They say if something is too boring, it can seem like it goes on forever. But if something is really interesting, then you could end up engaging with it for 416 years. That was the case for Pawel Sicinski, who now holds the Guiness World Record for the longest single game of Football Manager – 416 years and 134 days. According to Guinness World Records, Sicinski started his Football Manager 2018 record on January 4, 2018 and went on till May 18, 2434, all while taking only 260 days off. In that time he looked over 460 seasons, playing 22,300 football matches, scoring 58,900 goals in all competitions, resulting in him winning a total of 1258 trophies. The previous record holder was Sepp Hedel, who put in 1,940 real-world hours and watched over 333 seasons. He also went on to score 42,672 goals, winning 258 league titles, 729 cup competitions, and a total of 1028 awards. It's clear from Sicinski and Hedel's achievements that Football Manager has carved the perfect little niche for itself and is at no real risk of being dethroned as the go-to football sim as there just isn't any noteworthy competition. However, the devs may have to up their game as there's another football management sim on the horizon, and it's by one of the world's best players.
Back in November last year, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski announced that Football Coach: The Game. It is the debut game of Lewa's own RL9sport studio. "I am a part of this generation that spent most of the time outside, playing with the ball, but also got into video games," said the prolific striker at the time. "One day, when I was playing with my friends, I had this idea: what if I made my own game and showed what my work looks like from the backstage?"
But the title will be giving a new spin to the football management sim genre by adding RPG elements to it – apparently Lewandowski's own idea. The manager would have different classes like Fan Favourite, Football Legend, Analytics Master, etc.