If you’ve ever booted up eFootball 2024 excited to go head-to-head with your best friend who lives across the country, only to get stuck staring at a blank friend list or a confusing lobby error, you’re not alone. A lot of players skip over the initial account setup steps that make cross-platform and friend play work smoothly, leading to hours of frustration instead of fun. If you’re looking for how to play with friends on eFootball 2024, we’ve tested every single method and fix in this guide to cut out the guesswork. No overly technical jargon, no random untested hacks, just steps that actually work, whether you’re on console, PC, or mobile.
How to Play with Friends on eFootball 2024: First, Set Up Your Friend List
Before you can jump into any matches, you need to make sure you and your friends are properly connected on the game. If you’re all playing on the same platform (for example, all on Xbox or all on PC), you can skip the Konami ID step and just use your platform’s built-in friend list. But if you’re playing across different devices, linking your Konami ID is non-negotiable, as it’s the only way the game can connect players across different ecosystems.
Adding a friend via Konami ID only takes a few steps:
- Open eFootball 2024 and head to the Extras tab from the main menu, located on the far right of the top navigation bar
- Select User Information, then Link Konami ID if you haven’t already completed this step. You can create a Konami ID for free in 2 minutes if you don’t have one already
- Go back to the main menu, select the Friends tab, then choose Search for Friends
- Enter your friend’s exact Konami ID (capitalization doesn’t matter, but double check for typos), send a request, and wait for them to accept
One common mistake we see all the time is players entering their friend’s platform username instead of their Konami ID for cross-play requests. Those requests will never go through, so make sure everyone shares their Konami ID first, not their PSN, Xbox, or Steam name. You can also adjust your privacy settings in the Friends tab if you don’t want random requests from strangers, just toggle the “allow friend requests from anyone” setting off.
Pick the Right Game Mode for Your Friend Group
Once your friend list is set up, you have tons of options for how to play together, depending on how many people you have and what kind of experience you’re looking for. You don’t have to stick to ranked 1v1 if you don’t want to, there are modes for every type of group.
Friendly Matches are the best option for casual 1v1 play. You can fully customize the rules: set half lengths from 3 to 30 minutes, turn off injuries and fouls, pick any licensed or custom team in the game, and even turn off offside rules if you want to mess around. The best part is these matches don’t affect your ranked rating at all, so you can try out silly tactics or mess around without worrying about losing progress.
If you want to team up instead of playing against each other, Co-op Mode lets you play with 1 to 2 friends on the same team, either against AI or against other groups of real players. We’ve found that 3-player co-op is the most fun, as you can assign fixed positions: one person plays defense, one midfield, one attack, so you don’t all end up chasing the ball around the pitch. You can also join public co-op lobbies if you want to add more random players to your group, but playing with friends you know is always more fun.
For larger groups of 4 to 16 people, you can set up a private custom tournament. You can choose knockout or round-robin formats, set custom rules for every match, and even add prizes for the winner. I ran one of these for 12 of my college friends earlier this year, and we spent an entire weekend playing matches and trash talking in our group chat. It’s way more engaging than just playing random solo matches all day.
Fix Common Issues When Playing With Friends on eFootball 2024
Even if you follow all the setup steps correctly, you might run into the odd error or connection issue. Most of these have super simple fixes, so you don’t have to give up and play solo after 10 minutes of troubleshooting.
The most common issue is not being able to join a friend’s lobby, even if they’re showing up on your friend list. The first thing to check is that both of you have cross-platform play enabled in your game settings. A lot of people turn this off by default when they first install the game to avoid playing against mouse and keyboard players on console, and forget to turn it back on when they want to play with friends on other devices.
If the lobby still isn’t showing up, double check that both of you are on the latest version of the game. Konami pushes small weekly updates to fix bugs and adjust player stats, and if one of you hasn’t installed the update, you won’t be able to connect to each other. Most platforms update games automatically, but if you have auto-updates turned off, you’ll need to manually check for updates before you start playing.
For lag or constant disconnections mid-match, try switching both devices from Wi-Fi to a wired ethernet connection if possible. Wi-Fi signals can be unstable, especially if you’re far from your router, and even a small dip in connection can kick you out of a match. You should also close any background apps that are using bandwidth, like streaming services, download clients, or video calls, as these can use up the bandwidth you need for a smooth connection.
Pro Tips to Make Your Friend Games Even More Enjoyable
Once you’ve got the basics down, there are tons of small tweaks you can make to turn a regular game night into something you’ll be talking about for weeks. These are all little tricks we’ve picked up after hundreds of hours playing with friends.
First, set custom house rules for your matches to level the playing field if there’s a big skill gap between players. For example, you can make a rule that all goals have to be scored from outside the box, or you can only use players from a specific country, or you’re not allowed to use through balls. It makes the matches way more chaotic and gives less experienced players a fighting chance, instead of them getting destroyed 10-0 every time.
Second, use the in-game replay feature to save your funniest or most ridiculous goals (or own goals). You can save replays directly to your device and share them in your group chat later to troll your friends. I once scored an own goal from a goal kick when I was playing against my little brother, and he still sends that replay to the family group chat every time we talk about the game.
Third, don’t be afraid to mess around with custom teams. You can create a full team of your friends, or a team of only your favorite players from the 90s, or even a team of the worst players in the game for a silly match. It’s way more fun than using the same top-tier teams like Manchester City or Bayern Munich every single time.
Finally, remember that it’s just a game. If you lose a match because of a bad referee call or a silly own goal, laugh it off instead of raging or quitting early. Rage quitting ruins the fun for everyone, and the point of playing with friends is to have a good time, not to win every single match.
Whether you’re looking for casual 1v1 matches after work, co-op sessions with your roommates, or a full weekend tournament with your whole friend group, knowing how to play with friends on eFootball 2024 makes the game 10 times more fun. All the steps and fixes in this guide have been tested dozens of times by our team, so you don’t have to waste hours scrolling through forums looking for solutions to random errors. Next time you’re planning a game night, pull up this guide, set up your lobbies in minutes, and get to playing.