The Best Apps for Football Fans
European football — sometimes called soccer — is the world’s most popular sport. Millions of fans worldwide follow the major matches, and there are plenty of apps which will let you get the latest stories, transfer news, match highlights, and (usually with a subscription) live games. Here are our picks.
Sun+ Goals
Back in 2013, the juggernaut British tabloid The Sun beat ESPN and Yahoo for exclusive rights to online and mobile highlights and clips for the Premier League. The Sun+ Goals app is where the result has appeared. This app, which you can also access from your browser, offers a constantly-updated gallery of “nearly live” clips, scores, and highlight reels. It’s a fantastic way to get bite-sized instant match updates while on the go, and (due to licensing) truly the only one of its kind.
Eurosport Player
Unlike the BT and Sky Sports versions, Eurosport Player doesn’t require you to have purchased a TV package with their channel on. Therefore, if you’re willing to pay the monthly fee, Eurosport Player will let you watch live streams from many European football leagues. It doesn’t have much Premier League action due to rights distribution, but for fans of other leagues will love it. It may not be quite as good as having tickets for Real Madrid, but it’s close.
Fox Soccer
This one will bring every English Premier League as well as UEFA Champions League game to your iPod Touch or iPhone, as well as bringing you the latest in-match video clips, breaking news, highlights, and much more.
The app starts as a free version offering news, live scores, fixtures, as well as team line-ups. To view the live games, however, you’ll have to subscribe. This gets you live streams of the games.
LiveScore
This free app gives you real time scores from almost any sporting event worldwide, with a major emphasis on European football scores. Every UK league match is covered, as are most other countries.
This app will tell you about yellow cards, goals, red cards, substitutions, and much more within seconds after they happen. While there are no push notifications, the app will auto-refresh when it’s open, and the information is delivered directly from LiveScore Ltd., who invented real time live sport data delivery. (They own the No. 1-ranked soccer/football website globally.) There are no restrictions on country either.
Football Manager Handheld
Football Manager Handheld isn’t a news app. Instead, it’s a very detailed management-style game that allows you to be manager of your own club, guiding them to the top of the league. You take control of every aspect, including training, transfers, and tactics. The app includes 34 leagues from 11 countries, and it’s highly addictive — make sure you’ve got plenty of time to kill before you pick it up.
How good is this app? The top Azerbaijani club FC Baku’s “A team” manager is the 21 year old Vugar Huseynzade, a Swede whose only previous experience was managing a virtual football team in this game’s PC version.
FIFA 13
It’s the best selling console football simulator of all time, and it’s finally on smartphones. With the expected full range of famous players, historic stadiums, and prestigious teams, FIFA 13 offers an experience that’s as authentic as you can find anywhere. While the graphics aren’t as detailed as what you find on a consoled, the simplified style lets the physics and fluid movement remain the same.