You can build a roster by hand, or bring one in with a code from your league:
If a head coach invited you, you're joining their team, not starting your own. Create a SquadRotate account with your own email. Then tap Have an assistant coach invite code? on the empty roster screen and enter the code they gave you, or follow the link they emailed you. You'll land on their team with a read-only view. See Coaching Staff for what that view covers.
The tabs under the top bar follow a coaching week:
Tap the SquadRotate logo in the top left, or your team name next to it, to open the menu. You can also swipe in from the left edge of the screen. The menu holds:
The top bar always shows the team you're on, with a short line under it such as 7V7 · HEAD COACH.
The first time you open the app after the October 2026 update, a short two-step tour points out where things moved. For 30 days after that, What's new at the bottom of the menu runs it again.
Note: If there's no menu behind the logo, your app still has the older layout. In that layout, your teams are the buttons on the Viewing row above the tabs, Settings is in the ☰ menu, and Sign out and Delete my account are under Account.
Open the menu and tap Team settings.
Lineup rules apply to the whole team and sync to every coach on it:
This device only settings stay on the phone or computer you set them on:
Assistant coaches see these settings as display only. The head coach sets them.
Each team keeps its own roster, formation, practice plans and games. Switch from the Teams list in the menu.
To rename a team, open the Roster tab and tap the team name at the top. The new name shows everywhere, including the top bar and the menu.
The badge in the top right of the top bar tells you:
Open the menu and tap Something's wrong? to send us a report. During a live game, the ! button on the game screen does the same. If a save fails, tapping the save badge gets you there too.
The report includes what went wrong with the app. It never includes your roster or your players' names. You'll see Thanks, we got it with a reference number once it arrives. If the app can't send it, you get a Copy details button and an email link to support@squadrotate.com instead. The email opens with those same details already filled in, so just add what happened and send it.
If SquadRotate can't load at all, you'll see SquadRotate couldn't load with a Refresh button. Tap it. If your team itself can't load, you'll see We couldn't load your team with Try again. Nothing on your team changes until the app can confirm what's saved in your account.
The Roster tab has a Coaching Staff panel where you list everyone helping with your team: head coach, assistant coaches, team parent, whoever you like.
On the Roster tab, tap + Add Coach. Enter a name and a role, such as Head Coach or Assistant Coach. Tap any entry to change its name or role, or to delete it.
On the Roster tab, tap + Invite Assistant Coach. You have two choices:
Your assistant needs their own SquadRotate account, with a different email address from yours. If they don't have one, they tap Create an account on the sign-in screen.
Where they enter a share code depends on where they start:
Note: One account can coach its own team and assist others. Redeeming a code adds the new team alongside what you already have. Nothing is replaced. Every team you coach or assist is listed under Teams in the menu. Tap one to switch.
An invited assistant coach sees Practice and Game-day exactly as the head coach set them up: the plan, the rotations, and the live game as it runs, following along on their own phone. Every control that changes something is off for them: no subs, no starting or ending a game, no logging goals or cards, no marking players absent, no editing practice plans. The Roster tab is hidden for them.
The top bar reads Assistant · Read-only under the team name so they always know. In the menu, their Settings are display only, because the head coach sets the team's lineup rules.
By default an assistant coach can only watch. If your assistant is the one running the sideline, you can let them edit instead. Open the menu, tap Team settings, and turn on Assistants can edit. Only the head coach sees that switch work; assistants see it locked.
Tap + Invite Assistant Coach on the Roster tab to see pending invite codes and any assistant coaches who've already joined. Tap Revoke next to a pending code to cancel it before it's used, or next to an assistant coach's name to remove their access. A removed assistant loses access to your team within a short refresh. If they still have another team (their own, or one they also assist), they're switched there. Otherwise they're signed out.
After redeeming, your assistant should land on your team with Assistant · Read-only in the top bar.
If they end up on an empty team instead (a blank roster, or a team called something like "Team 1"), the invite didn't attach, even though signing in seemed to work. Don't keep making new codes. Email support@gizmobuild.io with your team name and your assistant's email address and we'll link them up directly.
