What is the game about?
In most football games, you either control the ball yourself on the pitch or make the decisions for a club, as in Football Manager. Football Academy Simulator offers something different. There is no major club or star footballer here. You have a small training center and build everything from scratch.
The game was developed by the Turkish studio Kiki Games, based in Antalya. We know the studio from professional simulations such as Estate Agent Simulator, Clothing Store Simulator, and Supercar Collection Simulator. Football Academy Simulator continues along the same path. You play from a first-person perspective, handle daily tasks, and expand your location with the money you earn. On its Steam page, the game is presented with tags such as sports, management, job simulator, and time management.
Your job in the game is to run a football academy. You assess players who want to enroll in the academy and create training programs for them. You rent out kits and boots, wash dirty clothes, and clean the pitch. You also have a sports store. You can form a team from your best students and compete in a league called Fantasy League.
The game will launch in early access on Steam on November 6, 2026. I played the early access version for approximately 10 hours. Honestly, I have quite a few games like this in my Steam library. So I know well what the economic balance and progression should feel like in this genre. I had fun with Football Academy Simulator from time to time. But I cannot say it was entertaining all the time. From the first hours, I felt that something was missing.
The Game's Flow
So what was missing? The game's flow. Yes, exactly, its flow.
Simulations like this usually have a certain rhythm. At first, you do everything yourself, then you save money, hire employees, upgrade equipment, and gradually take the burden off your shoulders. Football Academy Simulator follows this path as well. But until you reach that point, you have to deal with so many tasks that the game's daily cycle simply does not give you enough time. The day ends while tasks remain unfinished. I would even say the game can occasionally send you into a minor panic.
Let me explain what I mean using an example of a single day.
The day begins with players who want to enroll in the academy. You have to carefully assess each of them. If a player's goal is unrealistic and they cannot achieve it at your academy, they will give you a low rating later. The game has a review system similar to Google Reviews, and bad reviews affect the academy's reputation.
After accepting a player, you need to prepare the equipment they require. The kit, socks, boots, everything is your responsibility. This equipment wears out with use. You have to wash the clothes, repair damaged boots, and put everything back on the shelves for the next training session. There is a large locker room, and keeping it organized is also your job.
There is no respite when training begins, either. Students make a mess on the pitch, scattering balls and cones everywhere. You have to walk around the arenas, supervise them, and clean up the mess. As soon as one group finishes training, you need to start the next group so that no time is wasted.
Alongside all this, you also run a sports store in a large area. Ordering products, stocking the shelves, setting prices, and serving customers are also expected of you.
None of these tasks is bad on its own. The problem is that the game demands all of them at the same time without giving you enough time. After a while, you spend less time playing the game and more time trying to complete the tasks on the list one by one.
Fantasy League
The work does not end there. The game has a system called Fantasy League. It is a kind of neighborhood league. You build your own team from the academy's best students and enter the tournament with them. The main goal is to start in the lower divisions and climb to the top.
Believe me, this mechanic could have been very enjoyable on its own. Seeing the kids you trained yourself on the pitch and winning matches with them is the most rewarding result of the academy concept. But dealing with the league on top of all the tasks I listed above becomes very, very tiring.
The bigger problem is the lack of tactics. The Steam page talks about planning tactics, but I did not experience this during my time with the game. You might say that I expect Football Manager-level depth from a professional simulation. No, absolutely not. I expected a very moderate level of depth: a few formations, one or two playstyle options, and small decisions. Here, however, everything consists of choosing players and then watching the match engine's results. There is almost nothing you can do to influence the course of a match.
That is why the league felt less like entertainment and more like another task added to the daily workload.
Sense of Progression
The main thing that keeps us in front of the screen in games of this genre is the sense of progression. The task you did by hand yesterday is handled by a machine today. If you had one room last week, you have two this week. Every small step makes you say, "I'll play for one more day."
This feeling arrives very late in Football Academy Simulator. The game gives you opportunities to upgrade equipment, expand facilities, and make daily tasks easier. I do not deny that. But there is no balance between the money and time required to reach that point and the effort you put in along the way. You repeat the same tasks every day, but when you look back, you realize that you have not progressed very far.
