About 46-0

46-0 is a free online football game where you draft an all-star XI from thousands of iconic squads - across the Championship, League 1, League 2 and the National League, spanning more than 30 years - and find out whether your side could survive a full 46-game season unbeaten in the most relentless leagues in world football.

How It Works

1. Choose your game mode - Classic, Current Season (2025-26), Daily Challenge, the 138-0 / 184-0 career climb, or the Rumbelows Milk Cup.
2. Pick your division - Championship, League 1, League 2, or the National League.
3. Pick a difficulty - Easy, Normal, Hard, or Tuesday Night.
4. Name your side.
5. The board appoints a manager. Some help. Some hurt. Some surprise you mid-season. You do not get a choice.
6. You land on the draft screen - your pitch on one side, the spin panel on the other, with a formation picker built right in. Scroll through the shapes any time and the pitch re-seats live.
7. Spin to draw a random club and season from your division's pool, then pick a player into an open slot.
8. Arrange your XI freely - tap to move or swap any outfield player around the pitch as you go (the keeper stays locked to goal). Keep spinning until every position is filled.
9. One opponent is your bogey team - they get a bonus against you in both fixtures. Just like real football, some teams always have your number.
10. Watch your season unfold match by match - with live lineups, a running table, and a narrative that builds as results come in. Can you go unbeaten? Achieve the impossible 46-0?

Four Divisions

46-0 spans the whole pyramid: the Championship, League One, League Two and the National League - 92 current clubs plus a deep archive of classic squads going back to the early 1990s. Player ratings are relative to the division, so a 90 in League Two means cult hero at that level, not a Premier League star. Pick the league, and the draft pool and your opponents both come from it.

The 46-0 Challenge

No club has ever gone 46-0. The EFL is the most unpredictable football on earth - anyone can beat anyone on any Tuesday night. The simulation uses a Poisson goal model with proper lower-league chaos: form swings, giant-killings, bogey teams, and away-day variance. Even an elite squad has less than a 1% chance of going unbeaten across all 46.

Game Modes

Classic - thousands of historic squads from the '90s to today, across all four divisions. Each game shuffles the pool and draws 23 random opponents - every playthrough is different.

Current Season (2025-26) - the real clubs from your chosen division. You take over the side that finished bottom and take on the actual league. Same draft pool, real opponents at their real strength.

Daily Challenge - one a day, the same for everyone. A fixed manager and a fixed set of opponents, locked in at midnight and unchanged until the next day. Build the best XI you can from the same starting point as every other player, and climb the daily board.

138-0 - the career climb. Start at the foot of League Two and win three consecutive promotions all the way to the Premier League, dropping no points across 138 games. Start a tier lower in the National League instead and it becomes 184-0 - four divisions, 184 games. See below.

Rumbelows Milk Cup - a standalone knockout, and a rehash of the old EFL Cup with one big change: the self-appointed "Superleague" elite are turfed out and their places handed back to proper clubs. The field is 96 sides from across all four divisions - no Premier League breakaway mob, just the EFL and non-league. Draft an all-star XI and go on a cup run: seven single-leg rounds (two-legged semi-finals) to the final at Wembley, with a televised draw, match previews, win probabilities and the Shoutsport studio reacting to every tie. Win all seven and you lift it on a perfect 7-0.

138-0: The Ultimate Challenge

The hardest thing in the game. You start at the very bottom - the worst side in League Two - and build a team to win back-to-back-to-back promotions all the way to the Premier League.

It is a living, three-division universe: every club is simulated and promoted or relegated around you, season after season. Win your division - automatically or through the play-offs - and you go up. Between seasons you get a summer transfer window and a manager decision to rebuild. Rerolls match your transfers - Easy 5/5, Normal 3/3, Hard 1/1.

After you name your side you choose your path:

The Purist - the original. You draft only from your current division, and a player's rating is relative to where they are: every player you keep drops a level climbing (-15% to League One, -20% to the Championship), and that reverses if you go back down. Brutal by design.