Worth checking first: they're signed in with their own email address, not yours, and the code hasn't expired (codes last 7 days and work once) or been revoked and replaced. If your assistant sees a "code already used" error on a code you know is fresh, someone else probably redeemed it first, for example by testing it themselves or opening a shared link on a coach's own phone.
Questions about inviting, or need something it doesn't cover? Email support@gizmobuild.io.
The Players per side pills (4v4 through 11v11) on the Roster tab set how many players are on the field at once. Pick the size your league plays.
Changing size clears the shift assignments for the game you have open, because a lineup built for 9v9 has no meaning in 7v7.
Your old lineup is kept. Switch back to the size you came from and the assignments come back exactly as they were, pins included. SquadRotate tells you before it clears anything, and says how many shifts are affected.
Two limits worth knowing:
Below the size pills is the Formation panel. Each card is a shape for your team size, named defenders, midfielders, strikers. A goalkeeper is always included. For 7v7, for example:
Tap a card to use it. Auto-Assign, the chalkboard and the shift checks on Game-day all follow the formation you pick here.
Tap + Add Player at the bottom of the Roster tab. Fill in:
The first time you add a player to a team, a Before you add players screen asks you to confirm you're 18 or older and allowed to enter this team's player information, including any parental permission needed for players under 13. You only do this once per team.
Tap any player card to open it. Make your changes and tap Save, or tap Delete to remove the player from the roster.
If your league runs on LeagueRun, your commissioner (for GORC, that's Bill) can send you a share code by email. The code pulls your team straight into SquadRotate. No typing in the roster by hand.
Before you redeem a code, you need a SquadRotate account. Signing up takes an email address and a password. Tap Create an account on the sign-in screen if you haven't already.
To redeem a code:
Your roster fills in as soon as the code is accepted.
Redeeming a code pulls in:
Note: Once a roster is imported, it's your ordinary SquadRotate roster. Edit power ratings, positions and notes the same way you would with a hand-built team. There's no live connection back to LeagueRun. Edits you make here don't sync back, and changes on the league side don't reach you automatically. If your roster changes upstream, redeem a fresh code to pull in the update. See below.
Redeeming a code replaces your current roster, coaching staff and game schedule. It never merges with what's already there. Every item above gets swapped for whatever LeagueRun sends, including coaches you added by hand. Your practice night, time and field only change if the new code carries a different one.
Any changes you've made to players are lost when you redeem again: power ratings, positions and notes. Coaches you added by hand are replaced too. SquadRotate only stores a name and role for each coach, so there's no phone number or notes to lose.
If your team already has players or coaches, SquadRotate asks you to confirm before it replaces them, and lists what will be replaced.
Redeem a new code when your commissioner tells you the team changed upstream, for example after a mid-season rebalance. Otherwise, keep managing your roster in SquadRotate as usual. You don't need to redeem again for routine changes.
Warning: Check with your commissioner before redeeming a second time if you've made changes you want to keep, including any coaches you've added by hand. There's no undo once the new import replaces the old data.
Still stuck? Go to your commissioner first. They can check the code, send you a fresh one, or set your account up by hand if signing up is the problem. For GORC, that's Bill. Give them your name, email and team, and the exact error message if you have one.
If your commissioner can't get you sorted, they'll take it from there. Email support@gizmobuild.io only if you don't have a commissioner to go through.
Auto-Assign uses power ratings to break ties, and the strength readings on Game-day add them up. A rough guide:
Tip: You don't need to be precise. Rough is fine. Playing time and position spread come first, and power only decides between players who are otherwise even.
If your team came in through a LeagueRun code from a newer export, the Roster tab shows a From your league card with two buttons. Team schedule opens your team's public schedule in the browser. Uniform handout opens the handout page your league set up for the team, and only shows when the league has one. Teams you built by hand don't show the card.
The top of the Practice tab is your Daily Practice Routine: a table of time, activity and focus for a typical session. Tap + Add to add a row, or Edit on any row to change or delete it.
