In 1982, when Kevin Toms launched the original Football Manager simulation game, it was a seismic event that allowed football supporters, for the first time, to experience what it was like to be in the manager’s hot seat.The role of a manager and football simulation games have changed a lot since then, but at the heart of all of the games, they’re still incredibly addictive. Like a drug dealer hooking his customers on illegal substances, here are five free samples of the best football simulation games available online:
- Soccer Manager. Their owners call their site “The world’s best free online soccer manager game,” and they may be right. This highly addictive game allows you to pick your favorite club and play against fellow fans from around the world. The concept of the game is pretty straightforward so it’s easy to get started. The design and navigation could be improved to make the experience more intuitive, but overall this is definitely a winner.
- Hattrick. The granddaddy of online football simulation games is celebrating 10 years in existence and is nearing the one million mark in the number of registered players. It’s been a while since I’ve played this one, but it was easy to use and the type of game you could easily spend tons of quality time on. Hattrick has an international flavor about it, which isn’t surprising considering that it was developed in Sweden and has 44 different language versions.
- Power Soccer. This Java-based game works best on a Windows machine with a broadband connection. I’m running Leopard on a Macbook so I had difficulty getting the game to work, but from what I saw, this looks like it could keep soccer fans up through the night — not only from the constant loading of files, but also from hours of playing the game.
- AMFA Manager. This browser based simulation game is unique in that it’s currently playing the 1981/1982 season. Since all of the team names and players are fictitious, the game developers decided to pick a fictitious year for the start of the game which was 1954 and it’s been evolving since then.
- Football Superstars and Football Manager Live. These two different games are tied for fifth place for a few good reasons. One, both games are not yet available but are scheduled to launch this summer. Two, they both look like they could be massive hits and may revolutionize the industry. And three, I couldn’t find any other games to fill the fifth place spot and a blog post entitled “4 Best Online Football Games” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Needless to say, Football Superstars and Football Manager Live both hold much promise and will be devoured by football fans as soon as they’re available online.
What’s been your experience with online football simulation games and are you addicted to any of the ones mentioned above? Share your opinion by clicking the comments link below.
You left out OFM – online football manager – probably the most popular online footy game around
I go for Trophy Manager (trophymanager.com) for my browser-based multiplayer manager simming myself.
Football Manager Live is on my radar, but TM is free, and I don’t quite think I’m interested in /paying/ for the inevitable balance issues that ensue in these games.
(re: Hattrick et al, I don’t know who decided to replace using the numbers 1-15 for stats with descriptives like “wretched”, “poor”, “weak”, “good”, “very good”, “fantastic”, “lousy”, “so-so”, etc etc, but it’s just about the worst idea in the entire history of computer games.)
Excellent links . Was tired of playing Football Manager on my machine.
Thanks.
I am a FM junkie, I don’t know how many hours of my life or how many grades have suffered due to the game. I am looking forward to FM online as well.
I just signed up for Soccer Manager (Xpert11 was blocked at work, so I need a new addiction). Is anyone else on SM and has recommendations for where I should play?
I been playing SM for awhile now and I would suggest getting into a new league that has not yet begun to play. This way you have recent players and can start making moves before the season starts. Be aware that the popular teams get taken really fast so you may just have to keep checking leagues to find a open team you want.
You also left out sportsims.net – a really deep and realistic online franchise football sim.
hese two different games are tied for fifth place for a few good reasons. One, both games are not yet available but are scheduled to launch this summer
[...] recorded first by tonystockert on 2009-01-09→ 5 Best Online Football Games [...]
http://www.trophymanager.com/index.php?ref=548278
This is the best online football manager game ever !!!!
looks like sunderland may go down in the premiership but this leaves opportunity for Hull or Newcastle to survive … whos going to take it ? hmmm …
hat
yeh
Itsagoal.com Superb game . You have to stick at it but it’s well worth while.
bad bad bad bad bad
hattrick can be the best….its only tht u hv to w8 a long tym fr ur team so its only 4 people who hv months to burn
Try this one fdmpro.com
i think soccer manager is the best soccer game
The best Free online football manager
http://www.trophymanager.com/index.php?ref=981367
I do not know how to enter the match
I think that much better than others Football Managers written above is the Footballarena.org. Try it! It’s much easier to play, changes and improvements are done all the time and the community is great!
http://www.footballarena.org/
Soccer Manager series 12 still the best
hattrick is the best online manager game
No, guys. You think the managers are so good. They just have a lot of active people there. http://www.freekick.org is the best manager, but just there is a commercial needed….
What about Football Superstars? This game is the best by far and you play against real people. You could spend your entire life in there as they have nightclubs, gyms, everything!
It doesn’t work on a Mac. It’s Windows-only
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Come on…
None of these games ever come close to Planetarium Manager.
It is the only manager game where the tactics play such a huge role. You can beat a better team if you hit them at their weak spot. The rest of the games out there are worthless in the sense that you send a starting 11 and you get a result that no one can explain…
Goal united is the best online football manager ever found until now..
try it really it good and its organized unlike the other websites
http://www.goalunited.org
Http://www.virtualmanager.com is the best! No dout about that!
Try this one: http://www.powerplaymanager.com/r207353