The draft is where every team builds its squad. Managers take turns picking real players until everyone's squad is full, and once a player is picked, nobody else can have him. You don't need any experience to enjoy it, and by the end of the night your league will have a squad for every manager.

The only real question is who picks when. Touchline offers two draft types. In a snake draft the order reverses every round, so the team that picks last in one round picks first in the next. In a linear draft the same order repeats every round. The order itself is random by default, or the commissioner can arrange it by hand.

A snake draft keeps things fair, because nobody is stuck at the back of the line every round. In a 12-team league, the team with the third pick also makes the 22nd and 27th picks, while the team at the very end picks 12th and then 13th.

Say you hold pick 3. You might take Erling Haaland with your first pick, then wait until 22nd overall for your next. That's why it pays to line up a few backups like Declan Rice and Cole Palmer in your queue, in case someone snaps up your favourite before your turn comes round again.

The draft won't sneak up on you. It only happens once the league is ready, and the commissioner decides when.

1. 1

   Everyone joins

   The draft can't start until every spot in the league has a team in it.

2. 2

   The pick order is set

   The order is random or set by hand, and every team needs a place in line before the draft can start.

3. 3

   A time is picked

   The commissioner can set a date and time, and change it whenever they like before the draft starts.

4. 4

   The commissioner starts it

   Nothing kicks off by itself at the scheduled time. The draft begins when the commissioner presses start.

On draft night everyone opens the draft room. It's live: the board fills in as each pick lands, and whoever is on the clock can make their selection. Here's a four-team snake draft part-way through.

Aside from the draft board (the big grid above), the room has three other tabs that you'll move between all night.

• Players: every player you can pick from, searchable and filterable, so you can find exactly who you're after.
• Queue: your personal ranked wish-list. Line up the players you like before your turn. If time runs out on the draft clock, auto-pick takes the first available player from your queue before it chooses for you.
• Team: your team and the players you've drafted so far.

Your league decides whether the draft has a pick clock, and how long it lasts. A pick timer can help keep things moving, giving managers anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes to choose a player.

If a timer runs out, auto-pick chooses a player for you, so the draft never stalls. It starts with your queue: it takes the first player in it who is still available and fits a position you need. If there's nobody suitable there, it takes the best available player at a position you still need, and if there are none, the best player available overall.

Your league has minimums for how many players you need at each position: Forwards (FWDs), Midfielders (MIDs), Defenders (DEFs), and Goalkeepers (GKs). The draft never stops you from making a pick, but the minimums are checked later, when you set your lineup and make roster moves, so keep an eye on your squad as you go. Auto-pick also leans towards the positions you still need.

Once the last pick is made, the draft is finished and the league begins. You instantly gain access to your team's squad page where you can set your weekly lineups, and the transfer market in case you have some post-draft regrets and want to make a change.