Eight 5v5 routines for the restarts Strikers Club actually referees: corners, free kicks, throw-ins and kickoff. Every card carries a tactic code — open it on the board, press Play to watch the runs, drag it to fit your five, and share your version before kickoff.
Near-Post Corner
Attacking corner5v5Our proposal, not game data
A driven ball to the front post with two runners on different lines: one attacks the ball, one attacks the space behind it.
RunOur ballBall at the restart spot
Who does what
1Shirt 1, GK Stays home. In a five-a-side corner your keeper is the entire insurance policy against the counter, so they do not go up for it.
2Shirt 2, DF Holds the top of the box. First to any clearance, first man back if it breaks — this shirt is your attack and your rest defence at once.
3Shirt 3, MF Taker, standing a step off the ball for the run-up. Aim low and hard across the six-yard box rather than high and hopeful.
4Shirt 4, MF Near-post run, started from outside the box so you arrive at speed and in front of your marker. Get a touch, any touch.
5Shirt 5, ST Back-post run, deliberately late. You are not attacking the ball, you are attacking whatever the near post does to it.
What it is trying to do
Everything points at the near post because it is the shortest flight on the pitch: fewer metres travelled means less time for anyone to read it.
Two runners on different lines make one delivery cover two outcomes — a first contact at the near post, or a ball that skims through to the back-post runner.
Keeping a shirt at the top of the box turns a cleared corner into a second attack instead of a four-against-one break.
Do not use it
When you are protecting a lead in the closing minutes. This commits three outfielders past the halfway line.
When your taker cannot find the near post repeatedly — a corner that clears everybody is a free counter-attack for the opponent.
When the opponent leaves two players high. Then the shirt on the edge of the box has to start deeper, and you are really taking a two-player corner.
Verified mechanic it leans on
Corners are implemented and refereed (Steam store page), and v0.75.0 extended interference blocking outside the pitch around the corner arc. We read that as the taker getting a clean moment to pick the delivery — the reading is ours, the patch note is theirs.
What we cannot verify
How flat or how heavy a delivery can be struck is a physics question with no published numbers. Treat "low and hard" as an intention to practise, not a setting to copy.
Play the corner short to turn one defender into a decision, then deliver the second ball as a cutback from close to the byline.
RunOur ballBall at the restart spot
Who does what
1Shirt 1, GK Stays home, same as any corner. Nothing about a short corner changes your job.
2Shirt 2, DF Sits deeper than in a normal corner and stays central. You are the recycle option if the short ball goes nowhere, and the cover if it is lost.
3Shirt 3, MF Taker. Pass it, then move, and do not be the next player to touch it — see the note below on the double touch rule.
4Shirt 4, MF Comes short into the space in front of the corner, not to the taker's feet. Receive facing the goal, then look for the cutback immediately.
5Shirt 5, ST Holds until the second ball is on, then attacks the penalty-spot area. Arriving late is the whole job.
What it is trying to do
Force one defender to choose. Follow the short runner and the box is a body lighter; ignore them and you have a free player near the arc with time to pick a pass.
Change the delivery. A cutback from near the byline arrives flat across the six-yard line instead of hanging in the air where a keeper can claim it.
Keep the ball. A short corner that comes to nothing can be recycled to the shirt in the middle and rebuilt; a cleared cross cannot.
Do not use it
When you are chasing a goal in the last seconds — it costs an extra pass and an extra decision.
When the opponent already leaves two players near the corner. You would be starting a two-against-two in the least useful corner of the pitch.
When nobody has agreed it beforehand. A short corner your own squad does not expect is just a turnover with extra steps.
What we cannot verify
The June 15 notes confirm a double touch rule in formats with three or more players per side, but do not spell out its scope. That is exactly why the short ball goes to a teammate and the taker leaves it alone — we are not testing the edge of a rule we cannot read.
Two shirts own the posts, one owns the most dangerous space, one stays out as the outlet — the five-a-side version of a properly defended corner.
RunTheir deliveryBall at the restart spot
Who does what
1Shirt 1, GK Set in the middle of your goal with both posts covered by teammates, so the only ball you have to deal with is the one through the middle.
2Shirt 2, DF Back post, and do not ball-watch. Your ball is the one that clears the crowd, which is also the one that usually goes in.
3Shirt 3, DF Near post. Attack the flight as it is struck — a corner that reaches its second bounce is already half a goal.
4Shirt 4, MF Marks the most dangerous attacker in the six-yard zone. Goal-side, touch-tight, and you go where they go.
