Top 20 best football video games ever

Video games related to association football are a popular subgenre of sports video games. The largest of the franchises is FIFA developed by Electronic Arts (EA), while the second-largest is Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer which has been converted into a new online football game called efootball, about which we will certainly talk later.

In order to talk about the fame of football video games, we should first talk about the reason football being so popular among sports lovers.

Basketball (especially in the United States), baseball (particularly in Japan), and other sports, such as cricket and tennis, have all carved out a place in the hearts of millions of people throughout the world. There certainly are video games related to these sport and some of them are also among the most popular video games in the world such as NBA.

There are certain reasons why football is the most popular sport both in Europe and in the whole world. Football, unlike other professionally played sports such as American football and basketball, does not have an age limit for participation.

Another reason for the sport's enormous popularity is that there are certain well-known rivalries between various football clubs that have persisted for decades. Football video games also have tried to duplicate the factors which has made this sport how it is today.

With AI fans cheering the player whenever they score a goal or the online leagues which create tension and rivalry among the players, football video games gave gamers a chance to be in the field and play as legends like Cristiano Ronaldo or

.

We have done what was necessary and have prepared a list ranking the best football video games of all time.

Top 20 best football video games ever ranked precisely

Now, without further ado let us jump into the article and explore the list of the

20 best football games ever

aimed to satisfy the sport-lover gamers.

Mario Strikers

Going back to 2005 to its initial release, Mario Strikers was a football game that combine two of the most loved genres and franchises together, Super Mario Bros and football, to create one of the most memorable video games on GameCube.

Super Mario Strikers, known in Europe and Australia as Mario Smash Football, was a five-on-five football (soccer) game created by Next Level Games. Mario Strikers Charged, the game's successor, was likewise created by Next Level Games and is available for the Wii. In Japan and North America, this was also the final Mario game on the GameCube.

Strikers is a sports game based on the Mario franchise's characters and concepts. Although there are no referees and characters who can legally shove others out of possession of the ball, the game has the essential characteristics and aims of a football game.

The player may employ Mario-themed things such as bananas and red shells to impede the opposition and gain an edge, just like in prior games like Mario Power Tennis.

Each team's captain can employ "Super Strikes," which result in two points for the striker's side if timed correctly. Each squad consists of a goalkeeper, a major Mario character (captain), and three "sidekicks," or lesser Mario characters.

According to Metacritic, a video game review aggregator, the game garnered "generally good reviews." Strikers' accessibility and multiplayer gameplay were praised by critics; however, the absence of gaming types and single-player options were criticized. Overall, this game was popular while it lasted and deserves to be on the list while we are ranking the

best football video games of all time

.

Captain Tsubasa

Certainly, most of us are familiar with the anime called Captain Tsubasa, where the footballers had certain powers and every match was some sort of clash of the titans. This series has a game named exactly like the anime called Captain Tsubasa and it recently added a game to the franchise called Captain Tsubasa: Rise of new champions.

The TV show and games are based on a Japanese manga series written and drawn by Yoichi Takahashi that has been running since 1981. Tsubasa Oozora is the protagonist of the series, which focuses on the sport of association football.

The series is known for its fast and thrilling football maneuvers, which are frequently elegant and unbelievable. Captain Tsubasa is one of the most well-known manga and anime in the world, especially in Japan, where it popularized association football, thus it is not shocking to see the game of the series on the 20 best football games ever list.

After seeing the series, a number of real-life players have been motivated to pursue careers in the industry. The Captain Tsubasa anime series was ranked 41 out of 100 anime series in a survey conducted by TV Asahi in 2005.

The recent game of the series however did not receive the attention it deserved due to the uniqueness of its style. Not many gamers would like their opponent to shot a fireball at their goalkeeper after soaring in the sky for 2 minutes.

Championship Manager

We are moving way back in time to meet this masterpiece and get to know it better. This game was not a single video game but a franchise of football management games. The first in the Championship Manager series of football management simulation video games was published in 1992.

Why is it on the

20 best football games ever list

? Championship Manager was the most popular football management simulation in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with sales breaking records on a regular basis.

Sports Interactive and Eidos, the publishers of Championship Manager, separated in 2003. Sports Interactive kept the game's database and match engine and created Football Manager, a new game which we will talk about later while we are ranking the best football video games of all time. 

BGS took up the development of Championship Manager after Eidos kept the name and interface. Despite the fact that the two series initially coexisted, Championship Manager's sales began to lag behind Football Manager's.

Championship Manager 2010 was the most current full version, with an iOS mobile game published in 2011 being Eidos' most recent release to date.

