Football Manager – The Best Football Simulation Game?

Football Manager

‘Football Manager’ is a series of football management simulation games, developed by the British Developer Sports Interactive and is published by Sega.

The game was initially launched ‘Championship Manager’ in 1992. However, Sports Interactive lost the naming rights in 2003 to Eidos Interactive but retained the game engine and data. At this point, Sports Interactive rebranded the series as ‘Football Manager’.

The game went on to become hugely popular with bloggers, vloggers and YouTubers, with many devotes documenting several seasons of their virtual managerial careers online.

The game sees a player attempt to take a team from the lower reaches of the football pyramid to the glory of the Premier League.

Even the older versions of the game still have a substantial audience online. This video takes a nostalgic look at the best players to sign on Championship Manager 2001/2002.

Has Football Manager Been Used In Real Life?

In what is said to be the sporting equivalent of life imitating art, it had become clear that the game started to influence the highest levels of football, especially when it came to finding and scouting players.

The game gave managers and scouts access to lower league clubs and football players in hard to reach destinations all over the world.

In 2014, The Guardian newspaper revealed that Premier League clubs were using the games database to help identify and recruit new signings.

Sports Interactive, the creator of the best-selling game, began feeding its extensive dataset into Prozone Recruiter, an online analysis platform which many of the top clubs use.

It has also had a profound impact on football fans, the game spawned a generation of fans who pride themselves on their knowledge of the more obscure football leagues across the world.

The Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, said that he prepared for life as a manager playing Football Manager. He told a reporter in 2013: “It’s a fantastic game. I have learned a lot about football. I have learned a lot about players, especially young talent.

“It resembles real life when it comes to who will be good players. They have done incredible research.”

André Villas-Boas, who was then José Mourinho’s chief scout at Chelsea, told the London Evening Standard in 2008 that he used the game to evaluate the ability of new signings.

Football Manager and Championship Manager Icons

Over the years, several players have become icons due to their stats and performance in the game. Some players had real-life careers that matched their virtual equivalent, whereas others are still more well known for their virtual exploits.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is an excellent example of a player who was well thought of by managers in the games and in real life. In the 2001/2002 edition of Championship Manager, one gamer documented ten seasons within the game in his blog and noted that Zlatan scored 115 times in just under 300 appearances. In real life, the Swede managed 158 goals in 366 appearances across spells with Ajax, Juventus and Inter Milan.

The same gamer also looked at the virtual career of Cristiano Ronaldo. In his version of Championship Manager, a young Ronaldo went to Newcastle United rather than Manchester United and did not achieve the success that he had in real life. Within the game, Ronaldo ended up playing for Arsenal and Tottenham before moving to Sunderland for the £11 million!

By the time Football Manager 2008 hit the shelves, Ronaldo was one of the best players in the world. It was during this year when he went onto win the Ballon D’Or and helped Manchester United win the Champions League.

Wayne Rooney went onto become the highest goalscorer in the history of Manchester United and England. But what about his performance in the virtual world? In Football Manager 2008, Rooney was one of the highest-rated players.

Ronaldinho was another player that had a legendary career alongside his performances within Championship Manager and Football Manager. He was highly rated player on Championship Manager 2001/2002, and it was at the end of this season when he scored that free-kick against England in 2002 World Cup, eventually helping his country win the World Cup in Japan.

It’s reported Taribo West was one of the most searched players on Championship Manager 2001/2002. AC Milan had released him so was a free agent on the game and in real life.

Now for those that ended up having virtual careers far better than what they had in real life. Perhaps showing that even with all the stats provided within the game, multiple things can happen to players in real life which stops them from reaching their potential.

One example of this is the former Manchester United defender John Curtis in Championship Manager 99/00. One blogger described Curtis as an ‘English Franz Beckenbauer’, he would go onto become a mainstay for United and England within the game.

However, in real life, he was sold to Blackburn Rovers. Despite some initial success with the Lancashire side, he would go onto a bit of a journeyman career playing for the likes of Nottingham Forest and Wrexham.

John Rooney was seen as the more talented brother of Wayne Rooney in Championship Manager 5. Unlike his brother, he did not quite live up to his early expectations. On leaving Everton as a youngster, John Rooney was another Championship Manager hero who had a journeyman career. He spent some time in the MLS before having spells with numerous English Football League and National League sides. He now plays for Stockport County.

Freddy Adu was another Football or Championship Manager legend who flopped in real life. In real life, he became the world’s youngest footballer to play senior football, coming on as a substitute for DC United.

In 2019, he was voted the greatest Football Manager wonderkid of all time in an online poll. A few years before that, he spoke about his Football Manager legacy.

In the same poll, Cherno Samba was voted as the second-best Football Manager wonderkid. Samba was a former Millwall youth striker touted as the next superstar in Championship Manager. In real life, he very nearly signed for Liverpool but ultimately stayed with Millwall until 2004. He ended up playing for a few clubs across Europe before retiring. He eventually ended up making 52 appearances across his whole career.

Younger Players To Watch?

The FM scout regularly provides a list of the younger players to sign on the game, and it will be interesting to see what happens with these players in real life. In Football Manager 20, Mason Greenwood was one of the most highly rated teenagers on the game. He certainly has shown some promise for Manchester United, scoring 18 goals in his first season.

Another player from that game was Fabio Silva, a teenager from FC Porto. He became the youngest player in the club’s history during his time there. He has since moved onto Wolves in the Premier League. A YouTube series looked at Silva as part of a ‘Stars Of Tomorrow’ series.

Away from the more attacking players, Joško Gvardiol is another to sign early on Football Manager 2020. At the start of the 2019/2020 season, he is with Dinamo Zagreb. In Football Manager 2020, he is highly rated and can be signed for a reasonable price. In real life, he signed a long-term deal with RB Leipzig at the start of the 2020/2021 season before being loaned straight back to Dinamo Zagreb.

Eric Garcia is another player with great promise, and it will be interesting to see how his career develops. In Football Manager 2020, he is one of Manchester City’s highest rated youngsters.

This video looks at some of the best wonderkids on FM20 which can be signed for less than £1 million. How many of these will go onto have successful careers in real life?

Football Manager 2021

The new version of the game was released in November 2020. According to the developer, FM21 has new additions and game upgrades to deliver added levels of depth, drama and football authenticity.

They also say: “It empowers you like never to develop your managerial prowess and command success at your club.”

Watch a gameplay trailer for Football Manager 2021: