GAFFERFootball & Gaffer XI glossary
New to football or to draft games? Here are the terms you'll meet in Gaffer XI and across the guides, explained in plain English.
Football basics
Formation
The starting arrangement of a team's ten outfield players, written as numbers from defence to attack — e.g. 4-3-3 means four defenders, three midfielders, three forwards. See our history of formations.
Positions
GK goalkeeper; DF defenders (centre-backs and full-backs); MF midfielders (holding, box-to-box, creative); FW forwards (strikers and wingers). Each line has its own job — see the anatomy of a great team.
Clean sheet
Finishing a match without conceding a goal. Clean sheets win as many games as goals do — a core idea behind good defending.
Spine
The central column of a team — goalkeeper, centre-backs, central midfield and centre-forward. A strong spine is the foundation of any good side.
Tactics
Pressing
Hunting the ball high up the pitch as a unit to win it back near the opponent's goal. High risk, high reward.
Possession play
Keeping the ball to control the game and create openings — the philosophy behind tiki-taka.
Counter-attack
Defending deeper, then breaking at speed the moment you win the ball. Deadly with pace up front.
Low block
A compact defensive shape near your own goal to frustrate a stronger team — the classic underdog tactic. More in tactics explained.
Gaffer XI terms
Draft
Building your team by picking players one at a time from a shared pool; once you take a player, they're yours and gone from the pool. See what is a draft game.
Rating
A single number summing up how strong a player is in the game. Fictional, for gameplay only.
OVR (overall)
Your team's overall, roughly the average of your eleven players' ratings. Your weakest players pull it down as much as your best lift it — see how ratings & OVR work.
Chemistry
Bonuses earned by stacking players who share a club, country or era, raising their effective rating. The hero mechanic of the Climb mode — see chemistry explained.
Relic
A modifier you collect in the Climb roguelike that changes how your team plays — e.g. boosting all defenders, or your best striker.
Hall of Fame
The live leaderboard where finished runs are ranked per mode, including underdog boards for winning with the lowest-rated or cheapest team. See topping the underdog boards.
Underdog board
A Hall of Fame leaderboard that rewards champions for being weak on paper — lowest team OVR, or in Money Mode the cheapest squad.
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