5Shirt 5, ST The outlet, in your own half on the far side. Hold until the ball is genuinely cleared: offside is fully implemented and a clearance that finds you early is a free kick to them.
What it is trying to do
Cover both posts with bodies so your keeper only has to deal with the middle of the goal.
Meet the ball early. Every metre it travels unchallenged is a metre closer to your six-yard box.
Keep one shirt out so a clearance becomes a counter-attack instead of another corner.
Do not use it
When you are defending a one-goal lead in the final minute. Bring the outlet home and defend it with all five.
When the opponent takes every corner short — the outlet is worth less than a fourth defender in the box.
When your keeper likes to come and claim. Bodies on the posts can get in their way; that is a conversation to have before kickoff, not during the corner.
Verified mechanic it leans on
v0.75.0 extended interference blocking outside the pitch around the corner arc, so crowding the taker is not a plan this routine bets on — it spends every body inside the box instead.
From a wide free kick the back post is the biggest unmarked space on the pitch. Put a runner in front of it and a runner into it.
RunOur ballBall at the restart spot
Who does what
1Shirt 1, GK Home. A wide free kick is still a moment where three of your outfielders are ahead of the ball.
2Shirt 2, DF Rest defence in the middle third. The free kick you take is the counter-attack you concede if it is headed clear.
3Shirt 3, MF Taker, standing off the ball. Whip it past the near-post runner on purpose: this delivery is meant to travel.
4Shirt 4, MF Near-post run. You may never touch the ball — your job is to drag the first defender toward it.
5Shirt 5, ST Back-post arrival. Start wider than everything and arrive after the ball has passed the near-post runner.
What it is trying to do
Use one delivery to move two defenders: the first run pulls markers toward the ball, the second attacks the space they vacate.
Aim past the first contact deliberately, so the shirt arriving at the back post is the one meeting the ball square to goal.
Give the routine an escape: if the delivery is cleared, the shirt in the middle third is already facing the right way.
Do not use it
Anywhere but the attacking third. This is a routine for a free kick level with the box, not a free kick in your own half.
When the free kick is almost on the byline, where the angle turns the delivery into a pass across a crowded six-yard box. Play it short instead.
When you are a player down. Three shirts ahead of the ball with four outfielders is already a stretch; with three it is a gift.
What we cannot verify
The patch notes document an interference barrier for throw-ins and blocking around the corner arc. They do not document how much room defenders must give at a free kick, so this routine assumes nothing about a wall or a retreat distance.
Two shirts stand over a central free kick: one rolls it sideways, the other strikes it from an angle that did not exist a second earlier.
RunOur ballBall at the restart spot
Who does what
1Shirt 1, GK Home, and awake. Three of your four outfielders are ahead of the ball for this one.
2Shirt 2, DF Stays behind the ball, centrally. You are the only thing between a blocked shot and their counter, so do not drift forward for the rebound.
3Shirt 3, MF The roller. One touch, sideways and slightly back — then leave it alone, because the double touch rule is real.
4Shirt 4, MF The striker. Step across onto the moving ball and hit it; you have one stride and one look.
5Shirt 5, ST Decoy run across the front of the box at the moment of the roll. Your job is to be moving, not to receive.
What it is trying to do
A moving ball struck from a new angle is a completely different shot from a dead ball struck from directly in front.
The sideways roll rewrites the geometry: everything that set itself against the original ball position is now facing the wrong spot.
The decoy pulls at least one defender's eyes off the ball in the half-second it is being struck.
Do not use it
From distances where a shot was never on. A quick short pass while the defence is still reorganising is worth more than a rehearsed strike from 40 yards.
When you are a goal up late — this leaves three shirts ahead of the ball for a low-percentage attempt.
When the roller and the striker have not agreed which side the roll goes. Two players guessing over a dead ball is worse than one player shooting.
What we cannot verify
Nothing in the patch notes describes how far defenders must retreat at a free kick, and no shot power or curve values are published anywhere official. The routine is about angles, which we can reason about; it is not about numbers, which we would have to invent.
Throw it, get it back, and be past your marker before anybody has reset — the fastest way to turn a throw-in into a run at the byline.
RunBall, with this shirt
Who does what
1Shirt 1, GK Home. Nothing to do here except be ready for the turnover.
2Shirt 2, DF The switch and the safety net, behind the ball in the middle. If the throw is read, the ball comes back to you and you play the other way.
