COPEROYour guide to the draft
Build a team across World Cup generations
World XI Cup is a football draft game about choosing the right player from the squad in front of you. A draw gives you a country and a World Cup year. You choose one footballer from that squad and place them in a compatible position. Keep going until all eleven positions are filled, then follow your team through the group stage and knockout rounds.
The challenge comes from the choices you leave open. A brilliant striker might be the obvious pick, but choosing a versatile midfielder can leave more room for the next draw. A dependable goalkeeper may be worth taking early if the rest of the current squad does not fit your formation. Every pick uses a place in your eleven, so think about the whole pitch as well as the most famous name.
Choose your formation before the first draw
There are eight formations: 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-2-4, 3-5-2, 5-3-2, 4-5-1 and 3-4-3. Each gives you a different set of positions to fill. Four defenders and three forwards demand different players from three central defenders and a crowded midfield. Choose a shape you understand, then check the labels on the pitch before rolling.
Your style also matters. Defensive, Balanced and Attacking change the midfield and wide positions in that shape. Selecting an attacking style does not give you a free improvement: you still need to find players who can fill those roles. A defensive shape may need extra holding midfielders, while another setup asks for attacking midfielders or wingers. The formation and style lock when your first draw begins.
Choose the player, then the position
Read the current squad and select a player. Their available positions appear underneath their name. The pitch highlights the empty positions they can fill. Tap one of those places to confirm the pick. A player who can play several roles gives you a choice of where to use them; the game does not automatically put them into whichever space happens to be first.
After confirming, the current squad clears. Roll again when you are ready for the next choice. Players already in your team cannot be selected a second time. Selecting a footballer from another World Cup year does not give you a second copy of the same person. Watch the empty positions as your team grows: a draft with ten strong choices still needs a legal eleventh player.
You can also select a player already on the pitch to see their legal destinations. Move them into a compatible empty position, or swap two players when each can play the other’s role. A move does not create an extra pick or return a player to the pool. It lets you use the versatility of the eleven you have chosen.
Use your rerolls carefully
There are two different ways to change a draw. Another World Cup keeps the country and changes the year. Another country keeps the World Cup year and changes the team. These choices share one reroll allowance, so using one leaves fewer opportunities for the other. Check what you want to keep before choosing a button.
Classic mode gives you three rerolls. From Memory gives you one. You do not get a fresh allowance for each position, and selecting a player does not restore a spent reroll. Sometimes a squad has plenty of excellent players but no one you need. Other times it has exactly the role you need, even if the rating is not the highest on the screen. Deciding whether to accept that tradeoff is part of the draft.
Classic or From Memory?
Classic shows player ratings while you choose. Use the rating together with position coverage rather than treating it as the only reason to pick someone. A highly rated player who cannot fill a remaining role is not available to your current eleven. Your team summary shows overall, attack and defense so you can see how the lineup is taking shape.
From Memory hides player ratings and shirt numbers during selection. You have to rely on your football knowledge, the names and the listed positions. The ratings are revealed once the eleven is complete. This mode uses the same basic drafting process but gives you fewer chances to change a draw. If you are learning the squads, Classic is an easier place to begin; switch modes before starting a new draft.
Follow the cup, one match at a time
A complete team can enter the cup. The run starts with three group matches. Wins earn three points, draws earn one and losses earn none. Your group table shows who advances. A strong start helps, but one result does not settle the group: the other teams’ matches count too. If your team qualifies, the next match is the round of sixteen.
From there the cup is a knockout competition. Win the round of sixteen to reach the quarterfinal, then the semifinal and finally the final. A knockout defeat ends the run immediately. A tied knockout match is settled by penalties. A penalty win counts as a win in your run record, while the displayed match score keeps the tied score and a penalty marker. Shootout goals are separate from the run’s goals for and against.
The seven-match route is a classic cup challenge, not a reproduction of the expanded 2026 tournament schedule. Squads from different generations can meet in the same run. A champion is the team that reaches and wins the final; the perfect run is seven wins. A team can still win the cup after a group draw, so reaching the trophy and achieving a perfect record are different results.
Control the match reveal
Choose Match by match if you want to pause between fixtures and inspect each result. Automatic continues the run for you. Slow, Normal, Fast and Ultra change how quickly the match is revealed. They do not make your footballers better, change your completed draft or grant a new result. Select the pace that makes it easiest to follow the goals.
Each match shows its stage, opponent and score, with a timeline of goals. You can open a completed match to look back at the scorers. When the run is over, Replay this run lets you watch the same campaign again. Play again starts a fresh draft. These are different actions: replaying a result does not provide another attempt at winning the cup with the same eleven.
Keep and share your result
Your final card brings together the team, the stage reached, the record, goals for and against and the leading scorer. Share the image if you want friends to see the lineup. Share the text result if you prefer a short message and a link back to the game. Your browser may offer a system sharing menu, download the image, or let you copy the text.
If copying is unavailable, the result text remains available for manual selection. A downloaded image stays on your device until you decide where to post it. Sharing is optional, and you can start another game without sending anything. Compare runs by looking at both the final stage and the choices made along the way, rather than assuming one lucky result settles who built the better team.
About the historical squads
The game includes 302 country-and-year squads: 282 historical squads and 20 squads from 2026. Historical squad records come from the Fjelstul World Cup Database, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0; the adapted historical data retains that license. Playing positions combine documented historical roles with a small number of game-position references. Ratings are game assessments for the selected edition, not official FIFA ratings or predictions of real matches. Historical records and a simulated football competition answer different questions: the records identify the footballers, while the game lets you try an imagined team across eras.
Three players have an estimated game position because the available historical records establish only a broad role: Felice Soldini (Switzerland, 1950) at CB, Frank Moniz (United States, 1950) at ST, and Mehmet Dinçer (Turkey, 1954) at CM. Their player entries say “Estimated position.” These assignments make them playable; they are not verified historical positions.
This is an independent Copero game inspired by the World Cup drafting format. It is not affiliated with FIFA, the national teams or 7a0. For a different kind of football challenge, try Football Connections, discover your role in the football position quiz, or build a longer story in the football career simulator.