eFootball™

Review by eFreeware

If you follow club soccer and want a game that keeps pace with the real season, eFootball is built for exactly that. Konami's free title, the successor to PES, hands you a squad to develop and a steady feed of weekly data drawn from transfers and real match results, so the players you field reflect what is happening in the sport rather than a roster frozen at launch.

The appeal is the combination of a low entry price and a long-running structure. You can learn the basics through a guided tutorial, take that team into matches against other users, and keep improving players over time. With more than 100 million installs behind it, it is clearly one of the better-known soccer games on the platform, and the 4.1 average from a very large number of ratings suggests it has held a broad audience since its 2017 release.

It is also a game with strings attached, and I would rather set those out early. There are ads, there are in-game purchases, and an internet connection is required to play at all. The download needs roughly 3.1 GB of free space, and Konami recommends Wi-Fi for the base game and its updates. None of that is unusual for a free online sports title, but it shapes what kind of game this is: one you return to regularly rather than dip into on a whim.

A squad that moves with the real season

The feature I find most interesting is the weekly data download. Rather than shipping a fixed set of teams and leaving them alone, the game pulls in updates that reflect player transfers and match achievements from real life. That means the squad you are building is tied to the current state of the sport, and a strong run of form or a January move can change what your options look like.

That rhythm gives the game a natural reason to come back week after week. You are not just replaying the same fixtures with the same names; you are working with a picture of the season as it unfolds. For anyone who already follows a league closely, that overlap between the real game and the virtual one is likely to be the main draw.

It also means the game asks for some patience. Following the weekly updates and adjusting your team is an ongoing process rather than a one-off setup, and the value you get out of it depends on how much you enjoy that kind of tinkering.

Learning the controls without the frustration

Konami has clearly thought about the first few hours. After you download the game, a step-by-step tutorial walks you through the basic controls with practical demonstrations. Complete the whole thing and you are given Lionel Messi, which is a neat way of making sure newcomers actually finish it rather than skipping straight into a match.

The other piece aimed at new players is Smart Assist. With it enabled, you can get past a defense with a dribble or a pass and finish with a shot without entering complex commands. I would expect this to be the setting that decides whether a newcomer sticks with the game, because it lowers the barrier while the manual controls are still unfamiliar.

What appeals to me about this pairing is that it addresses the usual problem with long-running sports games: the assumption that you already know how everything works. Here the game teaches you, then offers a way to play competently while you learn the rest at your own pace.

Building players your own way

Player development is the long-term project at the center of eFootball. Special items and matches are how players get stronger over time. The recent update added Select Skill Token and Select Position Token, which let you choose a specific skill or position to train a player in, so development is no longer purely a matter of what you happen to receive.

If that sounds like more management than you want, Auto Select develops players automatically. I would expect most casual players to lean on that and let the game handle the details, while anyone who enjoys squad building will want to make the choices themselves. The two approaches sit comfortably side by side, which is a sensible design choice.

My Team also gained an Order of Signing setting for manager sorting. It is a small quality-of-life change, but it points to a game that is still being adjusted rather than left as it was.

Matches with friends and shared squads

As well as facing other users worldwide, there are matches against friends and co-op games of up to three per side. That opens up a different way to play: rather than controlling a whole team alone, you can share the pitch with people you know and coordinate across positions.

Co-op with three a side strikes me as the most social option here, and it is the sort of mode that works best with a group who already play together regularly. Setting up a match with friends is a different commitment from a solo session, but it gives the game a second life once you have a squad you are happy with.

Because the game is online, all of this depends on a stable connection. Konami strongly recommends one to get the most out of play, which is worth weighing if your connection is inconsistent.

Making the stadium your own

Stadium customization is a smaller but distinctive part of the package. You collect Stadium Elements such as Tifos and Giant Props, then arrange them to give your home ground a particular look. It is cosmetic rather than competitive, but it adds a layer of personal identity that a lot of sports games skip.

I would treat this as a nice extra rather than a reason to play. If you enjoy the presentation side of soccer and want your matches to feel like they belong to your club, it is a welcome addition; if you only care about results, it will not change much about how the game plays.

Coins, loot boxes and regional rules

The monetization deserves a clear look, because it is not uniform across the world. The game is free to download and supported by ads and in-game purchases, and among those purchases are loot boxes paid for with eFootball Coins. Access to those loot boxes depends on where you live.

Coin-based loot boxes are unavailable to residents of Belgium, and to under-18s in Brazil. In Germany, Denmark and the United States, younger players need consent from a parent or legal guardian to access loot boxes that use Coins, with the age thresholds set at under 12, under 15 and under 16 respectively. If you are setting the game up for a younger player, those rules are worth knowing before any money is involved.

The practical point is that this is a free game with a paid layer attached, and how much of that layer you encounter depends on your region and your age. I would go in expecting the ads and the store to be part of the experience rather than something you can ignore entirely.

What you need before you start

The setup requirements are straightforward but non-negotiable. The download and installation need about 3.1 GB of free storage, so it is worth clearing space first. Konami recommends a Wi-Fi connection for the base game and any updates, which makes sense given the size and the fact that data is refreshed over time.

A stable connection is strongly recommended for the best experience. If you mostly play on the move with unreliable signal, that is a real constraint rather than a minor one.

New features, modes, events and gameplay improvements are being added on an ongoing basis, and the game was updated as recently as October 2026. So the version you install is not the version you will be playing in a year, which cuts both ways: there is always something new, and there is always something to re-learn.

A long-term soccer project worth committing to

eFootball is best understood as a game you adopt rather than sample. The weekly data, the player development, the co-op matches and the steady stream of updates all reward regular involvement. If you want a soccer game that tracks the real season and gives you a squad to shape over months, this is a strong fit, and the free download makes trying it a low-risk decision.

The caveats are real but manageable. You need a stable connection, around 3.1 GB of space and a tolerance for ads and in-game purchases, including region-specific rules around Coin loot boxes. Players who want a self-contained soccer game they can play offline will find this one pulls in the opposite direction.

For newcomers, the tutorial and Smart Assist make the first steps approachable, and the Messi reward gives you something to aim for immediately. For returning PES players, the rebrand has not changed the core idea: build a team, follow the season, and keep playing. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a free, ongoing soccer game and does not mind it being an online one.

What's new in version 11.1.0

■ Feature Addition and Changes ・ Added "Select Skill Token", a new feature where users can select a skill to train a player in. ・ Added "Select Position Token", a new feature where users can select a position to train a player in. ・ Added "Order of Signing" to the options available for sorting managers in My Team. ■ Updates and Additions ・ Updated various in-game data. Fixes for various other issues were also applied in this update. Check out the News section in-game for more information.