Lesser Known Football Video Games
Football is the world’s most popular sport, by quite a large margin. It’s difficult to accurately account for every fan but estimates hover between 3.5 billion and 4 billion people watching and playing the beautiful game.
With that popularity, Electronic Arts has created one of the world’s biggest and most-played sports video games. Known for 30 years as FIFA, but recently rebranded to EA Sports FC, it is enjoyed by millions of football fans and gamers alike.
In the UK alone, EA Sports FC was the UK’s best-selling video game in 2023 and again in 2024 and, globally, Electronic Arts is believed to have sold nearly 400 million copies of its franchise.
But EA Sports FC (and before it, FIFA) does not have a monopoly on football video games. In fact, there are countless brilliant titles that fans searching for a different type of experience are bound to love.
Football Manager
Football Manager has much less brand recognition than EA Sports FC but it is still a very popular title. It’s very different in its approach to simulating football, placing you in the polished leather shoes of a club manager rather than the studded boots of a player.
You’re tasked with managing budgets, purchasing and trading players, developing playing styles, setting strategy, adjusting tactics through games, and getting the most from your team.
It is not a casual game, it is a simulator that focuses heavily on realism. It can be overwhelming when you first load it up but it will give you a conduit through which to channel your intricate and vast footballing knowledge.
Football Manager is available on most devices, including PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices (via Netflix). However, if you want the most immersive and realistic experience, then you’ll want the PC version which can be acquired from Steam, the Epic Games Store, the Microsoft Store, and Xbox PC Game Pass.
Football Hero
The online casino space has exploded in popularity in recent years with a lot of operators competing for the attention of players. They’ve attempted to stand out in many ways, including offering generous bonuses and other promotions, as well as boasting a broad mix of games to appeal to all tastes.
This has led to the creation of popular games like Sweet Bonanza, a candy-themed title for those who like sweet treats and bright colours, that offers multipliers of up to 100x and cascading wins.
Football fans haven’t been left out, either. There’s an entire squad of slot games themed around the beautiful game and one of the most popular is Football Hero. Using a 5x3 set of reels, it’s set inside a stadium where you’re challenged with matching the various football-themed symbols to unlock bonus games and prizes.
You can play Football Hero on PC, Mac, and any compatible Android or iOS device.
Retro Goal
If you miss playing the FIFA games of old where the mechanics and graphics were simpler but it was still just as fun to play, then Retro Goal might be right up your street. If you played these older titles in the 1990s, it’ll feel reassuringly familiar and bring back some fond memories. But if you weren’t playing early FIFA games back then, it still offers an awesome experience.
Available for both Android and iOS, Retro Goal is free to play with no ads and a very modest fee to unlock extra features. For this, you won’t get licensed teams, players, leagues, or stadiums. Nor will you get life-like players, realistic physics, or a soundtrack from A-list artists.
However, what you will get is exactly what its name promises: epic retro gaming and goals galore.
If you prefer to play on dedicated gaming hardware, Retro Goal is also available on the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo eShop, though it isn’t a free download. But, even at $4.99 or £4.49, it is a bargain price for the hours of retro gaming fun that this title promises.
16.01.2025