Last Man Standing Football: A Complete Beginner's Guide
Last Man Standing is one of the simplest football competitions to understand and one of the most difficult to win. This guide covers everything a first-time player needs to know — the rules, the picks, the strategy, and what separates winners from early exits.
The KwickPicks Team has spent years running and playing Last Man Standing competitions across the Premier League, Championship, and lower leagues. We write about LMS strategy, fixture analysis, and pick advice to help players at every level survive longer — and win.
What Is Last Man Standing?
Last Man Standing (also called Survivor Football, Last Man Standing, or Pick'em) is a football prediction competition where every player picks one team to win each gameweek. If your team wins, you survive and move to the next round. If your team loses — or draws, depending on the competition rules — you are eliminated.
The critical rule that makes the game interesting: you can only use each team once per season. Pick Manchester City in Round 1 and they are gone from your pool for the rest of the competition. The last player standing wins the prize pot.
The Basic Rules
Pick one team per round
Each gameweek you select one team to win their match. You must submit your pick before the round deadline — typically before the first fixture of that gameweek kicks off.
Your team must win
If your picked team wins their match, you survive and advance to the next round. If they lose, you are eliminated. Whether a draw eliminates you depends on your competition's rules.
Each team can only be used once
This is the rule that defines the strategy. You have a finite pool of teams available for the whole season. Once a team is used, they cannot be picked again.
The last survivor wins
The competition continues until only one player remains. That player wins the prize pot. In some competitions, if multiple players survive to the end of the season, the pot is shared.
How to Make Your First Pick
For your first season, keep the strategy simple: pick the team with the highest probability of winning their match, considering that they are playing at home and facing a weaker opponent. Do not overthink it early.
The one thing every new player gets wrong is using their best teams too early. Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal are tempting to pick in Round 1 — but the fixture in Round 1 is often no better than Round 8. Save your elite teams for rounds where the fixture is genuinely favourable: a strong home game against a weakened or struggling side.
Beginner's rule of thumb
For your first season: always pick a home team, always pick a team in the top half of the table, and always check that they are not facing a side that is fighting for promotion or survival. Those three filters will keep you alive longer than most first-time players.
Understanding Your Team Pool
In a Premier League LMS competition you start with 20 teams available. Use one per round and you have 20 rounds of picks. The Premier League season has 38 gameweeks — so your pool will run out before the season ends unless you ration it carefully.
In the Championship, League One, and League Two, your pool is larger (24 teams in the Championship, 24 in League One, 24 in League Two). More teams means more options, but also more variation in quality — the gap between the best and worst pick is wider.
The pool is why long-term thinking matters. If you use your three most reliable teams in the first five rounds, the rest of the season becomes significantly harder. Think of it as a budget: you have 20 units to spend over as many rounds as you survive. Spend them wisely.
The Three Biggest Beginner Mistakes
- ✕Burning elite teams too early. Picking Man City in Round 2 because they have a nice fixture feels safe. But they might have an even better fixture in Round 14. Patience with your best teams pays dividends later.
- ✕Ignoring home vs away. Home teams win significantly more often than away teams in English football. For beginners, defaulting to home picks wherever possible is sound strategy.
- ✕Missing the deadline. If you do not submit a pick before the round deadline, many competitions will assign you a fallback pick automatically — or eliminate you. Check the deadline for every round.
How Kwick Picks Works
Kwick Picks runs Last Man Standing competitions across all four English professional leagues — the Premier League, Championship, League One, and League Two. You can join public competitions open to all players, or create a private competition for friends, family, or a workplace group.
Each competition has a prize pot funded by entry fees. The last player standing wins the pot. The Scores tab in each competition shows how the field is shrinking round by round, which teams are popular picks, and where you stand relative to the remaining players.
The Pick Guide tab shows every fixture for the current round with win probability data drawn from live betting market odds — the most accurate guide available for deciding which team to pick each week.
Ready to play your first season?
Join a public competition or set up a private game with friends.