Several times, I wanted to play the game for longer. I forced myself to continue, thinking that perhaps it would open up a little later. But the game progressed so slowly, and I experienced so little sense of progression, that I could not continue much longer. Repeating the same tasks is normal in a job simulator. But the player needs to see that they are moving forward, and that is difficult to see here.
Graphics and Interface
The graphics are pleasant. Nobody can expect much more from a game of this type anyway. Compared with other games in the genre, there is nothing to complain about in this area.
But I cannot say the same about the interface. The game's UI very clearly felt as though it had been created with artificial intelligence. Maybe I am being unfair, but the interface genuinely reminded me of the style of AI tools such as Claude. You can also see this on the game's Steam page, where these UI details stand out in the screenshots. I should note that the studio itself openly states on Steam that it used artificial intelligence as an auxiliary tool in its store visuals and some interface elements.
Am I against the use of artificial intelligence? Not at all. If they are going to deliver the game to us at a very low price, we cannot expect independent studios to do everything themselves, can we? Of course not. The resources and investment they can devote to this work are limited. But in my opinion, the interface is not such a major undertaking that it could not be commissioned from an outside designer. Players spend the entire game looking at these screens. This honestly disappointed me.
The minimum system requirements are quite modest: Windows 10 (64-bit), Intel Core i5-2500, 8 GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1050, and 5 GB of free space. The game does not support Azerbaijani, but its interface is available in 17 languages, including Turkish.
Doesn't the Game Have Any Good Qualities?
It does. The game's strongest point is that there is no other example like it in the genre. The market is full of store, restaurant, and car repair simulations. But it is difficult to find a game that centers on running a football academy and is this direct.
Managing such an academy and finding your own wonderkid among the incoming children is genuinely enjoyable. Looking at a player's accuracy, ball control, agility, reflexes, and stamina, recognizing that they have potential, and then developing them through training creates the game's best moments. For someone who loves football, the concept itself is interesting.
In addition, if managing a workplace in a game world makes you happy, and filling shelves, washing clothes, and keeping everything in order relaxes you, you can give this game a chance. Those who have played Kiki Games' previous titles will find a familiar system here, this time set in a football academy.
Early Access and Pricing
It is important to remember that this is still an early access version. The studio says the game will remain in early access for approximately 9 to 12 months. During this period, they plan to add new training activities, equipment, store products, facility upgrades, and additional content for Fantasy League. Most importantly, they promise to improve the balance, economy, interface, and performance based on player feedback. In other words, some of the points I criticized are already on the studio's own list. That is good news. But this article concerns the game's current state.
As for the price, it has not yet been announced. That is why I say you can give it a chance, rather than saying you should definitely buy it. The game will be released on November 6, 2026. Once the price is known, you can evaluate the price-to-performance ratio yourself. The studio has stated that it will keep the price low during early access and gradually increase it as more content is added. There is also a free demo of the game on Steam, which you can try before buying.
Conclusion
The idea behind Football Academy Simulator is great. Building a football academy, finding your own wonderkid, and having them play in a neighborhood league is something no one in this genre has fully delivered before. But the game's current version does not let you play out this idea with the necessary ease. Too much work, too little time, a late-arriving sense of progression, and a league without tactical depth turn the game into a burden rather than entertainment. The interface, which gives off an AI-generated impression, reinforces this feeling.
If you enjoy job simulations and football is an added motivation for you, try the demo and decide when the price is announced. If you expect a relaxed pace and a clear sense of progression, it may be wiser to wait for the game to mature a little in early access.
Pros
- A unique concept within its genre
- Finding and developing your own wonderkid is enjoyable
- Pleasant graphics
- A familiar gameplay loop for fans of Kiki Games' titles
Cons
- The daily cycle cannot accommodate the volume of tasks, resulting in a poor flow
- The sense of progression arrives too late
- Fantasy League lacks tactical depth
- An interface that gives off an AI-generated impression
4.5
Author’s rating
The game was evaluated after approximately 10 hours of play on the early access version provided by the studio for review.