State Ownership - the takeover. Draft from any club, current or historical, get allocated any manager, and your stars never lose rating crossing divisions. A superteam all the way to the Premier League - much easier, and badged as such on the 138-0 board.

The holy grail is 138-0: win all 138 games (three 46-game seasons) without dropping a single point. Virtually impossible. Your run ends one of three ways - you reach the Premier League, you are relegated out of League Two, or you quit - and your cumulative record is yours to share.

Difficulty

Easy - 5 rerolls. Full control over your draft picks. See all player ratings.

Normal - 3 rerolls. Full control. See all player ratings.

Hard - no rerolls. Player ratings are hidden - you draft blind.

Tuesday Night - 1 reroll. No choice at all. The board auto-picks your players and slots them in for you. You get a brief transfer deadline reveal to see who you've ended up with before the season kicks off. Pure chaos.

Formations

4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-5-1, 3-4-3, 3-5-2, 5-4-1. The formation picker lives on the draft screen itself, so you can scroll through shapes and watch the pitch - and your team rating - react before you commit. Formation also feeds your chemistry score, so it is worth more than just the shape.

Position Flexibility

Every player carries their real position(s) - a full-back reads as a full-back, a winger as a winger - and how strictly those are enforced depends on the mode:

• Position lock ON (the Classic default) - a player can only go in a role they genuinely play. Multi-position players become a key strategic asset, and your shape has to fit your squad.
• Flexible (the 138-0 default) - you can field anyone outfield anywhere, but out of position costs rating: -5 for a related role, -10 for a completely foreign one, shown in red on the pitch. The goalkeeper slot is always locked.

The same screen - pitch, formation picker and spin panel together - is reused for the January and summer transfer windows, so picking and reshaping your team always works exactly the same way: sell a player, spin for a replacement, and rearrange freely before you play on.

Chemistry

Your team rating is not just raw player ratings averaged out. Chemistry matters - and it can be the difference between a mid-table plod and a title charge. There are several ways to build it up, and a few ways to accidentally tank it:

• Club links - players from the same club-season know each other's game and click together.
• Legendary partnerships - certain iconic duos earn an extra boost when reunited. There are 39 hidden in the database. Discover them yourself - the squad review will flag when one fires.
• Era - stack three or more players from the same decade and they gel faster.
• Formation bonus - your choice of shape unlocks an extra chemistry lift on top of everything else.
• Position adjacency - same-club teammates placed next to each other on the pitch bond faster. Where you put a player matters.
• Journeymen - some players appeared at multiple clubs in the database. Draft them and they link to all of them simultaneously.
• Manager links - some managers have history with certain clubs. Draft their former players and the connection fires. Their old home club gives an extra bond on top.
• Rivalries - put sworn enemies in the same dressing room and chemistry drops. Newcastle and Sunderland. Cardiff and Swansea. Forest and Derby. Careful who you mix.

Chemistry is uncapped - stack enough links and your squad can punch well above its raw rating. Your full breakdown is shown in the squad review before the season kicks off.

How Matches Work

Every match is simulated using a Poisson goal model seeded from the two teams' overall strengths. The gap in rating between your XI and the opponent determines the expected goals for each side - a bigger gap means more goals for the stronger team, but the model always preserves a meaningful chance of any result. Nothing is certain in the EFL.

Home advantage is baked in. Expect your home record to be better than your away record - and expect tougher nights on the road, especially at the stronger sides.

Opponent teams pick their best XI from their squad for every fixture. The same rating logic that applies to your players applies to theirs - their overall strength is the average of their top 11, weighted by position. You can see both starting XIs by expanding any match result during the season reveal.

Each of your 46 fixtures is part of a full double round-robin: you face every other club once at home and once away, and the rest of the division plays their own matches simultaneously. The live table after every gameweek reflects every result across the whole league - not just yours.

