Simple Football Dice Game Rules

These are my ‘work in progress’ football (soccer, for you Americans) dice game rules. They’re very simple, but hopefully good fun. I thought I’d share them on here for others to enjoy. I’d also be glad to hear any thoughts, feedback, of suggestions toward potential improvements.

You Will Need

• 2 players
• 2 D6 dice
• A pen & paper
• A token or marker (like a coin)

The Basics

Each player takes control of a football team. They have 8 points to build their team with.

These 8 points are distributed to 3 areas of the team, the Defence (D), Midfield (M), and Attack (A). This represents each side’s strengths, weaknesses, tactics, gameplan, and formation.

For example, a team may choose to line up with an overly defensive lineup of D5-M2-A1. This team would be difficult to beat, but would find it equally hard to score goals.

The opposite might be a cavalier all-out attacking side playing D1-M3-A4. They would concede a lot of goals, but would score a lot too.

A team’s D, M, and A ratings represent the modifiers they’ll add to dice rolls when competing in this area of the field.

Both players write down their points distribution (their “tactics”) in secret prior to kick off. They are revealed prior to the first roll of the game.

Playing a Match

Both players roll their D6 to kick off. Each player takes their score, and adds their M rating to it. The player who wins this midfield battle is now able to launch an attack.

Both players again roll their D6, but this time the attacking player adds their A rating, whilst the defending player adds their D rating as modifiers. If the defending player comes out on top, the ball is cleared and returns to midfield. However, if the attacking player is victorious, their striker is presented with a goalscoring opportunity.

Scoring a Goal

When an attacking player wins a roll-off against a defending player, we imagine their striker going clean through, or the ball dropping to him right in front of goal.

Both players make a single unmodified roll (unless there are special rules in play – these will be covered later on). If the attacker wins the roll, the ball is in the net. If the defending player wins, however, the goalkeeper pounces on the ball. It is kicked back to the midfield area and the process begins once more.

What Happens When Dice Rolls Tie?

If at any point a roll-off is a tie, play simply resumes in that area of the field.

For example, if both midfields tie, they will go at it again right away.

If the attack of one team ties with the defence of the other, we imagine the ball is temporarily blocked or cleared. However, the attacking side remains in possession and on the front foot.

If players are rolling to decide the outcome of a goalscoring opportunity, and there is a tie, we imagine the goalkeeper making a save. However, the ball is still in open play and the striker may pounce on the rebound.

In each of these cases, both players simply re-roll their dice after a tie.

Phases of Play

A normal football match lasts 90 minutes. To represent this, we break the game up into 9 phases.

Each time the ball is returned to midfield – either as the result of a goal, a defence coming out on top, or a goalkeeper kicking it out after making a save – we move to the next phase of play.

So when we kick off, it’s phase 0 (0-10mins). The first time The ball returns to midfield, we move to phase 1 (10-20mins), then phase 3 (20-30mins) and so on until we reach phase 9 (90 minutes plus stoppage time).

The player who has scored the most goals over the 9 phases, is the winner.

Special Rules

The core rules should be enough to let you play out a couple of fun games. You might then look to add an extra layer of depth by adding these special rules.

Both players should roll 2 D6 prior to kick off to see which perk (or hindrance) they’ll be playing with throughout the match.

• 2 = Dodgy Keeper – Player suffers modifier of -1 when making a roll to save against a goalscoring opportunity.
• 3 = Big Donkey – Player suffers modifier of -1 when making a roll to attack a goalscoring opportunity.
• 4 = Long Punt – When player wins a roll to save against a goalscoring opportunity, they can immediately launch an attack. Their attack should now roll off against the opposition player’s defence, as opposed to the ball being returned to midfield.
• 5 = Offside Trap – When player loses a midfield roll-off by 1, the opposition does not launch an attack. Play remains in midfield.
• 6 = Scout – Player can look at opponents tactics prior to kick-off, and adjust their own, if they wish to do so.
• 7 = Prolific Goalscorer – Player gains modifier of +1 when making a roll to attack a goalscoring opportunity.
• 8 = The Cat – Player can re-roll when making a roll to save against a goalscoring opportunity. This can only be used once per game.
• 9 = Athletes – Player can add 1 additional point to their defence, midfield, or attack when play enters the 7th phase.
• 10 = World Cup Pass – If player rolls a 6 during a midfield roll-off, it creates an immediate goalscoring opportunity.
• 11 = Tactician – Player can change tactics at any point during the game. This can only be used once per game.
• 12 = Big Team – Player can add 1 more point to their defence, midfield, or attack prior to kick-off.

I managed to play out a few entertaining games with my dad at the weekend. If you like the look of it, please try it out yourself. Let me know your thoughts, feedback, comments, and suggestions in the comments section below 🙂

November 2021 Update!

I’ve been working with a friend on this game for the past year and a bit, and we’ve done a lot to (we’d like to think) make it better. It’s now much more developed, polished, and fluid. If you’d like to keep up to speed on the new version when it eventually goes public then please subscribe to our newsletter or podcast!