Below the routine is the Weekly Agenda, one card per practice week. Each card shows the date, the strategy for that session, and the drill each coach runs at their station.
Each week card has a row of coach chips under Coaches. Tap a chip to mark that coach in or out for the week:
When a coach is out, the card adds a Run with N coaches today plan so you can see how to cover the session with who's left. If nobody is available, it says so.
Availability is saved per week, so you can mark coaches out ahead of time and have the plan match what you'll find at the field.
Tap Edit on any week card to change its date, strategy and station drills. Tap Save when done.
Tap + Add Week at the top of the Weekly Agenda to add one. To remove a week, tap Edit on it, then Delete, and confirm.
Changes save automatically to your account, along with the rest of your team. See Your Data & Storage.
Assistant coaches can read the practice plans but can't change them.
Each game is saved on its own. The bar at the top of the Game-day tab shows the game you're on and its shape, for example 6 shifts · 3-1-2 · 8 min/shift, plus a status: Not started · Planning, Live, or Final with the score.
Tip: Lock a game after it's over so nobody edits its history by accident.
The number of shifts comes from the game's half length and minutes per shift:
Shifts per half = half length ÷ minutes per shift, rounded down
Example: 24-minute halves with 8-minute shifts = 3 shifts per half, 6 in the game
Any minutes left over (2 minutes from a 26-minute half with 8-minute shifts, for example) show as a note. Use them for a final quick burst, or ignore them.
The Mark Absent panel has a chip for each player. Tap a chip to mark that player out for this game. Absent players stay out of Auto-Assign and the plan. Tap again to bring them back.
You can also mark who's here on the kickoff screen when you start the game. See Running a Live Game.
Warning: Mark absences before running Auto-Assign. If you mark someone absent afterwards, run Auto-Assign again or fix the affected shifts by hand.
Under the action buttons is the chalkboard for one shift at a time. Use the ◀ ▶ arrows to step through Shift 1 of 6, Shift 2 of 6 and so on.
Tip: You don't have to fill every shift before the game. When you kick off, SquadRotate fills any open spots in the plan with the players who are there.
Tap Auto-Assign All to fill every shift at once. It:
Tap Clear to empty the shifts and start again. Locked shifts are skipped by both.
See Under the Hood for exactly how it decides.
Next to the shift arrows, a small pill sums up the whole plan. It reads balanced when playing time is even, or calls out the biggest gap, like Sam benched 3x or Ava plays 2, Leo plays 4. Tap the pill to show or hide the Position Rotation Matrix.
Below the chalkboard, every shift has its own card with each player's position in a dropdown (GK, DEF, MID, STR or Bench), a small chalkboard, and a role count.
Each shift card has its own Lock button. Lock a shift to keep it exactly as it is while you change later ones. Auto-Assign and Clear skip locked shifts. This helps with:
Locked shifts have an amber border. Shift locks belong to the game you set them in. A new game starts with nothing locked, and switching back to an earlier game shows its locks as you left them. If you shorten a game after locking shifts, a lock on a shift that no longer exists is dropped.
Note: To fix a locked shift, tap its Lock button to unlock it, make your changes, then lock it again. Pins stay when you Clear, so a goalkeeper pin still applies the next time you run Auto-Assign.
Each player row on a shift card has a pin button. A pin tells Auto-Assign to leave that player in that position instead of rotating them.
This is how you give the same keeper two shifts in goal and let Auto-Assign rotate everyone else. Pin them in shifts 1 and 2 and run Auto-Assign. Those two shifts still count toward fairness, so the other keepers take the rest of the game.
Changing a player's position by hand, or swapping them on the chalkboard, clears their pin for that shift. Pins on other shifts stay. Pinning to all shifts skips locked shifts.
Tap Print sheets to save one image per shift, ready to print and post on the bench. Each sheet shows the field with every player in their spot, the formation, the roster, and a bench box saying who goes on next, where, and who they replace.
Players print as first name and last initial. If two players share that short name, both get a star wherever they appear, with a footnote at the bottom of the sheet naming them.
