''FIFA 06'', known as ''FIFA Soccer 06'' in North America, is a football

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...

video game developed by

EA Canada EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and ...

and published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

under the

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

label. It was released in the United States on 4 October 2005 for the PlayStation 2,

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

, GameCube, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo DS. It was later released for PlayStation Portable,

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

and mobile phones. ''FIFA 06'' was the thirteenth game in the ''FIFA'' series and the tenth in 3D. This was the last ''FIFA'' edition to be released exclusively on sixth-generation consoles. The taglines for the game were "You play. They obey." and "The total soccer experience".

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional association football, footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deplo ...

and

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while ...

were featured on the cover of the game in the European, Australian, Brazilian and British markets.

Freddy Adu Fredua Koranteng Adu (born June 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who played as an attacking midfielder. The last club he played for was Ettan Fotboll club Österlen FF. From before the time of his signing with D.C. United at ...

and

Omar Bravo Omar Bravo Tordecillas (born 4 March 1980) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is Guadalajara's all-time leading scorer in all matches. Club career Club Deportivo Guadalajara Omar Bravo has scored 132 goals ...

joined Ronaldinho on the North American cover, while

Lukas Podolski Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , on 4 June 1985) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. Known for his powerful and accurate left foot, he is known for his explosive ...

was partnered with Ronaldinho on the German release of the game and

Park Chu-Young Park Chu-young (; ; also romanised as Park Ju-young; born 10 July 1985) is a South Korean footballer who plays for Ulsan Hyundai as a forward. Club career FC Seoul In February 2005, Park joined a K League club FC Seoul with the highest sa ...

was on the South Korea cover.

Game features

Developers of the FIFA series made a complete overhaul of the game's engine for the 2006 installment of the game, asserting it has improved the control of play, having rewritten more than half the programming code for the game. In addition to a renovation of the game engine which discards the "ball" system, developers boast a significantly more involved career mode and the introduction of "chemistry" which will determine how good teams play together.

Career mode

Career mode in FIFA 06 is now a 15-year journey as the manager of a club of the player's choice. The user starts by filling in basic details such as their name, date of birth, and country. From here, the player gets to choose which team they would like to manage; however, only clubs with a 4-star rating or below are selectable unless the player has bought the "Career Teams" bundle from the in-game fan shop. In a new addition to the game players now must manage a minimum budget to build the club around. The budget can be spent on players, upgrading staff and coaches at the club and transfer budgets. Players must now also use their best managerial skills to negotiate a sponsor to the club. Sponsors, a new addition to career mode, provide a weekly payment to the club as well as extra bonuses through winning cups and meeting expectations of the club. If the manager does not meet these expectations, they may risk losing their sponsor at the end of the season. Some sponsors within the game are real organisations while others are simply made up. Players also have to manage the expectations of the board, player morale, team chemistry and keeping the club's fans happy. Ultimately, the best solution to all of these areas is to win games. Meeting the expectations of the board will almost guarantee the player a job at the club for the next season while not meeting their expectations will most likely lose the player their job and be forced to find another club. Get sacked too much and the player's career is over. Player morale becomes a large issue to the future of the player's club and their managerial future. Players must keep their squad happy to maintain them at the club and to keep them at their best performances. An unhappy squad can result in players refusing new contracts with the club and eventually leaving, which can be vital to the success of the club. Team chemistry is a result of the squad's morale and how often the current squad plays together. If the team is happy and are regularly playing together, team chemistry will be high. If the current squad is unhappy and hasn't played a game in seasons, team chemistry will be low therefore it is important to keep a balanced squad while maintaining success. ''FIFA 06'' also introduces staff which help the club. By upgrading the staff, this helps the club to improve depending on the area that has been upgraded. For example, if the user upgrades the negotiator to a higher level, the negotiator will be able to bring better players to the club for less money. Staff upgrades cost money which comes out of the budget. Career mode also features a "manager history" section which shows your statistics as a manager for each season you play. It includes your season record, where your team finished in the ladder, and any cups the team won. Statistics for the current season are available including leading goalscorers, card recipients, team stats, league standings, and cup competition fixtures. It features three European Cup Competitions: ECC, EFA, and the European Super Cup. The ECC is the game's equivalent to the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. The EFA is the equivalent to the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. The European Super Cup is of the same name in

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

competition, which pits the winners of the ECC and EFA in a match right before the following season.

