You’re sprinting through a dark, industrial corridor on Vow. Your lungs are burning, the heavy breathing sound effect is peaking in your headset, and a Forest Giant is thudding along right behind you. Normally, this is where you die. But today? You’ve got a soccer ball. You drop the scrap, aim for the corner, and blast a physical object directly into the monster's path. It doesn't kill it—nothing is that easy in Zeekerss’ twisted universe—but the physics-based collision janks the AI just enough for you to slide into the ship. This is the Lethal Company football mod experience. It’s messy, it’s arguably broken, and it’s some of the most fun you can have while being hunted by eldritch horrors.
Most people play Lethal Company for the atmospheric dread. They want the tension of the dark and the sudden, screeching jump scares. But the modding community, specifically the folks hanging out on Thunderstore, decided the game needed a bit more "sportsmanship."
What exactly is the Lethal Company football mod?
Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way first. When people talk about this, they are usually referring to the Football mod by LethalCompanyModding or various iterations found under the "Sports" tags on Thunderstore.io. It isn't just a cosmetic skin for a Bracken. It’s a functional piece of scrap that introduces a new physics object into the game engine.
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The mod adds a football (or soccer ball, depending on where you're from) that spawns as loot. You can kick it. You can throw it. It bounces off walls with a surprising amount of velocity. Honestly, the first time you see a teammate dribbling a ball past a Thumper, you realize how much the base game benefits from just a little bit of physical levity.
Why adding physics objects changes the game
Lethal Company’s engine is already a chaotic mess of physics interactions. Adding a high-velocity projectile changes the math. Most scrap items are static once dropped. They just sit there. The Lethal Company football mod introduces an item that maintains momentum.
You’ve probably seen the clips on TikTok or YouTube. A player kicks the ball into a landmine to clear a path. Or, more likely, a player kicks the ball, it hits a wall, ricochets back, and triggers the landmine they were standing next to. It’s peak comedy. It’s also a legitimate strategy. Because the ball has a hitbox, it can occasionally disrupt the pathing of certain entities. It won't stop a Jester, but it might distract a Snare Flea or give you a second of breathing room against a Nutcracker.
Installation is easier than surviving March
If you haven't modded the game before, don't sweat it. You don't need to be a coder. You basically just need the r2modman manager or the Thunderstore app.
- Download the manager.
- Search for Lethal Company.
- Create a profile.
- Search "Football" or "Lethal Ball."
- Hit download.
The manager handles the dependencies, usually requiring BepInEx and LethalLib. If you try to do it manually, you’re gonna have a bad time. Files end up in the wrong folders, the game won't launch, and you'll be stuck playing the vanilla version like it’s 2023. Nobody wants that.
The multiplayer "Problem"
Here’s the thing about the Lethal Company football mod: everyone in the lobby needs it.
If you have the mod and your buddy doesn't, they’re going to see you running around like a maniac, kicking invisible air. On their screen, you might just be holding a generic piece of scrap or nothing at all. This leads to desync. Desync in this game usually results in someone getting eaten by a Coil-head because they were laughing at a ball that didn't exist.
Modding is a communal effort. You’ve got to make sure the whole crew has the same version of the modpack. Use the "Export Profile as Code" feature in r2modman. It generates a short string of text you can paste to your friends. They import it, and boom—everyone has the football.
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Is it actually useful for the quota?
Strictly speaking? Sorta.
The ball is usually worth a decent amount of credits if you manage to get it back to the ship. But the real value isn't the scrap price. It’s the utility. In a game where your only defense is a shovel or a prayer, having a long-range "distraction" tool is huge.
Imagine you’re trapped in a room with a Hydrogere (the slime). You can’t jump over it easily in tight hallways. But you can kick that ball into a corner. Sometimes, the AI logic for sound-sensitive monsters like the Eyeless Dogs will trigger on the sound of the ball hitting the ground. You kick the ball away from the ship, the dog chases the noise, and you sneak up the ramp with a beehive. It’s high-level play.
