Games like Bola Social Soccer fall into two families: soccer management games, where you run a club, such as Top Eleven, Hattrick and Online Soccer Manager, and online soccer games where you play the match itself, such as Football Superstars, EA Sports FC Online and Soccer Stars. Bola mixes both, because you manage a club and also play short matches. This page walks through each group and also lists the other FB Games titles you can try, none of which is a soccer game.
Here is the game: open it in your browser, create a free account of your own and see how a club-management soccer game with playable matches feels.
Run your soccer club: build the squad, upgrade your stadium and compete in tournaments. It plays in the browser and your club is saved to your account.
In beta: parts of the game are still missing and errors may appear.
Bola Social Soccer is a soccer and club-management game with playable matches: you build a squad, upgrade a stadium and play practice games, matches against friends' clubs and tournaments through the PLAY menu.
Its matches are not played in real time against another person; you face a rival team that the game controls. So before you compare, decide what matters most to you: managing a club, playing the match yourself, a Facebook-era feel or a free game in the browser.
None of the other FB Games titles is a soccer game, but they are classics from the Facebook era. Social Empires (Social Point) has you build a village, train troops and defend it from trolls. Social Wars (Social Point, beta) is a war-strategy game in which you build a base, train troops and tanks and attack your rivals. Empires & Allies (Zynga, beta) is empire strategy with resources, troops and vehicles.
Zombie Lane (Digital Chocolate, beta) mixes farming and survival: defend your house from zombies, grow crops and help your neighbors. CityVille (Zynga, beta) is a city builder with houses, businesses, crop plots and rent. Bubble Island (Wooga, beta) is a bubble shooter in which you fire from a cannon, clear the island and climb the weekly tournament.
Wild Ones Rebirth (Playdom, beta) is a turn-based game where you pick a pet and shoot across destructible maps, and The Last Stand: Dead Zone (Con Artist Games, beta) has you build a shelter, recruit survivors and loot a city full of infected. If what you enjoy about Bola is building something up piece by piece, the builders on that list, such as CityVille and Social Empires, are good places to start. Your Bola account is separate from the accounts of the other games.
Top Eleven is a club-management game from Nordeus that launched first on Facebook, in May 2010. Hattrick is a browser-based soccer management game from Hattrick Limited that dates back to 1997.
Online Soccer Manager, known as OSM, comes from Gamebasics BV and is a free soccer management game with multiplayer leagues. Football Manager Live, from Sports Interactive and Sega (2008), is a reminder that online games can disappear: its servers closed in May 2011.
These games put the weight on management decisions. Bola adds matches that you play yourself with the keyboard, each half lasting about a minute.
Football Superstars was a free online soccer game for Windows from Monumental Games and Cybersports (2008), later handled by Coli Games. EA Sports FC Online, formerly FIFA Online 4, is a free soccer game from EA Spearhead published by Nexon, Garena and Tencent. Soccer Stars, from Miniclip, is a table-soccer game with physics, played in online matches.
Bola sits between these and the management games: it runs in a browser, and its matches are short, with a half-time stats screen for possession, shots and fouls. We cannot vouch for what is available of the other games today, so check before you commit time to any of them.
In 2010 Adweek published a World Cup guide to Facebook soccer games that listed Bola alongside FIFA Superstars from EA Sports, The Winning Goal and Epic Goal from Fox Sports and Watercooler. It presented Bola as a Three Melons game owned by Playdom.
We cannot tell you the current status of those titles, so check before you go looking for them.
The stadium is built piece by piece, from a catalog of 64 pieces in 17 types. The World Battle lets you represent one of 12 countries and earn points for it against clubs from other countries, with a world ranking. And matches are short: each half lasts about one real minute.
It is also a beta, so be ready for gaps: the Fans building, the kits tab, the international cup and the World Battle achievements are not in yet, and matches have no cards, injuries, substitutions or offside.
