Creating and reviewing substitutions

Stand-ins have (i) after their name throughout this match, including statistics, live view and the match PDF. The marker remains with shortened names.

In Substitutions, plan who plays in each position for every quarter and substitution moment. Choose Create substitution plan for a proposal or adjust it yourself. An automatic plan remains a coach’s proposal: always review it before the match.

First see the example schedule with bench turns and equal playing time. It explains minute allocation before creating your team’s plan.

During calculation, progress and a provisional Metro schedule appear when available. This intermediate result cannot yet be edited or saved. Read Match planning for steps, the indicative countdown and extra calculation time.

Before creating a schedule

• Complete the starting lineup first.
• Check player availability.
• Record realistic position preferences for each player.
• Lock only players who really must remain in the same position all match.
• Open Adjust plan to change substitution moments or other advanced choices.

If a pitch position has no suitable player, doHockey reports this. Adjust the lineup or preferences. The planner never adds arbitrary positions. A position explicitly selected in the starting lineup may be used as a deliberate exception for that player, as may an explicitly locked goalkeeper. These adjustments appear in Schedule explanation.

If the match has changed meanwhile

If another coach or tab changes the same match, doHockey may ask you to load the latest information. This can also be detected while calculating a plan. The outdated proposal is not saved; refusing its replacement does not clear the existing saved schedule.

Choose Load latest data, check lineup and settings, then create the plan again. Reloading discards unsaved local edits. Opening the same match in two tabs alone is fine; take care when saving changes in both.

Outdoor and indoor

For outdoor hockey, doHockey considers the whole match together. It first respects the starting lineup, maximum playing time and fair allocation. It then seeks first preferences, followed by second and third, and only then reduces unnecessary position changes. It does not deliberately move players away from their first preference merely for variety. Shared preferences can still require lower-preference assignments.

If only one player can cover an essential position, that player cannot rotate fairly with everyone else. doHockey keeps the position covered, excludes the player from the normal bench difference and explains this in Schedule explanation. Add a second suitable player for that position if you want full rotation.

Indoor hockey rotates goalkeepers separately from outfield players. Two complete lines keep substituting as recognisable blocks. Extra substitutes join subsequent blocks rather than automatically remaining on the bench all match.

Maximum players substituted together

Match settings let you choose substitution moments per quarter and maximum players per substitution moment separately.

• Basic and Positions: One maximum for the whole team.
• Advanced: A separate maximum per line. Coinciding moments add these limits together. One defender, one midfielder and one attacker can therefore mean three simultaneous substitutions; no additional team maximum applies.
• None means no maximum. One player off and one on counts as one substitution. Position changes between players staying on the pitch do not count.
• The limit also applies between quarters. Only the starting lineup is excluded.

The maximum is an upper bound: fewer substitutions are always allowed. A lower maximum can mean longer bench turns. Add more moments per quarter for more frequent rotation. The planner allocates minutes as fairly as possible within these rules. If positions, rest or maximum playing time make the combination impossible, adjust settings; the substitution limit is not silently relaxed.

You can save this as the team default for new matches. Existing matches retain their settings. Recreate the schedule after changing match settings. Manual changes also check the limit.

At most one stand-in at a time

Under Basics → Distribution & preferences, enable or disable At most one stand-in on the pitch at a time. It is enabled by default. An explicitly saved disabled choice is preserved and remembered as a team preference for future matches.

With this enabled, stand-ins never play simultaneously, but may replace each other within the same quarter. A stand-in goalkeeper also counts; ordinary substitutes do not. The rule applies to the starting lineup and every substitution moment, including manual edits.

This may cause longer bench turns and less equal minutes. If no suitable schedule exists, check the starting lineup, available regular players and other rules. Recreate the schedule after changing the checkbox.

Prioritising regular players in their position

Under Basics → Distribution & preferences, Prioritise regular players in their position defaults to enabled. Regular players use their first preference as much as possible. Stand-ins use another suitable position where possible and continue rotating.

The planner first calculates feasible, fair minutes using the configured history and limits. Each player’s minutes may then rise or fall by at most one playing block to give regular players more time in their first preference. A player allocated minutes is not put on the bench for the whole match by this adjustment. Within that allowance, first preferences take precedence over exact equality and fewer position changes. Different substitution rhythms use the longest block between consecutive moments in the combined schedule.

The starting lineup, locks, available positions and maximum playing time still apply. Basic keeps players within their fixed line and position while on the pitch. It therefore retains fair allocation within each line, where individual positions are equivalent. At most one stand-in on the pitch at a time remains a separate rule and can limit stand-ins’ minutes when there are several.

You can disable the preference. It is remembered for future matches. Recalculate to apply changed priority.

Understanding the schedule

After planning, Playing-time distribution tips appears when the planner identifies points of attention. Each player tip includes planned bench minutes, affected positions and a possible improvement. Tips sit in a compact collapsed block below Metro. A soft-yellow notice in the middle of the Metro header shows the count. Choose View to expand and move to the block. You can also expand or collapse it yourself. Tips remain available below Grid and playing-time views.

