Soccer team generator

How to use

1. 1.Paste the players who are present, one per line — not the full squad list.
2. 2.Leave it at two teams, or set more for a small-sided tournament.
3. 3.Draw. If someone arrives late, add the name and draw again rather than slotting them in.

Draw from who turned up

The list should be the people standing there. Drawing from the group chat and then adjusting for absences is how one side ends up a player short, and that adjustment is always the part that gets argued about. Retyping the list takes less time than the argument does.

Why random sides work for pick-up games

Captains picking alternately produces reasonably balanced sides and, as a side effect, a public ranking of everyone present — which is the part that stings. A draw gives up some balance and removes the ranking. For a weekly game among friends that trade is usually worth making; for a competitive match it is not, and nothing random will fix the balance for you.

Odd numbers, goalkeepers and more than two sides

With an odd number one side plays a player up, and the generator decides which side randomly instead of always the second. Goalkeepers are a real limitation: the draw does not know who can keep, so when only two people can, assign them to separate teams first and draw the rest. For three or four small-sided teams, change the team count and the round-robin split keeps them even.