Phygital football rules: the essentials

The essential phygital football rules fit in one sentence: two teams play a football video game on console, then the same squads play a 5-a-side futsal match, and the goals from both stages are added together to find the winner. If the total is level, a penalty shoot-out decides it. Everything else, from squad size to cards, is detail that tells you how those two stages are run.

Below, the rules are explained as they were applied at the Games of the Future Astana 2026, with notes from the World Phygital Community (WPC) Rulebook where local events may differ.

The match at a glance

Source: the official Phygital Football discipline page. Timings belong to that edition; other tournaments can set different ones in their technical rules.

Squad and eligibility

At the Games of the Future, each team had between five and eight athletes, including at least one goalkeeper, and players had to be over 16. The WPC Rulebook sets the same ceiling: a maximum of eight players per team in a given match.

In practice, that means most squads are built around a futsal five plus two or three players who are strong on the console. Do the maths and you will see that, with at most eight players, at least one athlete has to appear in both stages, which is exactly the spirit of the sport.

The digital stage

Four players from each team take part, two in the first half and two in the second. At the 2026 Games, each half lasted four minutes, and teams played with special in-game squads created for the tournament.

The rulebook adds some useful details:

• No substitutions mid-half. Players can only change between the two halves.
• The game enforces its own rules. In-game fouls and cards are applied by the video game, while a digital-stage referee handles conduct around the consoles.
• Clear sightlines. Players must not block their opponents' or the referee's view of the screen.

The physical stage

On the pitch, teams line up with four outfield players and a goalkeeper. The team that kicked off the digital stage also takes the first kick-off on the pitch, according to the GOTF page. A match cannot start or resume if either side has fewer than three players; the rulebook says a team that falls below that minimum is awarded a forfeit.

Other points from the rulebook that players often ask about:

• Substitutions are unlimited by default and can be made on the fly through the gates in the perimeter boards, although an event's technical rules may limit them.
• Timeouts: each team may take one one-minute timeout per half.
• The goalkeeper cannot control the ball with hands or feet in their own half for more than four seconds; doing so gives away an indirect free kick.
• Goals are 3 m wide and 2 m high in the base rules, though organisers may use 5 m by 2 m goals. The penalty mark sits at 6 or 8 metres depending on goal size.
• The boards are in play. Players may pass the ball off the perimeter barriers.

Fouls, free kicks and cards

The physical stage follows familiar futsal logic. Careless, reckless or excessively forceful challenges such as tripping, pushing or charging give a direct free kick, or a penalty if committed in the offender's own area. Dangerous play or blocking an opponent without contact gives an indirect free kick. Referees can caution players and send them off.

The rulebook's model technical rules for phygital football add a twist that only exists in a hybrid sport: yellow cards from the two stages count together. A player cautioned in the digital stage and again in the physical stage receives a red card and misses the next match. Behaviour on the console counts as much as behaviour on the pitch.

How the winner is decided

Goals from both stages are combined, and the team with more goals wins. If the totals are level, the GOTF format goes straight to a real-life penalty shoot-out: three kicks each from the 6-metre mark, then sudden death until one team scores more with the same number of attempts.

The rulebook also lists alternatives that organisers may use, such as a short extra match at both stages or shoot-outs on the console and on the pitch. One principle is fixed: "relying solely on either the digital or physical stage alone is insufficient to determine the winner in a tied match."

The rules in a real final

The 2026 Games of the Future final between NS Team and Quetzales-Armadillos showed several of these rules in action (GOTF match report). Quetzales-Armadillos scored late in extra time of the digital stage and carried a 1-0 lead onto the pitch. NS Team thought they had equalised on the first-half buzzer, but after a referee review the shot was judged to have come a split second after time expired. The match eventually went to penalties, and NS Team won the shoot-out.

The lesson for players: the clock matters, the carry-over matters, and you should practise penalties.

Why sources sometimes disagree

You may see slightly different descriptions depending on where you look. The Games of the Future FAQ describes the physical stage simply as "a 10-minute 5v5 futsal match" (GOTF FAQ), which matches two halves of five minutes. The WPC Rulebook leaves the length of the digital halves to each organiser, and its tournament requirements from April 2025 even name a different football game from the one used in Astana. None of this is a contradiction: the core rules stay the same, while timings and game titles are set edition by edition.

Ready to play by the rules?

Before your first match, read the technical rules for the specific tournament, since that document overrides any general summary, this one included. Then find a phygital football tournament on our events page, or browse the teams directory to see which squads are already competing.