Best football themed slots for EURO 2024

Introduction

Football boots are being polished, fixtures are being checked, and confident fans are getting their bets in. The Euros have arrived! As football fever consumes Europe, dabbling in the world of football themed slots is a great way to celebrate. 

It’s no surprise that football and slots go hand in hand. Sports enthusiasts and football fans tend to enjoy the occasional flutter, and competitive sports have inspired many slot games over the years. The best football themed slots are concerned with all sorts of familiar aspects of The Beautiful Game, giving them extra appeal to footie fans.

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of no wagering casinos, so this article will explore some of the best football related slots that can be played at online casinos with player-friendly terms and conditions. 

There’s no better time to take a look at some of the many great football related slots…

Overview

For those who want to jump straight in, here’s our pick of the top football inspired slots available to play now:

Football: Champions Cup – Trust NetEnt to top the list! Football: Champions Cup came out back in 2016 for the Euros, but it’s aged well. It uses a variety of mini-games to keep the gameplay gripping, and the 96.82% RTP rate is genuinely impressive too. Football: Champions Cup even gives players the option of selecting a team, which is a nice touch.

Developer:

NetEnt

RTP:

96.82%

Max payout:

1,000x stake

Volatility:

Medium-High

Reels:

5

Lines:

20

Theme:

Sports

Release date:

23rd May 2016

Lothar Matthäus Be a Winner – Dedicated to the 1990s' West German captain Lothar Matthäus, this is a well-rounded offering from Skywind with some genuinely crazy gameplay. Lothar Matthäus Be a Winner boasts loads of fun features, all wrapped up in a premium, well-designed package. 

Developer:

Skywind

RTP:

93.90%

Max payout:

750x stake

Volatility:

Medium-High

Reels:

5

Lines:

15

Theme:

Sports

Release date:

26th May 2019

Football Glory – Packed full of football themed features, Football Glory is Yggdrasil’s answer to football slots. There are multiple different ways to trigger free spins, and some of the bonus features, such as the ‘Glory Bars’ and various different play modes, are quite novel.

Developer:

Yggdrasil

RTP:

96.10%

Max payout:

4,000x stake

Volatility:

Medium-High

Reels:

5

Lines:

25

Theme:

Sports

Release date:

12th Aug 2020

Football Star Deluxe – A 2020 sequel to the popular 2014 Football Star, Football Star Deluxe boasts a max win of 3,200x your stake, high RTP and volatility, and an adjustable number of paylines. This is a well balanced title with a good deal of football-related fun to offer. Football Star Deluxe marks yet another goal for Microgaming.

Developer:

Microgaming

RTP:

96.88%

Max payout:

3,200x stake

Volatility:

High

Reels:

5

Lines:

88

Theme:

Sports

Release date:

28th May 2020

Football Mania Deluxe – This Wazdan-produced title has enough going for it that it should appeal to a wide range of players, even those who aren’t necessarily football mad. Expect a unique design with some fairly straightforward gameplay and an adjustable volatility level.

Developer:

Wazdan

RTP:

96.59%

Max payout:

1,000x stake

Volatility:

Adjustable

Reels:

9

Theme:

Sports

Release date:

11th Jun 2018

And if you’re looking for a no wagering casino that you can browse for other football related slot titles, these are a great place to start:

Casino basics

Before we kick off and take a closer look at how football slots work, it can be helpful for players to have a look at some of No Wagering's handy 'how to' player guides:

• Keep an eye out for red flags when choosing an online casinos.

• Some no wagering casinos offer better bonuses than others.

• Low wagering casinos are also well worth checking out.

• Some myths circulate, but they shouldn’t all be taken at face value.

• It’s essential that players understand the terms and conditions of slot sites.

Football as a theme in slot games

There are various ways in which football can influence slot gaming. Sometimes it’s more of an aesthetic thing, whereas other games allow their entire layouts, formats and mechanics to be informed by football.

The most popular games manage to strike a healthy balance between these elements, resulting in a slot that combines the appeal of a football-related design, while allowing the underpinning game to work its magic.

Some football related slots are only loosely themed around the game, using basic football cards or football related iconography. One example of this would be Football: Champions Cup. Others are more specifically themed, referencing particular teams or football legends, like Lothar Matthäus Be a Winner.

Numerous developers have made efforts to blend football with slots, including some of the biggest and most highly regarded names in the industry. Companies like NetEnt, Yggdrasil and Microgaming have all tried their hand at producing sports-centric titles.

Bonus features in football themed slots

In football themed slots, bonus features tend to be related to football too. Often, they function in much the same way as in regular slots, but are renamed, redesigned or re-skinned to relate to free kicks, trophies and, of course, goal scoring.

Bonus features and bonus rounds are a huge part of playing slots. They’re generally the only way to access the biggest prizes, so they tend to be what players are working towards most of the time.

Sticky wilds, for instance, such as those found in Playtech’s Top Trumps Football Stars: Sporting Legends, appear during the bonus round and stick around for a while. In this game, sticky wilds are triggered when a stray football bounces across the grid and lands on a player. This is just one example of how football has inspired and influenced bonus features.

