# Build Your XI Overview

FanHQ26's **Build Your XI** (/build-your-xi) is a free, no-signup 4-3-3 dream-team builder that lets fans pick any 11 players from across world football and share the resulting lineup as a 1200×630 pitch card. The tool was designed as a viral-loop fan toy — every share URL pre-loads the recipient's pitch with the sender's picks.

## Player Database

The picker covers approximately **140 high-profile players** spanning every WC 2026 nation's marquee names plus top stars from Europe's big-five leagues. The dataset includes Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé, Bellingham, Vinícius Júnior, Haaland, Lamine Yamal, Kane, Modrić, Salah, Pulisic, Musiala, and roughly 130 more. Each player carries country, club, position (GK / DEF / MID / FWD), and shirt number.

## How It Works

Tapping any of the 11 empty slot dots on the SVG pitch opens a search modal. Fans can filter by **position** (chips: ANY / GK / DEF / MID / FWD), search by **name / country / club**, and filter by **country dropdown** with 40+ nations. The picker auto-filters to the slot's natural position by default. Player chips display jersey number on a country-colour gradient disc with a flag corner badge — no copyrighted photos are used.

## Sharing

Once 11 slots are filled, a **"/// SHARE YOUR XI"** rail unlocks with WhatsApp / X / Facebook / Telegram / LinkedIn / Copy buttons. The share text adapts to progress: empty teaser, partial brag with picks-so-far, full 11/11 victory lap. Share URLs encode the picks (`?xi=<encoded>`) so a friend lands on the same in-progress XI. The `/api/og/xi` route renders the lineup as the **Open Graph image** so feed cards on every social platform show the actual pitch with the player chips.

## Persistence

Lineups save to **localStorage** and survive page reloads. A reset button wipes the pitch.

## Notes

Build Your XI is **free, requires no signup**, and works on mobile (16px from each edge bottom-sheet pitch), tablet, and desktop. It is **independent fan content** for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and not affiliated with FIFA.