3Shirt 3, MF Thrower. Release the moment your teammate shows, then sprint the line — you are the one who ends up free.
4Shirt 4, MF Show short and play it first time into the space behind. You are a wall, not a destination; a second touch here kills the routine.
5Shirt 5, ST Attack the near post ahead of the ball so the cutback has somewhere to go the instant the thrower reaches the byline.
What it is trying to do
Beat the first defender without dribbling past anybody. The thrower is unmarked by definition, and this routine spends that free moment on getting them free again.
Reach the byline, where a cutback is a better ball than a cross.
Stay fast. Every second spent looking for a better option is a second the opponent spends organising.
Do not use it
When the wall player is marked touch-tight and cannot return it first time — a wall pass with an extra touch is a turnover in the attacking third.
When you are protecting a lead. A slow throw down the line into the corner is the right kind of boring.
In your own defensive third. Use the deep throw-in routine below instead; this one hands the ball back near your own goal.
Verified mechanic it leans on
v0.75.0 added an interference barrier that holds opponents off a throw-in, and the note says it grows quickly so throws release fast. That window is the whole routine: throw early, move immediately.
What we cannot verify
How long that barrier lasts is not published as a number and we will not invent one. "Go now" is the instruction, not "you have N seconds".
The throw-in nearest your own goal is the one that concedes goals. Three options, all pointing up the line or away from your box, none of them square across your own penalty area.
RunBall, with this shirt
Who does what
1Shirt 1, GK Talking, not receiving. See the note below on why this routine does not throw the ball to you.
2Shirt 2, DF Thrower. Take it quickly if the line is open and slowly if it is not — there is no prize for a fast throw into your own third.
3Shirt 3, DF Push up the touchline. First option and best option: it moves the ball away from your goal even when it achieves nothing else.
4Shirt 4, MF Come toward the ball on a diagonal so you can receive facing up the pitch. If you can only receive facing your own goal, do not ask for it.
5Shirt 5, ST Break into the middle third as the long option. This ball does not need to be pretty, it needs to be far away.
What it is trying to do
Every option points up the touchline or out of the area. Nothing in this routine plays the ball square across your own box.
Give the thrower three answers so the throw is never a guess taken because the count ran out.
Make the safe option the obvious one: if the line is blocked and the diagonal is marked, the long ball upfield is not a failure, it is option three working as designed.
Do not use it
In the attacking third, where this shape wastes a chance to actually attack.
When the opponent presses with all four outfielders. Then the long ball is not the third option, it is the first one.
When your thrower is your best passer and the pitch is genuinely open — playing out is fine, this routine is for when it is not.
What we cannot verify
We deliberately leave out the throw back to the goalkeeper. In real football law a keeper may not handle a throw-in from a teammate, and the patch notes reference passback handling without spelling out its scope, so we are not building a routine on a rule we cannot read.
The one restart where the ball is guaranteed to be yours and the shape is already set. The routine is about still having it twenty seconds later.
RunBall, with this shirt
Who does what
1Shirt 1, GK Home and loud. Everyone else is looking forward; you are the only one who can see the whole restart.
2Shirt 2, DF The safe receiver, deliberately off-centre. A pass straight backwards down the middle is the easiest ball in football to press.
3Shirt 3, MF Sprint into width on the left the instant the ball moves. You are making the pitch bigger while they are still compact.
4Shirt 4, MF Same on the right, and you are the likelier target: the switch usually goes away from the first pass.
5Shirt 5, ST Taker. Touch it back, then move into the left channel so the far side is not empty when the ball is switched.
What it is trying to do
Backwards first, wide second. At kickoff the entire opposition is between the ball and their goal, so forward is the one direction with nothing in it for you.
Two shirts sprinting to width immediately stretches a defence that is still standing in its kickoff shape.
Nobody runs beyond the last defender before the ball is travelling — offside is live from the first pass like any other.
Do not use it
When you are losing with under a minute left. Then you want chaos, not possession: kick it long and press the second ball.
When the receiver is not comfortable on the ball under pressure. A turnover 30 yards from your own goal is a worse start than a clearance.
Against a squad you have already watched press the kickoff with two players — then the first ball goes wide, not back.
Verified mechanic it leans on
Since v0.78.0 the kickoff taker is placed directly at the ball to keep restarts fast, so this is one of the few moments in a match that starts from a known, repeatable position for both teams.
