all difficulties.
Previously, a base match experience value existed for all footballers worldwide, depending only on the tournament level and match result. This was then modified by coaches, Giftedness, and specialisation tree skills. Now, base experience also depends on continental strength and country rating. Playing in a top country on the strongest continent will grant your footballers (and all others in that country) significantly more experience than playing in the weakest country on the weakest continent.
The starting strength values for countries and teams in the Premier and First Leagues have been rebalanced to better reflect reality.
Glory rewards for players making the Team of the Week have been increased.
Financial rewards for progressing in the European Cup (and other continental cups) have been increased.
The "AI clubs can motivate teams" option has been removed; it is now always enabled.
Previously, the board did not react to winning the Club World Cup. Now, board happiness will increase by 20.
We have overhauled and improved most simulation systems, making the behaviour of other clubs smarter and the game world more realistic.
AI for Bot Clubs
The AI for bot clubs has been completely rewritten regarding squad evaluation-understanding which players are missing and which are redundant. A key challenge with AI is optimisation; smarter AI usually takes longer to calculate. We have found a "golden mean" between complexity and calculation speed.
Previously, top bot clubs generated very high-level young footballers (60-80) because they couldn't otherwise develop properly. With the revised AI, bot clubs' youth academies now use the same mechanics as the player's. Bot clubs are now capable of managing their squads effectively.
A downside of the new AI is a noticeable pause at the start of the season while all clubs analyse their players and create development plans. During open transfer windows, clicking "Next" may take slightly longer as clubs search for suitable players.
New transfer mechanics have been added for bot clubs to improve sale dynamics. For example, if a club lists a player but no one buys him, his price will decrease in the next window. This continues down to a logical threshold until he is purchased. Additionally, if a club has excess funds, it will seek out the best players for a specific position and make exceptionally generous offers. If a club sells a key player for a good price, it now knows how to find a quick replacement.
Bot Club Finances
Previously, club earnings depended on country rating and continental strength, but the difference was minor. Over time, top clubs on all continents became wealthy enough to afford the most expensive players.
Now, the earnings gap is significant. Top clubs on the strongest continent will always be the richest. As country ratings and continental strength decrease, clubs will have significantly less money. You will no longer see obscure clubs buying 5-star expensive footballers.
Overhauled Quick Match Algorithm for Bot Clubs
Simulating matches involving the player uses full match AI, which takes time. We cannot use this for every match in the world, as the wait would be too long.
Previously, bot clubs used a simplified algorithm that considered formation and player selection but calculated results quickly. It attempted to simulate the real AI, meaning weaker clubs with good squads could often beat stronger opponents. This resulted in a chaotic game world where mid-table teams could become continental champions despite being unable to qualify in real life.
We have completely rewritten this algorithm. Strong clubs now have a greater advantage over weaker ones. Consequently, the teams we expect to be champions usually will be, and continental tournaments will be won by truly elite teams. The game world now mirrors reality. However, weaker teams still have a chance to rise if they manage to assemble a great squad.
A key consequence is that playing in the Premier League is now harder, as top clubs will rack up more points. Conversely, it will be easier to stay in the Premier League if you have just been promoted, as the weaker clubs will lose more often and finish with fewer points.
Bot Footballer Generation
We fixed issues where AI and balance led to most Defensive Midfielders (DMs) having high Passing instead of Defence. After a series of fixes, most DMs will now have the high Defence Attributes expected of the position.
Detailed information on the new simulation mechanics can be found here:
Interface
The engine has transitioned to a 16:9 format (from the previous 4:3). The change will be almost unnoticeable for players, though some buttons and UI elements have moved closer to the edges of the screen.
You can now double-click to open a footballer's profile or team info wherever such an option is intended.
A reminder: the right mouse button functions as "Back". You can quickly exit open windows by right-clicking.
Improved information in the Ctrl-menu (hover over a footballer in a match and hold Ctrl, the middle mouse button, or press the stick on a gamepad to see all current effects on their Attributes):
Added a numerical value for a footballer's heading ability, accounting for Talent and the Header skill.
Added descriptions for footballer Skills.
Added descriptions for footballer classes.
When preparing for a match, you can switch between normal and tactical mini-pitch views. The tactical view now shows the Attributes and Skill potential as they will appear in the match, factoring in weather and player class. This makes it easy to evaluate, for example, the Defence and Control of both goalkeepers before kick-off.
Previously, if you sorted footballers on the Contracts screen (e.g., by value) then entered and exited a profile, the sorting would reset. We now preserve sorting in these situations.
On team management screens, the primary Attribute for a footballer's class used to be highlighted. We now highlight the Attribute that the footballer is currently training.
Previously, if board mood exceeded the maximum, you didn't know the exact value, making it hard to judge the risk of asking for money. The value now shows real mood without a cap.
Buying a footballer from your Watchlist now automatically removes them from it.
Match
Added 5x and 10x animation speeds to matches.
When the system checks if kit colours are too similar before a match, it now considers shades of red and orange to be similar, preventing one team from playing in red while the other plays in orange (whenever possible).
Starting a Campaign
If you start a managerial career in a high-rated country (e.g., England), you previously only received offers from domestic clubs. Now, offers from low-rated countries willing to hire an inexperienced manager will also appear.
When creating a campaign, you can now see how your choice of countries affects the availability of international tournaments.
Mail Notifications
When another club offers to buy your player, you can click buttons like "Decline". If you quit and return days later, you might forget your choice. We have added a text line indicating which button was pressed.
Board Objectives
In the "Win the league and reach a certain cup stage" objective, mood throughout the season did not match the final season mood The board will now wait until the end of the season to determine their mood, preventing a false impression of high satisfaction.
Statistics
A Fixtures screen for all matches in the current season has been added to club statistics.
