Football
How EA FC and others are boosting women players in football games
Have you ever watched your football team get thrashed – again – looked over at the manager in the dugout and thought: “I could do better”?
Management video games have been giving fans a chance to put their – imaginary – money where their mouth is for years.
But usually only in the men’s game.
However, this year two of the world’s biggest football titles – EA FC and Football Manager – are allowing players to take charge of female teams too.
BBC Newsbeat spoke to the makers of both and the creators of new mobile title Matchday Champions about bringing women into the beautiful (video) game.
What’s taken so long?
EA FC is one of the most-played games globally, and also includes a career mode that lets you play as a footballer or a manager.
This year it’s introducing women to the mode for the first time.
Female players first appeared in Fifa 16 – when maker Electronic Arts had the rights to use the football governing body’s name – and last year were added to EA FC’s Ultimate Team mode.
Fans who’ve been asking for the change for a while say it’s taken a long time to come, but Andreas Wilsdorf, a line producer on career mode, tells Newsbeat a few things needed to happen first.
“It would have been great to do with Fifa 16,” says Andreas.
But he feels “women’s football has evolved a lot” and there’s a better understanding of the demand to play with female teams.
When EA unveiled its first non Fifa-branded title last year it spent a lot of time outlining the various deals it had done with leagues, players and clubs to use them in the game.
“For a career mode to really make sense and work we need enough licences for it to be there,” says Andreas.
He says French, Spanish, US, German and UK leagues came on board last year, which gave the team enough material to start incorporating female squads.
Football Manager makers Sports Interactive first announced their intention to introduce female players to the game three years ago.
Head of women’s football research, Tina Keech, says it’s been “hard graft” gathering everything they needed.
The game’s stats live in a huge database – Tina says they’ve been gathering the necessary info on men for 20 years.
For the women’s leagues they had to start from scratch.
“One of the really difficult issues we’ve had was finding information,” she says.
“I could go online, probably find Harry Kane’s cousin’s dog’s name.
“Whereas in the women’s game, you struggle for basic information on them.”
Tina says it was also important to make sure any details that were online were actually accurate.
And, says Tina, who hadn’t worked in the industry before joining Foootball Manager: “You underestimate how much work goes into making a video game.
“We want to do it properly, and that’s why it’s taken so long. We want it to be authentic.”
Keeping it real
Realism is a big draw for fans of management sims, and both EA FC and Football Manager have kept salaries and transfer fees for women players in line with the real world, where amounts tend to be much higher in the men’s game.
But Andreas says the EA FC team has made a few concessions – such as the venues where matches in the game take place.
Using his home club Frankfurt as an example, he says the women’s squad usually plays at a smaller stadium but all the matches in EA FC take place in the Deutsche Bank Park.
It’s the largest stadium in the German city, where the ladies team’s bigger fixtures are held in real-life.
On a practical level, it means the team doesn’t need to recreate another venue inside the game.
But, says Andreas: “We wanted to make an aspiration.
“It should be in the biggest stadiums. It deserves to be there.
“We’ve seen it with the Champions League, with Barcelona filling the Camp Nou.”
Both games allow players to switch career paths – or “do a Phil Neville” – by switching between managing male and female teams within a single playthrough.
The emphasis on realism means there’s no ability to mix squads in Football Manager or EA FC’s career mode.
One game that’s done things a bit differently is Matchday Champions – a mobile management title where players can build mixed squads.
Co-founder Sebastien de Halleux tells Newsbeat the company wanted to “lean into the beauty of video games”.
“You can imagine something that does not exist in reality,” he says.
The game – which is centred around collecting player cards – is based on real stats, but Sebastian says they wanted to reach as wide an audience as possible.
That might be something to do with the fact that mobile games often attract more female players, and Matchday Champions is a more casual experience than the more established titles.
But Sebastian says it’s a mistake to assume “women like women in football or men like men’s football”.
“When you look at kids in a park, you have as many young girls and young boys playing the sport,” he says.
“It’s only later at the professional level and above that the difference is felt more strongly.
“We think there is nothing that prevents the fandom from being co-gendered and the players represented in that field.”
Video game bosses are always looking for ways to boost their audiences – more people playing your titles means more revenue.
But those Newsbeat spoke to insisted they also want to have a real-world impact.
Matchday’s funded by football great Lionel Messi’s investment fund, and Spanish legend Alexia Putellas has also been involved with the game.
She previously told Newsbeat she believed giving fans the ability to mix squads helped the women’s game to accelerate its profile.
Andrea Hopelain, one of EA Sports’ publishing chiefs, tells Newsbeat she has been playing football since she was three years old.
Growing up in the United States, where women’s football has had a high profile for some time, she says there were “amazing role models”.
But working on EA FC with international colleagues showed her it wasn’t the same everywhere.
“They had such love and adoration of the men’s game, but really not the women’s game,” she says.
It’s something that EA FC’s Andreas says he felt when his accountant told him his daughter was a fan but was sad she couldn’t take her favourite players through a full season.
“I could remember myself at that age playing the game and being able to do that,” he says.
“That showed exactly the effect we wanted – that little girls can now play as their heroes or create themselves and play with their heroes.”
Tina, from Sports Interactive, is also a former player and says her football fan daughters made her want to become “part of the movement of pushing women’s football.”
“They’re the next generation.
“They’re the ones that are going to be seeing all of this,” she adds.
Football
Fuad Sule: Linfield will investigate incident further’ after recial abuse allegation
Linfield say they “will investigate further” an incident at the end of Friday’s Irish Premiership derby at Windsor Park when “an individual was removed from the ground” after Glentoran’s Fuad Sule alleged that he was racially abused by a spectator.
