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Every Skill card explained
Skills are the moves that turn a match: 30 of them, from a simple Bicycle Kick to a Storm that clears the whole pitch. Here they are, grouped by what they do.
Last updated: October 24, 2026
How Skills work
You activate a Skill from your hand during one of your Main phases. It does its effect at once and goes to your bench. Your opponent can answer some Skills with a set Referee card such as VAR Review, which cancels it. A deck holds at most 12 Skills, two copies of each at most, and the strongest ones (⚡ Power cards) one copy each, 3 per deck.
Boosts: win the next battle
- Bicycle Kick: Target 1 of your face-up players: it gains +800 ATK until the end of this turn.
- Counter-Attack: All your face-up Attack-mode players gain +500 ATK until the end of this turn.
- Captain's Armband: Target 1 of your face-up players: it permanently gains +400 ATK.
- Training Camp: Target 1 of your face-up players: it permanently gains +500 ATK and +500 DEF.
When to use them: a temporary boost (Bicycle Kick, Counter-Attack) is best in Main 1, just before your Match phase, to win a battle you would otherwise lose. Permanent ones (Training Camp, Captain's Armband) are best on a player you plan to keep, ideally one in Defense mode that is hard to remove.
Direct damage: hit the Fan Support
- Nutmeg: Target 1 of your face-up Attack-mode players: this turn it may attack the opponent's Fan Support directly, slipping past their defenders. Main 1 only.
- Penalty Kick: Target 1 of your face-up players: the opponent loses Fan Support equal to half its ATK. That player cannot attack this turn. Main 1 only.
- Long-Range Screamer: Your opponent loses 600 Fan Support.
These end matches. Keep one for the last 1000–2000 Fan Support: when your opponent is low, a Nutmeg on your strongest attacker, or a Penalty Kick, often finishes it in one turn.
Cards and players: keep your hand full
- Through Ball: Draw 2 cards.
- Youth Academy: Call up 1 player rated 5★ or lower from your hand in face-up Attack mode. This does not use your normal summon.
- Return from Injury: Add 1 player from your bench to your hand.
Youth Academy is the hidden gem here: it brings a player on without using your normal summon, so you can put two players on the pitch in one turn and pay for a star sooner.
Fan Support and defence
- Half-Time Talk: Gain 1000 Fan Support.
- Park the Bus: All your players gain +600 DEF until the end of your opponent's next turn.
- Fair Play: Truce! Nobody can attack during this turn and your opponent's next turn.
Park the Bus and Fair Play buy time. They shine when your opponent has a big star on the pitch and you need one or two turns to answer it.
Control: break your opponent's plan
- High Press: Your opponent discards 1 random card from their hand.
- Mercato: Look at your opponent's hand and take 1 card from it into your hand.
- Loan: Take control of 1 face-up opponent player (not a Gold player) until the end of this turn. It can't be substituted.
- Huis Clos: Behind closed doors: destroy 1 face-up Stadium card on the field (either side).
- Budget Crisis: For every club with 3 or more players on your opponent's pitch, they send their weakest players of that club to the bench until only 2 remain.
Loan is the most spectacular: borrow your opponent's best player for one turn and attack with it. Budget Crisis punishes decks built around a single club, and Huis Clos removes the Stadium their deck depends on.
Legends and Gold players
- Legend's Call: Substitute 2 of your players to bring on 1 Legend from your hand in face-up Attack mode. Legends can only be brought on this way.
- Golden Fusion: Send the Head, Body and Feet of a Gold player from your hand to the bench to bring that Gold player on from your Gold Vault in face-up Attack mode.
- Gold Scout: Add 1 Gold piece from your deck to your hand.
These are not optional: a deck with Legends needs Legend's Call, and a Gold player needs all three pieces plus Golden Fusion. See the Legends guide.
⚡ Power cards
- Storm: A storm hits the stadium: every card on the pitch (players and set cards, on both sides) goes back to its owner's hand. Gold players return to their Gold Vault.
- Budget Limit: Salary cap! Every player rated 8★ or more on the pitch (on both sides, except Gold players) is sent to the bench.
- Player Reborn: Bring 1 player from either bench (yours or your opponent's) onto your pitch in face-up Attack mode, with no substitution. He plays for you from now on. This does not use your normal summon.
- FOFOZILLA: Your African players gain +1000 ATK until the end of this turn.
- Golden Gloves: Your goalkeeper stops everything: your opponent cannot attack during their next turn.
- Reshuffle: Shuffle your hand into your deck, then draw 5 new cards.
- Scout Discovery: Look at your opponent's deck and sign 1 player rated 7★ or less: he joins your pitch in face-up Attack mode and becomes yours.
Power cards can swing a whole match, which is why they are limited. Storm and Budget Limit are reset buttons: play them when you are behind on the pitch, not when you are ahead. Scout Discovery and Player Reborn give you a free player without a substitution.
🔥 Comeback cards
- The 12th Man ⚡ 🔥: 🔥 Comeback card. The crowd carries you! Your players gain +1000 ATK until the end of this turn, you gain 2000 Fan Support and draw 1 card.
- Remontada 🔥: 🔥 Comeback card. Only when you have less Fan Support than your opponent: draw 2 cards, and your players gain +500 ATK until the end of this turn.
Comeback cards follow a printed rule: when you start your turn 1500 or more Fan Support behind, a Comeback card still in your deck is the card you draw. One in every deck is a good insurance policy.