Itsagoal

Itsagoal (also known as IAG) is a browser based, online football management game which is free to play. The game was developed in the UK by ITSAGOAL.com LTD, and first released in 2001. It is based around the financial management of a football club, as well as tactics, player coaching and team management. The game has been listed on one site amongst the top 20 online football manager games. The site is also listed in the amongst other established fantasy soccer games online.
The game is free to play and whilst there is an option to subscribe, subscribers get no significant gameplay advantage over users with free accounts. The general aim of the game is to manage a football club by choosing your team's tactics and line-up, organising training, setting ticket prices, dealing in the transfer market, negotiating contracts with current players and organising your backroom staff. There is also the option to set up a youth academy containing up to eight players between the ages of 12 - 18, who on turning 16 can be offered a first team place, or be given more time to progress at youth level.
History
The original Itsagoal was created in 2001, introducing the green interface and menu system which would continue right up until the current version. The original game contained a large number of leagues and clubs, and the general consensus was that the gameplay was too easy and the game structure too disorganised. This resulted in the game being taken off the site by the developers.
The site was relaunched on October 27, 2006, and was commonly referred to as Itsagoal2, or IAG2.
Itsagoal was further updated with a relaunch on October 22, 2015, as Itsagoal.org with the intention of increasing numbers of active managers, and improving gameplay.
Itsagoal2 features
Gameplay
Games were played at 3 am UK time, when the game updates are also processed. League games took place on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with cup matches being played on Wednesdays and Saturdays where applicable. There was also the option to play a reserve match on Wednesdays at 5 pm, and on days during the off season. There was a second update at 5 p.m. each day, which was useful for checking other aspects of management, such as transfer news and contract negotiations. The season was 70 days long.
League structure
As of season 24, Itsagoal2 consisted of 12 leagues, each containing 10 divisions. Each division contained 20 teams, with three teams moving up and three teams moving down divisions every season.
Competitions
As well as a league schedule, Itsagoal2 had two other main knock-out cup competitions. The first was the League Cup, a cup competition played out between teams of the same league. The second was the main cup competition on Itsagoal2 - the IAG Super Cup. The super cup involved every team in every league in the game, with a completely open draw.
Transfers
The transfer system used by Itsagoal was based on a bidding system, and were commonly referred to as bidding 'wars' between managers.
Youth academy
Itsagoal gave managers the option to set up a youth academy, containing a maximum of eight youth players. In order to run a youth academy, managers needed to hire a scout to find youth players, and a youth coach to train them (see below). Players could be offered promotion to the first team by the manager once the player reached 16 and had been in the academy for 21 days. However, the manager could also choose to keep the player in the academy until he reached 18, upon which date he would automatically be offered promotion to the first team.
Youth players would not always accept promotion to the first team, but it was generally considered that a longer time in the academy would increases the chances of a youth player signing a provisional professional contract with the first team.
Staff
Managers were able to assemble a team of back room staff and coaches, each having their own area of the club to work on, depending on which role the manager had recruited them for. The five staff roles available were as follows:
* Assistant Manager - in charge of giving the half time team talk and helping the manager when set pieces or substitutions were set to auto. If the manager was away and the starting line-up was incomplete, the assistant manager would complete the team selection.
* Coach - Responsible for training players.
* Youth Coach - Required to run a youth academy. The youth coach was solely responsible for training youths.
* Scout - Could be assigned to report on matches, search for transfer listed players, or find new youth players for the academy.
* Physio - Maintained squad health and fitness, and looked after injured players.
Community
The game contained a set of integrated forums, as well as blogs and stories sections, which managers use to discuss a range of issues from the game itself, to general non-football topics. However, the forums did not allow managers to discuss game issues in detail which might give other managers an advantage. This non-sharing of critical game information was unique for a game of this type.
Subscription
Subscribers got access to additional features, which were not considered to give any advantage over free account users. These included things such as the ability to play friendly matches, customise the club badge, save tactics and organise training schedules.
Itsagoal.org
The new version of the game, which was released at 00:01 on Saturday, August 22, 2015, is based on the previous version but contains a number of significant changes. Ownership of the game had now passed to IAG Games Ltd.
* Leagues are based on established soccer playing countries. Each League contains five divisions of twenty clubs.
* The season is now 56 days long.
* League matches are played on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Cup matches on Wednesday on Saturday.
* Match times are variable: 10:00 for reserve and friendly matches, with League and Cup matches played at 12:00, 15:00 or 18:00.
* The main site update takes place at 20:00, with a second update at 08:00.
* There is a live Match Feed in real time, giving details of goals, bookings and sendings off.
* Transfers moved to a system of blind bidding.
* A new Cup has been introduced for inter-divisional competition, limited to the top six teams in each League's top division, and the top three in other divisions.

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