The best football games dominating the digital dugout (2024)

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (1)

The best football games can make us cheer, laugh, and even cry – just like the real thing. Across all platforms, virtual recreations of The Beautiful Game come in all shapes and sizes, be that the more traditional interpretation of the sport in the likes of FIFA, number-juggling management simulation in the likes of Football Manager, and even with the inclusion of cars and massive balls in the likes of Rocket League.

They're all featured below, as a number of other slants on the best football games going. Picking a top 10 wasn't the easiest of tasks, but spending time in the digital dugout really is with the list we've settled on. So come on, ref – blow the whistle and let's kick off the best football games worth shouting about from the stands right now.

10. Football, Tactics and Glory

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (2)

Developer: Creoteam
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch

For those of you with just a passing interest in football and football management, Football, Tactics and Glory is for you. It has management simulation elements, sure, but nothing as convoluted or in-depth as Football Manager, and rolls role-playing and turn-based strategy elements into its mix for good measure. Players have individual skill trees too, which gives player selection (and transfers) Darkest Dungeon and XCOM vibes as you invariably get closer to your favourites and begrudge those costing you three points. Released in 2018, Football, Tactics and Glory is now available across PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Those playing on the latter can access a free demo via Steam.

9. Behold the Kickmen

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (3)

Developer: Size Five Games
Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch

A game about football made by someone who has no interest in football is a bit of an oxymoron. As you might expect, it's also a bit of a piss-take, and while teetering close to the condescension levied at football supporters from the upper classes – certainly in the UK – Behold the Kickmen does a fine job of taking the piss out of passionate football fans without causing too much offence. All told, it's a tongue-in-cheek, outwardly facetious throwback to old-school, top-down, arcadey footie sims, filled with deliberate errors and inaccuracies which, ultimately, is really good fun. The most unlikely, and yet one of the most deserving, games to be included on this list.

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (4)

Developer: Geniaware srl
Platform(s): PC

Maradona. Messi. Ronaldo. Pele. The greats of the game are said to transcend mere mortality, but only you are God in Lords of Football. With a sprinkling of Football Manager, PES' old-school Master League, FIFA's Ultimate Team, and The Sims, Lords of Football puts you in charge of every single element of your team and the goings on around your club – both on and off the pitch. Life simulation-meets-football management is probably the best catch-all term for it, but there's as much Big Brother-like voyeurism here as there is willing your players to train well and push for a place in the starting 11. Launched in 2013, Lords of Football isn't exactly new, but it's a novel take on the formula that's definitely worth your time.

7. Score! Hero

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (5)

Developer: First Touch Games
Platform(s): iOS, Android

Score! Hero is a free-to-play mobile football game about nurturing and developing a young fledgling footballer on their path to international superstardom. In doing so, you'll work through a multitude of increasingly difficult, multi-tiered levels where attacking scenes are paused, and players must drag their finger to simulate the path of the ball – in order to complete successful passes, score goals, and, ultimately, progress to the next stage. In doing so, Score! Hero is as much a puzzle game as it is a football simulator, and with limited lives and a whole suite of unlockable customisation options, it's proper moreish.

6. Top Eleven

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (6)

Developer: Nordeus
Platform(s): PC, iOS, Android

Top Eleven has been ruling the virtual dugout for over a decade, and it's no surprise. As a virtual management simulator it shares the same DNA as Football Manager, but makes no claims to be as in-depth or sophisticated. Instead, it offers a distilled, free-to-play version of the process and, given it can be enjoyed on your browser and mobile phone on the go, it's all the better for it. Placing a greater onus on training over tactics, we could say Top Eleven has its eye on the fast-flowing, high-pressing football that managers like Jurgen Klopp and Brendan Rodgers have popularised in recent years, but it's more likely this choice is design-related. Either way, Top Eleven is great at what it does.

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (7)

Developer: OutOfTheBit Ltd
Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android

With Sociable Soccer – the spiritual successor to Sensible Soccer that was launched on Steam's Early Access programme in 2017, before being pulled and signed exclusively by Apple Arcade – not due until later this year, Super Arcade Football is a more than worthy substitute. Drawing from the Sensi-era of top-down, arcade football sims while adding its own off-the-wall slants – not least teleports and bouncy walls, it's fast and furious, and, crucially, fun!

4. Championship Manager 01/02

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (8)

Developer: Square Enix, Sports Interactive
Platform(s): PC

Easily one of the best football management simulators the world has ever seen. Now over 20 years old, it is, of course, well out of date (seriously, some of the Premier League's best young stars weren't even born when the management sim first hit store shelves). But, thanks to some resilient hobbyist die-hards, Champ Man 01/02 can be played as freeware on PC today, complete with today's players and opposition managers. The internet is often a terrible place when it comes to virtual football discourse, but in this instance, it's played an absolute blinder.

