• FIFAe Draft back for the FIFAe 2026 season.

• The FIFAe Draft will be introduced starting from Qualifying-Week 3 of the FIFAe Nations League.

• National teams will enter the competition with unique 23 in-game player squads from predefined player pools.

Following its successful implementation in previous FIFAe competitions, the FIFAe Draft is set to return for the decisive stages of the FIFAe 2026 season in eFootball™. The FIFAe Draft will be introduced starting from Qualifying-Week 3 of the FIFAe Nations League, across the FIFAe Continental Championships and throughout the FIFAe World Cup 2026™.

What is the FIFAe Draft?

The FIFAe Draft challenges national teams to prove their squad-building expertise and strategic thinking under pressure beyond traditional competitive play. Here is where national teams select their in-game squads for the upcoming competition stages. Coaches and players will need to carefully assemble their in-game lineups from a pre-defined player pool, making every selection count.

The FIFAe Draft introduces an additional layer of tactical complexity into the competition, ensuring that every tournament develops differently and creates new strategic dynamics between competing teams.

What to consider?

With all teams from the same group drafting from the same player pool, coaches and players must prepare their selection strategy, evaluate available options in real time, adapt to changing circumstances and create a balanced squad capable of competing for glory.

To create a winning squad, coaches and players will need to focus on:

• Tactical understanding of the game

• Squad-building knowledge

• Adaptability under pressure

• Strategic planning across multiple rounds

• Team coordination between players and coaches

The Format

During the qualifying-week 3 of the FIFAe Nations League, a draft will be held for every individual group. Example: For Europe in eFootball™ Console, a total of 8 drafts will be held, one for every group A-H. Before the competition begins, nations select their draft position based on the FIFAe World Ranking. The highest-ranked nation chooses their position in the draft first, followed by the second highest, and so on. The FIFAe Draft itself then unfolds across three phases for the FIFAe Nations League, and an additional fourth phase for the FIFAe Continental Championships and the FIFAe World Cup:

Phase 1 – Key Player Selection

• Each national team privately selects three key players.

• These three players are locked to the respective team and will be removed from the Live Draft pool.

• Duplicates are allowed in this phase. This means that the same player may appear in multiple teams.

• No Goalkeepers can be selected in this phase.

• Once all selections have been recorded, the results will be shared with all participants so they can prepare their strategies for Phase 2.

Phase 2 – Live Draft

• Each national team drafts their players following the snake draft order in live draft sessions.

• All selected key players are removed from the draft pool and can no longer be selected.

• The number of draft rounds will vary depending on the size of the groups within each region.

• Each pick must be submitted within 90 seconds. Otherwise, teams lose the selection opportunity during the Live Draft in this round and will have to select an additional player in Phase 3 - the Open Player Pool Selection.

• No duplicates are allowed in this phase: each selected player is unique to one team per group.

• No Goalkeepers can be selected in this phase.

Phase 3 – Open Player Pool Selection

• After the conclusion of Phase 2, each national team completes its roster by choosing from the remaining player pool (The “Open Player Pool”). This includes all players not selected in Phase 1 and 2.

• During this phase, each team must pick at least 2 Goalkeepers.

• Duplicates are allowed again within this Phase, but only across players remaining in the Open Player Pool.

• After the end of Phase 3, all teams will have completed their 23-player roster.

Phase 4 – Elimination Pool Selection (for FIFAe Continental Championships and FIFAe World Cup™)

• From the FIFAe Continental Championships onwards, the Elimination Pool will return.

• Drafted players from teams eliminated in the group stage will be made available for the advancing teams from the same group.

• Based on the finishing order in the group stage, advancing teams will select players from the Elimination Pool. E.g. the group winner selects first, the second-placed finisher selects in second, etc.

Competitive accounts

To ensure a level playing field, FIFAe will provide official eFootball™ accounts prepared by KONAMI to all participating Member Associations. These accounts will be used to build each team’s 23-player roster via the draft system.

The Squads

With Phase 3 complete, each team will enter the competition with a unique 23-player squad. All final rosters will be published on FIFA.GG as teams continue on the Road to the FIFAe Finals 2026.