Tip: Each position has its own color on the sheet, so a color printer works best.
On a wider screen, Game-day shows the shift's roster list and the chalkboard side by side. The shift arrows move both together.
When the plan is ready, tap Start Game on the game bar. That opens the kickoff screen. See Running a Live Game.
At least one shift needs players in it first. If the plan is empty, SquadRotate asks you to run Auto-Assign.
Tap Start Game on the Game-day tab. The kickoff screen asks Who's here today?
When you kick off, SquadRotate fills any open spots in your plan with the players who are there. To go back without starting, tap ✕. Any half length change you made on this screen is undone.
Note: Tapping Start Game on a game that already finished asks what you want. Start a new game makes a new game with the same lineup and takes you to its kickoff screen. The finished game, with its minutes and score, stays saved in your list. Reset this game clears its minutes, score and game log so you can play it again. Cancel leaves everything as it is.
The live screen is built to read at a glance on the sideline:
Every player shows their minutes played so far, live, in the circle next to their name and number.
List shows who's on the field and who's on the bench, each with minutes, shifts played so far and position. Tap Sort to order by position, minutes (least first) or name. Your choice is remembered on this device.
Chalkboard shows everyone in their spot on the field. To swap two players' positions, tap one, then tap the other. You can also drag one player onto another. Swapping positions never changes who's on the field. The plan decides that.
The ☀ button turns on daylight mode, for reading the screen in bright sun.
When a shift's time is up, the Subs screen opens. It shows who's Coming off, who's Going on, anyone changing position, and a callout when the goalkeeper changes so you can hand over the gloves.
You can also move on early with the big button at the bottom of the live screen.
At the end of the first half, the game clock pauses on its own and you get a preview of the second half: the first shift, who's in goal, and who's due on. Tap Start half 2 when you're ready. The clock picks up where it stopped.
Tap Goal. Then:
If the other team scored, tap They scored (opponent goal) and add their shirt number if you like. If you're not sure who scored, tap Not sure and the goal is logged without a name.
Tap any player on the live list to see what you can do:
Return to play. When an injured player is ready, tap Return to play next to their name and confirm. They go back on the bench, first in line to come on. Their minutes start again when they do.
Red cards. A red asks you to confirm first. A player who's sent off can't return and their minutes stop. If your league lets a sub replace them, turn on League allows a replacement. SquadRotate remembers that for the team, and you can also set it under Red card replacement in Team settings. With it off, your team plays one short for the rest of the game. A second yellow asks whether to send the player off. Say no and they stay on.
Everything you log shows a short Undo message. Tap it to take the action back.
For anything older, open the game log: tap the score, or tap ··· and then Game log. It lists every goal, card, injury, return and sub, newest first. Tap an entry to:
Undoing an injury or a red card puts the player back in the plan.
Tap ··· on the live screen for:
The ✕ button also goes back to the planner, and the game keeps running. Tap Resume live game on the Game-day tab to return. If you refresh or reopen the app while you are on another tab, you stay on that tab and the game keeps running. Go to the Game-day tab and tap Resume live game. If the live screen was open when you refreshed, you come back to it. While a game is live, the planner shows minutes on each player and only lets you change shifts that haven't started yet.
The game ends when you tap End game on the last shift, or from the ··· menu. The full-time summary shows:
Injured players count on the minutes they played. A player who was sent off is left out of the spread.
Tap Share recap to send a plain-text recap to your team chat. If sharing isn't available on your device, the recap is copied so you can paste it. The recap includes each player's first name, so share it only with your team. Tap Save & close when you're done.
To see the summary again later, pick the game from the Game list on the Game-day tab and tap Full-time summary. Next to it, Game log shows every goal and card from that game.
An invited assistant coach can watch the live game on their own phone. Their screen follows the head coach's: the shift, the clock, minutes, the score and the game log. They can't change anything.
Below the shift cards on the Game-day tab, the Player Rotation Tracker shows every player's planned shifts for the current game, like 4/6, with a bar, then how many of those shifts they play at GK, DEF, MID and STR. A goalkeeper count of 2 or more is highlighted. Use it to spot anyone with a lot more or a lot fewer turns than the rest.