Scatters and wilds

Scatter symbols can trigger bonuses by appearing anywhere on the grid, not necessarily together or on consecutive reels. For example, in the five-reel Football: Champions Cup slot from NetEnt, the bonus feature is unlocked when three scatter symbols are landed. 

Wild symbols are those which can essentially fill in for the symbol you’re missing. Think of them as being a bit like the blank tile in a game of Scrabble. Wilds can be used to replace any paying symbol and complete a win line. For instance, Football: Champions Cup features a ‘Scoring Wilds’ function which can lead to some decent wins.

Taking advantage of scatters and wilds is often key to triggering the bonus round, and therefore to scoring big wins. For this reason, players will want to familiarise themselves with each specific game’s pay table, features, and what each symbol means.

Bonus games

The process of actually getting into the bonus game can vary from one slot to the next. Often, it’ll include landing specific symbol combinations, such as a certain number of scatter symbols. Other times, it may require you to fill up a progress bar or meet some other requirement. Some games, such as Football Mania Deluxe, have more than one footie-themed bonus round.

Many slot titles really come into their own when you reach the bonus round. This is where you’re likely to find the most exciting game features, as well as the biggest wins. Once you do get into the bonus round of a football related slot, you’ll find that the theme is sometimes even accentuated. 

Bonus rounds/games come in various different forms. Some are essentially mini-games that temporarily take the player away from the base game. Others occur in-game and take the shape of multipliers, cascades, or jackpots.

Take the time to find out what the various symbols of a football themed slot game actually mean, and learn what it takes to activate bonus features. Football theme or not, slot games are a lot more fun when you actually know how to play them!

Football themed slots and the gaming experience

The overall experience of playing football themed online slots is a fun one, assuming you’re a fan of the game!

However, as is the case with all genres of slots, the quality and experience varies from one title to the next. There’s also the personal preference element to factor in - not everybody’s playstyles and interests are the same.

The most well-executed football slot machine games use visual graphics and sound effects to their advantage. This means utilising imagery (team colours, green pitches, footballs) and soundscapes (roaring crowds, referees’ whistles) that will seem familiar to fans of the game.

Some games, which focus on football icons such as Lothar Matthäus Be a Winner, lean heavily into their theme. Others, like Football Star Deluxe, are more broad and generic, but no less fun! If you’re in the market for football themed slot games, check out our reviews and consider trying out a couple of different ones before you settle on a favourite.

Paylines and ways to win

When comparing slot machines – football themed or otherwise – one of the main things to look at is the pay table. This will tell you how many ways to win there are, and the sort of combos that you should aim to hit. Paylines determine which spins are wins, and they’re the most basic element of a slot game.

The number of paylines/ways to win can vary massively between games. There may be just a couple, as is the case in many of the more traditional slot machines. Alternatively, there may be hundreds of thousands, as in modern online slots and Megaways games. Some, such as Football Star Deluxe, have a variable number of paylines.

If you’re a football fan who is looking to win big on one of these slots, you’ll definitely want to be aware of which lines pay what. Paylines aren’t in any way unique to football themed online slot games – they’re an essential component of every slot game.

Free spins and spin symbols

A free spins feature is like a bonus feature, but it exists for the sole purpose of rewarding the player with free spins. In the context of a football themed title, these often take the shape of a free kick or penalty shootout, as is the case with the ‘Free Spins Tournament’ in Football: Champions Cup.

Often, free spins are triggered by hitting free spin symbols. These work exactly as you’d imagine: if you score a winning combination with a free spin symbol in it, you’ll be rewarded.

This is a fairly common feature, and you’ll find that most slot games offer some variation of a free spins feature. Free spins are a straightforward and cost-effective way for the slot game to entertain and reward the player.

Rolling reels

In the world of slots, not unlike in the world of football, there’s quite a lot of terminology to get your head around, and things can sometimes get a bit complicated. The terms 'tumbling’, ‘avalanche’, ‘cascading’ and ‘rolling’ can all be used to describe reels. Rolling reels are those which fall from the top of the screen and offer an increased number of chances to win.

Basically, symbols land on a pay line and vanish as you win, then are replaced by more symbols that drop down into their place. This can trigger a chain of wins if you’re lucky. Note that these additional chances to win are already reflected in the RTP of the game.

Conclusion

Popular football themed slots can provide a great entry point for fans of The Beautiful Game looking to try their hand at online slots. Equally, more seasoned slot players should explore this genre if they haven’t already. 

By combining the familiar mainstays of football with winning slot formats and mechanics, some great developers have produced entertaining football themed games with wide appeal.

There’s quite a lot of variety even within the football themed online slots genre, so it’s worth trying a few different games out to see what suits your style of play. 

These titles get a boost in popularity during the season or a big football tournament like the Euros or World Cup, but they’re more than capable of providing fun all year round. Consider checking out one of the above games and seeing if you’ve got what it takes to score a few goals!