Everything you need to know about SorareData Leagues

4 min readMay 5, 2021

SorareData Leagues have come back for a new season with a new way to rank managers and at least 78 rewards to be won by the best managers of every rank.

Ranks are now based on Elo

Every manager now has an Elo ranking. Elo is widely used for matchmaking purposes, with Chess rankings as the most famous example. Based on your past performances, every manager gets a number between 0 and infinite (but currently around 2300).

For every game you win, you win Elo points. For every game you lose, you lose Elo points. Draws might get you or lose you a few points depending on your opponent.

Your Elo ranking now determines your manager rank. It means that promotion/relegation can happen after any game, not after a season. Elo ranges are as follows:

Beginner: 0–1100
Amateur: 1100–1400
Semi-pro: 1400–1700
Pro: 1700–2000
World class: 2000+

When you join the SD Leagues, your Elo ranking starts at 1300. You’ll be ranked after playing 6 placement games. You’re not eligible for rewards until you’re placed in a rank.

For the first 10–15 games, the number of points won/lost for each game will be around 40. As you progress in the leagues, the amount of points won/lost after every game will slowly decrease. Be sure to give it all in your first games, they matter!

Matchmaking is now Elo-based

Random pairing is over! You will now be matched with a manager in your Elo range. That way, no more fights between the first manager of an Elo range and the last.

This also allows inter-ranks matchups. For example, if you’re on top of the Pro rank (Elo ~1990), you can be matched against the bottom of the World Class rank (Elo ~2010). These can be viewed like promotion/relegation games with way more passion and stake at play.

We think managers will LOVE these matchups. If you’re in the lower rank, prove that you belong higher. If you’re in the upper rank, prove that you deserve to stay.

Ranks still define the rewards you’re eligible for

At least 78 rewards are still up for grabs thanks to Sorare (we love you guys) for this current season. A SD Leagues season lasts 6 gameweeks. The second season should end with GW 170. We do not plan to introduce midweek playing as it would be too hard for managers to play 15 cards during midweek gameweeks.

We loved how we rewarded game winners last season but it was a bit frustrating for some managers who scored big points without winning all their games to not get promoted or rewarded.

We will now reward managers based on their Elo progression over the season and the total score of the 6 lineups played. If you win your 6 games scoring 400 points/game, you might receive a slightly less attractive reward than a manager scoring 700 points/game but with only 5 wins this season.

We will rank managers at the end of the season to distribute rewards as follows:

Half of your ranking towards rewards will be based on your Elo progression during the season
Half of your ranking towards rewards will be based on your lineups points scored during the season
You will be ranked with players that were from your rank at the start of the season (if you were ranked as a Pro manager to start the season and end up as a Semi-Pro manager, you’ll only be eligible for Pro rewards this season)

We will release the rewards rankings before the season ends. The prize pool will be released at the same time but it will not change from last season. Tier 0s are guaranteed for every season winner (except Beginner).

If you’re impatient, you can compute the rankings yourself already (though it might take some time). To do so, rank managers based on their Elo progression (basically wins/losses) from the start of the season and then rank managers based on their lineup points scored throughout the season. To get the final rankings, compute the average position over the two leaderboards.

Here are the minimum top X players that will be rewarded with a card for every rank:

World Class: top 14
Pro: top 10
Semi-pro: top 12
Amateur: top 20
Beginner: top 18
Placement: top 3

Not playing will get you back in placement

We want to reward managers who play, not those who pick their gameweeks. We want to reward dedication: this season, every manager that is not playing more than 2 games during the season will be going back to placement rank with an Elo reset. That way, we ensure the best possible matchmaking possible for everyone.

We understand that, during the summer, it will be difficult for many managers to play with only Asia or America cards. We will monitor the situation and disable the reset or reduce the number of games to play each season to maintain your rank this summer based on the number of cards available to play.

Remember that you can submit incomplete lineups (missing subs or position players). So if you need to play one more game in a season to not go back to placement, line a team up, even if it’s incomplete! Losing some Elo is probably better than going back to 6 placement games.

EVERY. GAME. COUNTS.

We think it’s pretty clear. Every decision in SD leagues matters. Every player lined up. Every sub carefully planned. Every decimal point scored counts towards a hard-earned reward. Win games, win them well and you’ll be crowned.

Good luck and we’ll see you on our virtual pitches!