Soccer manager guide: tactics, transfers and your first season
RetroGM Soccer is a free football manager game in your browser: leagues from 13 countries with promotion and relegation, national cups, continental tournaments, a club world cup and national teams, all on a real calendar. You pick a club, set the tactics, buy and sell players and watch the matches live. This guide covers the first season and what wins after it.
Starting a career
A new game asks whether you have played a football manager before. New managers get a short guide and see the strength of every player; veterans start without the guide. The league your device is in comes ticked (from its time zone), with its currency, and you can tick other countries too.
An option on the start screen hides the strength of players at other clubs until your scout writes a report on them. It makes the transfer market a real search; turn it off for a relaxed game.
The home screen
Home shows your next match, the confidence of the board and of the fans, your cash and costs, what is waiting for you (offers, sponsors, contracts, friendlies), your best players, the medical room and the inbox. Now and then a player knocks on your door: a reserve who wants to play, a striker in a slump, a star in the last year of his contract. Every player has a fixed personality (leader, proud, sensitive, ambitious, loyal or calm), and the same answer works on one and backfires on another. Promises of minutes are remembered.
Formations, styles and the tactics board
Pick one of seven standard formations or drag the positions to make your own, and save up to eight tactics per club. Each style changes how the team plays: balanced, defensive, attacking, counterattack, possession, high press, park the bus or all-out attack.
- The board: drag a reserve from the bench onto a position, or a starter onto another to swap them. Green means he plays his own position, yellow adapted, red out of position.
- Familiarity: a new shape drops it to 40%, and weeks of training bring it back. A team plays at 94% of its strength with none and 100% with full familiarity, so do not change the shape every week.
Training and the assistant
Your assistant handles the line-up, contracts and training by default; switch off what you want to do yourself. The weekly focus trades the present for the future:
- Technical: players up to 23 grow toward their potential (up to +4 a season).
- Physical and rest: more energy for the next match.
- Tactical: familiarity grows faster after a change of shape.
- Set pieces: better penalties.
- Intensity: light, normal or hard; hard grows players faster with a small risk of injury.
The live match
Choose how much to watch: Key (only the goals), Extended (goals and chances) or the Full match. The ball keeps moving between the highlights, the timeline marks every chance, card and goal, and a goal can be replayed. The side panel rates every player from 3 to 10 and shows their energy; the assistant suggests up to two changes (the tired player to replace, a new style when you are behind) that you apply in one tap.
- Touchline shouts last ten minutes, one at a time: Encourage, Demand more (more attack, more cards), Tighten up and Calm down (fewer fouls).
- Decisive moments stop the match: pick the penalty taker (with each one's chance), react to a red card, and choose all or nothing or hold on in the last ten minutes of a close game.
Scouting and transfers
Your scout writes up to three reports at a time: one match day for a free agent, two for a player in your country, four abroad. A report gives the true strength and potential, how he compares with his position in that league, his place in your team and a verdict. About 5% of youngsters are gems who become stars; stars are worth more and draw bigger crowds.
To buy, open the talks with the other club: offer money plus up to two of your players. The asking price is not the lowest they will take: a player in the last year of his contract, an unhappy one or a club in the red costs less, and a rival pays more. Three refusals end the talks until the next round.
Money and the board
The stadium has four sections with their own ticket prices, and you can expand it. Sponsors (shirt, kit, stadium name, sleeve) make offers you can accept or turn down. When the board's confidence falls below 30% it gives an ultimatum, and if things do not improve you are fired and start again at a small club. Two seasons in the red also cost you the job.
Quick checklist
- Keep one shape and let familiarity build.
- Scout before you buy, and buy players in the last year of their contract.
- Use technical training while your team can afford it, rest before big matches.
- Watch the panel for tired players and take the assistant's advice.
- Answer your players with their personality in mind, and keep your promises.
Play it now
RetroGM Soccer Manager is free in your browser, on a phone or a computer, with no account and no download. Your save stays on your device and the game works offline.