On the Ball

On the Ball is a soccer management sim created by Ascon and published in 1993 for the Amiga, including AGA models, and PC MS-DOS.

The game, designed and programmed by Gerald Köhler, was initially released with the title Anstoss. The title is not just another clone of Championship Manager / Football Manager; On The Ball offers a different gaming experience. It's very realistic and full of details, but it's not based on pure statistics and numbers. You might say it's based on "emotions" rather than numbers. Psychology, in fact, plays an important role. For example, you will know that one of your players has a certain level of stamina or ability, but the game could also tell you that he has just got married, and this influenced his happiness. The attitude, composure, and self-confidence are also critical. The fact that the game doesn't have any official license means that all the names are invented, so you cannot spot the top players just because their name is Giggs, Zola, Cantona, or Van Basten. You will have to figure it out for yourself.

Your ability as a manager will be necessary, but you will also have to be a great leader. For example, you will have to give speeches to the team during half time, criticizing what was terrible and praising what was right. What you say will actually influence the performance of the players during the second half.

The matches are represented with the highlights, with a lot of cutscenes and animations. You will see that the developers put a lot of attention to the graphics, that is another strong point of this title.

On the Ball is an excellent game, with a lot of details, maybe not so accessible at the beginning (but you can change the difficulty level) but definitely rewarding in a long time. Many consider it one of the best soccer sims of the 90s, and you try it, you might think the same.