Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager (1989) came about because Impressions founder David Lester thought football games are popular, and Dalglish is famous, so why not try calling him for a deal? Amazingly, it worked. Dalglish got a cut of the profits in exchange for naming rights and a quick photoshoot.

Didn't know I had this. (It's the mascot for USA '94, the first World Cup after the back pass was outlawed.)

PC Zone's review of the PC port of PS1 bestseller Adidas Power Soccer. They said it may be the "worst game ever" and awarded it a measly 6 out of 100.

Millions of people are familiar with the hit mobile game New Star Soccer, but few know of its roots as a series of excellent indie PC/Mac games.

EA trotted commentator John Motson out for a promotional interview with GameSpot UK (which did a whole "FIFA 2000 Week") for the release of FIFA 2000. web.archive.org/web/20000815...

An ad for Commodore International Soccer, one of the best (and most popular) football games of the 1980s.

Philips SV Eindhoven Manager was a late 90s Amiga freeware game by a couple of Polish guys who called themselves Frey United. It is like nothing else, with constant, creative sampling of pop culture to add sparkle to the dryness of a football management simulation.

ISS Deluxe has a cheat code that turns the match officials into dogs. It's adorable.

Zidane Football Generation (2001) had a toggle between three different perspectives and made impressive use of the Game Boy Color's meagre capabilities, but I was mostly amused by the fact it sometimes gave me a free kick when I fouled my opponent.

Some funny bugfix logs for the AI in EA's F.A. Premier League STARS from March 30, 1998, a bit over a year before the game was finished.

More examples:

My favourite aesthetic: mid-90s football management game skeuomorphism.

When Paul and Oliver Collyer were looking for a publisher for Championship Manager (originally called European Champions), they sent demo builds out to all the major companies, including EA, which declined due to the lack of 'live action' graphics. This is their rejection letter.

Behind the scenes on Sony's FIFA/ISS killer from the late PS1 days, This is Football, which featured the legendary Clive Tyldesley in the commentary chair and is perhaps best remembered for its dedicated "dive" and "intentional foul" buttons.