Disney's own mobile take, Disney Bola Soccer (Disney Bola Football in some regions), arrived for iOS and Android on July 3, 2014 as a free download that carried the Facebook game over to phones. It is a different product from this browser edition, and we cannot confirm whether it is still in the stores.
If you searched for games like Bola on a phone and it appeared, treat it as a separate game. The FB Games edition has no app and is designed for a desktop browser.
Ask yourself three questions. Do you want to manage a club or play the match? Do you want it free in a browser? Do you want the feel of a classic Facebook game? Management-first players can look at Top Eleven, Hattrick and Online Soccer Manager, and players who want the match itself can look at Football Superstars, EA Sports FC Online and Soccer Stars.
If you want both in one browser game, Bola Social Soccer is built for exactly that, in beta and with an account of your own.
Three steps and you're in.
From this home page. Each game opens at its own address, with its own start screen.
A quick sign-up inside the game. Your progress is saved on the server, not in your browser.
You play in your browser, with no Flash and no downloads, on a computer and, depending on the game, on your phone too.
For club management there are Top Eleven, Hattrick and Online Soccer Manager. For playing the match there are Football Superstars, EA Sports FC Online and Soccer Stars. Bola Social Soccer combines a club to manage with short matches you play yourself, free in the browser.
Top Eleven, a club-management game from Nordeus, launched first on Facebook in May 2010. In 2010 Adweek also listed FIFA Superstars, The Winning Goal and Epic Goal next to Bola Social Soccer. We cannot say whether those games are still available.
Hattrick, from Hattrick Limited and dating back to 1997, is a browser-based soccer management game, and Online Soccer Manager from Gamebasics BV is a free management game with multiplayer leagues. Bola Social Soccer is a browser game too, and it adds matches you play yourself.
Football Superstars (2008) was a free online soccer game for Windows, and EA Sports FC Online, formerly FIFA Online 4, is a free soccer game published by Nexon, Garena and Tencent. We cannot confirm what is available today. Bola Social Soccer is free and runs in a browser, with no download.
None of the other FB Games titles is a soccer game. They are Social Empires, Social Wars, Empires & Allies, Zombie Lane, CityVille, Bubble Island, Wild Ones Rebirth and The Last Stand: Dead Zone. If you enjoy building up a club piece by piece, CityVille and Social Empires are good starting points.
It is related by name and history: Disney released Disney Bola Soccer on July 3, 2014 as a free iOS and Android game that took the Facebook game to mobile. It is a separate product from this Bola Social Soccer browser edition, and we cannot confirm it is still available.
Both are about running a soccer club. Top Eleven is a management game from Nordeus that launched first on Facebook in May 2010. In Bola Social Soccer you manage a club too, but you also play the matches yourself with the keyboard, in halves of about one real minute.
Football Manager Live, from Sports Interactive and Sega (2008), was an online management game whose servers closed in May 2011. Bola Social Soccer shares the club-management idea, but it also has playable matches, a stadium built piece by piece and a World Battle between 12 countries.
Adweek's 2010 World Cup guide to Facebook soccer games listed Bola Social Soccer alongside FIFA Superstars from EA Sports, The Winning Goal and Epic Goal from Fox Sports and Watercooler. It described Bola as a Three Melons game owned by Playdom.
Bola Social Soccer combines club management with short playable matches, a stadium built from 64 pieces in 17 types, and a World Battle between 12 countries with a world ranking. It is free in your browser, with an account of your own, and in beta, so parts are still missing.
Brand notice: Bola Social Soccer is an original game by Three Melons. Facebook is a trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc. Top Eleven, Hattrick, Online Soccer Manager, Football Manager Live, Football Superstars, EA Sports FC Online, Soccer Stars, FIFA Superstars, The Winning Goal, Epic Goal, Disney Bola Soccer and the FB Games titles named here belong to their respective owners and are mentioned only for comparison. FB Games is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Three Melons, Facebook, Meta or those owners. This is a browser edition.
Creating an account takes a minute, and you play straight from your browser.