40GOALS · Can you score 40?
How to play 40GOALS
40GOALS is a free football game that you play in your web browser. You build one footballer from the real players who land on each spin, then take him into a simulated Premier League season. The question on the front of the game is the whole challenge: can you score 40?
The aim
Build the best goalscorer you can, then score as many league goals as possible in one season. Finish the season with more goals than every rival and you are the Top Scorer. Reach 40 league goals and you have answered the question on the front of the game.
The spin
Each spin lands three different real footballers. You only see their names: their ratings stay hidden. The game has 300 Premier League players, past and present, each rated by FORMXI at his peak Premier League level.
Pick, place, lock in
Choose one of the three players (you can change your mind until you lock in), tap an empty attribute slot, then lock him in. Only then is his rating for that one attribute revealed, and it stays in that slot for the rest of the build. The two players you did not pick disappear without their ratings being shown.
Each player you lock in fills one slot. When all ten slots are filled, your player is complete.
The 10 attributes
Your player has ten slots, one for each attribute:
- Left Foot
- Right Foot
- Heading
- Finishing
- Long Range
- Shot Power
- Strength
- Speed
- Dribbling
- Stamina
Every player is rated out of 99 for each attribute. A player who is brilliant at one thing can be ordinary at another, so the skill is putting each player in the slot where you think he is strongest, and deciding when to use a great player and when to wait.
Who can land again
A player you lock in leaves the pool for the rest of that build. Players you did not pick go straight back into the pool and can land again later, sometimes more than once, but nothing guarantees that they will.
Your overall rating
When all ten slots are filled, your overall rating is the average of the ten ratings, rounded. The game also gives your player a role, such as Poacher or Target Man, based on his attributes. The role is only a description: it does not change anything in the season.
Classic and Strategic
Both play styles use the same players, the same ratings and the same rules. The only difference is how much you can see:
- Classic: you only know the three players on the current spin.
- Strategic: you also see the names of the three players on the next spin before you place this one. Their ratings stay hidden, and there is no preview on the final spin.
Wildcards
Before you start, the Home Screen lets you set Wildcards OFF or ON. OFF is the pure challenge: just you and the spins. With Wildcards ON, now and then one of the three options on a spin is a wildcard instead of a player. A build with Wildcards ON always offers at least one wildcard and never more than three.
- Elite Spin: the spin is replaced by three players drawn from the 40 players with the highest single ratings in the game.
- Reroll: the spin is replaced by a new one straight away, and you also keep one stored Reroll to use on a later spin (you can only hold one).
- Transfer: choose one of the slots you have already filled. That player goes back into the pool and you spin again to fill the same slot.
Wildcards ON is more forgiving, and a good way to learn the game.
Your season: the era and the club
When your player is complete, the game spins an era: one of ten Premier League seasons from 1995/96 to 2026/27, drawn at random. You cannot choose the era.
You are then offered three different clubs from that season and pick one. Each club card shows how that club stood that season, and what it means for you:
- Title contenders: more chances, but more competition for places.
- Chasing Europe: plenty of chances, with some rotation.
- Mid-table: a balanced role.
- Fighting the drop: fewer chances, but you're the main man.
How the season is played
The season has 38 matchdays. Your ten attributes decide what your player does; the overall rating itself is not used:
- Speed and Dribbling get you into the box.
- Finishing turns chances into goals.
- Each chance falls to your left or right foot and is finished with that foot.
- Heading decides your headed chances.
- Long Range and Shot Power cover shots from distance and powerful strikes.
- Strength helps you hold the ball up, win aerial duels and avoid injuries.
- Stamina decides how often you are fit to play and how well you last through the season.
If you are the best penalty taker at your club, you take the club's penalties.
Your rivals in the scoring race are real players from the game who played in that Premier League season, at their real clubs and based on their real form that season.
You can watch every matchday, fast-forward through the big moments, or skip straight to the final table. The result is the same whichever you choose.
Top Scorer
At the end of the season the scorers are ranked by league goals. Finish first and you are the Top Scorer. Finish level on goals with the leader and you are Joint Top Scorer. Otherwise the table shows where you finished in the scoring race.
The Era Challenge
Every season also has an Era Challenge: score more goals than that season's real top scorer. For the most recent season, the target is the reigning Top Scorer's total from the season before.
Achievements
There are 30 achievements to unlock, from completing your first build to scoring 40 or more goals in a season. Three of them stay secret until you unlock them. Your progress is saved in the browser on your device.
Sharing your result
After the season you can share your result: your overall rating, where you finished, your goals, your club and the season. Your player's individual ratings are never shared.