Common glitches and the "Jank" factor
We have to be real here. The Lethal Company football mod isn't a polished AAA expansion. It’s a community project. Sometimes the ball clips through the floor. Sometimes it gains infinite velocity and launches into the stratosphere, taking your hopes of meeting the quota with it.
There’s a known issue where the ball can get stuck in the ship’s geometry. If you kick it too hard under the terminal, it might just vibrate there until it crashes the lobby or starts making a sound like a machine gun. It’s part of the charm. If you wanted a polished experience, you wouldn’t be playing a game about Victorian orphans collecting trash in space.
The competitive scene (Yes, really)
Believe it or not, some groups have started hosting "Lethal League" matches. They find a flat moon—usually Experimentation or the top of the ship on 71-Gordion—and try to score goals between the ship's struts.
The stakes are higher than FIFA. If you lose, you don't just lose the game; you probably get left behind because the company ship is leaving in ten seconds and the ghost girl is breathing down your neck. It adds a layer of emergent gameplay that Zeekerss probably never envisioned but the engine handles surprisingly well.
How to get the most out of the mod
To really enjoy the Lethal Company football mod, you need to lean into the absurdity. Don't just use it as a tool. Use it as a ritual.
- The Ritual Kick: Every time someone dies, you must kick the ball into the abyss in their honor.
- The Distraction: Use it specifically to lure the Forest Giant away from the ship. It’s risky, but the payoff of seeing a giant chase a tiny ball is worth the inevitable death.
- The Goal: Build a "goal" out of other scrap items in the ship and see who can score while the ship is in transit between moons.
What people get wrong about Lethal Company modding
A lot of players think adding mods ruins the "vibe" of the game. They think it makes it too easy. Honestly, that’s a narrow way to look at it. The Lethal Company football mod actually makes the game harder in some ways. You’re carrying an item that makes noise. You’re distracted by a physics object when you should be checking for the snare flea on the ceiling.
It’s not a cheat. It’s an environmental hazard that you happen to control. It fits perfectly into the "life is cheap" philosophy of the game.
Technical Compatibility
Before you go downloading every mod on the front page, check for version compatibility. Since the game updates periodically (especially with the recent Version 50 and 60 tweaks), older versions of the football mod might break.
Check the "Last Updated" tag on Thunderstore. If it hasn't been touched in six months, it might cause your game to hang on the loading screen. Usually, the "LethalCompanyModding" community is pretty quick to patch things, but always keep an eye on the BepInEx console (that black window that pops up when you launch the game). If you see red text, something is wrong with the ball's assets.
Moving forward with your modded lobby
If you’re bored of the standard scrap runs, the Lethal Company football mod is the easiest way to inject some life into your sessions. It doesn't fundamentally rewrite the game like the "More Company" or "Brutal Company" mods do. It just adds a toy. A dangerous, loud, potentially lethal toy.
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To get started, don't just download the mod and play solo. This is a social experience. Get your regular crew on a Discord call, sync your mod versions via r2modman, and head to a moon with wide open spaces like Vow or March.
Try using the ball as a measuring tool for distance or testing the gravity on different moons. The physics react differently depending on the moon's internal gravity settings, which is a detail most players overlook. It’s a fun way to learn the deeper mechanics of the game engine while pretending you’re in the World Cup.
Once you’ve mastered the art of the kick, you might find yourself looking for more. There are mods that add basketball hoops to the ship, or mods that turn the shovel into a golf club. The rabbit hole goes deep. But it all starts with that one simple, bouncing ball in the middle of a dark, terrifying bunker.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check your version: Ensure your Lethal Company game is updated to the latest version on Steam before installing any mods.
- Use a Mod Manager: Download r2modman. It’s cleaner than the official Thunderstore app and doesn't have ads.
- Sync with your team: Share your profile code immediately. If one person is missing the mod, the physics will break for everyone.
- Test on Experimentation: It’s the safest moon to test the ball’s physics without getting immediately mauled by a Thumper.
- Map your keys: Check the mod settings in the config editor within r2modman to see if you can change the "kick" power or keybind.
- Record your gameplay: This mod creates "Garry’s Mod" style physics moments that are perfect for clips. You'll want to have OBS running.