Position coverage can affect distribution, as can rest, history and chosen rules. A tip is therefore not proof of cause. Add only positions a player can handle well. Deliberate limits and normal rounding per moment are not flagged as improvements.

Tips remain when reopening a calculated schedule. Manual edits invalidate them; recalculate for new tips. Older schedules receive tips on recalculation.

After generation, choose Schedule explanation. Above detailed player figures, it shows:

• Planner and version that created the schedule.
• Number of playing moments and players included.
• Bench-turn difference between rotating players.
• Whether a relaxed emergency profile was needed.
• Rules or explicit inputs adjusted for that profile.
• Warnings, such as someone never taking the pitch.

Zero bench-turn difference means every rotating player sits out equally often. A difference of one is normal for many team sizes and moment counts. Locked players and a fixed goalkeeper are excluded from this comparison.

Emergency schedule during a technical failure

If the online planner is temporarily unreachable, doHockey can create a simple local emergency schedule. This happens only for technical failures, not invalid lineups. Emergency schedules are clearly marked and use only explicitly specified positions.

Review an emergency schedule especially carefully:

1. Does every available player play?
2. Is everyone in a familiar position?
3. Are bench moments workable at the sideline?
4. Do locked players stay in place?
5. Are quarters and substitution moments correct?

The schedule on your phone

Preparation, the prepared-match overview and live coaching use the same schedule view.

• The default shows the whole quarter. Choose another quarter at the top. Two blocks compares consecutive blocks; arrows move through them.
• Open Substitutions and position preferences below Grid to see who comes on, goes off or changes position. Moves within the pitch are separate from bench substitutions.
• Numbers beside names show preference rank: 1 first, 2 second, 3 third. – means outside specified preferences; ? means unknown preference.
• Expandable details also show preference distribution per block. A bold name on a light background marks a different player in that place. The bench appears below pitch positions.
• Live opens at the current quarter; the current block is labelled Now. After browsing, Back to now returns to the current planned block. Times belong to the indicated quarter.

According to schedule means planned coverage is shown. It does not confirm a substitution actually happened. An incomplete or conflicting block leaves bench and substitution instructions unknown; review assignments first.

Adjusting and saving

Edit any proposal manually through selection or dragging. Review planned minutes and warnings again. Save only when it suits your team and match situation.

Downloading the match PDF

Choose Download match PDF beside the schedule. This works on phone and computer without a print window. Save changes first: the PDF uses saved preparation.

The document combines Starting lineup and Playing-time distribution on its opening page, followed by Substitution schedule and Player schedule. Longest planned minutes appear first. A standard match places all four quarters together on one schedule page. Player schedules show each planned position or bench turn. Distribution includes planned minutes, percentages, bench blocks, quarters, positions and average minutes per quarter. These are not actual played-match statistics.

The pitch shows starting-lineup names. Times restart each quarter. Names repeat in every block; light blue with horizontal arrows marks a player coming from the bench, light purple marks a pitch position change. Colours match the mobile schedule. No origin is marked if the previous block is incomplete. Bench turns have a light-yellow background. A dash means an unfilled position. In an incomplete block, an unassigned player appears as ?, not automatically as a substitute. That time is separately Unknown and excluded from planned playing time. The final playing period always extends to quarter end. Absent players are marked separately. A missing saved schedule is stated explicitly.

Immediately after the complete grid comes Substitution schedule — changes only, with the same layout. Each quarter begins with all players and substitutes filled in again. Subsequent blocks show only players changing position, coming on or going to the bench. An empty cell means unchanged; a dash still means unfilled.

Pitch lineups per block adds a row of small pitches for each quarter: one lineup, time and bench per block. Four quarters with four blocks fit on one page. Name boxes may shift slightly horizontally for readability; formation lines and left/centre/right order remain. A central player stays central. Only this overview page is portrait A4. Pitches follow the starting lineup: goalkeeper at the bottom, attack at the top and names in bordered boxes. Recognisable short names are used where needed; players sharing a first name remain distinguishable. Names can wrap onto a second line. Full names remain in grids. Larger schedules continue on extra pages. An incomplete block shows the bench as unknown.

Other pages use landscape A4. Long schedules span several pages. Downloading also stores the PDF. Unchanged content reuses the existing PDF; after changes, use the PDF button to create a new version. Dutch and English copies are saved separately.

Sharing a public PDF link

Choose Public link, then Enable public sharing. First consider who should see player names: anyone with the link can view and forward the file. Copy the link using the button or select its address yourself. Downloading does not enable public sharing automatically.

The link shows the last saved PDF in the chosen language. After adjustments, save preparation first, then press the PDF button to refresh the shared copy. Revoke link closes access. Creating a new link replaces the previous link for that language.

Setting the match to played automatically closes the public link, including during overnight processing. It does not close at kick-off. The PDF remains internally available; previously downloaded copies cannot be revoked. Changing match status later does not automatically reopen a closed link.