Football Manager 2020 is free to play for a week

(Image credit: Sega)

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There's not much football being played right now, and even Euro 2020 has been postponed, but if you're stuck inside and missing the ups and downs of your team, you can at least try your hand at simulating them in Football Manager 2020. Sports Interactive is letting everyone don a flat cap and manage a team for free until March 25.

Football Manager 2020 is free on Steam now, so you can add it to your library now. If the life of a manager ends up suiting you, your progress will be retained when you buy it.

It's a bit of a time sink, but that's probably just what a lot of us need right now. And it's well worth poring over for hours.

"If you can afford the time though, this year's game is absolutely worth your attention, particularly if long-term saves are your thing," Fraser Gilbert wrote in our Football Manager 2020 review. "There's scope to play for countless seasons and still be presented with fresh challenges, and the new Development Centre system makes building for the future more compelling than ever. It's Football Manager with a substantially greater dose of longevity, and that both delights and terrifies me at the same time."

Games like Football Manager and FIFA have also let teams give their fans something to watch amid all the cancellations. In lieu of live matches, some have been getting streamers to simulate them, while two Spanish footballers ended up going head to head in FIFA 20 for more than 60,000 fans.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.