Planning Substitution Rotations

Overview

The rotation plan schedules which players come on and off, and at what minute, so every squad member gets roughly equal pitch time. Squadd offers two ways to build it:

Auto mode generates a fair-play rotation for you, based on the algorithm below.
Manual mode lets you set your own subs, or save a plan with no subs at all if you'd rather decide everything on the day.

Whichever mode you use, you see a Fairness score and projected minutes per player before the match starts, letting you tweak the rotation until you're happy with it.

During the live match the plan shows up as a card under the score, one sub window at a time, and you record each sub with one tap (or make a different one: a fair-play swap, a manual pick, or a swipe on the Squad page). An Auto plan keeps itself up to date when the match doesn't go to plan; a Manual plan is yours, and Squadd never changes it without you. See During the Match.

Auto Mode: How the Fairness Algorithm Works

Squadd calculates the rotation using:

Input	Where it comes from
Available squad	Players marked available for the fixture
Pitch slots	Determined by your team format (e.g. 7 players on for 7v7)
Match duration	Set on the fixture (e.g. 60 minutes)
Half duration	Set on the fixture (e.g. 30 minutes)
Sub windows	At 25 %, 50 % and 75 % of match time (a game in thirds subs at its two breaks). Pick Half-time only under When to sub for one round of subs at the break
Goalkeeper	The player in the goal slot keeps goal all match, unless your team takes turns in goal
Season minutes	Each player's cumulative minutes this season (used to prioritise players with a season debt)
Position bands	Used when Detailed Positions is enabled on your team

The algorithm places the players with the fewest season minutes on the pitch first (highest fairness debt = most playing time needed), then plans the subs that keep projected minutes even with as few changes as possible. It tries every number of subs at every window and keeps a plan only if it is just as good as subbing at every window on three counts:

nobody ends up further below your minimum playing time,
the gap between the most and the fewest minutes is no wider, and
no more players get time in only one half.

Of the plans that pass, it picks the one with the fewest changes and stops, unless one more change evens the minutes out noticeably. Most plans come out with the same minutes as before and about a quarter fewer subs: a 7v7 game with ten players, for example, now needs 6 subs in 2 windows where it used to make 9 in 3.

When two players are level on minutes this match, the one with more season minutes comes off first, so the players owed the most time get it.

When to sub

For a game played in halves, When to sub sits under the pitch, above the rotation settings:

Through the game (the default) subs during each half as well as at half time, so everyone plays in both halves.
Half-time only makes one round of subs at the break: the fewest stops, and minutes still even out over the match.

Tap Set this as the default for all games under it to make your choice the team's default. Games in quarters or thirds sub at their breaks, and a straight-through game has no break, so the choice only appears for halves.

📝 The rotation and bench pool is your match-day squad — the capped playing squad for this match. If you have more available players than the playing cap for the format, the over-cap reserves are excluded from the rotation; they aren't given projected minutes and aren't rotated on. The same capped squad carries through to the live screen, so the fair-play minute tracking and sub suggestions during the match match the plan.

Fairness score measures how even the distribution is:

Score	What it means
100	Perfect parity — all outfield players project the same minutes
85–99	Excellent — less than a 4-minute spread
70–84	Good — 4–8 minute spread
50–69	Fair — consider tweaking the rotation
Below 50	Large spread — Squadd will show a warning banner

Viewing the Rotation Plan

The rotation plan is shown at the bottom of the Lineup screen, below the pitch view and bench.

Sub Rotations section

A timeline of every substitution window:

30'  ↑ Alfie Morgan    ↓ Jack Davies
     ↑ Priya Sharma    ↓ Liam O'Brien

60'  ↑ Jack Davies     ↓ Caitlin Hughes
     ↑ Liam O'Brien    ↓ Mia Patel

Each row shows:

↑ Player name — coming on at that minute
↓ Player name — coming off at that minute

Projected Minutes section

Below the rotation timeline, every player is listed with their projected pitch time:

Fairness 87%

Alfie Morgan     45 min
Priya Sharma     45 min
Jack Davies      40 min
Liam O'Brien     40 min
Caitlin Hughes   35 min
Mia Patel        35 min

The Fairness % pill is colour-coded:

🟢 Green — good distribution (≥ 70 %)
🟡 Amber — fair but worth reviewing (50–69 %)
🔴 Red — large spread (< 50 %)

📸 [Screenshot: Projected Minutes section with Fairness 87% green pill and player list]

Adjusting the Rotation

The plan is a suggestion — you have full control to adjust it before saving.

Swap two players

Drag a player onto another to swap them, or tap any player to select them (they highlight) then tap a second player to swap; both work. The algorithm re-calculates the rotation and updates the fairness score immediately.

Same bench ↔ bench swap: swaps bench positions only; rotation updates accordingly
Starter ↔ bench swap: the bench player takes the starter's slot; the former starter moves to bench

Lock a player to the starting XI

Tap the padlock icon next to any starter to prevent them from being rotated off. Useful for players who must play the full match (e.g. a trialist, or a player returning from injury who needs a confidence boost).

Locked players are excluded from the rotation algorithm. The remaining outfield players share the available minutes. A player you lock on the bench stays on the bench all match.

