Matchorganizer

How to plan and publish football fixtures

Plan a football round robin, review pairings and time slots, publish it, and safely reorder future matches.

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In this tutorial

1Open the football fixture plannerFind the synthetic football tournament and open Match Center from Matches & scoring.
Organizer dashboard
Search by the exact synthetic tournament name so its virtualized card is visible.
Matches & scoring
This tournament-action group contains Match center and the tournament-wide scorer and broadcaster controls.
Match center
Fixture planner creates or replaces the tournament's active plan; Published fixture shows the persisted matches.
Setup gate
At least two persisted tournament teams are required. The tutorial's four synthetic teams produce a safe six-match single round robin.
After this step
The correct synthetic football tournament opens in Fixture planner.
2Choose the competition formatChoose how Match Center should create the football pairings.
Fixture stage
This controls whether Match Center calculates all pairings or asks the organizer to choose each match.
Single round robin: Every team meets every other team once. Pairings and match count are calculated automatically; this tutorial uses this option.
Double round robin: Every team pairing is scheduled twice, so it creates twice as many league matches as a single round robin.
Knock Out: The organizer chooses the number of matches and both teams in every match. It does not build an automatic advancing bracket.
Semi Finals: Starts with two organizer-defined matches. Choose both teams for each semi-final.
Final: Starts with one organizer-defined match. Choose the two finalists directly.
Custom stage: Enter a stage name, number of matches, and both participants for every match.
Pairings
Round-robin pairings come from the tournament teams. Organizer-defined stages allow repeat pairings for rematches, but one team cannot play itself.
Team requirement
At least two persisted tournament teams are required. This isolated tutorial scenario provides four synthetic teams so preview and swapping are safe.
After this step
Single round robin is selected for the fixture plan.
3Set the default football rulesChoose the standard 11-a-side preset and understand the custom rules.
Starting point
Choose an IFAB 2026/27-aligned preset or a custom competition modification. Editing a rule after choosing a preset changes the selection to Custom.
Standard 11-a-side: 11 players per side, minimum 7, two 45-minute periods, 15-minute interval, draws allowed, and 5 substitutions across 3 windows; this tutorial uses it.
Short 7-a-side: 7 players per side, minimum 5, two 25-minute periods, 10-minute interval, draws allowed, and 5 substitutions across 3 windows.
Custom: Set side size, minimum players, periods, timing, draw decision, extra time, penalties, and substitution rules for this competition.
Players and periods
Custom side size can be 3 to 11. Minimum players must not exceed the side size. Configure 1 to 4 periods, 5 to 60 minutes per period, and a 0 to 15-minute interval.
Draw or winner required
Allow draws ends a level match as a draw. If draws are disabled, enable extra time, a penalty shootout, or both so the fixture can produce a winner.
Allow draws: A level score can be the final result; extra-time and penalty controls are hidden.
Extra time: When a winner is required, add 1 or 2 extra-time periods of 1 to 15 minutes each.
Penalty shootout: When a winner is required, allow penalties as the deciding method, with or without extra time.
Substitutions
Set 0 to 15 substitutes, 0 to 10 substitution windows, and 0 to 3 extra-time additions. Multiple changes at one stoppage share a window; return substitutions should be enabled only where the governing competition permits them.
After this step
The Standard 11-a-side preset is selected for every generated match.
4Set dates, slots, and venueSchedule two matches per day in Asia/Kolkata at the synthetic venue.
First playing date & time
Required, future-dated, and inside the tournament dates. It becomes the first time slot and uses 30-minute picker steps.
IANA timezone
Interprets the entered local time and formats every fixture consistently. Use a valid value such as Asia/Kolkata; changing it can change the saved UTC instant.
Playing days
Choose which calendar dates Match Center may use after the first match.
Every day: Uses consecutive calendar dates as needed; this tutorial uses this option.
Weekends: Uses Saturday and Sunday only. The first playing date must also be a weekend.
Weekdays: Choose one or more weekdays. Dates on other weekdays are skipped, and the first date must match a chosen day.
Exact dates: Add every allowed date explicitly. The first added date must match the first playing date.
Matches per playing day and gap
Matches per day sets how many start slots are used before moving to the next allowed date. Gap minutes are added after the full football match duration.
Venue
Optional and applied to every generated fixture. Leave it empty when the ground is still to be announced.
After this step
A valid every-day schedule is ready inside the synthetic tournament dates.
5Preview and reorder pairingsGenerate the required preview and swap two pairings between time slots.
Preview fixture
Required before apply. It validates team count, format, football rules, tournament date range, playing-day rules, timezone, daily capacity, and the full fixture window.
Preview summary
Check match count, playing days, rounds, team count, local schedule, participant pairings, rule label, and calculated slot duration.
Reorder pairings
Drag one preview match onto another, or select two matches for mobile and keyboard use. This moves the pairings between existing time slots; Reset swaps restores the generated order.
Customize
A match can override the default football rules from its Customize button. Overrides follow the pairing when pairings are reordered.
After this step
The preview is generated and the first two pairings have exchanged time slots.
6Apply and publish the planApply the reviewed plan to publish the current football fixture.
Apply fixture
Persists the previewed rules, pairing order, dates, time slots, and venue, then publishes the generated scheduled matches.
One active plan limitation
A tournament currently stores one active fixture plan. Applying a Semi Finals, Final, Knock Out, Custom, or updated league plan replaces safely editable scheduled matches; it does not append a new stage after the current league.
Replacement safety
When a plan already exists, Match Center shows a replacement confirmation. Live or completed matches cannot be replaced, and applying never changes tournament registrations, auction state, or completed results.
After this step
The football fixture is persisted and visible in Published fixture.
7Reorder future match time slotsSwap two future matches and save the published fixture order.
Published fixture
Shows the saved competition, default rules, playing-day rule, timezone, venue, status filters, round tabs, and current match time slots.
Swap time slots
Drag one scheduled row onto another, or select two rows on mobile and keyboard. The matches exchange their scheduled date and time slots without changing the rules or teams attached to each match.
Locked matches
Live, completed, and cancelled matches remain fixed. Contest-linked or dependency-linked fixtures can also be protected by the server.
Update fixture order
Saves the complete future-match ordering only after server validation. Reset time changes discards unsaved swaps.
After this step
The first two future football matches have saved exchanged time slots.

Expected result

A synthetic football fixture is published with reviewed 11-a-side rules and a saved future-match time-slot swap.

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