Top football lineup makers 2023

The average football fan is now much more tactically astute, and frequent discussions on lineups and tactics are commonplace in forums and social media.

There are many football lineup makers which help fans and aspiring tacticians to create beautiful visualizations of a team's players, formation and tactics. We give you the low down on the top options so that you can get down to buildling your combined XI!

Build Lineup

One of the traditional lineup creators, Build Lineup is simple and fuss free. You start immediately at the creation page, with options neatly presented to toggle field design, formation and jersey styles. Icons are draggable to customize exact positions on the pitch.

You can also select different player counts, which is useful for those building a futsal or 7-a-side lineup of your local pub team. To show player movements, you can include arrows like in Football Manager.

However, Build Lineup does not offer real player faces which may be a deal breaker for some. There is a simple gallery of previously generated lineups, and you have the option of creating an account to save your own lineups.

Overall, a decent go-to option for those wanting a fuss free experience.

Chosen 11

Chosen 11 is another commonly seen option in forums and social media. There are the usual customizations like field type, formation and icon colors. In addition, you can pick a team and the lineup automatically populates. Sadly, the team data is not updated and is at least 5 years old, with Aguero still leading the line at Manchester City and the MSN alive and well at Barcelona.

Although Chosen 11 may be one of the OG lineup makers, it is showing its age and there are better options out there in 2023.

Lineup Builder

Lineup Builder is a solid option which is very popular among fans. There are detailed options on offer to customize your lineup, like pitch type, icons, number of players and additional text for formation, manager and nationality. You can also show individual player information like cards, goals, ratings and substitutions.

Importantly for some, real player faces are shown for each player, including up to date data on current club teams. There are even classic players who have retired, but those who are searching for womens players will be disappointed. When creating a lineup of your friends, you can add your own pictures for personlization.

As with other lineup makers, your lineup can be shared easily but as static images.

All in all, you can't go wrong with Lineup Builder.

Create Formation

Create Formation is a few years old, but still being updated with the latest player faces. It is another simple, no frills option if you're interested in a quick way to build your lineup. One can choose from several formations, but player positions are fixed on the field and not draggable, which may not be ideal for the aspiring tinkering tactician.

In keeping with the no frills approach, adding individual player info like cards, goals or substitutes is lacking. You also can't annotate any tactical drawings like arrows.

Regardless, Create Formation is still a respectable option if all you want is to quickly create a formation to share.

Lineup Maker

The new kid on the block, Lineup Maker tries to fill an unmet need in the world of football formation lineup builders. All existing lineup makers generate static images of your team, but Lineup Maker is able to create dynamic animations of your lineup changing between the attacking and defensive phases of play.

This is of utmost importance with increased discourse and awareness of team tactics. If you always wanted to show how your ball playing centerback will step up into defensive midfield like John Stones, or how your wide player drifts inside as an inverted winger, Lineup Maker is the right option for you.

The usual niceties are present, with up-to-date player faces and options to add individual information like goals, assists, cards and substitutions. Interestingly, Lineup Maker has a database of 55,500 players (!), covering the 2012 - 2023 seasons. Also, it is probably the only formation builder which includes womens players. With increased interest in the womens' game, it's only right that there is now a way to include female players.

Being the only formation builder that can generate animated lineups, users can share their creations as images, video clips or simply as a url link. There is also a gallery to browse lineups created by other tacticians.

If you want something different, Lineup Maker is worth a try.

Get started and create your own animated lineup.