About

The Story Behind
Openfoot Manager

A passion project born from the love of football and open-source software.

What is Openfoot Manager?

Openfoot Manager is a desktop football management simulation game where you take the role of a football club manager. You make tactical decisions, manage your squad, handle finances, hire staff, configure training, and watch matches unfold minute-by-minute. All powered by a sophisticated match engine written in Rust.

Unlike commercial alternatives, Openfoot Manager is completely free, open source, and fully offline: no internet connection, no microtransactions, no DRM. The game is designed to be moddable, with externalized data files that let the community create custom leagues, teams, and player databases.

How It Started

This project was inspired by Bygfoot, a free and open-source football management game written in C with a GTK 2 interface. While Bygfoot showed that open-source football management was possible, it had become outdated and was no longer actively maintained.

In 2020, the project began as a hobby project written in Python. After several rewrites and years of learning, it evolved into the current Rust-based implementation with a modern React frontend, using Tauri for cross-platform desktop distribution.

What Can You Do?

Manage Your Squad

Pick formations, set tactics, choose play styles, and assign set piece takers.

Watch Live Matches

Minute-by-minute simulation with broadcast-style UI, live stats, and speed controls.

Train Your Players

6 training focuses, 3 intensity levels, age-based progression, and staff bonuses.

Hire Staff

Coaches, physios, and scouts — each with specializations that impact gameplay.

Compete in Leagues

16-team double round-robin with live standings, fixture calendar, and results.

Handle Finances

Manage budgets, wages, transfers, and loans to keep your club sustainable.

Read the News

Procedurally generated match reports, transfer rumors, injury updates, and editorials.

Mod the Game

Create custom leagues, teams, and players with externalized JSON data files.

Technology

The game is built with a modern technology stack designed for performance, reliability, and developer experience:

  • Rust: The game engine, delivering memory-safe, blazing-fast match simulation.
  • React 19 + TypeScript: The user interface, with a broadcast-style "Matchday" design.
  • Tauri v2: The desktop shell, producing lightweight cross-platform binaries.
  • SQLite: Save game persistence with multiple save slots.
  • Tailwind CSS: Utility-first styling with dark/light theme support.
  • i18next: Internationalization with 5 languages.

How to Contribute

Openfoot Manager is a community-driven project and contributions are welcome from everyone:

  • Report bugs or propose features via GitHub Issues.
  • Submit code via Fork & Pull workflow to the develop branch.
  • Create content — custom databases, translations, logos, documentation.
  • Spread the word — star the repo, share on social media, tell friends.
View on GitHub Contributing Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I download the game?
The game is currently in active early development (v0.1.0 alpha). There is no public release yet. Follow the GitHub repository for release announcements, or check back on this blog.
Can I see matches in 3D?
Currently, matches are simulated with a broadcast-style UI showing live events, stats, and commentary. A 3D match viewer is not planned for the initial release, but could be explored in the future.
Does this project use AI?
Yes. The project received generative AI assistance, from both Google Antigravity and Claude Opus 4.6. Without this assistance, the project would not evolve rapidly enough to reach a public alpha release. AI helped iterate faster on boilerplate code, documentation, content generation, translation and experimentation with UI and engine features. However, the code was thoroughly reviewed and audited by human developers to ensure it met the project's quality standards.
When is version 1.0 coming out?
There is no fixed release date. The project is developed by a solo developer in spare time. Contributions from the community are welcome and will help accelerate development.
What platforms are supported?
Openfoot Manager targets Windows, macOS, and Linux via Tauri. A single codebase produces native binaries for all three platforms.
Is this affiliated with Football Manager™?
No. Openfoot Manager is an independent, community-driven open-source project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or related to any commercial football management game.