As the Christmas break approaches and you have more time on your hands, you may want to get stuck into some football gaming to keep yourself entertained. Whether you’re standing shivering in the stands at halftime on a cold winter’s day or sitting on the couch at home and feeling bored, there are many easy ways to keep yourself entertained via the use of football games. Even more, the use of football games can increase tactical understanding and knowledge on the game – for all you football educators and lovers of the beautiful game. But with a myriad of games out there to choose from, it can be difficult to find the very best games for increasing tactical knowledge and keeping yourself entertained. That’s why we provide you this quick guide to some of the best footballing games around.

When it comes to an increased understanding of football through a video game, you can’t do much better than Football Manager. Our friend RDF Tactics on YouTube knows this better than anyone, having gained a massive knowledge of the tactical side of the game through playing Football Manager, which he now uses in a professional setting for a pro women’s team. Alex Stewart of Tifo Football also posits the exact same belief, telling us exactly that in a message on Twitter after our analysis on Manchester City last year.

The game is so in-depth that sports betting aficionados often use it to check out club data before placing a wager. Pro managers themselves have admitted to playing the game to understand opposition tactics and player roles. Each release has bang up to date data on all players and teams, providing an always up-to-date, realistic gaming experience. It’s come a long way since the first release entitled ‘Championship Manager’ back in 1992. On Football Manager 2022, you can guide a top club to success, or even choose a local football team and test your managerial skills to build them up. The game also provides challenge and intrigue, requiring more focus and strategy to win and stay successful than other football games. The one downside is that it is incredibly addictive, as RDF Tactics told us last year, and requires you to have more time on your hands than you probably do in your busy life. So let’s now move on to a few hidden gems that require less time, while still providing entertainment and intrigue.

A bit of a hidden gem, Football Star is a casino game from Microgaming. On the opposite end of the spectrum from Football Manager, it is not the type of game to increase tactical knowledge or understanding of the game. But if you’re looking for entertainment or to cure that casino craving, Football Star is a great game to keep you entertained. The slot features some of the best teams in Europe, uber-realistic crowd noises, and colourful reels. It’s an easy way to pass the time while you grab yourself some refreshments during half time and requires very little experience in casino games to pick up. The controls are simple and intuitive, and a single spin only takes a few seconds.

Any football enthusiast has likely played FIFA at some point in their life, and many adore the game. FIFA is another game touted by pro managers as helping to enhance their tactical knowledge and understanding of their opposition. You can try your hands at being a manager of virtually hundreds of clubs from around the world, and gain valuable insight into how the industry works. But the lesser known cousin of FIFA is also just as entertaining. FIFA Mobile is unrivalled when it comes to games that can be played on your phone, and has improved with each edition since EA Sports launched the game in 2016. Although the game doesn’t feature the complexities of the FIFA games available for dedicated consoles, it showcases equally great graphics, and some of the most popular features like FIFA Ultimate Team and Career Mode. While the controls can be tricky to pick up at first, it will quickly become muscle memory with greater use. Besides, that slight downfall is worth it for being the most in-depth mobile football game around. So while it won’t stack up to the dedicated gaming console versions and should be considered a standalone version, FIFA Mobile is certainly worth your time if looking for a new game to try.

While these three football games will help to keep you entertained, two of them may even help you expand your tactical knowledge and understanding of the game. The other may help you win some money, which as we know, is something many football fans can get on board with. So if you’re looking for something to do during this Christmas break, why not check out the three games provided here, and keep yourself entertained all winter long.

So there it is! A quick guide to football gaming. Thanks for reading and see you soon!

2021 was the most successful year in the six year history of TheMastermindSite.com. Over the course of the year, we doubled our number of views, visitors, social media followers and email subscribers from where we left off in 2020. Our most popular feature and the aspect of our website that has gained the attention from pro club managers, former and current professional players, and writers from The Athletic, has been our tactical analyses all year long. So with that, here are the ten most popular analyses of the year, all written by Rhys Desmond in 2021.

A little over a year ago, Thomas Tuchel made his managerial debut for Chelsea, dominating 80% of the possession in a stale 0-0 draw. Sunday’s encounter between the two teams saw many parallels, especially in Wolves’ defensive appetite and Chelsea’s failure to convert. However, it was a vastly different affair, with Wolves putting on a defensive masterclass, completely stunting Chelsea’s progress and limiting them to just 1 shot on target. So with that, here is our tactical analysis of how Bruno Lage’s team stopped Chelsea in their tracks, and secured another important 0-0 draw.

The end of the year is nearly here! And that means it’s time for our annual Top 100 Footballers list to kick off. This year, you had your say in our voting polls, and this is where you landed. Here is numbers 80-61 in the Top 100 Footballers in the World.

The end of the year is nearly here! And that means it’s time for our annual Top 100 Footballers list to kick off. This year, you had your say in our voting polls, and this is where you landed. Here is numbers 100-81 in the Top 100 Footballers in the World.

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Fox in the Box – Monthly Magazine – November 2021

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