Why I Built a World Cup Sweepstake Generator

Every World Cup, my family does the same thing: a sweepstake. Names in, teams dealt out, someone inevitably convinced they were robbed of Brazil — or, if they drew England, loudly declaring that football's coming home and that we will actually win it this year. We have done it for years and I did not want to change that; I just wanted it to be easier.

For something you only need once every four years, downloading an app or paying for a subscription was annoying. I kept landing on sites that wanted sign-ups, did not quite fit how we run our draw, or were just more faff than the tournament deserves. It frustrated me that nothing simple seemed to exist, so I built it.

It's built in mind for a single person running a sweepstake, but you can use it for any group of people, there are no logins per person, just a simple form to fill in and a button to generate the results.

What it does

The generator covers all 48 teams for World Cup 2026, with flags and FIFA rankings. You add your group, pick how you want teams split — random, seeded, snake draft, balanced, or hat draw — then share or print the results.

I built it for our family first. If your group does something similar, I hope it saves you the faff we used to have before someone claims they're definitely winning the sweepstake because they've got France and England.

Update: live sweepstake standings

Once the draw is done, the hard part is keeping score. Every tournament someone ends up with a spreadsheet, or we forget to update it until someone loudly insists they should be winning.

So I added a live standings page. After you generate your draw, click View my standings to open a bookmarkable leaderboard tied to your draw link. No sign-in — just the same shareable URL state you already use for the draw.

Scores use classic football rules: 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss. The page shows gold, silver, and bronze positions, a full table of everyone's teams, and a wooden spoon for whoever is propping up the bottom. Match results refresh automatically through the tournament, so you can check back whenever you like instead of chasing updates in the group chat.

A note on why I make these things

I like building small tools for free. Mostly I build for myself, because it is what I would want to use. If it helps someone else or their community along the way, that is a bonus.

I am always happy to hear from people who need a hand with a small project or a collaboration. If you are working on something similar and want to chat, get in touch and I am usually up for a conversation.