Championship Manager 97/98   by Sports Interactive

This is the latest version of the best seller Championship Manager 2 - for most gamers this is the best SMG ever and you can find many sites about it. It offers many stats (and hidden stats) to think about, and you can play in the english, spanish, italian, german (and 5 more) championships.
It's a good, very addictive game, but its slowness (see: installation, match results etc.), the lack of graphics (text based presentation of the match) and the somewhat limited features (mainly buying - selling players and arranging tactics), preventing it from being every gamers favourite SMG. I think that its tremendous success is due to its "realism", balanced gameplay and very accurate player database.
 

Fifa Soccer Manager   by Electronic Arts

All the features are here, the match view is excellent, but the user interface is too complicated.
 

LINK(S)	DEMO	REVIEW(S)	SCRNSHOTS
EA Unofficial	15M	The GamesDomain SoccerGamesHomepage	The Squad The Match

Football Fanatic 1.7   by Thunderbear Software Creations

This is a good DOS game; training gets repetitive though.
 

Football Manager for Windows 2.0   by Eric Lars Bolstad

Created some years ago this is a lovely, addictive and fun freeware game. One can play in either the English, Italian, German or Norwegian national league. The match presentation although text based, is one of the best - it really makes you feel the tension.

(There are also 2 other games that look very similar to Football Manager for Windows 2.0:
1) Football Manager 6.0. This game is for DOS and does some things a little better and some others a little worst than Football Manager for windows 2.0. 2) Football Manager for Windows, which is incomplete. Both games are created by  Haavard Bjaastad. You can download the demos from his home page.)
 

Football Masters 98  by ESP

A very good game with disappointing match view.
 

On the Ball 2 / Anstoss 2   by Ascaron

On the Ball 2 is the english version of the extremely successful german SMG Anstoss 2 - it is considered by many the best SMG.
It is full of features and addictive but the match presentation is a bit dated. It doesn't offer real player data but one can download real player data from "unofficial" sites.

I haven't really played this game, that's why the ratings are in parenthesis.
 

PCfutbol 6.0 / PCcalcio 6.0    by Dinamic Multimedia

Available only in Spain (PCfutbol) and Italy (PCcalcio). It combines a superb management game with an action soccer game (plus some other features). The system requirements are high, and and it isn't very "realistic" (you can score from your own box etc.). The player database and the interface are excellent.
 

Premier Manager 97  (and 98) by Dinamic Multimedia - Gremlin

This is the english version of  PCfutbol 5.0. Stunning match presentation and an exceptional user interface make this game a enjoyable experience. Some bugs (you can scout 36 years old "youth" players) ...

Premier Manager 98 is like Premier Manager 97 (with some player updates), if you already have PM 97, there is no need to buy PM98...
 

LINK(S)	DEMO	REVIEW(S)	SCRNSHOTS
Gremlin (editor available)	There was a demo, but is no longer available on the internet	The Message Center(PM98 review) SoccerGamesHomepage The GamesDomain(PM97) PCZone(PM97) ZDNet(PM97)

Simsoc 6 by John Pragnell

Nice match presentation and friendly user interface, but don't expect a lot of  player stats or features.
The version 6 offers the following improvements:
        More player stats for your squad
        Over 2000 players pre-loaded
        Opposition players also identified in matches
        Classified scores include scorers for all teams
        Top Scorers stats for all leagues
        Open transfer market - you can buy anyone (if you can afford it)
 

Soccer Management Simulator 2   by Serious Games

Shareware game for windows with interesting match presentation.
 

Supremo 98 (SAAP)  by The Midnight Oil

A sophisticated game that is different from the competition in many ways. In the registered version the match view is a little better than in the shareware version. It is international football as well as league football. If only the user interface had been better ...
SAAP (Supremo for windows) is released with new features and improvements (including the "manager career" feature).

You can read some comments from the author (Malcolm Howard) in the Message Center.

For the latest development news look at the Games Under Development page.
 

Tactical Manager Worldwide   by Laughing Gravy

Lots of stats, features and customization combined with unimpressive (and uninspired) match presentation. Very difficult to win in the first version I played.
 

The Manager by Richard Johnson

A good and simple DOS game.
 

Total Football Management     by Software 2000/Europress

The english version of Buntesliga 97. This game really offers TOTAL management. Its biggest problem is that it crashes frequently - that's maybe because although it can be installed over Windows, this is basically a DOS game. It is almost unplayable in Windows due to those crashes - I haven't tried it in DOS mode. The match view is graphical but dated compared to Fifa Soccer Manager or Premier Manager 97.
 

Two-Nil by New Era Software

This is a DOS text based game. Many stats for each player, but less fun than most games here.
 

Ultimate Soccer Manager 98   by Sierra

If you liked USM 2 you will fall in love with USM 98: more options, even more features, 6 simultaneous leagues, better match presentation.
On the other hand, it uses maybe the worst fonts in gaming history, making an already complicated game even harder to enjoy,  and the match view is not as excellent as in Premier Manager.
 

 

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