What an online football manager is and how to play
An online football manager is a strategy game in which you do not control the players with a pad: you run a whole club, from tactics to finances, and compete against other real managers.
In an action football game you control the player on the ball. In a football manager you take the decisions of the manager and the club instead: who plays, how the team sets up, who you buy, what you charge at the gate. The match is then simulated by an engine and you watch the result of your decisions. Online managers add something essential: the world is shared. Your rivals in the league and in the market are other people, time runs the same for everyone, a season lasts weeks or months, and the game rewards consistency and planning more than hours in front of the screen.
ELDT is a free online football manager played in the browser. You start with a club at the bottom of your country's pyramid and climb through results. The league is played on Thursdays and Saturdays from 19:00 local time and the ELDT Cup on Tuesdays, and matches are watched live on a 2D pitch.
You get an auction market, weekly training, an academy with its own youth tournament, stadium, sponsors, a fanbase and a board that sets objectives. Season 3 (7 January 2027) adds 10 countries in the Americas and 7 in Europe, international cups and a single market.
See it in the game: the manager's guide.
Related terms
More on Club and finances
See also: online football manager · guides on the blog