FIFA World Cup 2026
Auction Contest Rules
Everything you need to know to draft your squad and compete in the World Cup auction.
⚽ FIFA World Cup 2026
🏆 15-Player Draft
Build the best squad within your budget — every auction decision counts.
🧩
Squad Composition
2
GK
Goalkeepers
5
DEF
Defenders
4
MID
Midfielders
4
FWD
Forwards
🔄
How the Auction Works
1
Take turns nominating a player
Each manager gets a turn to pick any available player and set an opening bid, putting them up for auction. The turn order is randomised at the start and reshuffled each round.
2
Everyone bids — highest wins
Once nominated, all managers can bid by tapping the bid button. Each tap raises the price by a fixed increment. The timer resets to 30 seconds after every bid.
3
Player is sold when time runs out
When the timer expires with no new bids, the player is SOLD to the highest bidder. Since the nominator always sets an opening bid, every nominated player is guaranteed to be sold.
4
Draft until all squads are full
The auction continues until every manager has up to 15 players or has exhausted their budget. The contest then moves to ONGOING and points accumulate from real World Cup matches.
⏱️
Timers
3 min
Nominate
Time to pick a player for auction
1 min
First Bid
Opening window after nomination
30 sec
Each Bid
Timer resets with every new bid
📈
Bid Increment Ladder
🏷️
Each tap raises the price by a fixed step
Floor: 0.5M
Current bid below 10M
e.g. 3M → 3.5M → 4M → 4.5M…
+0.5M
Current bid 10M – 19.5M
e.g. 10M → 11M → 12M…
+1M
Current bid 20M and above
e.g. 20M → 22M → 24M…
+2M
📋
Key Rules
You cannot bid more than your remaining budget. Try to keep enough in reserve — running out of budget means ending up with fewer players and likely fewer points than others.
Position caps are enforced: you cannot bid on a player if your squad is already full at that position (2 GK · 5 DEF · 4 MID · 4 FWD).
Once the auction is complete (and again after any re-auctions), set your Captain (2×), Vice-Captain (1.5×), and 4 Substitutes (0.5×) from your squad. Your Starting XI must have exactly 1 GK · at least 3 DEF · at least 3 MID · 1–3 FWD. Your lineup stays locked until the next re-auction.
When a national team is eliminated, their players may be re-auctioned so managers can replace them with active World Cup players.
⚠️
Miss your nomination turn? Your turn is skipped and you're barred from bidding on the very next player auctioned. Stay active during the draft!
💡
Pro tip: Don't overspend early. The opening bid floor is 0.5M — save at least that much per remaining squad slot or you won't be able to nominate any more players.
Also see
Fantasy Scoring Rules →