--- title: "Guide: All Competitions - At a Glance" description: "Guide: All Competitions - At a Glance" url: https://support.goalunited.org/en/articles/180-guide-all-competitions-at-a-glance collection: "Starter Guides" updated: 2026-10-12 language: en alternates: [fr, de, it, pl, es, tr] --- # Guide: All Competitions - At a Glance 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.

Competition	Who Plays	Format
The League	All clubs	22 matches per season — Wed & Sat
National Cup	All clubs in your country	Knockout — Layers 1–6 share one cup
International Masters	Career level 20+ / top/bottom half of league	Group phase + knockout
Elite Champions League (ECL)	League 1 champions only	Group phase + knockout — elite prestige
GUFA Clash	All clubs	United-format competitions
Friendly	All clubs	One per week — Tuesdays
Practice Match	All clubs	One per week — Sundays, costs 150 Stars or a Practice match coupon

## **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. > **Info:** 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). > **Warning:** 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. > **Info:** 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.

Detail	How It Works
Format	Single-elimination knockout. Some teams receive a bye in Round 1.
Match days	14 rounds total; usually one match per week with two double-match weeks.
Experience bonus	Players earn 0.6 XP per cup match — 1.5× a regular league match.
Ticket income	Split 50/50 between both clubs for every match.
Cup Final prize	Winner: €7,000,000. Runner-up: €3,000,000. Final is played on neutral ground.
Card tracking	2 yellows = 1-match suspension (separate from league yellow count).

> **Info:** 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 Gold Prize	Amount
Winner	€14,000,000 + 7,500 GU STARS + Trophy
Runner-up	€6,500,000
Semi-finalists	€3,000,000 each

IM Silver Prize	Amount
Winner	€7,000,000 + 7,500 GU STARS + Trophy
Runner-up	€3,000,000
Semi-finalists	€1,250,000 each

> **Info:** 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.

Stage	Details
Qualifying	Top 81 strongest national League 1 divisions each send their champion.
Preliminary group phase	9 groups of 9 teams, 8 home + 8 away matches each.
Final tournament	Top 3 from each group + 4 wildcards → 8 groups of 4 → knockout from Last 16.
Final prize	Champion: 30,000 GU STARS + Special Trophy. Runner-up: 15,000 GU STARS.
Special rules	No financial rewards from stadium or gastronomy. Injuries reset after matches. No card accumulation.

> **Warning:** 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. > **Info:** 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](https://support.goalunited.org/collections/31)