Free-to-play Sega Football Club Champions announced, and you can sign up for the closed beta
A Japanese favourite goes global.
While EA Sports FC and Football Manager continue to dominate the world of football games, every now and again a new challenger comes along.
This time, it's actually the parent company of FM developer Sports Interactive who are joining the fray, with Sega announcing a new free-to-play football title.
Sega Football Club Champions 2025 will be launching on PS5, PS4, Steam and mobile, and aims to bring the popular Japanese game Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 2025 to the west.
The game's official website describes it as follows: "Sega Football Club Champions is the latest multiplatform football management simulator from Sega! Play for free! Start off with a small club competing locally, and aim to take over the world!"
Known as SakaTsuku in Japan, the series has had more than 20 iterations since it first debuted in 1996, although only one of these has ever released in the west, with Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! European Championship releasing as Let's Make a Soccer Team in Europe and Australia.
Sega Football Club Champions appears to feature two game modes, with a Career Mode that lets you manage a specific team, and a PvP Dream Team Mode which seems roughly analogous to FC's Ultimate Team.
By entering your details you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
The game possesses an official FIFPro licence, giving them the rights to use more than 10,000 real players, with marketing focusing heavily on Manchester City, with Erling Haaland featuring in the trailer.
To celebrate the game's announcement, Sega has also announced that the game will be running a Closed Beta Test from 19th-30th June, with the purpose of "refining the game as much as possible prior to launch".
Players can currently sign up via the game's official website, but Sega have made clear that there will only be 15,000 players invited to take part.
Beyond the gameplay, the game's graphics have drawn particular attention among Football Manager players.
This year's version of FM was delayed following issues moving to the Unity engine, in-part to give the game a big graphical upgrade.
With claims from Sega that Sega Football Club Champions is "powered by Football Manager," many fans believe that the graphics in the game are representative of what the upcoming FM26 will look like.
Sega Football Club Champions is currently slated for a 2025 release.
Check out more of our Gaming coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