On The Ball

Another football management game on the list which was really popular in its era, On the Ball, is a football management game series created by Ascaron, formerly known as Ascon. On the Ball is the first game in the series. Because the first game was so successful in Germany,

Ascaron produced three sequels: "On the Ball 2," "On the Ball 3," and "On the Ball Action." On the Ball and the self-running add-on, Anstoss World Cup Edition was included in the Doppelpass package. The English version has a small following.

By 2004, Anstoss had sold 260,000 units in Europe alone, a statistic that Stern's Volker Gast described as "respectable." In the first and second half of October 1997, Anstoss 2 earned positions 4 and 7 on Media Control's computer game sales rankings for the German market.

After dropping to ninth and eleventh position in November, it completed the year in 17th place for the final four weeks.

By the end of May 1998, Anstoss 2 was still in 11th position on the Media Control charts, having spent 38 weeks in the top spot with the company. These accomplishments made this game one of the most successful football game franchises and one of the 20 best football games ever.

Kick-Off

Another nostalgic video game series that deserves to be on the list as one of the

20 best football games ever

. The Kick-Off series of football simulation video games began in 1988 when Dino Dini was recruited to create a top-down football game based on a Steve Screech concept.

Kick-Off was well-received and garnered accolades when it was first released in 1989. The first release was the best because it was unique in style. The later games did entertain the players but were not as popular as the original game. The last game in the series was the worst.

Dino Dini revealed at the end of 2015 that he was working on a new game in the series, featuring a control scheme optimized for usage with an analog stick.

Kick-Off Revival was published exclusively for PlayStation 4 on June 24, 2016, to mixed reviews on the major gaming websites. The PlayStation Vita version was delayed and received poor reviews when it was released nine months later in 2017. On Steam, you can get a PC version of the game.

The game was evolving, just backward. Thus, the original version is the game that we have in mind when we are talking about the greatest football games of all time.

Inazuma Eleven

Another anime-inspired game on our 20 best football games ever article. Level-5's Inazuma Eleven is a media franchise based on association football. Inazuma Eleven was released in 2008, and by 2016, the game series had sold over eight million copies throughout the world.  A manga series and a variety of additional animated television programs and films are part of the franchise, in addition to video games.

The original game was a success, thus it inspired the developers to continue the franchise. According to review aggregator Metacritic, the game garnered mostly positive feedback. The game received a total score of 36 out of 40 from the Japanese magazine Famitsu, with two reviewers awarding it a 9 out of 10, one a perfect 10, and another an 8.

The game received an 8 out of 10 rating from Dutch reviewer Gamer.nl, and scores of 8.0 out of 10, 8.2 out of 10, and 83 out of 100 from Spanish reviewers 3D Juegos, Vandal Online, and VicioJuegos, respectively. Official Nintendo Magazine gave Inazuma Eleven a six-page spread and featured it on the front cover, giving it an 89 percent rating.

With 41,000 copies sold the week of its debut, it was the first best-selling game in Japan.

In its second week, the game sold 29,000 copies, and in its third week, it sold 14,000 copies. Unlike the previous candidate, the other games of the series were as successful as the original one and there is an expected PS5 version of the game scheduled for 2023 that we look forward to.

Adidas Power Soccer

Another nostalgic game in the list of the 20 best football games ever, Adidas Power Soccer is a football simulation video game created and released by Psygnosis, a British firm, and sponsored by Adidas, a German apparel business.

The PlayStation and Windows versions of the game were released in 1996. For players in huge, detailed stadiums, Adidas Power Soccer employed motion-captured animation. The 1998 edition included 34 venues and the major European leagues, including Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1, and Bundesliga.

The game attracted a lot of attention from the gamers as well as game reviewing websites and video game journalists.

"If you're searching for the ultimate soccer sim, Worldwide Soccer II is still the only choice," Next Generation said in a review of the PlayStation edition, adding, "But Adidas Power Soccer is more than worth the buy if you're in for some far-out arcade action."

Power Soccer "stands well above the typical soccer fare... aficionados will enjoy all the intricacy and possibilities," according to GameSpot.

International Superstar Soccer

Konami has a reputation for developing football games and sports games in general. This candidate is one of Konami's masterpieces, which attracted a lot of attention as a football simulator. The Super NES, Mega Drive, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Microsoft Windows all have games in the series.

Konami was said to be contemplating transferring multiple titles from the series to the Nintendo Switch in July 2020. Thus, this gives hope to all the Nintendo switch players to experience one of the 20 best football games ever on their devices.

