The Oracle is the Starting 11 prediction engine. Before every match it covers, it names the eleven players it expects to start, hours before any team news. Its picks appear across Dugout's predicted lineups articles, and every prediction is scored against the real starting XI once the teams are announced.
How it works
The Oracle starts from what managers actually do: most starting lineups change less than fans expect, so the last XI a team fielded is the spine of the next one. On top of that it tracks injuries and suspensions from our data provider, availability flags, transfers and squad changes, and it removes anyone who cannot play. When news lands between its first call and kickoff, it revises the XI and says what changed. It never guesses at rumours and it never invents information: every pick traces back to something in the data.
A green marker on the pitch means a change from the team's last lineup. An amber marker means the Oracle has named a player who carries a doubt flag in the feed. Every post is read by a human editor before it goes out.
How accurate is it?
Across the 2026 World Cup knockout rounds the Oracle has averaged over 9 of 11 starters correct per team, including three perfect elevens, as of 9 July 2026. Tournament football is its friendliest terrain: settled squads and short turnarounds reward its method.
League football rotates more, so expectations should too. Tested against the full second half of the 2025-26 season in seven leagues, scoring each prediction with the same 0 to 11 measure the Starting 11 leaderboard uses, its per-team averages were:
| League | Correct starters (of 11) |
|---|---|
| Eredivisie | 9.1 |
| Premier League | 8.7 |
| Bundesliga | 8.5 |
| Ligue 1 | 8.3 |
| Championship | 8.3 |
| Serie A | 8.2 |
| La Liga | 7.9 |
The spread is rotation culture: Dutch sides barely change, La Liga rotates hardest. For reference, fans predicting on Starting 11 during the World Cup have averaged just under 7 of 11.
What it cannot see
The Oracle misses what nobody can know from data alone: a surprise tactical shift, a manager's hunch, a knock that never reached the feed. When it is wrong, the score stays on the record. That is the deal: it publishes its accuracy openly, hits and misses alike.
Beat it
The Oracle sets the bar, not the ceiling. Fans who watch one team closely beat it on their club all the time. Predict your XI on Starting 11 and see how you score against it.