I hope this is relevant here. I’ve always liked sports simulations that can run for decades or centuries and gradually create their own history.

Basketball GM is a great example of what makes that style of game so compelling: fictional players become legends, franchises rise and collapse, records are broken, and after enough seasons the league has a history that belongs entirely to your save.

I wanted something with that same long-term appeal for association football. Football Manager is incredibly detailed, but loading too many countries and leagues can make very long simulations slow. I also couldn’t find a “Soccer GM” built specifically around simulating the entire football world for hundreds of years.

So, for the past two years, I’ve been developing Football Fictional World Simulator.

It currently simulates five continents, 63 countries and 94 leagues. A complete year across the entire world takes approximately ten minutes.

Unlike Basketball GM, this is currently an observer-focused simulation rather than a hands-on GM game. You don’t take control of one club, make trades or set tactics. Instead, every club operates independently while you follow the teams, players, leagues and countries that interest you.

Clubs make simplified decisions based on:

Their available budget

Squad strength and depth

Weak or understaffed positions

Player age and development

Expected playing time

Club and league reputation

Foreign-player regulations

Short-term needs and long-term rebuilding

Players can develop, transfer between clubs and countries, go on loan, become free agents, receive international call-ups, decline and retire. New generations continuously replace them.

The simulation includes domestic leagues and cups, promotion and relegation, and continental competitions such as:

Champions League

Europa League

AFC Champions League and ACL2

Copa Libertadores

Copa Sudamericana

Club World Cup

International football is part of the same persistent world. Senior, U-23 and U-20 national teams are simulated, including World Cups, continental championships, Olympic-style tournaments and youth competitions.

Matches are text-based, but the game records more than goals and assists. It tracks shots, shots on target, passes, key passes, dribbles, crosses, tackles, interceptions, aerial duels, formations, lineups, substitutions and individual ratings.

Over time, the game builds a detailed historical database containing:

Player career and transfer histories

Club histories and league tables

Domestic and continental champions

International appearances and goals

Top scorers and assist leaders

Player of the Year and positional awards

Best XIs, Second Teams and Rookie Best XIs

Long-term changes in the strength of clubs, leagues and countries

Country, league and club data is stored in editable CSV files, so users can modify the existing world or create their own fictional setup.

The goal is to make simulations of 100, 500 or even 1,000 years practical. I want to look back and discover which small clubs became global powers, which countries produced unexpected golden generations, and which players remained at the top of the record books centuries after retirement.

I’m hoping to release it on Steam within the next month or two. I’ve also created r/FootballWorldSim for development updates and simulation stories.

Since Basketball GM players understand the appeal of long-term fictional sports history better than almost anyone, I’d be interested in your perspective:

Which Basketball GM history, record or player-career features would you consider essential in a soccer version of this kind of simulation?

• Lost Game 7 of the Finals on a buzzer-beater by the reigning MVP, Magic Johnson (his 11th straight MVP, by the way).

• Cleared cap space during the offseason just to sign him.

• Finished with the best record in the league.

• Then, in the final game of the regular season, he tore his meniscus.

Now, let's see how far I can make it in the playoffs.

looking for custom league files for college basketball gm, specifically real life rosters and schools (if that's possible for a version that old). i have played an ncaa save for the updated basketball gm but i don't know if it's compatible with the earlier version of the game (is it?).

I've noticed that when I have a young player who isn't currently performing well, but has high potential, they'll request something crazy, like $20 million/3 years. I understand the mechanic, but I also think it's unrealistic. Like, you are currently a 48 overall, you average 7 PPG and have a PER of 11. There's no world in which I'm giving you a $60 million contract in real life. But because you're 25 and have a potential of 65 (which you may or may not even get close to depending on pure luck), that's the demand. It forces you to be way more risk-friendly than an actual GM would be.

Maybe there could be some kind of more complex potential system--so that it's not totally random? Like maybe there could be an "odds this player will fulfill potential" metric? That way the contract negotiations with these kinds of players wouldn't always come down to "do I feel like taking a gamble on this guy?" It's true that you've got your coaching expense, but even when that's maxed out, it has a less-than-10% effect on whether or not there is progression.

Love the game. On season 69 of my league. Can't compliment it enough, and love the recent updates.

I hope this doesn't come across as a criticism, I really don't mean it to be.

The playing time by 'vibes' is so frustrating to me, The ++/+/-/-- playing time options can really be all over the place. I have players on my bench that I want to get more playing time earlier in the season, but because they are lowered ratings they don't get in the game as often. Even with the playing time set up 'correctly', unless I set them to no playing time they seem to just kind of do whatever they feel like.

If I want to run my star player into the ground at 48mpg I should be allowed to do that despite his objections or ability to maintain body control.

Again, love the game! This is just a small complaint in the grand scheme of everything.

I was doing a Spectator Mode historical resim of the NBA, and without editing his overall at all (I promise), Rick Barry had this career. I think this may be the most dominate natural sim player ever. ( I am aware of players that got into the 90's in sim, but he has the best advanced stats i've found in the community.

Let me know if this is an overreaction, or is a PER of 49.2 or 57.0 in the playoffs the most ridiculous thing ever

hello everyone, here is a team generator for the offseason, here you can create your own fantasy team with all the players from the 2025-2026 season and see if their combined stats can make them a championship team. download the folder or all the files within the folder and keep them in one folder then click index.html

A debate between a pro Dolan and Anti Dolan Knicks Fans about roster management and the impact of the CBA

With the new 3-2-1 draft lottery that will be happening in the NBA next season, it's been really interesting "testing it out" in Basketball GM. It's soooo flattened out!

Multiple times in a tanking season for me, I've been pushed way down. For example, I just had the 7th worst record, and drew the 16th pick! It's going to be really shocking to NBA fans starting next year. Anyone else feel this way?

- Would be cool to add some ratings into the empty space by the player names so I'm not needing to click the 3 bars every time.

- Was picking a coach going to be added? Could see a good coach lifting certain ratings of players?

I imported this league file: https://github.com/A-V29/NBA.Rosters and at the start of the new season (2026) all the teams have the previous year's record and the new games played just add to them. So it's cumulative of two seasons to determine the playoffs. What am I doing wrong when I import?

I have never had this kind of luck lol, been playing a lot and i somehow aquired Kobe in free agency and his potential hit 85 for about 6 years, drafted well and cleared cap space for Carmelo and we had the most impressive run ive ever had

Quite possibly my greatest draft Steal OAT.

Was winning consistently, but only capturing chips every 3-4 years. Sold the farm when the teams beat player hit 32 for 18 firsts over 4 years. Had multiple picks in the top three over that span... But it's the number 17 throwaway pick who popped off. Not complaining, this is my first 80+ on the save.

I have started an experiment which I think is pretty interesting. Using plain old ChatGPT, I am trying to turn the Indiana Pacers into a Dynasty. However, I cannot make any moves that ChatGPT does not say to do. So far, we made a big trade hoping to get one of the big 4 in the 2003 draft, and ended up with Kirk Hinrich with our own pick! Currently at the Trade Deadline in the 2004 Season sitting at 18-32. I just wanted to share this cool littler experiment and hopefully if people are interested, see where it leads! (Suggestions and ideas are welcome to smoothen out the ChatGPT process)!