WE ARE FOOTBALL 2027 Review

The Yearly Kickoff for a Football Manager Alternative

WE ARE FOOTBALL 2027 arrived September 16, 2026 from Winning Streak Games GmbH, the latest annual entry in a management-sim series that has quietly built a loyal following as the accessible alternative to the more clinical Football Manager franchise. The pitch is broad: build a club or an entire footballing dynasty across more than 200 simulated countries, with a new Creative Mode this year that hands players direct control over league structure, rules, and even instant club-jumping. At review time the game sat at 62 all-language reviews (85 percent positive) against a smaller and notably more divided 11 English-language reviews (6 positive, 5 negative, "Mixed"), several of which are explicit about how this year's edition compares to its predecessors, a useful vantage point for anyone deciding whether to jump in fresh or wait for another year.

The Pitch: Depth Through Customization, Not Simulation Purity

Reviewers who've spent real time with the series are consistent that its appeal lies in a different direction than its more famous rival. "As an FM veteran, I want to highlight that this is a completely different experience from the Football Manager series," one wrote. "If you're looking for ultra-realistic simulation, deep tactics, licensed teams & competitions or an advanced 3D match engine, this won't be your style. But if you enjoy storytelling, player personalities, relationships, team chemistry and club-building, you'll [find plenty here]." That framing lines up with the series' own pitch this year: multi-stage transfer negotiations where rival clubs can swoop in mid-deal, regional cup ladders that let a save start hyperlocal before climbing to a national stage, and a heavily configurable ruleset via the new Creative Mode. One German-language reviewer praised the balance directly: "Das Spiel ist simpel gehalten hat aber auch tiefe" (the game is kept simple but also has depth), specifically crediting the 3D match scenes with making "an otherwise boring genre" more entertaining.

Recurring Praise: A Loyal Series Fanbase Sees a Solid, if Incremental, Step Forward

The strongest signal in the positive reviews comes from returning players comparing this entry directly against last year's WE ARE FOOTBALL 2024 (referred to in the pool as "WAF 2024" or "WAF1"). "The edition of 2024 was already one of the best football games from last years, which I played for several hundred hours... This one seems the same or even a better edition!" one wrote, specifically calling out Creative Mode as a meaningful addition. Another, more measured, framed it plainly: "Pretty good, even if only an incremental upgrade from WAF1. Steady as she goes for this series." That's a fair summary of the pool's overall temperature, this isn't reviewers describing a transformative sequel, but a trusted yearly refinement that keeps its existing fans satisfied.

The Recurring Complaint: A Rough Onboarding Experience for Newcomers

Set against that returning-fan goodwill is a consistent complaint from players approaching the series for the first time. "I found it hard as a new player to get started with a team. Tutorial thing in game isn't really useful. I ended up refunding," one wrote, adding pointedly that "if you played the previous game then you would have a better understanding of how everything works." A more detailed negative review elaborated on the same gap: "there's just no deep explanations on how to play the game... The game comes with a Guide in .pdf format, it's in English, but it only describes game elements in very basic way, it doesn't dive deep into the tactics." That same reviewer noted the more thorough community tutorials that exist are in German, unhelpful for an English-speaking newcomer. A separate, sharper complaint targeted the interface directly: "The whole ui of the game is so badly designed I couldn't stay for more than 13 minutes on it." At least one reviewer also reported stability issues, "stürzt leider ständig ab" (unfortunately crashes constantly), though this wasn't corroborated by other reports in the smaller English pool.

A Smaller Note: The Match Presentation Trade-off

A secondary, more subjective thread concerns how matches are actually presented. WE ARE FOOTBALL 2027 promises that "every single match in the entire world is simulated identically and can be watched in 3D," but not every reviewer found the execution satisfying. "You just see little scenes... and the graphic is not so good in my opinion, but the worst thing is you cant watch the full game," one negative review complained, a fairly direct contradiction of the German-language praise for the same 3D match scenes elsewhere in the pool. This is likely less a bug than a matter of taste and expectation, players coming from Football Manager's abstracted 2D match engine or full 3D simulations may find WE ARE FOOTBALL's presentation an odd middle ground either way.

Verdict

WE ARE FOOTBALL 2027 reads as exactly what its own reviewers call it: a steady, incremental refinement of a management-sim series that has earned real loyalty from returning players, with the new Creative Mode and deeper transfer negotiations giving longtime fans a concrete reason to pick up this year's edition. The trouble is almost entirely at the front door. A thin English-language tutorial, a PDF guide that skips the tactical depth players actually need, and interface complaints serious enough to drive at least one reviewer away within minutes make this a genuinely rough entry point for anyone who hasn't played a previous WE ARE FOOTBALL game. At $19.99, it's an easy recommendation for series veterans who know what they're getting, and a much shakier one for newcomers who'll need to lean on outside guides, most of which aren't even in English, before the game's real depth opens up.