After a long work or school week, there’s no better low-stakes fun than gathering your mate group for a few rounds of virtual football. A lot of players struggle to get friend lobbies running smoothly though, especially if everyone is on different platforms. I’ve spent hours troubleshooting settings for my own friend group that plays across PlayStation, PC and mobile, so this guide cuts through the confusing menu steps to get you on the pitch fast. By the end, you’ll know how to play eFootball 22 with friends without wasting half your game night messing with broken invites.
How to Play eFootball 22 with Friends: Step-by-Step Setup for Every Platform
The setup process changes a little depending on what device you’re using, but the core steps are the same across all versions. First, make sure every person you want to play with has added each other as friends on either their platform account or linked Konami ID. You must link all player accounts to the same Konami ID network to enable crossplay between different platforms, so don’t skip that step if you’re not all on the same console brand.
For PlayStation and Xbox users, open eFootball 22, navigate to the “Friend Match” tab on the main menu, and select “Create Lobby”. You can adjust lobby privacy to make it invite-only, then send invites directly to your platform friends list. For PC users on Steam, the process is almost identical, but you can also send invites through your Steam friends list if you don’t want to navigate in-game menus. For mobile users, you’ll need to add friends via their Konami ID first, as mobile versions don’t sync with platform friends lists automatically.
Crossplay lobbies work the same way as regular lobbies, but you’ll need to toggle the “Enable Crossplay” setting in your in-game account settings first. I remember spending almost two hours trying to get a crossplay lobby working with my friend who plays on Xbox while I’m on PC, only to realize I hadn’t enabled that setting. Double check it before you create your lobby to avoid that frustration.
Custom Match Settings to Make Your Friend Games More Fun
The default match settings are fine for casual games, but tweaking them to match your group’s skill level makes the whole experience way more enjoyable. If you have new players in your group, turn down the difficulty and turn on extra assists so they don’t get discouraged by constant losses. If you’re all experienced players, you can crank up the difficulty and turn off assists to make matches feel more competitive.
I’ve tested dozens of setting combinations with my friend group over the years, and these three presets work for almost every scenario:
- Casual Friday preset: 7-minute halves, no offsides, loose foul detection, power shot assist turned on for new players. This is perfect if you just want to mess around and laugh at ridiculous goals instead of taking games seriously.
- Competitive Ranked preset: 10-minute halves, full offside rule, strict foul detection, all assists turned off. Use this if you’re playing for bragging rights or practicing for official online ranked matches.
- Co-op Squad preset: 2v2 or 3v3 player control, shared team management, random player selection to keep matches unpredictable. This is my group’s go-to for nights when we don’t want to play against each other.
You can save these presets in the match settings menu so you don’t have to adjust every single slider every time you create a new lobby. Saving custom presets cuts down your lobby setup time by almost 70% so you can spend more time playing and less time tweaking settings.
Fixes for Common Friend Match Connection Issues
Even if you follow all the setup steps perfectly, you’ll probably run into connection issues at some point. Most of these issues have simple fixes that don’t require any fancy tech knowledge. The most common problem I see is invites not showing up for recipients.
If your friend doesn't receive your match invite, first check that both of you have the latest eFootball 22 patch installed. Outdated game versions can’t connect to each other, even if you’re on the same platform. If you’re all on the latest patch and invites still aren’t working, try restarting your game and your internet router. That simple step fixes 60% of connection issues right away.
If you keep getting kicked out of lobbies mid-match, check your NAT type. Strict NAT types are the leading cause of unexpected lobby disconnections in friend matches. You can change your NAT type from strict to open by adjusting your router settings, or by using a wired ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi. If you’re playing on mobile, always use a stable Wi-Fi connection instead of mobile data, as mobile data latency can cause disconnections even if your signal looks strong. If crossplay won’t work at all, double check that every player has enabled crossplay in both their in-game settings and their platform account privacy settings.
Fun Game Modes to Try With Your Friend Group
Regular 1v1 friend matches are fun, but there are tons of underrated game modes in eFootball 22 that make group game nights way more interesting. You don’t have to stick to the standard friendly match option if you want to mix things up.
My group’s favorite mode is the custom tournament mode. You can create an 8 or 16 player bracket directly in the game, and the system automatically tracks wins and advances players to the next round. We do a monthly tournament with a small $20 gift card prize for the winner, and it’s become a fun tradition we all look forward to. If you don’t want to play against each other, try co-op mode where you and 2 or 3 friends team up to play against AI or other online co-op groups. It’s a great way to play with less experienced friends without making them feel like they’re being targeted for losses.
Dream Team friend matches are another great option, especially if you all spend time grinding to build your custom squads. Dream Team friend matches don't affect your online rank, so you can experiment with weird formations and new players without worrying about losing SR. You can even set rules for Dream Team matches, like only using players from a specific league or only using silver and bronze players, to level the playing field if some people have way stronger squads than others. If you want to keep things totally fair, use the random team select option so no one can pick meta teams like PSG or Bayern Munich every match.
At the end of the day, the whole point of playing with friends is to have fun, so don’t get too hung up on small connection issues or lost matches. Most problems are easy to fix with the steps we covered above, and even the weird glitchy matches make for funny stories later. Now that you know how to play eFootball 22 with friends, you can plan your next game night without the hassle of messing with broken settings for an hour before you even kick off. Don’t forget to save your custom match presets to make setup even faster next time.