Top eleven football manager

From 2010 to 2021, this game has been one of the best and greatest games ever created which lets you feel what it is like it is a manager.

Top Eleven is a football manager simulation created by Nordeus and released in May 2010 on both the Google Play Store and the App Store.

The game is now available on Facebook, where users may compete against their friends. The game was created in response to a shortage of football management games available on social media.

The game is based on the principles and gameplay of games like Sports Interactive's Football Manager and Electronic Arts' Premier Manager, which have managed to interest millions of football fans while also providing them with social elements.

Top Eleven was released on one of the largest Russian social networks, Odnoklassniki, two years after it was established on Facebook. According to Facebook's statistics, there were over 15 million monthly users in 2014.

was named the official "face of the game" by Nordeus in 2013. Since then, players have had the opportunity to challenge Mourinho in games and receive advice from him.

Stoke City announced on May 16, 2017, that Top Eleven would become the club's sleeve sponsor for the 2017–18 Premier League season.

Match Day

This contender is rather a series of games and not a single game.

Jon Ritman invented the Match Day video game series in 1984 for the 8-bit home computer market of the 1980s. With the exception of Super Match Soccer: World Cup, all of the games were released by Ocean.

The series's initial game was launched in 1984 on most home computers of the day, although it is most known for its Sinclair Spectrum version. Jon Ritman and Chris Clarke collaborated on its design and development.

International Match Day is an upgraded version of the 1985 ZX Spectrum 128KB game Match Day. It makes use of the additional RAM to deliver better sound and certain full-screen graphics. As a result, it was regarded as one of the greatest football simulators at the time.

Because of its unique game mechanics, the following game in the series was likewise deemed innovative. Match Day II for the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Commodore 64 was released in 1987.

Jon Ritman wrote it, using Bernie Drummond's visuals and Guy Stevens' music and sound. The game included total control over ball direction, power, and height, as well as a fresh new deflection mechanism.

New star soccer

Speaking of innovations, new star soccer was a big hit when it came out. There were a few games that had this kind of perspective over football.

New Star Soccer, commonly known as NSS, is a series of football video games developed by New Star Games that allow players to design and control a football player as he progresses through the leagues and national teams.

The game's mobile version, which received a BAFTA for Best Sports/Fitness Game in 2013, is the most well-known.

The action on the field was a running text commentary on major parts of the match in the first two versions of the game, NSS 1 (2003) and NSS 2 (2004), where some circumstances needed involvement to make a decision on how the player performs, such as whether to pass, tackle, or shoot.

Critics have given New Star Soccer mostly good reviews. The game "has had me addicted," according to Shane Richmond of The Daily Telegraph.

Trusted Reviews' Evan Kypreos gave the game four out of five stars, finding it "fun and rewarding" and complimenting its simplicity, calling it "greater than the sum of its parts." The Boar's James Barnes gave the game a favorable review, praising the controls and proclaiming that it "just gets the balance perfect."

Sega Worldwide Soccer

The iconic Sega football series is here as one of the contenders of the 20 best football games ever.

Sega's Worldwide Soccer series is a collection of soccer games. The Sega Saturn version of the series was initially released, and it was then ported to the Dreamcast. Between 1995 and 2000, the games were released.

Sega Worldwide Soccer was a launch game for the Sega Saturn's North American release, manufactured by Sega themselves. International Victory Goal, one of the console's first games, came before it. International teams, as well as league, play-off, and tournament modes, were included in the game.

Despite the fact that it utilized fake player names owing to a lack of a license, Saturn's non-volatile memory allowed for name modification.

Sega Worldwide Soccer 2000, the last game, was released for the Dreamcast. Instead of being created in-house, Silicon Dreams was given the right to create a game under the Worldwide Soccer brand. In Europe, a Dreamcast upgrade dubbed Sega Worldwide Soccer 2000: Euro Edition was published.

Sensible Soccer

This series of football games was a huge success and it won many awards and stood high up in any list related to top games of the late 1990s.

It featured a zoomed-out bird's-eye view (most previous games, such as Kick-Off and Matchday, utilized a closer top-down or side view), customizable national, club, and custom teams, and gameplay that was easy and user-friendly.

The "aftertouch" function, which allowed for effective but unrealistic swerves, was one of the game's distinguishing features. The game topped Amiga Power's "All-Time Top 100" ranking. Other Sensible Software games, such as Mega Lo Mania, Cannon Fodder, and Sensible Golf, adopted the game's graphic design.

Super Sidekicks

Super Sidekicks was also a franchise of games that were popular among the fans. Its original version was a hit, but the sequel was the best game in this franchise, and we will focus on the second game of this football video game series.

