How to play

You'll be able to customize your badge, choosing its shape, form and pattern. Make sure your badge strikes fear into the heart of your opponents! Improve your ranking and become an outstanding ADRENALYN XL™ player to move up a level. Levelling up unlocks more options for changing the colour and shape of your badge. Also, the ELO system will be mapped to 20 ranking levels. You start at level 20, aiming to reach level 1. Every month, ELO levels are reset to level 20, but the best level you've reached is stored in your profile. Try to match your top level again!

Adrenalyn XL has a game ranking system based on hierarchical league levels where users are compared by their XP. You can gather XP by playing competitive matches against other users.

There are leagues in 5 levels:

• Serie A-drenalyn: with a unique group 20 users. This is the élite of the Adrenalyn online game.

• First Division: three groups with 20 users each (60 users)

• Second Division: nine groups with 20 users each (180 users)

• Third Division: twenty-seven groups with 20 users each (540 users)

• Amateurs: a unique group with all other users

At the 15th and the end of each month, Panini will freeze the rankings inside each league and group to determine which users will move to an upper league and which users are relegated down to a lower league.

Leagues are calculated every 2 weeks as per the following schema:

• Serie A-drenalyn: The lowest 3 users descend to the First Division.

• First Division: The highest user of each league ascends to the Serie A-drenalyn (3 users). The lowest 3 users of each league descend to the Second Division (9 users).

• Second Division: The highest user of each league ascend to the First Division (9 users). The lowest 3 users of each league descend to the Third Division (27 users)

• Third Division: The highest user of each league ascend to the Second Division (27 users). The lowest 3 users of each league descend to the Amateurs (81 users)

• Amateurs: The highest 81 users ascend to the Third Division

After the leagues are calculated everyone’s XP is reset, but your best placement will be stored in your profile.

During the initial weeks of the season (from the start of the game until the end of September 2025) all users are placed in the Amateurs division. After two weeks, the highest 800 users will form the initial division.

Important: during a 2 weeks session, users can challenge users of any league and group. Of course, in case a user with a higher XP will challenge a user with a lower XP, the points he will gain in case of win are quite low, and, at the same time, the opposite is true.

Competitive matches

Only matchmaking and tournament matches count as competitive matches. You can only play one competitive match per opponent per 24 hour period. Competitive matches start between 8:00 and 22:59 CET/CEST. Matches played outside this timeslot are considered non-competitive (friendly) matches and will not award XP points and Coins. Bypassing or even attempting to bypass this control is considered cheating and is a violation of the Terms and Conditions.

In the HEAD TO HEAD MODE you start at level 20 and aim to reach level 1. You can gather XP by playing competitive matches against other users. All users are ranked by their XP in a global level ranking. Every two weeks the XP and levels are reset, but the best level you have reached is stored in your profile. Try to match your top level again!

Enter the code on the back of your trading card to add it to your virtual collection. You can also enter the code to earn COINS, which you can use to activate special virtual cards and improve your team and your chances of winning.

Every 30 activated codes, you will also receive a Standard Digital Pack and 2 training cards.

Before starting an ADRENALYN XL™ match, you have to put your squad together. You need 16 players – 11 of which will make up your first team and 5 subs. Each team must have a goalkeeper and a maximum of five players for each position. Put together your strongest team using your cards. Adapt your team and playing system to your winning game plan. Plus, to help you pick the best players, you can order extra cards according to their position, their club, and their scores in attack or defence. There's also the 'virtual trainer' button, which will help you to put together your squad.

After selecting your players, you have to decide on a formation (eg 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-5-2). Choose the best system for your players. If you have lots of good defenders, use a more defensive system, but if you have excellent forwards, adopt a more offensive system.

The lobby is the online ADRENALYN XL™ players’ meeting point where you can challenge an available user within your level range chosen by the system. All available users in the matchmaking-area can be marked as friends and challenged for a friendly match as well.

The system will match you depending on the selected main game modalities: CLASSIC and HEAD TO HEAD MODE.

Need to train but don't have anyone to play against? You can play a friendly against the computer, with five difficulty levels. The final two levels are so tough that if you win, not only will it improve your team, but you're also unlikely to lose against a real-life opponent!

The player chosen by the computer to start the match selects one of their cards and decides whether to attack or to defend, or chooses the control value of their card. In turn, their opponent selects one of their cards and uses it in defence, midfield (control) or attack. If the first player attacks, their opponent has to defend themselves, or vice versa. If you play a control rating, the opposing player must also call out their control rating.

The players compare the chosen values of the selected cards. The card with the highest value scores a goal and begins the next battle. Cards chosen for this challenge cannot be selected again during the match and are placed outside the lobby. If both numbers are the same, it goes to a tiebreaker between the total value (adding attack, control and defence) of each card. If the total value ends in a draw too, the two cards are ignored and no player wins the match. If the whole match ends in a draw, the team with less card sum wins. Just like in a real match, substitutes can snatch a win for you in the last moments, but you have to use them effectively! You have to choose your substitutes when you have the ball possession before selecting a card. The card which is replaced is discarded.

In the 'market' section you can:

• redeem the COINS won during matches and tournaments, or gained by activating cards, completing the virtual binder (some items can be redeemed only after 30 product code activations);

• buy special digital cards that will give you a better chance of winning your next match;

• get virtual packs with the cards of the collection;

• get virtual packs with the cards of the collection; buy exclusive Online Challenger and Online Stars cards.

The tournament section lets you challenge more than one team, just like in a real competition. Tournament ranking is set again to zero at the end of every tournament period. Try to be the best every time and climb the charts until you get to be the number one! The points you can win depend upon the number of participants in each tournament. So don't be afraid to take a few risks and show everyone that you're the best at playing ADRENALYN XL™!

The points table is as follows:

The SAGA Adrenalyn XL™ is one of the most interesting section of the online game. You can try your skills challenges the Adrenalyn XL™ teams in more than 18 different levels throughout the Europe.

Complete the SAGA, be the best Adrenalyn XL™ player! The first level is available for any user. To unlock the entire game mode, users have to enter at least 30 unique codes.

There are several ways to earn coins:

• Win competitive matches

• Burn cards code

• Complete a section of your virtual binder

• Complete your daily tasks

• Complete the survey

• Level up

• Buy them for real money

• Find a special card and activate it!

this card can be used during a match as the last chance to save the point. If your opponent wins a card comparison, you can decide to play the penalty card, committing a foul. Then your opponent has to take a penalty – if you save it, the point is saved; otherwise your opponent wins the point and the match will continue. Important: the player card who committed the foul can’t be used in the next challenge. Not available on mobile app.

In real football matches, home advantage is one of the most important factors for a team to win. You can use the STADIUM CARD in a similar way. These exclusive digital cards will add points (+1 defense value, +1 midfield value, +1 attack value) to each player associated to the team of the stadium that you have in your line-up. Use the power of your stadium!