Managers

Before the draft begins, the board appoints a manager at random - legends and liabilities from across all four divisions, spanning the same 30-year era as the players. You do not get a choice.

Every manager comes with their own set of traits - some that help, some that hurt, and often both at once. A manager might boost your attack while leaving the defence exposed, or tighten things defensively while capping your goals. Some unlock perks tied directly to your squad. Others impose penalties that only reveal themselves at the worst possible moment.

Several managers have surprises hidden up their sleeve that only reveal themselves as the season unfolds. The narrative will tell you when something is happening. A few have history with specific clubs or players in the draft pool - and that history cuts both ways.

The manager's identity is revealed in a spin after the draft. If you know the EFL, you will know immediately what you are in for.

Match Day

Your 46 fixtures reveal one gameweek at a time. For each match you can expand the result to see side-by-side lineups - home team on the left, away team on the right - along with the rest of that week's scores and a live league table. The narrative feeds you manager events, form runs, headline moments, and the kind of chaos that could only happen in the EFL.

Leaderboard

Submit your score at the end of the season to compete on the global leaderboard. Filter by division (Championship, League One, League Two), All Time, Classic, Current Season, Tuesday Night, or the Daily Challenge. Top scores are server-verified - the simulation is replayed to confirm your record is genuine.

FAQ

Is it free? Yes. Browser-based, nothing to download, no account needed.

Which leagues can I play? All three EFL divisions - Championship, League One and League Two - in Classic, Current Season, Daily Challenge or 138-0 mode.

Can you actually go 46-0? Yes, but it is extremely rare. The chaos mechanics mean even elite squads drop points. That is the challenge.

Do I need an account? No. Play instantly. Leaderboard submissions only require a team name.

Is there always a bogey team? Yes. Every game, one random opponent is assigned as your bogey team. They get a boost against you in both fixtures. You find out who it was in your end-of-season review.

Can I pick my manager? No. The board decides. That is the point.

Can I play players out of position? It depends on the mode. With position lock on (the Classic default) a player can only fill a role they genuinely play. In the flexible modes (the 138-0 default) you can field anyone outfield anywhere for a rating penalty - 5 for a related role, 10 for a foreign one - but the goalkeeper is always locked to goal.

Where do I pick my formation? On the draft screen itself. The picker sits next to the pitch so you can scroll shapes and see the impact live - and the same screen is reused for the January and summer transfer windows.

How does chemistry work? Your overall rating is your base average plus a chemistry bonus built from club links, legendary pairs, era, formation, adjacency, and manager history. Stack enough connections and you can build a squad that punches well above its individual ratings. The full breakdown is shown before kick-off.

What are legendary partnerships? Certain iconic duos from EFL history earn an extra bonus when drafted together. There are 39 of them. Keep an eye on the squad review - a pair that fires will be flagged.

Do rivalries actually matter? Yes. Mixing players from derby rivals takes a chemistry hit. The bigger the rivalry, the bigger the drop.

What is the Daily Challenge? A single shared puzzle each day - the same manager and the same opponents for everyone, fixed at midnight. Build the best XI from an identical starting point and see how you stack up.

What does Tuesday Night mode do? The board drafts your entire squad for you. Players are auto-picked and auto-slotted. You get 1 reroll and a transfer deadline reveal before kick-off. Total surrender.

What is 138-0? The career mode. Start at the bottom of League Two and win three consecutive promotions to the Premier League without dropping a point across all 138 games. A living 72-club universe, with promotion and relegation playing out around you each season.

What happens between 138-0 seasons? A summer transfer window lets you sell and replace players. Your manager can change. In Purist mode, retained players see their ratings adjust to the new division - a Championship signing who came down is overqualified; a League Two stalwart you promoted has to step up.

Are leaderboard scores verified? Yes. Top scores are replayed server-side - the engine re-simulates your exact season from the same seed and confirms the record matches. A verified tick means it checked out.