Soccer Clash 2026 promised to be a six-goal thriller yet delivered a bore draw

With the World Cup well and truly underway, it's not surprising that many developers are getting in on the action, whether that's with completely new games or events in existing ones. Among the mountain of stuff we've seen, Soccer Clash caught my attention. And no, not because I'm from the UK and we call it football. There isn't a less eye-rolling inducing, never-ending debate than that, besides people still bickering about Die Hard’s status as a Christmas film. Who cares is the only correct answer. Just enjoy Bruce Willis mucking about with Alan Rickman.  

Ahem, sorry. Anyway, the reason Soccer Clash appealed to me is that the trailer shows off flick mechanics for shooting, which set off my nostalgia alarm. You see, one of my favourite ever mobile games is Flick Kick Football. I spent many an IT lesson back in school trying to beat my high score when I was supposed to be learning how databases work. But hey, I work for this website. So, I think I had my priorities in order, don't you?

Unlike Flick Kick Football, Soccer Clash isn't about trying to score increasingly more difficult shots. Instead, it sees you facing off against another person in a 1v1 match. You and your opponent take turns booting the ball at each other's goal, acting as the striker one moment and the keeper the next. Honestly, it's a pretty compelling concept, and I was hoping it'd lead to some fast-paced and tense bouts. Unfortunately, much like England at most international tournaments, it comes up short. 

There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the element I was looking forward to, the flick mechanics, doesn't possess the level of variation I was after. A quick swipe leads to a more powerful shot, while holding for longer turns your effort into a lob. There's also the option to strike the ball sweetly on the volley, depending on the type of shot your opponent does. And while that sounds like quite a few options, in practise, volleys are rare, and lobs are only for when your opponent ends up very far away from their goal. 

Underwhelming tekkers

I was, perhaps naively, hoping to curve shots around the keeper's outstretched hand and into the back of the net. Instead, everything plays out a lot more like tennis, where you drag the opposition from side to side until there's a big enough gap to slot home. The strategy, if we can call it that, is to do so without the ball hitting the backboard, since that’s out, with positions being reset immediately after. 

To keep things a little more interesting, you pick a player based on a country, with each coming with two different skills. That might be every third shot becoming imbued with extra power or gaining invisibility after a shot, concealing your positioning. And while the visual side of this is nice, it doesn't have a massive impact on the game. At least in the early levels. Perhaps once your players are upgraded - the usual collect duplicates and then spend in-game currency approach - it will. 

In the time I've spent with it, though, it falls into a poor space for multiplayer games. It's fun when you're winning, and it feels unfair or unlucky when you're losing. Now, if we flip that and remove victory blindness, we'll realise that when we're winning, it's probably unfair or unlucky as well. The problem is that there's too much computer involvement with your player chasing down the ball. Sure, you can tell them to reposition shortly after shooting, but sometimes they've gone so far away from the goal that conceding is inevitable. 

It left me feeling there's not all that much skill involved, something that more varied flick mechanics might have rectified. It's free, so by all means give it a try and see for yourself. But while it's fun here and there, it doesn't have the longevity for a storied career.