Gaffer FAQ

Gaffer puts you in the dugout during live football matches. You make the tactical decisions — substitutions, formation changes, pressing triggers — and Gaffer rates every call on accuracy, timing, and impact. The better your decisions, the higher your Gaffer Rating. Climb the leaderboard and prove your coaching IQ.

No. You can browse matches and start a coaching session without signing up. Creating a free account saves your session history, displays your decisions on the weekly leaderboard, and lets you track your Gaffer Rating over time.

Yes. Gaffer is free with 2 rated decisions per match — no credit card required. Coach Pro at €6.99/month unlocks unlimited rated decisions per match, full session history, and leaderboard priority. You can start playing immediately without a subscription.

Gaffer is a web app that works on all modern browsers — desktop, tablet, and mobile. No app download needed. Open gaffer-steel.vercel.app in your browser and start coaching immediately.

Every decision earns a base score from 1 to 10 based on accuracy, timing, and tactical impact. This score is multiplied by an urgency factor — CRITICAL moments (goal conceded, comeback, late game) carry a 1.5× multiplier — plus bonus points for fast and decisive calls. Your session total is the sum of all weighted scores.

Critical moments are high-pressure match events: conceding a goal, a comeback scenario (opponent levels after you were ahead), half-time, and late-game situations (75th minute onwards). Decisions made at these moments earn a 1.5× multiplier because the stakes are highest.

Both. Gaffer automatically prompts you when a critical match event is detected. But you can also make proactive changes at any point during the match — before or after any event. Proactive changes that are well-timed are rewarded in your rating.

You can make up to 5 substitutions per match, following standard top-division rules. Each substitution is a separate decision and earns its own rating. You can also make formation changes independently of substitutions.

Yes. Your session history shows every decision you made — the minute, the change, the rating, and the feedback. Coach Pro users get full session replays with detailed analysis per decision.

Gaffer currently supports Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Turkish Süper Lig, and additional major competitions. New leagues are added regularly.

Yes. You can join a live match at any point during the 90 minutes. For finished matches, you can coach the match retrospectively — this is a great way to test your decisions against what actually happened.

Gaffer locks your lineup 2 hours before kick-off. This prevents copying the real manager's announced XI — the tactical challenge should reflect your own knowledge, not a news app. You can edit your lineup freely until the 2-hour window closes.

Match data — scores, events, timelines, head-to-head statistics — comes from football-data.org, a comprehensive football statistics API covering major European competitions. Data is updated in real time during live matches.

The leaderboard compares Gaffer Ratings for coaches who played the same match. There are three leaderboard views: weekly (all matches in a 7-day window), all-time, and match-specific. Your session score is posted automatically when your match ends.

Anonymous sessions can appear with a guest tag. Creating a free account saves your display name and links your history so your scores accumulate over time.

Coach Pro (€6.99/month) unlocks: unlimited rated decisions per match (free plan: 2 per match), full session history with decision-by-decision replay, leaderboard priority, and early access to new features.

Yes. Cancel any time with no penalties. You keep Pro access until the end of your current billing period, then revert to the free plan.