The Rivalry FC 2026

The Rivalry FC is a two-player tactical football card game in which each player builds and manages a football team, then competes to score more goals than their opponent by full-time.

Rather than simulating every moment of a match, the game focuses on the key attacking highlights. Each attack is played as a Move, passing through four phases: Movement, Passing, Dribbling and Shooting. In each phase, both players commit footballer cards and compare attacking and defending values. The result moves the Ball up or down, changing the difficulty of the final Goal Roll, which is where a player rolls a dice to see if they've scored a goal or not.

Players must decide when to commit their strongest cards, when to hold players back, and how to shape each Move around the strengths and weaknesses of their squad. Tactics cards add one-use effects that can alter timing, improve a phase, disrupt the opponent, or create decisive moments late in an attack.

The game combines deck construction, hand management, tactical sequencing and dice resolution to create a compact football match built around pressure, momentum and direct player rivalry.

—description from the designer