For national team tournaments, we have implemented and refined the same statistics found in club tournaments, along with unique points regarding international players. These can be found in the Achievements tab of the national team screen:
Clubs from which players were called up.
Countries where the national players play.
The three most prestigious clubs represented in the squad.
In club statistics, you can now see which national team players are currently in your squad.
Previously, in continental tournament stats under Achievements - Countries, the first column showed how many clubs from that country had won the tournament. For example, if only Real Madrid won the European Cup but did so 6 times, it displayed "1". Now it shows the total number of wins by all clubs from that country (in this case, "6").
Calendar
If your team enters a tournament at a late stage (e.g., skipping qualification), the calendar now displays the dates of the earlier stages.
If your team is knocked out of a tournament, future match dates for that competition now remain in the calendar.
The main screen's calendar bar and the full calendar now show dates for national team call-ups, returns, and scheduled match viewings.
Since qualifying stages for different continents occur on different dates, hovering over a call-up date now shows a tooltip specifying which continents are involved.
Footballpedia, Tutorials, and Texts
An alphabetical list of terms has been added to Footballpedia. If you are unsure where to find a term, search the list for a brief description and a link to the full article.
As with every DLC, new and updated Footballpedia articles are marked with special icons for easy identification.
Coaching license lessons have been completely overhauled. Obtaining a license now takes two seasons, and the lessons better explain game mechanics.
Added new tutorial letters from the old coach.
Numerous minor text improvements have been made to coach skills, Watchlist info, Transfers, and UI tooltips.
Added 2 new coach skills:
Watchlist Expansion: You start with a capacity of 15; each level increases this by 3.
Option to buy out a footballer who was on loan at your club.
Added 4 new board objectives:
Improve infrastructure and hire staff.
Field youth academy graduates who debuted this season.
Purchase a player under 25 with higher Talent than most of the squad and play him in the starting eleven.
Develop the club as you see fit (earn board points for actions from all previous objectives).
Added 15 achievements.
Added 10 new music tracks.
Countries
Added 17 new countries
Europe
Albania
Armenia
Kosovo
Latvia
Luxembourg
Moldova
Montenegro
North Macedonia
Northern Ireland
Asia
Saudi Arabia
Africa
Angola
Lesotho
Americas
Costa Rica
Honduras
Panama
Ecuador
Venezuela
Corrected names, logos, kits, and positions in top European and several other countries.
Updated default country sets available at the start of a campaign.
Russia has been removed from the game.
Previously, the trophy for the second continental tournament (EFA Cup) resembled the real Champions League trophy. We decided to make that design the primary continental trophy and created a new unique cup for the second-tier tournament.
Starting a Campaign
When creating a new Sandbox campaign in higher leagues, the sponsor payout was defaulting to Amateur League levels. It now correctly matches the selected league.
Training
Fixed an issue where moving to a new club could result in a squad containing base-class footballers who could not be trained in Skills.
Match
Defensive Midfielders were retaining the Interception bonus talent even after leaving the DM zone. Fixed.
Incorrect potential values were displayed over the goalkeeper's head during crosses. Fixed.
Removed unnecessary little pauses that occurred when overhead icons were rotating.
Fixed rare game crashes in specific situations.
Post-match penalties between bot clubs were not using the same early-winner determination algorithm as player matches. This led to shootouts ending 5:0 when they should have finished early once a winner was mathematically decided. Fixed.
Fixed an issue where player-controlled footballers did not receive specialisation experience after taking penalties during match simulation.
Transfers
Fixed a bug where a player's value would change after adding them to the Watchlist and reloading the screen.
Fixed an issue where a footballer could appear on the international transfer list but the club would refuse to sell him.
Continental Tournaments
Fixed a bug where the manager received experience for the wrong continental tournament (e.g., EFA Cup experience while in the European Cup).
Fixed an incorrect cup stage description in the Income screen's fan field after advancing from a group stage.
Fixed the missing home stadium bonus for bot club matches during the group stages of continental tournaments.
Interface
The Attribute boost after using the Nutmeg skill was not appearing in the Ctrl-menu. Fixed.
Fixed inaccurate values in the Ctrl-menu caused by inconsistent Attribute rounding.
Fixed an issue where re-purchasing a previously sold player would default to showing their stats from their former club rather than yours.
Fixed text overflowing the boundaries of available zones on various screens.
Top 10 lists for goals and assists are now centre-aligned instead of left-aligned.
Fixed a crash caused by clicking the Profile button on the formation screen when no footballer was selected.
Fixed erroneous notifications claiming footballers weren't training Skills when they actually were.
Fixed an issue where clicking on coach notes would open the first available letter instead. It now correctly opens the specific note.
Removed a confusing line in the promotion letter to the Premier League that claimed the player finished 16th-18th and failed to qualify for continental tournaments.
Removed placeholder test text that appeared when renaming a club on Steam Deck.
Fixed a bug where entering the Substitutions screen during simulation would cause the music track to change.
Fixed the comparison logic in the assistant's letter regarding new youth academy players. It previously incorrectly suggested the youth coach was "spoiling" players; the comparison with their potential without a coach is now displayed accurately.
Fixed errors and typos across various languages.
Renaming Tournaments
Fixed the logic for resetting tournament names. The first reset now returns names to the state at the start of the campaign (e.g., as defined by mods). A second reset returns them to the developers' default names.
Fixed issues where renamed tournaments were not properly updating in the UI for certain languages.
Renaming now correctly applies to the international transfer screen.
Fixed a bug where renaming the player's domestic leagues would incorrectly show other countries' leagues as renamed in certain statistics windows.
Modifications
Fixed an issue where changing the name of a published mod would cause it to revert to the old name after a few seconds.