Squad Composition & Lineup Rules
Five active positions, no defenders, and a rule set deliberately tuned toward aggressive, high-scoring football.
Formation Map
A DuelFive squad is five footballers, and that is it. The format is small on purpose. It takes a minute to set, it is easy to explain to a friend, and every single pick carries real weight, because one weak choice is twenty percent of your team.
Defenders are excluded entirely. Since duels are decided by goals scored and nothing else, a centre-back would be dead weight on your sheet. Cutting them keeps every slot meaningful and pushes the whole format toward attack.
The keeper anchors the squad, three flexible slots sit in the middle, and at least one striker must lead the line.
Position Rules & Constraints
Three rules govern every valid lineup. They are short, they never change between competitions, and the app blocks you from entering a duel with an illegal squad.
- Goalkeeper (GK), exactly one: every squad must field one keeper, and never more than one. Keepers rarely score, so this slot is about the bonus scoring rules rather than raw goals. It also stops the format collapsing into five strikers and gives the squad a recognisable shape.
- Striker (ST), minimum one: at least one recognised forward must start. This guarantees every squad has genuine goal threat and prevents defensive stalemates where neither manager can realistically score.
- Flex slots, the remaining three: fill these with any mix of midfielders and strikers. This is where tactics actually live. Load up on forwards for a high-variance swing, or spread across midfielders to smooth out your risk.
Because the constraints are so light, two managers with the same budget almost never arrive at the same team. The skill is not in memorising a meta, it is in reading the fixture list.
Supported Roster Formations
Those rules produce three practical shapes. None is strictly stronger than the others; each is a different bet on how a given matchday will unfold.
Maximum goal threat and maximum risk. Three strikers means three chances of a hat-trick, but a quiet weekend up front leaves you with almost nothing.
The default choice for most managers. Two reliable strikers carry the scoring load while two attacking midfielders cover you if the forwards go missing.
A contrarian build that spreads risk across many small chances rather than betting on one big one. Effective in weeks with congested, unpredictable fixtures.
Choosing between them is the core strategic decision of every duel. A derby weekend full of open games rewards heavy attack; a run of tight fixtures rewards spreading your chances. Managers who read the calendar well will win more often than managers who simply buy the biggest names.