The best all-round setup is 8 managers, Balanced scoring and Super Sub, with the Cup and Top Four playoffs enabled, a 60-second timer, random draft order and Mutual acceptance for trades. Keep bots off unless needed.
That combination creates meaningful scarcity without emptying the player pool, rewards more than goals and assists and keeps weekly selection important. Super Sub also protects managers when a chosen starter records 0 minutes, without turning the league into a fully automatic competition.
The recommended all-round setup
| Setting | Recommendation | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| League size | 8 managers | Enough scarcity for trades and waivers without making every injury a crisis |
| Scoring | Balanced | Rewards goals and assists alongside attacking and defensive contributions |
| Lineup mode | Super Sub | Managers choose the XI, with protection for eligible 0-minute starters at Final |
| Knockout Cup | On | Adds a second route to success and meaningful knockout Gameweeks |
| Top Four playoffs | On | Keeps more managers competing through the run-in |
| Pick timer | 60 seconds | Quick enough to maintain momentum, with time to react when a target goes |
| Pick order | Random | Simple, neutral and easy to explain before the draft |
| Trades | Mutual acceptance | Deals process when both managers agree, without an extra approval bottleneck |
| Bots | Off unless needed | Human leagues are preferable, but bots can fill missing seats |
The same recommendation works for Premier League, Championship and Serie A. Adjust it when your group's size, preferred scoring or appetite for weekly management points towards another preset.
Choose a league size that creates the right scarcity
Every team drafts 16 players, so league size determines how many footballers disappear from the shared pool on draft night. A 4-manager league drafts 64 players and leaves plenty of strong options available. An 8-manager league drafts 128. A 12-manager league drafts 192, making reliable minutes and positional depth much harder to replace.
| Managers | Drafted players | Best suited to | Cup and playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 64 | Very small groups and the most forgiving player pool | Forced off |
| 6 | 96 | New or casual groups | Available and on by default |
| 8 | 128 | The best balance of scarcity, trading and waivers | Available and on by default |
| 10 | 160 | Active groups that want a thinner player pool | Available and on by default |
| 12 | 192 | Experienced groups that enjoy difficult replacement decisions | Available and on by default |
Size is fixed as soon as the league is created, so settle it before inviting the group. Four-manager leagues also have an important structural difference: they cannot use the Cup or Top Four playoffs, and the regular-season leader becomes League Champion.
Choose what kind of football earns points
Classic is the most familiar scoring option. Most of the value comes from goals, assists, clean sheets and appearances. Balanced, the TFF default, adds a wider range of attacking and defensive contributions. Analytics reduces the weight placed on finishing and gives more attention to creation and defensive actions.
Balanced is the best all-round choice because different player types have credible routes to points without goals and assists becoming irrelevant. Classic is easier for a new group to understand, while Analytics suits managers who want underlying contribution to matter more. The full differences are explained in the TFF scoring guide.
Decide who controls the weekly XI
TFF has three lineup modes. Manager scores the XI exactly as the manager saved it, with no automatic substitutions. Super Sub starts from that saved XI but can replace an eligible 0-minute starter with an appearing legal bench or FLEX player when the Gameweek becomes Final. Best XI removes weekly starter decisions and automatically records the highest-scoring legal XI from the active roster.
Super Sub is the strongest default. Managers still make the selection and order their bench, but one unexpected non-appearance does not decide the matchup. Use Manager for the most demanding league and Best XI when the group wants to focus on building the squad rather than setting it every week. The lineup-modes guide covers the full behaviour.
Keep the Cup and playoffs on
For leagues with 6 to 12 managers, both competitions are optional and enabled by default. The Cup creates separate knockout Gameweeks, while the Top Four playoffs turn the end of the season into a championship run. The Cup winner also secures a playoff place when playoffs are enabled, so league position is not the only route into the final four.
Keep both on unless your group explicitly wants the regular-season table to decide everything. They create more meaningful matches for teams outside first place and give the season multiple stories. Four-manager leagues cannot use either competition. The exact schedule and qualification rules are in the Cup and playoffs guide.
Keep the smaller settings simple
Use a 60-second timer and Random order for most drafts. Sixty seconds keeps a 16-round draft moving while giving managers enough time to respond to a positional run. A 90-second timer is kinder to a new group. Commissioner-set order is useful when the group has already drawn positions elsewhere, but random order removes another decision.
Leave trades on Mutual acceptance unless the group has a clear reason to require commissioner approval. A deal should normally be decided by the managers involved. Bots can fill missing seats, but they are filler managers rather than equal AI opponents. They manage lineups and free agents but do not trade, so use them to solve a numbers problem.
Three setups you can use immediately
| League type | Managers | Scoring | Lineup | Cup and playoffs | Timer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casual | 6 | Classic | Best XI | On | 90 seconds |
| Best all-round | 8 | Balanced | Super Sub | On | 60 seconds |
| Highly active | 10 | Analytics | Manager | On | 60 seconds |
The casual setup keeps the player pool friendly, makes scoring familiar and removes weekly lineup admin. The all-round version keeps every part of the game relevant. The highly active setup increases scarcity, rewards deeper performance analysis and makes managers responsible for every selection. A 12-manager league pushes that final approach further, but 10 is a better starting point for most competitive groups.
Know which rules are fixed
Not every part of TFF is a commissioner setting. Live leagues use a 16-round snake draft and head-to-head Gameweek matchups. Every manager drafts exactly 16 players and fields 1 goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 3 midfielders, 2 forwards and 2 FLEX players. Injured reserve holds up to 2 eligible players outside the active-roster count.
Waiver priority, claim processing, free agency and player locks are also standard league rules rather than configurable systems. There is no FAAB option, custom squad structure or total-points league format. That consistency means managers can focus on the choices that genuinely shape the experience. Once your group has agreed what it wants to reward, create your league with the right settings.
