25 essential sports games to fill your Android collection
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Updated May 31, 2021: New entries added
Ever since the days of Pong, video games have been simulating sport. That famously pure game of back and forth is essentially a game of tennis.
You can see why the video game pioneers turned to sport for their subject material. Each sport comes with its own readily understood, clearly defined ruleset.
That's not to say that every sports game has to be a slave to the real thing. Plenty of them play fast and loose with the rules, while some have no equivalent in the real world.
You'll find all types of sports games in the following list. Nowhere is the sheer diversity of sports games more apparent than on the Google Play Store.
Have we missed your own personal favourite Android sports game? Join the conversation in the comments below.
New Star Soccer takes a sideways leap into new territory. This time you're responsible for the running of an entire football club, not just a player, resulting in an even deeper and more enthralling casual simulation of the beautiful game.
A genuine, bone fide version of Football Manager right here on our Android devices. Football Manager 2021 Touch is one of the deepest portable games of any genre.
This charming game lets you train up your very own MMA fighter, as well as handling his humdrum life outside of the ring. There's no actual hands-on fighting in Punch Club, but you'll feel thoroughly involved all the same.
New Star Soccer, in which a footballer's career is broken down into entertainingly bite-sized mini-games, is a footy game that even non-football fans can enjoy.
A beautiful and immensely generous skiing and snowboarding game that's packed full of challenges, but which is underpinned by a sense of free-roaming exploration.
Real golf is has a reputation for being slightly stuffy and elitist, but Super Stickman Golf 3 supplies a welcome sense of silliness and accessibility to the sport.
With expert ball physics, stunning graphics, and a water-tight control system, you'll be surprised at just how thrilling a game of digital ping pong can be.
Touchgrind Skate 2 makes you feel like touchscreen phones were invented so that you could use your fingers in place of your feet to flick your way to skateboard trick nirvana.
Retro Bowl is essentially New Star American Football, offering a familiar blend of light management and tactile phase-based minigames come game day. It won our award for the best sports game in 2020 for a reason. If you are looking for a sports game on Android, this one is definitely a nice pick.
Like the Stickman Golf series? Golf Blitz takes those proven arcade-golf mechanics and funnels them into an online multiplayer putt-off. It's really rather brilliant.
Here's another skateboarding game that asks you to stand your fingers on a virtual board. Indeed, True Skate also gets you to push yourself along with your finger.
Super Soccer Champs 2020 harks back to the time of the home computer footy game greats like Sensible Soccer and Kick Off. Which basically means it's a deceptively deep and nuanced arcade kick-about.
Tokyo 2020 might never have taken place thanks to Covid-19, but Sonic at the Olympic Games – Tokyo 2020's various sporting mini games are still well worth playing.
Essentially Rocket League on your phone, Motorball switches to a simple top-down perspective and scales things back to condensed, moreish 1v1 face-offs.
This is another Colin Lane joint, which means that Touchdowners only superficially resembles its host sport. Who cares, though, when getting the ball into the end zone is this much fun?
Snooker is a deeply demanding, technical game, and this latest mobile take on the sport captures that skilful edge. The ball physics and player likenesses are spot on.
Bike Unchained 2 plays a bit like a 3D version of Tiny Wings, but with downhill mountain biking taking the place of cutesy birds and psychedelic hills. It's pretty darned fun, too.
Another hilarious wrestling game from Colin Lane, the creator of Wrassling. It's got the same pumped-up 2D physics-based action, but this time with a proper career mode to enjoy.
Can we take another zany casual golf game on mobile? When it's as good as Dinkigolf, you'd better believe we can. Featuring a pleasingly bonkers edge and sprawling, twisting levels, it's great fun.
Golf Peaks is isn't really a golf game in the traditional sense. Rather, it's an isometric card-based puzzler where you must play the hand necessary to convey the ball to the hole. What matters is it's brilliant fun.
You would have thought that playing any sport by rolling dice would make for the most boring game ever. Bottom of the 9th is nothing of the sort, though, thanks to a streamlined ruleset and charming presentation.
2K has gradually refined its mammoth basketball sim for mobile play, to the point where this year's version offers a startlingly rich console-like sports experience. If you're into your b-ball, you need to download it from Google Store!
PGA Golf Tour Shootout sits firmly between arcade golf and golf simulation, and stirs in fancy 3D graphics and online play. It's the kind of game golf fanatics and total noobs alike will love. With this, we are closing the list of best sports games on Android, if you think something should be added or removed from the list, let us know.