3. Rocket League

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (9)

Developer: Psyonix
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch

Hang on… cars? Cages? Giant balls? What's going on here, then? It might better reflect Robot Wars or BattleBots at first glance, but Rocket League is a unique spin on football that's as entertaining as it can be addictive. By fusing real-world football elements – formations, tactics, high-balls, aerial and ground duals – with over-the-top racer/destruction derby video game features – power-ups, cosmetics, and, like, the ability to temporarily fly through the air – Rocket League ticks all the boxes. First launched in 2015, developer Psyonix has and continues to provide a stream of wholesome updates and content drops, something that's enjoyed by casual and competitive players alike.

Developer: Sports Interactive
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X

The Special One of football management simulators, Football Manager is, simply, the GOAT of its genre. So good is FM, in fact, that its constant presence in Steam's top-10 most played list is reflected by each season's latest iteration – whereby the previous year's instalment only ever drops out when a new game is launched. At times it's as much a data-management video game as it is a football coaching simulator, but that's only testament to the reams of stats, numbers, and variables Football Manager possesses – wherein you can micromanage everything from transfers to training regimes, youth coach recruitment, and how much money your football club's board allocates to maintaining facilities. A new Deadline Day system was introduced to FM 2022, and it is anxiety-provoking, nail-bitingly wonderful.

1. FIFA 23

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (11)

Developer: EA Sports
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

FIFA 23 is the Ballon D'or of football simulation games. It's the best of the best, and, despite some stiff competition from the likes of PES over the years, FIFA has outrun, outplayed and outlasted them all. It's not perfect, as we noted in our 4 out of 5 stars FIFA 23 review, but it is the best digital creation of the Beautiful Game kicking a ball today. With a remodelled FIFA Ultimate Team, power shots and new set-pieces, and Career Mode being the best it's ever been, there's plenty to shout about here – not to mention the fact it includes the most accomplished interpretation of women's football the series (and football games generally) has ever seen.

The best football games dominating the digital dugout (12)

Joe Donnelly

Features Editor, GamesRadar+

Joe is a Features Editor at GamesRadar+. With over seven years of experience working in specialist print and online journalism, Joe has written for a number of gaming, sport and entertainment publications including PC Gamer, Edge, Play and FourFourTwo. He is well-versed in all things Grand Theft Auto and spends much of his spare time swapping real-world Glasgow for GTA Online’s Los Santos. Joe is also a mental health advocate and has written a book about video games, mental health and their complex intersections. He is a regular expert contributor on both subjects for BBC radio. Many moons ago, he was a fully-qualified plumber which basically makes him Super Mario.

More about sports

Madden NFL 25: Everything you need to knowMadden 25 preorders are now live - here’s where to buy 2024’s installment (with discounts)

Latest

The Riddler's impact on Gotham looms large in trailer for Batman spin-off The Penguin
See more latest►

See comments

Most Popular
Is it just me, or is Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome underrated?
"Make cool s***!" Oni Press president Hunter Gorinson on Biker Mice from Mars, SpectreVision, and comics as a renegade art form
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is an incredible upgrade of the definitive 8-bit JRPG, and after an hour hands-on I'm ready to grind like it's 1988
Fable 4 better have real estate mechanics so I can buy giant Richard Ayoade's house once I've defeated him
Indie horror's "the weirder, the better" approach is effortlessly pulling focus from triple A games this summer – but why?
Making Studio Ghibli buildings in cozy builder Tiny Glade gives me purpose
Life is Strange Double Exposure - everything we know so far about Max Caulfield's return
The RodeCaster Duo is an almost perfect streaming mixer, and Rode is working on a fix for its biggest flaw
That blacksmith in House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1 is actually an important book character
House of the Dragon season 2 reintroduces a key family: Cregan Stark explained
Black Myth: Wukong is easily among the best and best-looking action RPGs I've played in years, and after 2 hours hands-on I see why the devs don't call it a Soulslike
The best football games dominating the digital dugout (2024)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Lakeisha Bayer VM

Last Updated:

Views: 6543

Rating: 4.9 / 5 (49 voted)

Reviews: 80% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Lakeisha Bayer VM

Birthday: 1997-10-17

Address: Suite 835 34136 Adrian Mountains, Floydton, UT 81036

Phone: +3571527672278

Job: Manufacturing Agent

Hobby: Skimboarding, Photography, Roller skating, Knife making, Paintball, Embroidery, Gunsmithing

Introduction: My name is Lakeisha Bayer VM, I am a brainy, kind, enchanting, healthy, lovely, clean, witty person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.