How the Supernova Sweepstake works

World Cup 2026 is the biggest yet — 48 teams, more than ever before. So we built a tool to help anyone set up their office sweepstake without all the admin.

You need at least 8 players to start a pool. After that, any number from 8 to 48 gets a fair draw — teams are split into seeding pots so nobody ends up with all the minnows, and any extras get balanced across the lower-ranked teams.

Create a pool →

You'll be asked whether you already know your line-up. If yes, set the rules and launch in a couple of minutes. If not, gauge interest first and set up the pool details once you know how many people want in.

Names and teams are picked out of two random hats, ball by ball, so no one knows who's going to get which team until the draw starts. Teams are divvied up by FIFA world rankings, so if your pool has people getting more than one team, everyone at least gets a top seed rather than being stuck with only minnows.

Try it yourself — configure a demo draw below and hit Launch:

Yes. Teams are shuffled into seeding pots so strong and weak teams spread evenly, then drawn in random order. We don't peek before showing you.

Once all the teams have been drawn, the organiser confirms the draw and locks in everyone's teams. All players then receive an email showing which team(s) they earned.

You don't have to watch the live draw — once an organiser has confirmed the teams, you'll receive an email with your teams and a link to see what everyone else got.

Yes — organisers can switch on bonus awardsso it's not just down to which group-stage team you got. The current bonus prizes are:

• ⚽ Golden Boot — if your team has the tournament's top scorer
• 🏆 Goal of the Tournament — if your team has FIFA's official goal of the tournament
• 🐣 Youngest Goalscorer — if your team has the youngest goalscorer
• 👳 Oldest Goalscorer — if your team has the oldest goalscorer
• 🚪 First Team Eliminated — for the first team officially knocked out of the group stage

In a sweepstake, when your team is out, you're out. However, Supernova Sweepstake organisers can choose to enable bonus awards so that it's not over until it's over.

No — the line-up is fixed once the draw starts. If someone wants to join after the draw has been done, you'll need to create a fresh pool. Sorry!

As an organiser you can remove someone before starting the draw, but once you start the draw the names and teams are locked in.

No — there are only 48 teams. If you have more than 48 keen colleagues, break it into two sweepstakes between different departments within your company.

Yes — from the organiser page you can edit or delete a pool and then create a new one if you'd like.

No. This tool does not collect or process payments. Any contributions are arranged privately between participants. This keeps the site free to use and GDPR-friendly, and means no middlemen take a cut of your prize pool.

If enough people enjoy the Supernova Sweepstake, we'll look at ways to bundle in office sweepstakes with payroll for Novabook clients — so less messing around with cash and bank details.

A low-stakes sweepstake between friends or colleagues is treated differently to commercial betting under UK rules. We don't take a cut, hold the money, or set odds. If you're running it at work, a quick word with HR is never a bad idea.

Novabook — the accountant for start-ups. We help fast-growing companies move faster by streamlining back-office accounting tasks. We created the Supernova Sweepstake to help minimise the admin around setting up a bit of office fun.

The Supernova Sweepstake is a tool inspired by the Supernova Substack, written by Novabook founder Stephen Wilks.