In a statement on his X account, external, Sule said that he was aware that emotions ran high in matches between the Belfast rivals but would not accept being racially abused.
“I’m a big ambassador of kicking racism not only out of football but out of life in general. It’s embarrassing that it still happens today, a good game with an electric atmosphere has turned sour,” said the Glens midfielder.
“There’s a lot of good, honest people that I know very well at Linfield with integrity and class but one individual has tarnished the whole Linfield Football Club’s name for me.” he added.
A statement from Linfield read: “Linfield Football Club is aware of an incident which occurred at the end of last night’s match with Glentoran in which an individual was alleged to have racially abused an opposition player.
“An individual was removed from the ground last night and the club will investigate further.
“Linfield Football Club is opposed to all forms of racism and we will treat the matter with the utmost seriousness.”
A statement from the Northern Ireland Football League said: “We will review the Match Observer’s report from last night’s game and take the appropriate action necessary.
“There is no place for racism within the NI Football League.”
The game ended in a 3-1 victory for Glentoran.
Football
Morgan Gibbs-White: Nottingham Forest midfielder says being a dad has calmed him down
Gibbs-White, who joined Forest from Wolves in a deal which could rise to £42.5m in 2022, was speaking to BBC Football Focus last week, shortly after being sent off in the 2-2 draw at Brighton.
Gibbs-White and boss Nuno Espirito Santo have since been charged by the Football Association for acting in an improper manner and allegedly using abusive and insulting language towards match officials.
He conceded he could see why he was sent off but feels he cannot play any other way.
“If I’m at 70% or 60% going into a game, I can’t play like that,” he said.
“I have to be 150% all the time. I always have to be on it and I like the feeling of having control in a game.
“Sometimes when we’re playing City or someone and having none of the ball I get frustrated, but that’s when the control comes in and to understand what the manager wants from this moment.”
Gibbs-White has been included in the England squad for the Nations League games against Greece and Finland this month.
He made his senior debut in the 2-0 win in Ireland in September, having won the Under-21 European Championships last summer, and revealed the emotional impact the selection had.
He said: “When I received the call I was in bits, I was crying. As a kid you grow up dreaming of this moment, wanting it for so long and when you finally get it you feel like you’ve achieved something in life.
“Seeing the quality and standard was incredible. You can see why these players are at the top level.”
Football
Ianis Hagi’s father relieved over Rangers resolution – Scottish gossip
Gheorghe Hagi says, “I can sleep peacefully now” that his son, Ianis, is set to return to playing for “a huge club”, the Romania great having had heated conversations with the Rangers hierarchy while the 25-year-old midfielder was frozen out of the first team. (Herald – subscription), external
Southampton manager Russell Martin retains the support of sporting director Rasmus Ankersen, but the former Scotland defender is facing scrutiny from Serbian billionaire owner Dragan Solak after a poor start to the Premier League season. (TalkSport), external
Everton manager Sean Dyche has explained his cautious approach to a return to action for Nathan Patterson because of the Scotland right-back’s “unusual” tendon injury that has meant the 22-year-old has not played since April. (The Scotsman), external
Celtic have the 23rd most valuable squad in the UK with a market value of £104.43m, with Rangers ranking 28th at £67.02m. (Transfermarkt), external
After fireworks and flares before the match against Lyon, Rangers could face the closure of part of their stadium for their next home Europa League game on top of a heavy fine if Uefa follows the precedent set when Servette supporters did likewise against Chelsea. (Glasgow Times), external
Football
Erik ten Hag: Man Utd players must take responsibility after Porto draw
Manager Erik ten Hag insists Manchester United will resolve their defensive issues but says the players must take responsibility following their 3-3 draw at Porto in the Europa League.
READ MORE: ‘We will fight’ – Ten Hag still defiant but is Man Utd boss on brink?
Football
SPFL distributes £37.9m to clubs, latest accounts show
The SPFL says it distributed £37.9m to the 42 member clubs in its latest accounting period, an increase of 6%.
The league body’s figures show a similar percentage increase in turnover to a new high of £44.3m.
A new broadcasting deal with Sky and “other domestic and overseas broadcasting agreements” contributed to revenue.
Additionally, net gate receipts of £2.1m went to last season’s Premier Sports Cup semi-finalists Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian and Rangers, who won the tournament.
Celtic won the Premiership, Dundee United secured promotion by finishing top of the Championship while the League 1 and 2 titles went to Falkirk and Stenhousemuir, respectively. The Challenge Cup was won by Airdrieonians.
Celtic won the SWPL title for the first time and Rangers won the SWPL Cup.
“We’re really proud to announce record turnover and fee payments to our member clubs today as we continue to build on the strong income growth and commercial deals in recent years,” said SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster.
“Given the challenging market and economic conditions right now, these encouraging results reinforce the huge popularity of Scottish football, as well as the level of interest this generates with our broadcasters and our increasing roster of partners.”
Celtic men and Rangers women also won the Scottish Cup tournaments, which unlike the other major domestic tournaments are organised by the Scottish FA.
For the current season, the SPFL has new sponsorship and broadcasting deals in place.
Football
Premier League archive: Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham in great goals different distances
BBC Sport looks back at some great Premier League goals scored from a variety of distances – from a Cristiano Ronaldo tap-in to Asmir Begovic’s record-breaking 101-yard strike.
WATCH MORE: Watch amazing Premier League goalline clearances
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