Need to fill the football-shaped hole in your life? Good news. Sports Interactive and SEGA have kindly made Football Manager 2020 free for the next week.
Unfortunately, when that week is up you’ll have to cough up if you want to continue playing. But we reckon you can squeeze at least one season out of a week’s play, especially as the real-life match cancellations should have freed up some − okay, loads − of your leisure time.
Related: Best multiplayer games for 2020
For anyone who hasn’t sunk 400 hours into the game already, Football Manager is a game which pretty much does what it says on the tin.
It’s an in-depth, nitty-gritty game that lets you manage one of over 200 clubs. You can choose to navigate your way through one of the leagues you’re familiar with from your own country, or go wild in a league from somewhere else in the world.
The game gives you a great level of control, allowing you to scout players, train them, sell them, develop tactics, give team talks and – obviously – play matches.
The 2020 game has added some nice little extras for seasoned managerial types. There’s a new ‘Club Vision’ goal, which puts pressure on you to meet board expectations. And the player improvement features have been finessed too, so you now have better control over individual development paths for all of your players.
It’s super easy to download this if you already have Steam. Just head to the Football Manager page and hit download. Unfortunately, it’s not being offered for free on any consoles, so you’ll have to download the Steam tool on a Mac or laptop if you really want the game.
Everything you need to know about the PS5
Football Manager 2020 is usually priced at £39.99, so if you were thinking about splashing out on the title this is the perfect opportunity to try before you buy.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
