A full rules walkthrough — from creating a room to the final whistle.
One player creates a room and shares the room code with an opponent, or opens it to public matchmaking. The host chooses the league pool (a single league, a curated bundle of several, or every supported league), the formation, and the timers for each phase of the match.
Both managers take turns picking players, one at a time, from a shared pool built from the chosen leagues. Every pick is visible to both players the moment it's taken — except for hidden-deck picks (see below). The draft continues until both squads are complete for the chosen formation, including bench cover.
Positions matter: a formation defines specific slots (e.g. two centre-backs, one striker), and a drafted player only fills the positions they're actually rated for. Balancing a high-rated squad against actually having cover for every slot is the core drafting tension.
At set points during the draft, a manager may place a pick into their hidden deck instead of their visible squad. That player's identity and card are concealed from the opponent — they'll only see that a hidden pick exists, not who it is or where it'll slot in.
Hidden picks are revealed at a defined moment before kickoff. Used well, a hidden pick lets you draft a genuine standout without tipping your opponent off early enough to draft around it. Used carelessly, it can also mean hiding a player who turns out to be a poor tactical fit once the reveal happens — the risk is real, which is what makes it a genuine decision rather than a free bonus.
Once the draft ends, managers can adjust their lineup from their bench before kickoff and, depending on room settings, during the match itself. Chemistry between players — based on shared clubs and nationalities — affects how well a squad performs together, so a technically "stronger" XI isn't always the better lineup if it's chemistry-poor.
Some rooms include a draft-time ability phase: each manager secretly picks a small set of special abilities that can be activated at key moments in the match (e.g. a stat boost at a specific game state). Abilities add another layer of hidden information on top of the hidden-deck mechanic itself.
Once both squads are locked in, the match plays out as a live simulation, minute by minute, driven by squad ratings, chemistry, formation matchups, and any abilities activated during play. Managers can still make substitutions as the match state changes.
Beyond single 1v1 rooms, Hidden Eleven supports a knockout tournament format: a full bracket of managers drafts and plays through simulated fixtures round by round, with the same draft-and-hide mechanics carried through every match, until a single tournament winner remains.