2.1.7: the youth academy, and eight new countries

10 September 2026:

Version 2.1.7 has been on Google Play, Steam, itch.io and in the browser since
today. It is the largest update since 2.1.0, and it is about the youth.

One home-grown player becomes a whole academy

Until now the youth produced one player a season, fully developed and without any
input from you. The club now runs three intakes: U15, U17 and U19, each age group
with its own league, its own table and its own scorer list.

The academy has five levels, and they decide the number of places, the training
budget, individual training and trial weeks. Training goes by position, and match
practice counts towards it: an appearance, a goal, an assist and a clean sheet all
pay into the same account.

The first pro contract from 16 is also the promotion into the squad, and it is the
only protection against another club poaching the talent. Anyone still unsigned at
19 leaves at the season change. The same works the other way round: the scout
travels in three ranges, each with its own price and its own waiting time, and the
board shows which talents other clubs are releasing.

Eight new countries, each with its real format

Seven playable countries have become fifteen: Austria, Switzerland, the
Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Portugal and Argentina. In each case the
real league format was looked up, and whatever the game could not yet do for it
was built.

- Netherlands, Portugal and Poland: 18 clubs, 34 matchdays. Poland deliberately
without a split, which was abolished there in 2021.
- Austria and Denmark split into two groups after 22 matchdays. Austria halves the
points, Denmark carries them over.
- Switzerland plays three rounds over 33 matchdays and only then splits. 38
matchdays, the longest season in the game.
- Belgium plays 30 matchdays, then a championship round of the top six and a
qualification group of the remaining ten.
- Argentina: 30 clubs in two zones, two tournaments a season and therefore two
champions a year. Relegation does not hang on this season but on a three-year
points average.

All fifteen countries start from the real 2026/27 season. Champions, promoted and
relegated clubs, last season's placings, cup winners and European entrants are
correct, qualifying rounds included: a club that has to go through qualifying in
reality has to do it here too.

And what is not built in, you can build yourself

Inside the game you can build further countries from 37 templates, with clubs,
players, sponsors, referees and a calendar. No purchase, one tap is enough. The
preview tells you in advance how many European places the country gets and what it
costs in storage.

The commentary had 523 lines nobody ever heard

They sat in the game, translated, and were never drawn. Now you hear them:
kick-off has twenty variants instead of five, injuries nine instead of one, and
saves, clearances and cards get a follow-up line. A player's name now sits in a
whole sentence instead of being stuck on the end, which repaired the word order
everywhere a language does not put the name last.

Small things that had annoyed for a while

A league title is now booked on the final matchday, not eleven weeks later at the
season review. The underdog title is within reach again. Every league table sorts
by the same rule; two diverging copies used to decide TV money and promotion. And
on the English interface every player used to count as a foreigner.

A game week with nine active countries runs twice as fast as before. The
background matches compute the same result character for character as they did:
nothing has been simplified, it is only quicker.

Two things that are not in it

The penalty shootout close-up is finished but is deliberately not shipping with
this version. It will come later. What went into it is in the
Dev Log.

And the App Store still carries 2.1.5. The iOS build follows.

Where to go next

See it on Google Play,
on Steam,
play in the browser or read the
full changelog. The item about 2.1.5 and
2.1.6 is here.