Everything a player and an organiser can do, in the order it happens. Each section opens to the full list of options. Send anyone this page, or a link to one section.
Playing
Someone sends you a match link. You open it, sign in with your email once, and tap “I’m In!”. There is no app to install.
Enter your email and we send you a link. Open it on the same phone or computer you asked from and you are signed in straight away. On another device, tap the button in the email once.
You only do this once per device. After that, every invite link opens signed in.
The invite page shows the venue, kickoff, price and how many spots are left. Tap “I’m In!” and your spot is confirmed. You get a confirmation page with “Get Directions”, “Add to Calendar” and a share button, and a notification saying “You’re In!”.
If you are not yet a member of that squad, the same link asks you to join the squad first. The organiser approves who joins, so you may see “Request Sent!” and get a notification when you are let in.
A squad invite link says “You’re Invited!”. Some squads let you in on the spot; others need the organiser to approve, and you see “Application submitted! You’ll be notified when approved.”
A link can also be expired, no longer active, or opened while signed in with a different email than it was sent to. Each case says so on the page. Ask the organiser for a fresh link.
When a match is full the button becomes “Join waiting list”. If a spot opens, the first person waiting is moved in automatically and told.
You are placed in order of joining. When a confirmed player leaves, or the organiser raises the number of spots, the next person waiting is confirmed immediately. There is nothing to accept: you get a notification saying a spot opened and you are in.
The queue page shows your position and refreshes every minute. “Leave Queue” takes you off the list.
You will see the join button worded three ways, depending on the match:
An organiser can give members with the Founder badge first pick of a match. While that window is open, everyone else queues.
Whoever creates a squad gets the Founder badge automatically. The squad owner or a manager can also award it to any member. It marks the people who were there from the start.
When the organiser turns on “Founder Priority Access” for a match, it shows a “Founder Priority Active” banner. During the window, which the organiser sets in hours (24 by default):
The window is a badge rule, not a role rule: a manager without the badge queues like everyone else.
The match page shows who is in, the venue and the price. From here you share the match, get directions and add it to your calendar.
The match page lists every confirmed player and how many spots are left. The squad home shows the same for the next match (“8/10 confirmed”).
Guests appear on the list by name only. A guest is someone the organiser added to fill a spot who does not have an account; see “Running match day” in the organising track.
“Share match” opens three options:
The join link works for people who have never used Ballievers. They sign up with the same link, then ask to join the squad. The organiser approves them.
“Directions” opens the venue in your maps app. “Add to Calendar” on the invite page, the confirmation page and the match page downloads a calendar file with the kickoff and venue. You also get a “Match Tomorrow!” reminder notification the day before.
You can leave a match yourself any time before kickoff. What that means for the money depends on who removes you.
On the match page tap “Can’t make it anymore”, then “Leave Match”. Your spot goes to the next person on the waiting list straight away.
Money, if the match is paid:
The button disappears once the match has started. After that, tell the organiser.
If you tell the organiser you cannot come, the organiser can mark you as “can’t make it” themselves, at any time before kickoff. This counts as a no-show, however early you warned, and it is recorded in your attendance.
In a paid match you still owe your share. The player who takes your spot plays free, unless the organiser decides otherwise for that spot.
If there is still room, the organiser can undo the mark if you can make it after all. Once your spot has been given away, it cannot be undone.
Once teams are being organised the match shows a “Preparation Phase” banner. You can still leave, and your spot is filled from the waiting list, but the teams the organiser has arranged will change.
Teams appear when the match enters its preparation phase, usually 24 hours before kickoff. You get a “Teams Ready!” notification with your team.
A match is “open” until the squad’s preparation window starts, 24 hours before kickoff unless the organiser changed the squad setting. Then it moves to “preparation” and the Teams section appears on the match page. The organiser can also move it early with “Get Match Ready”.
The organiser generates and edits the teams. Everyone can see them. In a single match there is no bench: everyone confirmed is placed, and anyone who joins late goes to the smaller team. Once a score has been saved, the lineup is frozen.
In a paid match, the “Your Payment” card on the match page shows what you owe and lets you mark it paid. The organiser confirms. You have a week after the match to settle.
The organiser sets either a price per player or a total cost split across the spots. Either way, your card shows one amount. A match with no price is free and shows “Free”.
If the organiser added bank details, a “Pay” card shows their name and account. “Copy IBAN”, “Copy name” and “Copy amount” each copy one field for your banking app. The card appears only while you still owe.
