Stat XI
Build the XI ranked by a stat.
Stat XI builds a team nobody ever picked: the eleven players who top a chosen stat, arranged into a real formation with a position quota — the top goalkeeper by the stat in goal, the top defenders at the back, and so on. Your job is to name all eleven, in any order; each correct name drops into its slot on the pitch.
The quota is the twist that catches people. Only the best few per position make the team, so a legendary midfielder can miss out because his spot was already taken by two bigger numbers — and the strikers everyone names first are rarely the hard part. It's the defenders and the keeper who separate a decent score from a full XI.
Wrong guesses are free, hints buy clues on a stubborn slot, and the finished pitch — your named XI standing in formation — is the most screenshot-worthy result screen in the app.
How to play
- Eleven players make the XI, chosen by one stat and slotted into a formation.
- Name any of them — order doesn't matter, and each correct name drops into its position.
- Wrong guesses cost nothing. A hint buys a clue, never the name, and your score is simply how many of the XI you get.
From the coachIt's picked by position quota — only the top few per slot make it, so a big name can miss out if their spot's already taken.
Free to play in your browser — no download, no sign-up — and every round is built from real player and season data. More about the app and the dataset.
Where to start
Goals is the gentlest opening stat, because the shape of the answer is close to the shape of a team you would pick anyway and the forwards give you an early foothold. Once a goals XI feels comfortable, switch to assists or appearances — the same game rearranges completely, the strikers stop mattering, and the round starts turning on players you have never once thought of as record holders.
On your first board, name the forwards to get moving and then deliberately spend the rest of the round at the back. It feels like the harder work, and it is, but it is also where every remaining slot is. Finishing a first XI is much less common than people assume; getting the goalkeeper is a decent result on its own.
How to get better at Stat XI
Start at the back. The forwards on any Stat XI board are the players you would have named anyway, and they will still be there in a minute; the round is won or lost on the goalkeeper and the defenders. Better still, those slots have a far smaller pool of plausible candidates, so the thinking is cheaper per name — you are choosing between a handful of people rather than trawling an entire era.
Think in quotas rather than in quality. Only the top few players per position make the XI, so the question is never who was the best by this stat, it is who was the best centre-back by this stat, and then who was the best left-sided one. A genuinely enormous name can be absent from the board because their slot was filled by two bigger numbers, and hunting for them is a way of losing several minutes to a player who was never there.
Let the stat tell you which positions matter, because it changes the game completely. On a goals board the shape of the answer is conventional and the forwards carry it, so the round plays roughly the way you expect. On assists, appearances or clean sheets the centre of gravity moves entirely: full-backs, holding midfielders and long-serving goalkeepers become the names that decide the round, and the strikers turn into the easy part. Reading the stat first, before naming anybody, saves you from spending the opening minute in the wrong third of the pitch.
Where rounds get lost
- Naming a great whose slot is full — Position quotas mean an all-time midfielder can simply not be in this XI. Once two bigger numbers occupy the slot, no amount of certainty will make the name land.
- Forgetting the goalkeeper — One slot, a tiny candidate pool, and frequently the last one left empty — because everybody starts at the top of the pitch and runs out of patience before they reach the bottom of it.
- Assuming a formation — The shape is not always the one in your head, and the number of defenders and midfielders changes which names can be on the board at all. Count the slots on the pitch before you start naming.
Common questions
- Why is a player I expected missing from the XI?
- The position quota. Only the best few per position make the team, so a legendary midfielder can be squeezed out by two bigger numbers in his slot. The XI is picked by stat and shape together, not by a straight top-eleven list.
- Does the order I name them in matter?
- No — name them in any order and each correct player drops into his slot on the pitch. Most people clear the forwards early and then spend the rest of the round on the back line.
- Which positions are actually the hard ones?
- The defenders and the goalkeeper, almost every time. The strikers everyone reaches for first are rarely what separates a decent score from a full XI, because attacking numbers are the ones people already carry around.
- Do wrong guesses cost me anything?
- No. Guessing is free, so the round is a long process of elimination rather than a test of nerve — spend hints on the one slot that refuses to come and keep working the rest.
It’s you if you enjoy team-of-the-decade arguments more than actual matches.