Super Sidekicks 2: The World Championship, released in 1994, addressed several of the problems in the first game's design, such as the option to transfer players' control throughout the game and a smaller goal. The number of teams was expanded to 48, and they were divided into six geographical areas.

Its gameplay is based on a simple three-button setup. The game was well-received by players and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the improvements made over its predecessor.

UEFA European Championship

Until 2008 this game franchise was a serious competitor for all the football-related video games out there, but after the mentioned date, the game became downloadable content for FIFA and PES.

The UEFA European Championship features its own video games, which are licensed by UEFA, the governing body of European football.

So far, six games have been published, the first of which was launched in 1996. Gremlin Interactive originally owned the title, which was later taken over by Electronic Arts from Euro 2000 until Euro 2012. From Euro 2016 onwards, Konami will own the rights.

Virtua Striker

The original game of the series was applauded for its precise game mechanics and controls. In Japan, Game Machine ranked Virtua Striker as the second most popular arcade game and the most successful dedicated arcade game of the year in their July 15, 1995 edition. 

The original Virtua Striker was praised by a Next Generation critic as "great to play and watch." Smooth and precise control, realistic player movements, a camera that continuously zooms in or out to the right frame at every moment of play, "beautiful" texture-mapped players and surroundings, and genuinely powerful defense are among the features he praised.

He awarded it a four-star rating and that puts the game among the 20 best football games ever.

Football Manager 2021

The

20 best football games ever

 article ever has come to an end.

The top football management game on the list is simply called football manager and it is the starter of the top 5 of this list. in this section, we will talk about the newest game of this series which is football management 2021.

On November 24, 2020, it was published globally for iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows. Football Manager 2021 Touch, a simplified version of the game, was published on the same platforms on December 1, 2020, and on the Nintendo Switch on December 15, 2020.

On December 1, 2020, a similar version called Xbox Edition was published on the Microsoft Store for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows 10. Since Football Manager 2008, it was the first game in the series to be released on the Xbox platform.

The game is almost fully licensed, and this means that you will be able to take control of many real footballers. Thus, if you are a fan of football management games this one is right for you.

FIFA Street 2012

FIFA did a great job creating a new football game with a new feel to it. FIFA street series was one of the most beloved football games that gave the gamers the ability to play football in the streets with their desired football players. There were no real football rules, and the player could do any kinds of trick and dribbles that he would have liked.

FIFA Street 2012 was the best of the series. The game was unveiled on August 16, 2011, during the Gamescom event in Germany, and it was published in March 2012 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The game includes a significant number of real-life players from 3000 teams from several of the world's most prestigious leagues, as well as locales from all over the world, like the streets of Amsterdam and the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.

Each of these stadiums attempts to replicate the football style popular in that nation. The game included both national and club teams for the first time in the series.

The game has a Fun mode that allows the user to customize their own fun, from crests and team fun to players and their own street funions.

This feature made this game unique in the series and the most popular one of the franchise.

Rocket league

Probably the most unique game on the list is all about football yet has nothing to do with it.

Psyonix developed and released Rocket League, a vehicular soccer video game. The game was initially published in July 2015 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4, with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch versions following later.

It later was released on other platforms. However, support for their online services was discontinued in 2020. In September 2020, the game became completely free to play. But you can still play the game and have fun as many players joined the game when it became free to play.

This game is currently one of the

best football games in 2021

thus we recommend that you play the game at least once.

Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven and efootball)

The war between FIFA and PES fans has been raging in the past few years. Many think that

ever made but many others keep supporting PES as the king of the best football games in 2021.

PES has many amazing games in its franchise such as Pro evolution soccer 2006, 2003, and 2016. But with its new game and conversion to efootball this game series gave a huge lead to FIFA.

To this day efootball has been nothing but a disappointment to the gamers. With overwhelming negative reviews on steam and disappointing ratings, this game has been the worst football game ever made by Konami.

We do believe that the game is going to receive updates that will fix the bugs and unfinished features of the game, thus we rank PES or efootball second on the list as one of the best football games ever created.

FIFA

FIFA has always been a big deal when it comes to football games. It has produced popular games such as FIFA 10 and FIFA 14.

Many gamers are waiting to get their hands on the

which we have also covered on our website. FIFA 22 is expected to bring a train of new features to the FIFA world.

FIFA has always been in a rally with PES over which is the best but with efootball being not so good, FIFA can rest easy knowing that many players would prefer FIFA 22 to Konami’s latest football game.

However, this game is currently the crowner of the best football games in 2021.

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