The Team Captain Checklist

Being a captain is more than wearing the C on your profile. Captains are the operational backbone of a competitive team - they keep the roster aligned, manage scheduling, coordinate match day, and serve as the point of contact for admins when something goes wrong. A team that wins consistently almost always has a captain who handles these responsibilities cleanly. This guide walks through the practical checklist every captain should run through before, during, and after each match.

Captain Responsibilities at a Glance

Every HubMatch team has exactly one captain, designated when the team is created or transferred via the team admin panel. The captain holds elevated permissions that ordinary roster members do not:

• Accept or decline match invitations on behalf of the team.
• Submit match results and screenshots after games complete.
• Confirm or dispute results submitted by the opposing captain.
• Invite, promote, demote, and remove players from the roster.
• Sign the team up for tournaments and leagues.
• Set the team's availability and scheduling preferences.

These powers exist because someone has to be accountable. When admins need a decision, they go to the captain. When the platform needs an authoritative roster change, only the captain can sign off.

Pre-Match Checklist

Run this checklist 15-30 minutes before scheduled match start. Most team disasters are pre-match failures: a missing player, a forgotten roster change, a server confusion.

Roster verification. Confirm every player who is supposed to start is online, in the team Discord, and ready. Substitutes should also be on standby in case of last-minute drops. The HubMatch roster shown on the match page must match who actually plays - fielding an unrostered player is an automatic violation and the result will be overturned.

Check-in. Open the match page on HubMatch and confirm check-in for your team. Some tournaments require both captains to check in within a window before kickoff; failure to check in by the deadline forfeits the match. Tournament rules are visible on the event page - read them before match day, not five minutes before kickoff.

Lobby code distribution. When the platform issues a lobby code, share it immediately in the team voice channel. Every player needs the code to join the in-game lobby. If a player joins the wrong lobby (a public game or a different match), they lose connection to the match and the team risks playing short.

Communication test. Verify everyone can hear voice comms before the first kick-off. A muted player or a broken microphone in the first thirty seconds of a match has cost teams entire games. Run a quick "everyone say a word" check.

During the Match

The captain's job during play is mostly to stay calm and keep the team focused. Specific match-day duties:

Call timeouts judiciously. If a player drops connection or a critical bug occurs, follow the tournament's pause procedure. Most events allow a brief pause for technical issues; abusing pauses to gain a tactical advantage is a violation.

Screenshot every result. The moment the in-game scoreboard appears, take a screenshot. HubMatch requires screenshot evidence for every reported result. Screenshots must show the final score, both team names, and the match clock. A blurry or partial screenshot is an invalid screenshot - take a second one if the first looks off.

Track the series score. In a Best-of-3 or longer series, note who won each map and the score. You will submit this when reporting.

Post-Match Result Reporting

Result reporting is where most captain mistakes happen. Get this right and you avoid 90% of disputes.

Report immediately. Open the match page on HubMatch and submit the result while it is fresh. Late reporting causes scheduling delays for the next round, and after a generous window the system auto-accepts the opposing captain's report - if they reported a different score, you have a problem.

Upload the screenshot. Attach the in-game scoreboard image. The platform's OCR system reads the score directly from the image; clean screenshots speed verification dramatically.

Confirm or dispute the opposing report. Once both captains have submitted, the system compares the two reports. If they agree, the result is finalised. If they disagree, the match enters dispute and admins review the screenshots.

If your opponent submits a result you disagree with, file the dispute with evidence. "They cheated" is not a dispute claim; "scoreboard shows 2-1 but they reported 2-0" with a screenshot is.

Roster Management

Captains manage the roster outside of match day too.

Invitations. Send invites to prospective players through their HubMatch profile. They accept or decline; you cannot force-add a player.

Promotions and demotions. You can promote a teammate to vice-captain (limited admin powers) or assign positional preferences. These do not change the captain status itself.

Removals. Removing a player is a captain-only action. The removed player loses access to team voice channels, scheduling, and match invites immediately.

Transferring the captaincy. If you need to step down, transfer the captain status to another teammate via the team settings. The team cannot exist without a captain - if you leave without transferring, the team is disbanded unless an admin intervenes.

Conduct and Accountability

Captains carry reputational responsibility. Violations committed by your team count against the team's standing, and patterns of captain misconduct (no-shows, repeated bad-faith result reports, abusive behaviour in Team chat) escalate quickly through the violation system. Read the platform Code of Conduct and the violation system - knowing the rules is part of the captain's job.

A good captain is reliable, communicative, fair to opponents, and consistent week to week. The platform recognises this: long-serving captains of well-run teams build reputational weight that helps with tournament seeding, league acceptance, and recruiting new players.

Be that captain.