⚠️ Locking many players reduces fairness. If you lock the majority of the starting XI, the algorithm has few players to rotate and the fairness score will fall. Squadd shows a warning if any player projects below 50 % of total match time after you've been 40 % into match setup.

Change formation

Tap the formation label (e.g. 3-2-1) to open the formation picker. Changing the formation re-runs the algorithm from scratch against the new slot layout.

Regenerate the plan

Tap the 🔄 refresh icon (top-right of the lineup screen) to discard your current plan, Auto or Manual, and generate a fresh Auto-mode suggestion from scratch.

⚠️ Regenerating cannot be undone. All manual swaps and locks are cleared. If you have made deliberate adjustments, do not tap refresh.

Manual Mode

If you'd rather plan subs yourself, switch the rotation to Manual on the Lineup screen. Manual mode doesn't schedule anything for you:

Add your own substitution windows at whatever minutes suit your team, or
Leave the plan empty if you don't want any subs planned in advance at all.

An empty Manual plan is a deliberate choice, and Squadd respects it: reopening the Lineup screen reloads exactly what you saved, including a genuinely empty no-subs plan; it won't quietly replace it with an Auto-generated rotation.

Manual mode is useful if your league has its own substitution rules, if you prefer to make every call live from the touchline, or if you're playing a short squad with little bench to rotate.

Saving the Plan

When you are happy with the lineup and rotation, tap Save match plan.

This saves both the starting XI and the full substitution plan to the fixture. You can return to the Lineup screen at any time before kick-off to make further adjustments — each save replaces the previous version.

During the Match

Squadd never makes a sub for you: the plan tells you when and who, and you record each sub when it happens.

Follow the card under the score. It shows the next planned window and turns amber when it's due. Tap Made once you've swapped the players, or See plan for the whole plan.
Make a different sub whenever you need to: tap the ⇄ button on any player row, pick who comes on, or swipe a bench player onto the pitch on the Squad page.
Watch the fairness nudges. As the match goes on, Squadd works out live projected minutes and highlights any player heading for fewer minutes than their teammates.

When the match doesn't go to plan

If you make a sub the plan didn't have, mark someone out, bring someone back in, or add a late arrival, some of the plan's later subs may no longer be possible.

An Auto plan re-plans itself. Squadd works out the rest of the match from who is on the pitch and the minutes everyone has played, and says so in one line at the top of the screen, for example Plan updated after Freddie came on. If you were part-way through a sub window, the rest of that window is re-planned for now rather than pushed to the next one, and anyone who has just come on or gone off stays where they are.
A Manual plan is never changed without you. The Recalculate plan link under the card turns amber (Subs changed: recalculate the plan, or Squad changed when someone is out or has arrived). Tap it to replace the rest of your plan with a fair-play one.

Skipping a window with the card's ✕ is your call, so it never re-plans anything.

See Recording a Live Match for full live match instructions.

📝 Minutes are editable after full time. If the live subs didn't follow the plan exactly, you don't have to leave the recorded minutes wrong — open the Match Report in edit mode and set each player's minutes directly, with an "Even split" button to divide them evenly across the squad.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I set custom substitution windows instead of 25/50/75%?
Yes. Switch to Manual mode and add your own substitution windows at whatever minutes suit your team, or leave the plan empty and decide live. Auto mode still schedules windows automatically at the quarter, half, and three-quarter marks of the match duration, if you'd rather let Squadd do it.

Why does the rotation look uneven even with a good fairness score?
Half-time affects the calculation. Players who start the second half have a natural advantage over those who start the first half if the squad is odd-sized. The algorithm minimises the spread but cannot always achieve perfect parity with non-divisible squad numbers.

A player arrived late. How do I update the rotation?
Before kick-off, open the Lineup screen, tap Change next to the playing count and tick them (it's saved as their yes), then save the lineup again. On a match day with a squad cap, mark them on the match day instead. After kick-off, tap Add a late arrival on the live screen's Squad page: an Auto plan then gives them minutes by itself.

Why does my plan have fewer subs than it used to?
Since September 2026 the planner makes the fewest changes that keep minutes just as fair as subbing at every window. Nobody ends up with fewer minutes than before; there are just fewer stops. If you'd like even fewer, pick Half-time only under When to sub.

Why did my plan change during the match?
You made a sub the plan didn't have, marked someone out or back in, or someone joined the squad, so the plan re-planned the rest of the match around it. Only Auto plans do this; the one-line notice at the top of the screen says what it responded to.

The fairness score dropped after I locked players — is that a problem?
Only if the drop is significant. A Fairness score of 70 % or above means the spread is under 8 minutes — that is generally acceptable at grassroots level. Scores below 50 % (> 13-minute spread) are worth reviewing.

Does the rotation account for goalkeeper position?
Yes. The player in the goal slot keeps goal for the whole match and the rotation shares out the outfield places. If your team gives a different player a turn in goal each quarter, switch on Take turns in goal: the match plan then takes a keeper for each quarter, everyone plays outfield when it isn't their turn, and time in goal doesn't count against anyone's share. See Taking turns in goal.

My squad is smaller than the pitch format — what happens?
If you have fewer available players than pitch slots, the algorithm places all available players as starters and calculates the fairest rotation with no bench. A "Small squad" notice appears on the lineup screen.