What if your Thursday game had stats like SofaScore?

A 7-a-side group. Same day of the week, for a quarter of a century. Some players left; new ones arrived. On 8 January 2026 — the 1st is a holiday, no game — we logged the first match in FutBalance. This is what it looks like when a group treats games with friends like a league — with real stats.

*Goals have been logged since 9 April, when the app added scorers: 92 in 14 matches (6.6 per game).

The Thursday group

We started on indoor five-a-side. Twelve years ago we switched to 7-a-side. Today there are 30 regulars and 15 temporary signings — people who step in when the usual crowd cannot make 14. It is not a club. It is a Thursday with friends that refuses to die.

For 25 years the group's memory was first a Facebook group, then WhatsApp, and always the argument afterwards. Who scored, who won, who “always picks the best players”. This year that conversation has a table.

Stats raise the commitment

It is not that we used to struggle to fill the game: this group has been on the pitch for half a lifetime. Now it is even easier. The pace has changed. People compete for more points. They sign up earlier. There is a healthy rivalry that used to live in jokes and now has a number next to it.

Víctor has played all 23. Jesús, 20. Nando, JoseAn and Fitinha, 19. That is not a miracle turnout. It is what happens when the ranking rewards showing up, not only scoring.

Fewer “you always pick the best players”

Teams come from the generator. And as the year went on we kept tuning ratings: if you performed, you went up; if you did not, we adjusted. The result is not that blowouts vanished — the biggest win is 8-4 — it is that the most common scoreline is 4-3. Three times. Draws have their place too: 3-3 and 2-2, twice each.

That cuts a kind of comment every organiser knows: that you always land with the same people, that the other side is a select XI. The data does not kill the banter. It kills the suspicion.

The ranking is not just the top scorer

Futbalance Score adds playing, winning, scoring, earning MVP and defending. That is why Álvaro Martínez and Víctor sit tied on 78 with different seasons: Álvaro wins more (61% in 18 matches); Víctor has not missed once.

Then there is Jesús Historiador: 10 matches, 7 wins, 3 draws, zero defeats. A 10-game unbeaten run. He does not lead the ranking because he has played fewer games, but the number already lives in the group chat.

Goals: 92 since April

Matches have been logged since January. Scorers, since 9 April. In 14 matchdays there are 92 goals. Víctor leads with 8, at 0.57 per game. The average tells another story: Rubén, 6 goals and a hat-trick at 2.00. Carlos Estrobel, 5 at 2.50. A last-minute signing, 4 goals in a single match.

The trios that win

Fitinha, Víctor and Álvaro Martínez: 83% wins in 6 matches together. It is not magic. It is what the group already suspected and can now drop in the chat.

Streaks and this year's XI (so far)

Jesús Historiador does not lose. Álvaro is next, on 9. The ideal lineup by Futbalance Score puts Jesús up front, Víctor and Emilio in midfield, JoseAn, Álvaro and Fitinha at the back, and César in goal.

MVP is not only who plays most

Ivor has 2 MVPs in 4 matches. Álvaro and Pakiko, 2 in 8. The group vote spreads the spotlight: it is not always the top scorer, or the one who never misses.

Chapter 1

23 matches are not a 15-year dataset. They are the first season this group has a memory. Ratings get sharper. The generator balances more. People sign up earlier. And the ideas that come off the pitch — from this group and from other organisers — end up in the app.

At 50 matches there will be more stories. For now, Thursday is no longer argued from memory.

Create your group and log the next match. It is free.