Football is the national sport of most European countries with the continent being home to many of the biggest club and national competitions, including the Champions League and the European Football Championship. In June 2021, the Euro 2020 tournament will get underway and will hold the attention of most Europeans.
Shops will be filled with Euro 2020 promotions, many TV adverts will make references to the competition, and social media will be awash with expert and amateur opinions about events on and off the pitch. Wagering will also increase, with many fans placing bets on the teams they expect to do well. And with that, many bookmakers will also get in on the act, offering free bets for Euro 2020 matches as they try to gain market share.
During big events like Euro 2020, football fans often turn to playing video games too. Many, of course, will switch on their PlayStation 4 or 5 for a few matches on the latest version of FIFA. But retro gaming fans may prefer something a bit more nostalgic, opting to play one of these titles, which we feel are the best football games of all time.
Sensible World of Soccer
Created by Sensible Software in 1994, Sensible World of Soccer was a sequel to the company’s original game Sensible Soccer. It’s been called the “best game of all time” by Amiga Power and has been included in GameSpot’s list of “greatest games of all time”. Although it was originally made available for the Amiga and MS-DOS, its popularity led to it being re-released for the Xbox 360 in 2007 and is available to play on newer hardware through the Xbox Marketplace.
Sensible World of Soccer uses top-down 2D graphics, which, although primitive, still have a certain charm to this day.
It was also well ahead of its time, including a “Career Mode” that let you manage a team over 20 seasons, buying and selling players whose prices were calculated based on their mix of skills.
The game remains incredibly popular today and is used for eSports. The SWOS World Cup Tournament has been held every year since 2004 with as many as 100 participants taking part.
Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Pro Evolution Soccer may not get the same level of attention when compared to FIFA, but it has many fans that prefer it over EA’s football game. Pro Evo has, throughout its history, revolutionised how football is portrayed in video games.
While almost every game in the franchise has been fantastic, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 stands out because it was the first game to make passing and ball control much more lifelike. The developers even went as far as mimicking the varying running styles of different players instead of having them all use the same animations.
Football Manager
While Sensible World of Soccer made a good go at a management mode, Football Manager took it to a whole new level. It’s a game where you don’t actually play, you just sit on the sidelines and call the shots.
Most football fans think they can do a better job than their team’s manager, so Football Manager lets them put their money where their mouth is.
The game began as Championship Manager back in 1992, but due to a naming rights issue, it was changed to Football Manager in 2004. Over the 17 years since, the game has evolved to be one of the most realistic simulator games ever created. So much so, the game has actually had an impact on real-life football. For example, Vugar Husenynzade earned a job as a manager at FC Baku in 2012 after playing the game.
Rocket League
This one may seem a little left field, but Rocket League is a football game. It just replaces players for cars.
Released to the PlayStation 4 in 2015, Rocket League became a huge hit and has since been ported to several other platforms including the Nintendo Switch.
It manages to recreate all the mid-air acrobatics and contortions that professional footballers pull off to get the ball in the net by letting cars jump, fly, flip, and even drive up onto the walls of the arena. It is, of course, in no way realistic. But it’s incredibly fun to play, and that’s all that matters.