Stream every episode of 30 for 30: Soccer Stories on ESPN+ The origins of an obsessionįootball Manager launched nearly 30 years ago. Stream new episodes of ESPN FC Monday-Friday on ESPN+ It may not match the real thing, but it's all they've got. In these football-starved times, lovers of the game are turning to its virtual equivalent demand for Football Manager is going through the roof as supporters try to scratch the itch online. Fundamentally, it offers fans the chance to do what they always felt capable of doing: A better job than the team's real life manager.
Then you head into a news conference to handle the hard questions and pressure from the fans. You set things up and direct dots on the screen, while getting increasingly annoyed at them for not following or understanding your new gegenpress 4-2-3-1 formation. Unlike EA Sports' FIFA series, you can't actively play the matches.
And then you have to watch on as someone else takes control of your old side as if you were never there. (It's extremely easy to get the boot, too.) If you are dismissed from your club, the game continues, blissfully unaware of your misfortune as you pitch to other managerless, computer-controlled clubs to get back into a job.
You can take over-arching control and drill down to the minutiae of your under-18 squad's training, or you can hammer through a season, delegating everything to other staff members. You can start a war of words with Jurgen Klopp or tap up the next Erling Haaland you can get angry at your bosses about your data analysts' facilities, or fine a player if he goes AWOL from training. At its most watered-down, it is a turn-based role-playing-game where you take charge of the club of your choice and then compete against the virtual equivalent of real-life managers on the game.
You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserįrom Solskjaer to Griezmann: How Football Manager keeps virtual fans engagedĪway from juggling toilet rolls, growing TikTok followers or training in full kit on Hadley Common in North London, some of the world's top footballers are filling their time in a different way during these days of coronavirus-enforced social isolation. Wolves forward Diogo Jota has been coaching Telford United, Barcelona striker Antoine Griezmann was one of 32 players competing for the Trophee De France (the 2018 World Cup winner is also in charge of Stade Rennais), while football is still very much "part of my daily routine" for Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.Īs the lack of live football continues, the sport's leading stars - and thousands of fans across the world - are immersing themselves in the virtual equivalent of their own profession: Football Manager 2020.įootball Manager is a world where reality blends with footballing unpredictability, played on Windows, MacBooks and on mobile.