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When people think of esports, there are several mainstays that come to mind, including multiplayer online battle arena games like League of Legends and battle royales like Fortnite. Football or soccer esports are discussed less often, but can still offer the adrenaline and surprises that make esports so fun to watch.
Anyone just dipping their toes into football esports needs a place to start. Here are some of the biggest football esport games and events that will set you on the right path.
The FIFAe World Cup
For FIFA followers, one of the best things to do is to start watching the FIFAe World Cup, the world’s hotspot for everything related to football esports. Being one of the largest esports organisations in the world, it was once synonymous with professional FIFA gamers until disputes in 2023 caused rifts.
The next FIFAe World Cup will certainly be one of the biggest events of the year for fans of football-related video games. It will also provide an excellent opportunity to engage in some good old-fashioned betting, preferably with the help of advice from gambling experts like Daniel Smyth.
FIFAe World Cup currently involves three different games, each one delivering all the high-octane stakes that people have come to expect from major tournaments: eFootball, Football Manager and Rocket League. Due to the lapse of their licensing agreement, 2023 was the last year that football game FIFA (now FC) was included.
FIFA
If any video game is synonymous with football, it’s FIFA. Since the FIFAe World Cup’s inception in 2004, FIFA games have helped advance the tournament with each successive release.
Though the FIFA games are no longer a part of the World Cup, that doesn’t change the fact that people can still go online and witness the most exciting moments online. FIFA was a part of the esports tournament for two decades, so there are hours upon hours of footage for FIFA fans to dig into.
For the most diehard FIFA fans who are more interested in current FIFA tournaments, you can check out the official Electronic Arts Sports FC Pro tournament. Electronic Arts’ games are considered a direct successor to the mainline FIFA series and franchise.
eFootball
The FIFA games are not the only popular football simulation video games that underwent a major rebranding recently. Previously known as PES or Pro Evolution Soccer, eFootball is another major source of football esports. Though its tournaments were originally run by Konami Entertainment, the eFootball series officially became a member of the FIFAe World Cup group in 2024 after partnering with Konami, and is now a part of their major scheduled events.
eFootball is free-to-play, which makes it very accessible for anyone who wants to try their hand at becoming an esport star themselves. If you play the game on PlayStation, you can play online for free without the need for a PlayStation Plus membership.
Football Manager
Believe it or not, even football managing can be considered a highly competitive sport of its own. When playing the game on your own, Football Manager is all about team membership selection, having control over player trades and deciding the overall direction of the in-game tactics.
However, in an esports setting, different players compete to see who can choose the best manager as well as who can create the team that acquires the most victories during a season. Though these tournaments are very different and unconventional compared to your usual football games, Football Manager tournaments are fantastic at proving how competitive, strategic and diverse football esports communities can be.
Rocket League
Rocket League is probably the one esports football game that broke into the mainstream faster than anything else. It’s practically a household name alongside FIFA. At both a casual and a professional level, it’s hard finding video games that have the hype, player base and viewership that Rocket League does.
Everyone already knows what makes this game so special: a combination of football and high-octane vehicular madness. Another thing that makes Rocket League so great is how intuitive the controls are. This is an extremely easy and accessible game to learn, especially since the rules are so simple and familiar. It’s a fantastic example of something being easy to learn, but hard to master.
That balance has played a huge role in why Rocket League has performed so well in esports settings. Anyone can watch it and understand the gist of what’s going on, like tuning into an actual football match. Even if you’ve never played it, and even if you don’t know any of the specific moves, you always know where the ball is and who’s winning. Rocket League has played a big role in getting people into football esports because of this.
What makes football esports different from regular esports?
At the end of the day, it’s probably safe to conclude that typical esport games and competitions have more similarities than differences with football esports. They’re both highly competitive, involve a lot of fast-paced critical thinking, elaborate teamwork and team communication, and can involve massive prize pools to prove to viewers that a lot is on the line.
Just as watching basketball or golf is different than spectating football, watching Dota 2 or League of Legends is very different to watching a FIFA or Rocket League match. From a spectator’s position, your eye is almost always on the ball, and there is less of a priority on zigzagging from player to player.
Football esports also have the benefit of being grounded in reality when compared to most other video games. This gives it a sense of crossover appeal with regular sports fans who already understand much of what’s going on. Football fans can easily understand FIFA or Football Manager in comparison to StarCraft 2, Counter-Strike or Valorant.
