How to play.
Football Conquest is a territorial simulator. You pick a mode, the arrow picks the matchups, and FIFA rankings decide who wins. The map fills with your colour, one country at a time.
The basics
Every nation starts owning its home country. You spin a compass arrow that randomly picks an opponent within striking range. The two teams play a simulated match — the result is weighted by their FIFA rankings, but upsets happen. The winner takes the loser's territory. The game runs until one nation owns the world, or you call it.
Two modes
Random Imperialism
The simulator drives everything. At each turn it picks a random surviving attacker, spins the arrow to pick a defender, simulates the match using both countries' FIFA points, and applies the result. Sit back, watch the chaos unfold across 211 turns until one country owns the map.
This mode is best for watch-mode content — you provide commentary while the simulator runs.
World Conquest
You pick one team. You're always the attacker. The arrow spins to find an opponent, and you play that match yourself in EA Sports FC. Then you come back, enter the score, and the simulator applies the result.
This is the creator mode. It's how you make "Can [team] take over the world?" videos. You provide the actual gameplay, the simulator handles map state.
How matches are decided
Every country has a FIFA Men's World Ranking points value — the top 40 are exact, the rest are estimated based on ranking position. France leads with 1877.32. Spain, Argentina, England, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands, Morocco round out the top ten.
The simulator uses an Elo-style probability formula:
P(attacker wins) = 1 / (1 + 10(defenderRating − attackerRating) / 450)
A 200-point gap means the favourite wins about 73% of the time. A 400-point gap, 91%. A 1000-point gap, near-certain. But not certain — upsets are possible at every level.
Empire bonus
For every territory a nation owns, it gets +5 FIFA points. This rewards momentum. A country that has built up an empire of 20 territories has +100 effective FIFA points over its base rating — meaningful in close matchups, irrelevant in lopsided ones.
Scorelines
Match scorelines scale with the rating gap. Most matches end in normal time (1–0, 2–1, 3–0 style). Close matchups (under 100 FIFA points apart) go to extra time 25% of the time and penalties 20%. Mismatches stay in regulation 82% of the time — but produce occasional blowouts when an elite beats a minnow.
When an underdog wins, the scoreline is suppressed: usually a 1-goal margin, never a blowout. France losing to Canada will be 1–0 or 2–1, not 5–2.
World Conquest rules in detail
You win a match
The defender's flag is removed, their territory paints your colour, your flag moves to their old position, and a faint dotted trail arrow records the conquest. Camera pans to your new frontline at regional zoom. Loss count for that opponent resets to zero (you may face them again later if you happen to conquer back).
You lose a match
Your loss count against that specific opponent increments by 1. The most recently conquered country is given to your opponent (not back to its original owner — they got knocked off earlier). Your flag retreats to the previous country in your conquest chain. The trail arrow you came in on turns red, preserved as a memory of the failed advance.
You lose three times to the same opponent
Game over. The campaign ends with a dramatic GAME OVER overlay showing the final score.
You eliminate every other team
Victory! The map is yours, the screen shows VICTORY in gold, the turn counter shows how long the campaign took.
Tools for creators
Production settings
Click the gear icon in the game panel to access:
- Slow animations — 1.67× longer compass and roulette spins, for commentary pacing.
- Click to reveal — defers the score reveal and map repaint until you click. Builds dramatic tension for your edit.
- Skip micronations — excludes Vatican, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra, Tuvalu, Nauru, and others from random attacker selection.
Light/dark map
The toolbar has a one-click toggle between dark ocean (deep navy) and light ocean (soft sky blue). Pick whichever matches your video's grading.
Undo
Ctrl/⌘+Z (or the toolbar Undo button) reverses any action. In conquest mode this includes the arrow spin itself — if the arrow lands on an opponent you'd rather not face right now, hit Undo and re-spin. To viewers, undoing looks identical to a fresh spin.
Save and load
Ctrl/⌘+S saves the current state to a downloadable file. Ctrl/⌘+O loads one back. Use this if you record across multiple sessions, or want to preserve a particularly good run.
Tips for great videos
- Use World Conquest for narrative. Random Imperialism is fun watching, but viewers connect more deeply when you're playing the matches.
- Turn on Slow animations + Click to reveal for commentary.
- Pick teams with regional drama. England has the British Isles to consolidate before facing France/Spain/Germany — natural three-act structure.
- Don't fight the losses. A run that includes a near-elimination at 2/3 losses is far more compelling than a sweep.
- Save your state frequently. If you accidentally close the browser, your campaign is gone otherwise.
FAQ
Is this affiliated with FIFA or EA Sports?
No. The FIFA rankings used are public data. The match simulation is custom. We're not affiliated with any football federation or game publisher.
Can I use this in my YouTube videos?
Yes, absolutely. Make all the videos you want with it. A small credit to footballconquest.com in the description is appreciated but not required.
Is there a mobile app?
Not yet. A mobile version with club leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Süper Lig) is in development. Sign up for updates from the @Ghiellini or @GRKN7 YouTube channels.
Can I add custom flags?
Not in the simulator itself yet — but if you want custom maps with your own flag designs, check out the PSD map packs at grkn.shop.