The fastest route is the yellow button on each card: Open in tactics board carries the whole routine in the link itself, so the board opens with five shirts and every arrow already placed. If someone sends you a bare code instead — in Discord, in a Steam comment, anywhere — copy it, open the tactics board, paste it into the Import a link or code box and press Load. Nothing is uploaded either way; the code is the entire routine.
Once it is open, press Play. The board rebuilds each shirt's route from the arrows and walks the routine through, which is a faster way to explain a corner to four strangers than any paragraph. Then make it yours: drag shirts to match how your five actually stand, double-tap them to put your squad's names on, add or delete arrows in arrow mode, and copy your own share link or a PNG for the strategy channel.
Two honest notes about the board. It has one kind of arrow and draws them all identically — the colour-coding on this page (dashed green runs, yellow for our ball, red for their delivery) exists only in these diagrams. And it has no ball token, so the ball marker here — a dot on the restart spot, or a ring round the shirt holding it at a throw-in or kickoff — is drawn on this page and not carried in the code; the restart spot is fixed by the situation anyway. Every ball arrow in these routines deliberately starts clear of all five shirts, so pressing Play never drags a player along a pass.
What this playbook is, honestly
The set pieces are verified. The routines are ours. Strikers Club really does implement these restarts under real football law: the Steam store page names throw-ins, corners and penalties outright, and the patch notes cover the rest — goal kicks, free kicks, kickoff — and go further. v0.75.0 added an interference barrier on throw-ins that grows quickly so throws release fast, plus interference blocking that extends outside the pitch around the corner arc, and v0.78.0 placed the kickoff taker directly at the ball. All of it is sourced on the football rules page.
Everything after that — who stands where, who runs where, and why — is our own tactical proposal, the same way the formations librarylabels its community starting points. None of these routines is the meta, none is optimal, and none has a success rate, because this site has no match telemetry and no access to anyone's statistics. Where a routine depends on something the notes do not publish — how much room defenders must give at a free kick, how long the throw-in barrier lasts, the exact scope of the double touch and back-pass rules — the card says so in plain words instead of inventing a number. That is why one routine deliberately refuses to throw the ball back to the goalkeeper.
How to actually rehearse one
A routine nobody has seen before kickoff is a turnover waiting to happen. Pick one attacking corner and one defending corner, share those two codes in your squad chat, and agree the shirt numbers before you queue. Corners repeat more than any other dead ball in a match, so two agreed routines is most of the available edge. Free-kick and throw-in routines are worth adding once the corners are automatic, and the kickoff one costs nothing to try because you get a kickoff whether you like it or not.
The other half of the work is the shape you return to afterwards. Every routine here names a shirt whose job is the counter-attack you are about to concede; the formations library and the positions and team play guide cover what those players do for the rest of the match.
Send us your squad's routine
The best entries in a playbook come from squads who actually run them. If your five has a corner, a throw-in pattern or a kickoff that holds up, build it on the tactics board and share the tactic code in the Steam guide comments or the official Discord, or send it through our contact page. Routines that earn a spot get added as a card with credit to the squad that sent them — and labeled a proposal, exactly like the eight above.
Set-piece playbook FAQ
Are these official Strikers Club set-piece routines?
No. The set pieces themselves are real — Strikers Club implements throw-ins, corners, free kicks, penalties and kickoff, which the Steam store page states and the patch notes confirm. The routines on this page are our own tactical proposals built on those rules. They are not game data, not an official playbook, and not a measured meta; this site has no match telemetry, so you will not find a success rate anywhere on it.
How do I load a routine into the tactics board?
Press Open in tactics board on any card and the whole routine travels in the link: five shirts and every arrow already placed. If someone sends you a bare code instead, copy it, open the tactics board, paste it into the Import a link or code box and press Load. Nothing is uploaded either way — the code is the entire routine.
Do the arrows show runs or passes?
Both, and this page colours them differently: dashed green for a player's run, solid yellow for our ball, red for the opponent's delivery. The tactics board itself has one kind of arrow and draws them all the same way. Every run arrow starts on a shirt's feet, so pressing Play on the board animates exactly the runs drawn here; ball arrows deliberately start clear of every shirt so no player is dragged along a pass.
Which set pieces does Strikers Club actually have?
Throw-ins, goal kicks, corners, free kicks, penalties and kickoff, all refereed under real football law including offside and the advantage rule. The patch notes also document specific behaviour: an interference barrier on throw-ins and interference blocking around the corner arc in v0.75.0, and the kickoff taker being placed directly at the ball in v0.78.0. The football rules guide sources all of it.