How to play

A whole football career in a few minutes: you make the big calls, the simulation plays the rest. Here's how it all fits together.

In short

1Create your playerNation, position, shirt number and stronger foot. You start at 16.
2DecideWhich club, which loan, which contract? And what do you do when things get tricky?
3WatchThe simulation plays the seasons in seconds. Every season becomes a stripe in your scarf.

Game modes

Every mode tells a whole career: you start at 16 and it's over by 40 at the latest. The modes only differ in how often you step in.

ExpressAbout 2 minutes. A call every three seasons.
NormalAbout 4 minutes. A call every two seasons.
FullAbout 8 minutes. A call every season.

One leagueWith any mode you can pick a country: Germany, England, Spain or Italy. Every offer then comes from that country's leagues, from the academy to the farewell, with promotion and relegation. The national team and European cups stay. These careers have their own ranking per country.

Your player

The number that matters most is your overall rating, OVR for short. It runs from 40 to 99 and decides where you play and who wants you.

Young players improve every season. The peak usually comes in your mid-20s, and from about 30 it slowly goes downhill. Now and then, though, a veteran gets a second spring.
No two seasons are alike: sometimes everything clicks for you or your club, sometimes nothing does. And a new coach can shake up the pecking order.
Playing time matters: start young and you develop faster. Sit on the bench and you tend to stand still.
A strong youth academy gives you a boost in the early years.
Goalkeepers age more slowly and keep their level longer.
Every player has a hidden development profile. Some take off early, others bloom late. You'll find out which one you have along the way.
Your market value follows OVR, age and playing time.

Decisions

Between seasons a decision awaits. Which one depends on your age, your rating and your situation.

Academy: At the start you pick one of three youth academies from your home country, from big to small.
Transfer: Several clubs make you an offer, or you stay. Big clubs tempt you with trophies, smaller ones with playing time.
Loan: Young players who barely play sometimes get loan offers. Afterwards you go back, stay at the loan club or look for something new.
Contract end: If you played too little at your club, it won't renew. Then you have to move.
Retirement: From 33 you can decide to hang up your boots yourself.

Career moments

Every now and then something special happens: a summer training camp, trouble with the coach, a penalty in a final. You make the call, luck decides the outcome.

Possible consequences look like this:

+2 OVR
Trophy: Cup
Banned for a season
No effect

Every option lists its possible consequences. Green is good, gold means a trophy, red is bad, grey is neutral.
The game doesn't tell you how likely each outcome is. Gut feeling is part of it.
Some decisions follow you to the end of your career: loyalty gets noticed, betrayal isn't forgotten, and a doping offence stays a stain.
Each moment comes up at most once per career.
On top of that come match scenes: a breakaway, a free kick in stoppage time, a penalty against you. They decide finals, titles, promotion or relegation. Read the situation closely, it tells you which choice has the best odds.

Roles & playing time

Your role depends on your OVR compared to the club's level. The bigger the club, the higher the bar.

Starter: Plays almost every game and raises the club's title chances.
Rotation: Plays regularly, but not every game.
Squad player: Gets a game now and then.
Bench: Hardly plays, and development stalls.

Trophies & awards

With your club you can win the league, the cup and continental competitions, and after winning the top continental cup also the Club World Cup. In lower leagues it's about promotion, and weak teams can go down.
As a starter you noticeably raise your club's title chances.
From 18 your country can call you up if your OVR is good enough. The stronger the nation, the higher the bar. There's a World Cup every four years, with the continental championships in between.
There are individual awards too: the Golden Boy for young talents, top scorer and the Golden Shoe for everyone who scores.
If you're among the best in the world in a season, you make the podium at the Ballon d'Or gala, or at the best goalkeeper vote as a keeper. Big trophies count a lot, so defenders have a chance too.

Your rival

A player your age from another nation starts alongside you. He changes clubs, wins trophies and can snatch the Ballon d'Or from you, because he develops by the same rules as you. You see the comparison during your career and in the summary.

Career end

It's over by 40 at the latest.

From 33 you can retire on your own terms, ideally at the top.
From your mid-30s offers get rarer. If your OVR isn't good enough any more, at some point nobody calls.
The summary shows everything at a glance: games, goals, trophies, awards, the duel with your rival, your finished scarf and your legacy score.

Legacy score

The legacy score sums up your career in a number from 0 to 100. The daily table and the hall of fame are ranked by it. It's made up of:

your best OVR
your trophies, above all the World Cup, then the top continental cup, continental championships and league titles
your awards, especially the Ballon d'Or, where second and third place count too
goals, assists, clean sheets and caps

A doping offence costs you noticeably. And the air gets thin at the top: the last points are the hardest.

The tiers

Workhorsefrom 0
Seasoned profrom 28
Fan favouritefrom 44
Starfrom 58
World starfrom 72
Legendfrom 85
Immortalfrom 94

Daily challenge & table

Today everyone plays the same career: same nation, same position, same luck. Only your calls differ. Your first run counts.

It's always played in Normal mode.
You need an account to make the daily table. It shows the top 100 and your own place. On a tie, whoever finished first ranks higher.
You can only look at other players' careers once the challenge is over. That way nobody gives away the best path.
As a guest you can still play along, once per day and device.

Versus: against friends

Under “Friends” you find other players by their player name. Once they accept your request, you can challenge each other.
Or create a room and send its 6-character code or the link. A room holds up to four players, and everyone needs an account. Whoever created the room kicks off once everyone has built their player.
When you create it, you choose how many seasons are simulated per round: one, two or three. Each of you plays their own career with its own luck.
You play round by round. Whoever has played their round waits until everyone else is there too. Only then do you see how their round went.
Instead of the rival, your opponents stand beside you, with their strength curves next to yours.
The highest legacy wins; the same legacy shares the place. If one career ends early, the others play on to the end without waiting.
Giving up drops you out, behind everyone who plays to the end. Whoever leaves a round unplayed for three days while others wait drops out automatically. If nobody moves for a week, the match expires without a result. Your record is shown with your friends, including matches of three or four, where each pairing counts on its own.

Hall of fame & achievements

Every finished career ends up in your hall of fame, sorted by legacy or date.
Achievements come in four tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond.
Some are secret and only show “???” and a cryptic hint until you find them.
Others count across all your careers, such as many careers, every mode or nations from every continent.

Scarf & sharing

Every season knits a stripe in your club's colours into the scarf. In the end your whole career hangs on it.
With the share link anyone can read your career season by season.
With “Start duel” you play against the ghost of a shared career: the same starting point, the same luck, only your calls differ. Its curve runs alongside, after every decision you see what it chose, and legacy decides in the end.

Account, saving & offline

Without signing in, the game saves everything on this device.
With a free account your career carries on on every device. Careers you played as a guest can be moved over.
No connection? You can keep playing anyway. With an account everything syncs once you're back online.
Knit FC can be installed like an app: choose “Add to Home Screen” or “Install app” in your browser menu.

Glossary

OVR: Your overall rating from 40 to 99.
Market value: What a club would pay for you. Depends on OVR, age and playing time.
Legacy: Your career's record from 0 to 100.
Role: How much you play: starter, rotation, squad player or bench.
Loan & parent club: On loan you play for another club for a while. Your parent club is the one you're under contract with.
League level: How high a league is. Level 1 is a country's top flight.
Scouting report: The forecast for an offer: role, development and title chances.
Consequence: What an option in a career moment can lead to.
Rival: Your opposite number over your whole career.
Seed: Decides how a career's luck falls. Same seed and same decisions give the same career.

Ready?

Your first career only takes a few minutes.

Start your career Go to the daily challenge