- Paste the names, one per line.
- Choose how many teams — 2, 3, 4 or a custom number.
- Name the teams if you want to.
- Make teams, and shuffle again if you would rather have a different split.
How even is even
Nine people across four teams gives 3, 2, 2, 2. Sizes never differ by more than one, because names are shuffled first and then dealt out one at a time.
Why the shuffle matters
Chopping an alphabetical list into four blocks is not random — it puts everyone whose name starts with A on the same team every time. The list is shuffled with the same cryptographic randomness the wheel uses before anything is dealt.
Picking captains first
If you want captains chosen separately, run those on the wheel with “remove winner after spin” on, then put the rest through the team generator.
When the odd player out matters
Sizes never differ by more than one, which settles the maths and not the game. In something where an extra body is a real advantage, decide in advance what the short team gets — the extra substitution, the first serve, a rotating spare who plays for whichever side is down a player. Deciding after the split, when everyone can see which team got five, is where the arguing starts.
For an odd number that will not divide at all, it is usually better to change the number of teams than to live with a lopsided split. Nine across four is 3, 2, 2, 2; nine across three is 3, 3, 3.
Random is not always what you want
A pure shuffle can put every strong player on one team, and that is a legitimate outcome of a fair process — which is no comfort at all in a game that is over by half time. If the split needs to be balanced as well as unbiased, sort the names into tiers first and shuffle each tier separately.
- Split the players into rough groups of similar standard — two tiers is usually enough.
- Run the top tier through the generator on its own to get, say, four groups of two.
- Run the next tier the same way.
- Join the results: team one is the first group from each tier, and so on.
Each team then gets a fair share of each standard, and the randomness still decides who goes where. It takes an extra minute and it is the difference between a close game and a walkover.
Agree the re-roll rule first
Shuffling again is right there, which is fine for a kickabout and corrosive for anything competitive: re-rolling until the teams look right is just picking the teams with extra steps. Say beforehand whether you get one re-roll or none, and then keep whatever comes out.