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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.