For many years now I have been playing the free online manager football game Trophy Manager. In this realistic game that has been around since 2006, you are the manager of a football team that you create and name yourself. My team Oppe Ruiver '08 I founded in 2008. The goal of the game, of course, is to manage your team better than everyone else and lead them to many victories. You play against real opponents and not against a computer player. That makes it extra fun and challenging. The question before each game is: how can I outwit the opponent's manager?

Three league matches per week are played on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. You can view them live on your screen in real time or later in summary. In addition, there is the national cup tournament and you can organize friendly competitions. If you are very good, you will even be eligible for the international club competition and you can make a big shot at the UETA Champions Cup.! Your top players can also be called up for international matches.

As a manager, you have extensive options to determine the policy. Not only can you determine the setup (3-5-2 or 4-4-2 for example) but you can also send your players to the field with individual orders. For example, you can set them to play a little more defensive if they are up with 3-0 10 minutes before time. Or just full on the attack if the opposite is the case. And then of course you also bring that extra battering ram of a striker in!

Right now, my club is in third place in the Second Division. The number 1 will promote directly to the first division and the number 2 through 4 will play promotion - degradation matches. So this season I have a chance to promote to a higher division!

And this is my stadium! A whopping 50000 spectators fit in the Ruiver's Nest. The top clubs of Trophy Manager have even bigger stadiums of us 110000 spectators. So my stadium has an average size. The more successful your club is, the more fans will visit the matches. So you have to expand the stadium regularly.