Try Footium for free: how to manage a real club as a Caretaker
How to start Footium for free as a Caretaker: sign up, pick a club, play a 22-match season with a match every day, and what you get if you decide to buy the club.
Footium is an online football manager game where you run a real club against other real managers. You pick the eleven, set the formation and tactics, and a match plays every single day. Best part, you can start completely free as a Caretaker. You get a club and a squad for a whole season without buying anything.
This guide covers how to sign up, what a Caretaker can and can't do, the five things that win you matches, and what you get if you enjoy it and want to keep the club.
Start Footium for free with my invite link. Referral link, sign-up is free either way.
Coming from Sorare?
If you play Sorare Set a lot of this will feel familiar. It's free to start, it rewards a football brain and there's something to do every day. The big differences are below.
| Sorare Set | Footium | |
|---|---|---|
| What you control | Open packs for a chance to pack real footballers | Manage a whole club, players, formation, tactics and more |
| Where scores come from | Real-life matches | Footium's own match engine, one league match a day as you try to win the league |
| Who you play against | A points target on the ladder | Eleven other real managers in a 12‑club league |
| What decides it | Picking the right players on the right day, and pack luck | Your lineup, tactics and in-game decisions matter, with real live games |
| Free to start | Yes, a starter pack | Yes, a free Caretaker club for a whole season |
The thing Sorare players tend to like most is there's no pack luck in a Footium match. Get your lineup right and your tactics to fit your squad and you'll win more than you lose. You can also make changes live while the match is playing, which is a very different feeling to watching your Sorare cards and hoping!
It fills the gaps too. Sorare needs real fixtures, so international breaks and quiet midweeks are slow days. Footium plays every day of the season.
How to start as a Caretaker
- Sign up. Head to Footium through my invite link and sign in with Google, X or email. No wallet, no browser extension and no crypto needed.
- Pick a club. You choose from four clubs that are available that season.
- Set your first lineup. Fill all eleven positions, choose a formation and pick a captain.
- Play. Your club plays one league match a day. Set the lineup before kick-off, then watch it live and make changes if you need to.
That's it, you're a football manager.
What a Caretaker can do
- Pick the lineup, the formation and the captain before every match.
- Manage live. Up to three substitutions, plus changes to mentality, player positions, formation and captain while the match plays. Changes take a few in-game minutes to kick in.
- Train players where it's available.
- Compete for league position across the season.
- Complete objectives. Things like setting a lineup, training a player, making a change during a live match and winning matches. Completing 3, 5, 8 and 10 of them pays out milestone rewards in FC, Footium's in-game currency.
There's no academy access as a Caretaker though, and the club isn't yours to keep. At the end of the season you can carry on with the same club if it's still available, pick a different one or upgrade to ownership.
How a season works
A league has 12 clubs and every club plays every other club twice, so a season is 22 league matches, usually one a day. The table moves every evening and it's very easy to get hooked on "just one more look" at your lineup before kick-off.
Five things that win you matches
- Lineup quality. Fill every position and leave out anyone injured, suspended or unavailable. Sounds obvious, but an empty slot or a crocked player costs you more than anything else.
- Formation fit. Pick a shape that suits the players you've got. Too many players in unfamiliar positions and the whole team drops off.
- Chemistry. Each player shows a colour for the position you put them in. Green and light green are safe, yellow, orange and red cost you chemistry.
- Condition. Players lose condition in matches and in training. Play someone who's very low and you risk an injury after the match, so rotate.
- Captaincy. A strong captain boosts both your attack and your defence, it's not a throwaway choice.
Enjoying it? Here's what owning a club gets you
Owning the club unlocks the bits a Caretaker doesn't get, the academy, full rewards and long-term progression. Owned clubs and players are yours to keep, trade or sell.
These were the ownership options at the time of writing. Prices and what's included can change, so check the in-game store before you buy.
| Option | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Community Takeover | $19.99 | Build your own squad, with 10k FC. The Caretaker squad leaves at season end |
| Local Backer | $39.99 | Keep your Caretaker squad, with 85k FC |
| Investor Group | $79.99 | 20 tradable, higher-quality players including guaranteed Bronzes, 375k FC and 5 coaching sessions |
| Oil Money | $199.99 | 23 tradable players including guaranteed Silvers and Bronzes, 2m FC and 10 coaching sessions, and you keep your current squad |
You can pay by card, Google Pay or Apple Pay, and Footium offers a 14-day money-back guarantee (their terms apply). My advice, play the free season first. You'll know within a week or two whether it's for you.
Where Squad Scout Pro fits in
This site was built for Footium managers. Once you own clubs, Squad Scout Pro is a free dashboard for running them, every lineup, training and academy decision across all your clubs in one place. And if you want to get to know the game before you manage, SquadScout6 is our free prediction game on Footium's top division with real FC prizes.
Read next
If you're here from Sorare, the Divination Set guide covers the current free Sorare Set. For Footium, how to play SquadScout6 is the easiest way to start following Division 1.