Play For Your Club: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Play For Your Club?

Play For Your Club is a free online soccer game where you represent your team in their weekly fixtures. There's a match every week, supporters of their club load the game, and hit as many volleys as they can. At the end of the week, the winner gets 3 points, and the losers nothing.

It's very much a fans table - Manchester United may have the real life premiership sewn up, but in Play For Your Club it really is all to play for.

Is it really free?

Yep, we won't ask for a penny. Not bad, eh?

What's Changed in the New Version?

The main difference is that we're now proud owners of a Football League data licence, which means that each fixture you play in will match the game that's happening in The Premiership, Championship, League 1 or League 2 that week.

What does that mean? Well, for one thing you should never miss a match again. If you're listening on the radio, or watching on the TV you'll know that you could be simulating the match online, and helping the team's virtual success.

More importantly though, it means you can be ready for the crunch matches. Got a six-pointer against another club? You'll know exactly when it's happening. Want to stick one over your arch rivals? You'll know the date to come on and really show them which club has the best supporters...

Okay, so it's based on real fixtures - but what happens with cup competitions?

You're right - unless we're incredibly lucky, cup competitions won't follow real life as league fixtures do. All we can do here is make the first round draw mimic the real life draw and take if from there...

I can't hit a single volley. It's impossible, right?

Check the scores - thousands have managed it!

It's a little tricky at first, granted. I struggled for quite some time - the only advice I can give is to watch the player's boot rather than the leg _ that seemed to work for me.

I scored a few goals, but the game won't let me submit a score. What gives?

You need to score at least 10,000 points to submit a score and contribute to the team effort. Don't worry - you can try as many times as you like...

Do the match scores update in real time?

Not quite real time, but not too far off. The scores will update every hour - if we did it any more frequently we'd risk making the site chug to a halt.

When do matches start and end? How long does each one last?

Each Play For Your Club match will open for business the second the previous real fixture has ended. In other words if Aston Villa are playing Birmingham and then Chelsea, the PFYC Aston Villa vs Chelsea will kick off the second the real world Aston Villa vs Birmingham match finishes.

That means that not all matches of an identical length - but all teams get access to the fixtures at the same time, so there should be no unfair advantage.

Consider teams with crowded schedules disadvantaged in the same way as they are in real life - if you don't like it, do a Fergie and keep whining until somebody high up listens!

What if clubs have got 2 matches in a week - or are involved in a competition not covered by Play For Your Club and miss a domestic fixture?

Sometimes it will happen that a club won't have any league matches, while other times a team may have two per week. We handle this by ensuring that whatever team you support at least one match will always be open - this means that you may have a little longer to get your score than usual, but the opposition will be able to play it as well so it shouldn't be too unfair.

If you have two open fixtures, you just have to pick one and play it. As soon as the first one closes, there is, of course, nothing to stop you from throwing your weight behind the other fixture...

My club's really struggling because we're not that well supported. What can I do?

Two choices - one: Start spreading the word about the site to your friends who support the club, or two: become some kind of volley game God, and single handedly lead your team to glory (think of the kudos you'd get for that!),

Play For Your Club gets easier with numbers, but there's still plenty of room for individual flair!

How come there aren't any draws?

Because of the scoring system we have, and matches which stretch to days at a time, scores usually culminate into the hundreds of thousands - the chances of there being a draw are so remote that the server may die of shock were it ever to happen.

Although it is technically possible.

What are Shouts?

At the end of each match, you'll have the opportunity to enter a shout. This gives you a chance to engage in some banter with your fellow fans - the latest are displayed on the shouts page, along with your name and score.

I miss the old Play For Your Club - can I play that instead?

We appreciate a lot of people invested a lot of time in getting their club into the UK Premiership on the old Play For Your Club, while others will miss the other European leagues - those people are free to carry on with the old system at http://classic.playforyourclub.com

Will there be other leagues to come?

There are currently no plans to include more leagues, but if demand is sufficient it's certainly something we can look into.

Who makes Play For Your Club?

Play For Your Club is made by the fine fellows who run Mousebreaker.com - the UK's leading flash gaming website. There are plenty more football games to play on the site, if you want a break from volley games!

I have a question not answered here - who should I ask?

Drop us a line! playforyourclub@mousebreaker.co.uk