After you transfer, come back and tap “Mark as Paid”.
Pay the organiser in person, then tap “Mark as Paid”, choose “Cash” or “Card”, and “Submit”. The organiser can also mark you paid themselves when you hand over the money.
Completing a match freezes the score and attendance, but cash moves in person, often at the next game, so payments stay open for seven days after the organiser completes the match. During that week the organiser may send you a “Payment Due” nudge. When the week ends, whatever is still unpaid shows “Not Settled”.
Any player who played can enter the score. Players marked present vote for MVP. The organiser completes the match, which seals the record.
In a match with score tracking on, “Enter Match Score” appears once the match is under way. Any confirmed player can save the first score; only the organiser can change it afterwards. Goal scorers can be added per team, and a team’s score can never sit below the goals credited to its players.
If the organiser did not turn on “Track Match Score” when creating the match, there is no score to enter and no Top Scorer or MVP for that match.
“Match MVP” lets you vote for the standout player. Only players the organiser marked present at the arrival check can be voted for, and only they can vote. If the organiser never did the arrival check, voting stays closed.
The organiser finalises the MVP, usually from the vote tally. Once finalised, votes close and the winner gets the MVP badge.
“React to this match” offers Fire, Clap, Laugh and Skull. Tap to add one, tap again to remove it. You can hold more than one.
Once the organiser completes the match, its page becomes a report: the result, who played on each side, scorers, MVP and the payment summary. “Share result as a message” sends a short result message to WhatsApp.
Every finished match also has a public result page that anyone can open without signing in, which is what the shared link shows.
Every completed match feeds your player card, your badges and the squad’s season table.
Badge descriptions show when you tap a badge on a member card.
Open “Your card” on the squad’s Squad tab. Your rating is a Season Climb from 45 to 99: a new member starts at a genuine 45 and climbs with matches played, results and awards during the season. The tier is the band the rating sits in: Bronze 45–64, Silver 65–74, Gold 75–90, Icon 91–99. “Share as image” exports it.
A season runs 1 June to 31 May. Stats, the leaderboard and honours are per season; “Choose a season” switches between them. Season awards are finalised 14 days after a season ends, so late scores can still land.
Organisers can rate players’ skill from 1 to 10 to balance teams. Those ratings are visible to the squad owner and managers only. This is deliberate: they are a team-picking tool, not a public score.
A tournament is several teams playing each other on one day. You join the tournament; the organiser sorts the teams and the schedule.
The tournament invite works like a match invite. The button is “Join Tournament”, or “Join Waiting List” when the tournament is full or a Founder priority window is open. Once it has started, you can no longer join; ask the organiser.
Any player in a game can enter its first score and add goal scorers; the organiser can change it. When the organiser completes the tournament, MVP voting opens, the winning team gets the Tournament Winner badge, and a public result page with the final table is available to share.
If not enough players come, the organiser can choose “Play as one match”: the tournament shrinks to two teams and a single game. It still counts as a tournament, with its own result page.
The questions players and organisers ask most.
Yes, once. They open your link and sign in with their email. After that they are in for every match, and there is no app to install.
Players cannot add guests themselves. Send the friend the match link and they join as a member, or add them yourself as a guest by name.
Skill ratings are visible to the squad owner and managers only. They are a team-balancing tool.
If you left yourself before kickoff, you are not. If the organiser marked you as “can’t make it”, that is a no-show and the share is still owed. Talk to your organiser.
You arrived late, as marked by the organiser at the arrival check. The count adds up across games.
Inside the squad: the Play tab for upcoming ones, History for finished ones.
Organising
A squad is your group of players. You create it once, invite people, and every match lives inside it.
During the beta, squad creation is invite-only. If “Start a new squad” tells you so, join a squad through an invite or contact the Ballievers team to become an organiser.
Naming the squad gives you an invite link to send to your players. You get the Founder badge automatically.
Only the owner changes roles.
Pending requests show on the Squad tab until you approve or decline them.
Managers and the owner create matches from the Matches page or the squad’s Play tab. Pick “Single Match” or “Tournament”, then fill in the details below.
Choose Single Match for the weekly kickabout. Choose Tournament when you have enough players for at least three teams and time for several short games. If you are unsure, a single match is the simpler default; a tournament can still be played as one match on the day.
“Browse Setups” lists matches you saved as templates, so a weekly match is two taps. “Start Blank” begins from scratch.
