Guide: All Competitions - At a Glance

goalunited Legends has several competitions running simultaneously throughout a season. Here is a map of everything you might play in and how they all connect.

The League

The league is the backbone of goalunited. Every club plays in a league of 12 teams, competing home and away against each of the other 11 sides — 22 matches in total per season. Matches are every Wednesday and Saturday.

The League Pyramid

Each country has one League 1 at the top, then the pyramid expands below it: 4 leagues at Level 2, 16 at Level 3, 64 at Level 4, and so on. From Level 7 downwards there are 2,048 leagues per level, meaning one division per Level 6 league. New managers typically start near the bottom and work their way up.

The League Table

Clubs are ranked by points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss). Tiebreakers in order: goal difference → most goals scored → random. Two coloured lines matter:

• Green line — teams above this qualify for promotion or the promotion play-off.

• Red line — teams below this face relegation or the relegation play-off.

Sponsor bonus payments are only triggered by league points, not cup or International Masters results. Winning league matches has a direct financial benefit beyond just the table position.

Promotion & Relegation

Automatic Outcomes (Layers 2–6)

• 1st place: automatically promoted.

• 2nd place: enters the promotion play-off.

• 9th–12th place: automatically relegated.

• 7th–8th place: enters the relegation play-off.

Play-off Format

Each play-off group has 6 teams: 2 fighting relegation and 4 trying to earn promotion. There are 2 match days. The 7th-placed team has home advantage in both play-off matches; the 8th-placed team plays both away. The top 2 finishers in the group survive (or are promoted); the bottom 4 are relegated (or stay in their current league).

Yellow card counts carry over into the play-off matches. A player who is one yellow away from a suspension going into the play-offs is a real risk — factor this into your formation choices.

In layers 7 and below, the top 4 teams are automatically promoted and there are no play-offs. Lower leagues are more forgiving — useful for new managers finding their feet.

National Cup

Each season, every club in the country competes in a knockout cup. Clubs from Layers 1–6 all share one large national cup with up to 16,380 teams. Clubs in Layer 7 and below play separate cups.

The cup is an excellent source of player experience early in the game. Even if you do not win it, the XP boost from a long cup run adds up quickly across your squad.

International Masters (IM)

The IM is a cross-country tournament that runs alongside the league each season. There are two tiers:

• IM Gold — for clubs finishing in the top half of their league (positions 1–6).

• IM Silver — for clubs finishing in the bottom half (positions 7–12).

How to Qualify

You must have reached career level 20 before the 11th league match of the season. Your league position at the season's midpoint determines which tier you enter.

Format

Classes of 128 teams are formed based on squad strength (highest top-11 strength achieved in the last 11 weeks; not your current strength). This means you cannot tank your strength to get an easier draw.

• Group phase: 4 teams per group, 3 home + 3 away matches. Top 2 advance.

• Knockout phase: 6 rounds of two-legged ties. The final is on neutral ground.

IM matches give more morale per win than league matches (+1.4 vs +1.2 per player in the lineup). A deep IM run is one of the best natural morale boosters in the game.

Elite Champions League (ECL)

The ECL is the most prestigious club competition in goalunited. Only the champions of qualifying League 1 divisions are invited — 81 national champion clubs compete each season.

ECL invitations are sent from the account 'mod_bekki (Pioneer Girls)'. You must accept with the correct qualifying club — using the wrong one can result in disqualification.

Friendly & Practice Matches

These non-competitive matches run weekly and are covered in detail in Guide 09. The key point: use them to develop players and test formations, but always set effort to minimal to protect energy for official competitions.

Think of your weekly schedule as:
Monday — check finances and training;
Tuesday — friendly (low effort);
Wednesday — league match;
Thursday/Friday — training and preparation;
Saturday — league match;
Sunday — practice match (low effort).

Starter Guides