Substitution Rotation Planner
Equal playing time is easy to promise and awkward to deliver from the touchline. It is also a solved scheduling problem: lay every player's minutes end to end in one long line, cut the line into as many rows as there are shirts, and you have a plan that is exactly equal and uses the fewest substitutions possible. This does that, and checks the plan before showing it — nobody on twice, nobody's minutes short, the pitch never a player down.
What this generator does
Works out each player's share of the total playing minutes, then lays those shares end to end and cuts the line into one row per shirt. Each cut point becomes a substitution, and each stretch between cuts is a spell with a fixed eleven, five or however many on the pitch.
How to use this tool
- List your squad, one player per line.
- Set how many are on the pitch at once and how long the match is.
- Press Work it out.
- Read the spells of play and the minute each substitution happens.
Understanding the controls
- Squad
- One player per line. Everyone listed gets the same minutes, to within the single minute the division forces when the total does not divide evenly.
- Players on the pitch
- How many are playing at once. It has to be fewer than the squad or there is nothing to rotate.
- Match length
- The whole playing time in minutes, including both halves but not the interval.
Common use cases
- Giving every child equal minutes in a youth match
- Planning substitutions before the game rather than during it
- Showing parents that the minutes really were equal
- Rotating a squad through a five-a-side or netball fixture
- Working out how many substitutions equal minutes actually requires
How this generator works
Total playing minutes are the number on the pitch times the match length, and dividing that by the squad gives each player's share. Laying those shares end to end along a single line of that length and cutting it into one row per shirt is McNaughton's rule, and it is optimal: a player split across a cut plays the end of one row and the start of the next, which are different times, so nobody is ever on twice. It also produces the fewest substitutions any equal-minutes plan can need. Before display every spell is checked to field exactly the right number with nobody listed twice, the spells are confirmed to cover the match with no gap, and each player's minutes are re-added from the finished plan.
Randomness and fairness
Nothing here is random. A squad, a match length and a number on the pitch give exactly one plan — this schedules rather than draws lots, and the team generators are the ones for a random pick.
For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.
Limitations and good to know
- This shares out minutes, not positions. A goalkeeper who cannot be rotated like everyone else needs handling separately.
- Substitutions are assumed to be free and instant. Leagues that limit them, or only allow them at set moments, will need the plan adjusted.
- Where the total does not divide evenly some players get one minute more, and who gets it is decided by the order you list them in.
- Equal minutes is a fairness rule rather than a coaching decision — it takes no account of who is playing well or who is tired.
Privacy and your data
The plan is built in your browser and the player names you enter are never transmitted, stored or included in analytics.
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