“Game Type” runs from 5 vs 5 to 11 vs 11 and sets the suggested roster. “Max Players” is the hard cap on confirmed players, guests included. You can raise it later, before kickoff, and anyone waiting is let in automatically. You cannot lower it below the number already confirmed.
Turn on “Track Match Score” to record the final score and scorers after the match. This is what builds player history, wins and losses, Top Scorer and MVP. Leave it off for a casual game and none of that is recorded.
“Enable early access for Founder badge holders” gives your Founder-badge members first pick for a number of hours you choose. Other members join a queue during that time and are let in automatically when the window ends. The option needs the match to be at least 25 hours away.
Currencies: AED, EUR, USD, GBP. Leave the price at 0 for a free match.
For a paid match, choose how players pay you:
With bank details, players who owe see a “Pay” card with one-tap copy of your IBAN, name and the amount.
Same form, with “Tournament” selected. You set the number of teams, how long each game lasts and how many pitches you have; the app works out the schedule.
As you change the fields, the panel shows the available time and how many rounds fit, and suggests adjustments: more teams, more rounds, longer games, or the best balance. Every team plays every other team once per round; you can schedule several rounds.
A new tournament is open for players to join. When you generate and confirm the teams, it becomes active and the schedule is published. Until then you can regenerate teams freely.
Get the match ready, sort the teams, check who arrived, fill any gap, and handle anyone who drops out.
The match moves into its preparation phase on its own, 24 hours before kickoff by default (a squad setting). “Get Match Ready” moves it early; “Revert to Open” undoes that. In preparation the Teams section appears and the app nudges you if teams are still not generated three hours later.
Generate teams, then move players between them and save the lineup. Everyone confirmed is placed; there is no bench in a single match. A late joiner lands on the smaller team. Once a score is saved the lineup is frozen.
“Confirm Attendance” lets you mark players as they arrive, and mark anyone late. You can save as often as you like. This arrival check is what the MVP vote, the Turtle badge and attendance reliability read, so do it even for a casual game.
Open the player and tap “Mark as can’t make it”. The spot goes to the next person waiting; if nobody is waiting, “Fill this spot” opens. The dropout is recorded as a no-show, however early they warned, and in a paid match they still owe. The replacement plays free unless you tap “Make them pay”; “Back to free” reverses it.
If they can make it after all and there is still room, the same menu undoes the mark.
“Fill this spot” and “Add Player” offer squad members, anyone on the bench, the waiting list, or a “Guest name”. A guest is a name only: no account, no invite. Guests count toward Max Players, appear on team sheets and can be credited goals, but are outside stats, badges, MVP voting, reliability and the in-app ledger. They pay you in person, and you track that in the guests list of the payment summary.
The waiting list section shows who is queued; “Let In” confirms someone out of order. Raising “Max Players” in the match settings lets the whole queue in, in order, before kickoff.
The payment summary on the match page is your ledger: who has paid, who claims to have paid, who still owes, and what you owe back.
When a player taps “Mark as Paid” their row shows “Awaiting Verification” with the method and any reference they typed. Confirm it when the money has arrived, and it becomes “Paid”. You can also mark a player paid yourself when they hand you cash.
A player who paid and then left, or whose match you made free, shows “Refund Pending”. Pay them back in person and mark the refund done; they get a “Refund Sent” notification.
Completing the match starts a seven-day clock. Players can still mark payments and you can still verify during that week. You can nudge a player with a “Payment Due” reminder; one tap, and not again within six hours. When the week ends the ledger closes and anything left shows “Not Settled”.
Complete the match to seal the score and attendance, then finalise the MVP and rate your players. A match never completed is cancelled automatically a day after it ends.
“Complete Match” freezes the score, scorers and attendance, awards badges and starts the settlement week. If payments are still pending you can wait, complete anyway and leave the week open, or complete and close the payments now.
Six hours after the end time you get a reminder if the match is not completed. Twenty-four hours after, an uncompleted match is cancelled automatically.
Players marked present vote; “Use vote tally” picks the leader, or choose yourself. “Finalize MVP” closes the vote and awards the badge.
“Rate your players” sets a skill rating from 1 to 10 per member, visible to the owner and managers only. Team generation uses it to balance sides.
On the Manage tab, visible to the owner only. Reliability counts completed games: confirmed, attended, no-shows and late arrivals, from your arrival checks. A player under 60% attendance is flagged. Discipline lets you warn a player, stop them joining tournaments, lift that, or remove them from the squad, and lists members who played no match this season.
“Cancel Match” in the match settings cancels it and notifies every confirmed player.