For fans of Football Manager, there is no better game. They can immerse themselves in the world of fantasy that allows them to believe that they’re really managing a football club, perhaps even convincing themselves that they could do it in real life if the likes of Liverpool or Manchester United turned around and said that they needed them to take over the manager’s position.
It is why fans of other sports are keen to get their own version, taking charge not of a Premier League team but of one that plays basketball, rugby or in the National Football League. The question is, are there any NFL-themed games that come close?
What is the Appeal of Football Manager?
In order to understand why it is that people might want to find a version of Football Manager that is more in-line with their own sport of choice, it is first important to know what it is about the game that appeals to so many people. There are countless football games out that that allow you to take control of the players, with the likes of FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer dominating the gaming charts for years.
The joy of Football Manager is that it is less about controlling the players and more about having to think your way through matches. If you do it successfully then you can achieve the impossible and take a lower league side all the way to the top.
— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) August 7, 2024
It is also a game that allows football fans to become amateur scouts, learning about lesser-known players thanks to Football Manager’s extensive and realistic database. You can pick a team from the Russian third division, say, and turn them into a world beater, only to see something similar happen in the real world with that player.
If you really know what you’re doing then you can become something of an innovator, coming up with your own tactics and getting the players to carry them out. It can offer a sense of achievement like no other, thanks in no small part to the realistic nature of the game in comparison to others.
NFL-Themed Options
The question of whether or not there will ever be a version of Football Manager that is themed on the National Football League has been being asked by fans of the sport for more than a decade. It was largely people in the United Kingdom asking the question, with the general feeling being that American’s don’t like that sort of game.
Quite why that is the case when it is the sort of thing that could give players some points on the best NFL betting lines to be placing and the players that are likely to break through into the mainstream at some point in the future really is anyone’s guess, but some people are just like that.
@dodgeegamer Reply to @mikehcc Would love to see a licensed #nfl #managementsim #americanfootball #footballmanager #gaming #gamingtiktok
One of the biggest problems for many years is that EA Sports had the exclusive rights to the NFL, with EA far more likely to make a game akin to FIFA than Football Manager. In fact, EA went pretty hot and heavy on the Madden franchise of NFL games, limiting the style of game that lovers of the National Football League could play in their spare time.
That doesn’t mean that there haven’t been any options, of course. Rather, the main issue for many is that the games that are out there and offer a similar experience might not be on the platform that you prefer to play on. NFL Players Assoc Manager 2022, for example, was only on the iPad.
There are also some games out there that give you the chance to imagine yourself as the coach of an NFL team if you’re willing to use the Steam platform, for that isn’t something that everyone is willing to do. If you are then Ames such as Axis Football 2024 might be for you, whilst Draft Day Sports Pro Football 2022 is also on offer.
Front Office Football Eight is another Steam game gets good reviews, but if you’re not someone familiar with Steam then you’re going to struggle to engage with it.