This tracks the plan, in shifts. For actual minutes played in a live game, see the live screen and the full-time summary in Running a Live Game.
SquadRotate watches for players planned in two attacking shifts in a row (Striker or Midfield back to back). These are the most tiring positions, and young players wear out fast.
When a player is flagged, their row on the shift card shows a ⚠ badge. Tap it for details. The flag clears as soon as the run is broken by Goalkeeper, Defense or Bench.
Note: Fatigue warnings are advice only. They don't block anything. Use them as a nudge to rotate attackers more often, especially on hot days.
Tap the fairness pill next to the chalkboard's shift arrows to show or hide the rotation matrix. It's a table of how many times each player plays each position across the current game. For example:
| Player | GK | DEF | MID | STR | BN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex | – | 2 | 1 | 3 | – |
| Jordan | 5 | – | – | – | 1 |
| Casey | – | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
High counts are highlighted in the cell:
The matrix updates every time you change the plan. If you turn off Balance suggestions in Team settings, the pill is hidden and the matrix stays visible.
Your formation is set on the Roster tab, from the shapes offered for your team size. The default for 7v7 is 3-1-2: a goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 1 midfielder and 2 strikers. For 9v9 the shapes include 3-3-2 and 3-2-3, and so on. Auto-Assign, the chalkboard and the shift checks all read the formation you picked.
If your roster is bigger than your team size, players rotate through the bench every shift. Auto-Assign handles that for you.
Auto-Assign works one shift at a time, in order, and skips any shift you've locked. For each shift:
Locked shifts and pins still count toward fairness, so a keeper pinned for two shifts gets fewer turns in goal later.
Note: Auto-Assign gives you a good starting point, not a perfect answer. You know your kids better than any algorithm does. Change anything you like afterwards.
Auto-fill open spots on the chalkboard, and the fill that happens when you kick off, use the same rules as Auto-Assign. The difference is they keep every player you've already placed and only fill the gaps.
The player picker you see when you tap a + spot puts players whose first-choice position matches that spot on top. Within each group, the fewest planned shifts come first, then the lower shirt number.
The fatigue warning looks at each player's run of shifts for two attacking roles in a row (Striker or Midfield). It flags the second shift of the pair:
Three attacking shifts in a row produce two warnings, on the second and third.
The dot on each shift card adds up the power ratings of the players on the field and compares that with the total for your strongest players:
The ring on the live screen uses the same math and reads Balanced, Stretched or Weak.
A shift is checked once at least one player is placed in it. SquadRotate compares the positions against your formation and gives a specific message for each problem, such as no goalkeeper, two goalkeepers, or too many strikers. A shift that matches gets a green outline.
You sign in to use SquadRotate, and your team data is saved to your account. That covers your roster, team name, team size and formation, coaching staff, practice plans, and every game: the shift plans, absences, locks and pins, plus the live game, its minutes, and the game log.
Each device also keeps a copy, so the app keeps working when you lose signal at the field. Changes made offline go up to your account as soon as you're back online.
A few settings stay on the device you set them on and don't sync: Balance suggestions, Default tab on open, the live list sort and daylight mode.
The badge in the top bar shows where your changes are:
If SquadRotate can't load your team, it shows Loading your team… or We couldn't load your team with Try again. It never shows an empty team in place of one you've built, and it changes nothing until it knows what's saved.
Sign in with the same account on any phone, tablet or computer and your teams load, games included.
Assistant coaches see the head coach's team on their own devices, read-only. See Coaching Staff.
Clearing your browser's site data, or deleting the app, removes this device's copy only. Your account copy is safe. Sign in again to get it back.
Warning: If the badge doesn't say Saved, this device may have changes your account doesn't have yet. Get back online and wait for Saved before you clear anything.
To erase everything, open the menu behind the SquadRotate logo and tap Delete my account. This deletes your account and every team, roster and game, on this device and on our servers. SquadRotate asks you twice, because it can't be undone.