''FIFA 06 Lounge''

The ''FIFA 06 Lounge'' is a new introduction into the game. It is an upgraded form of multiplayer mode which allows up to eight human players to compete to see who is the best player over a series of matches. Each player selects a name to be identified as and a team to play as. Players can also change the rules of the game to suit their playing style. Depending on who wins and loses, players are given advantages and disadvantages to play with. Featured styles of matches in the lounge are: * Winner Stays On: The winner of the previous game plays on and faces a new challenger. * Winner vs. Highest Ranked: The winner of the previous game plays the best ranked player in the rankings * Winner vs. Lowest Ranked: The winner of the previous game faces the worst ranked player in the competition * Rematch: A rematch between the two players that just played * Rematch Switch: A rematch between the two players that just played with the home team and away team switched * Best vs. Worst: The best player vs. the worst team according to team star rating * Catch-Up: Players can set a handicapped score on one player and the disadvantaged player must attempt to catch up to the handicapped player before the game ends The mode also includes a leaderboard featuring leading point ratings, points, wins, goals, bookings, clean sheets, offsides, longest winning streak, longest undefeated streak, and longest losing streak. League standings are featured as well as the ability to save the session so players can play at a later date.

Team management

Team management gives the player the ability to edit the game to suit themselves. The mode provides the ability to create a player and edit any player, kit number, squad, and kick takers in the game as well as the ability to transfer players to other clubs and the ability to select players for their international teams.

Retro and extras

One of the new features in ''FIFA 06'' is a special "retro" which features nostalgia of the game. Inside it features an unlockable classic biographies section, a memorable moments video compilation which features ten of the most memorable moments as judged by the ''FIFA 06'' developers, and a video compilation with a retrospective view at all the games in FIFA series with "

Cobrastyle "Cobrastyle" is a song performed by Swedish band Teddybears, featuring Jamaican singer Mad Cobra. The song was released on their 2004 album ''Fresh'', and reissued on their 2006 album '' Soft Machine''. It was released as a single on 6 June 2006 ...

" by

Teddybears STHLM Teddybears (formerly Teddybears STHLM) are a Swedish alternative rock band formed in 1991, known for mixing pop, rock, hip hop, electronica, reggae, punk, and many other genres. History Teddybears began as a grindcore group called Skull. As ...

featuring

Mad Cobra Ewart Everton Brown (born 31 March 1968), better known by his stage name Mad Cobra or simply Cobra, is a Jamaican dancehall musician.Huey, Steve " Mad Cobra Biography, AllMusic, retrieved 2010-01-31Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia ...

playing as the background music. Like ''

NHL 06 ''NHL 06'' is an ice hockey video game that was released in 2005. The game includes the Sega Genesis version of ''NHL '94'' on the PlayStation 2 version. Reception The game received "generally favorable reviews" on all platforms according to the ...

'', and ''

NBA Live 06 ''NBA Live 06'' is a 2005 installment of the '' NBA Live'' series released on the Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2 and Mobile. It was developed by EA Sports. The game features several game modes, i ...

'', the game also has a classic 16-bit game in the PS2 version - ''

FIFA International Soccer ''FIFA International Soccer'' is a 1993 List of association football video games, association football video game developed by EA Canada's Extended Play Productions team and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for the Sega Mega Dr ...

'', which was the original game in the series. In the extras section is: * A video interview with

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

striker

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation from 11 December 2021. In his prime, Eto'o was regarded by pundits as one of ...

. * A series of tutorial videos on how to use the new features in the game. * Video previews for ''

'', ''

FIFA Street 2 ''FIFA Street 2'' is the 2006 sequel to the EA Sports video game '' FIFA Street''. A new "trick stick beat" system was introduced and new authentic tricks were also introduced. The game was released for the GameCube, Nintendo DS, PlayStation ...

'', and ''

Madden NFL 06 ''Madden NFL 06'' is an American football video game which was released in 2005. It is also a launch game for the Xbox 360. It is the 16th installment of the Madden NFL series by EA Sports, named for noted color commentator John Madden. The produ ...

'' * Unlockable season highlights from the 2004–05 seasons of the

German Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

French Division 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

, and

Italian Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

The

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

version doesn't have the tutorial videos, video previews, or season highlights.

Challenges and unlockables

''FIFA 06'' has introduced challenges for the player to achieve in order to win points and unlock prizes. The challenges are divided up into 10 regions of ten to twelve challenges based on the countries they can be achieved in. There are more than 100 different challenges for the player to achieve on all four difficulty levels, although a fifth difficulty can be achieved, which is legendary. With the points earned in the challenges, prizes can be unlocked. Such unlockables in the game include classic player biographies, new camera angles, alternate club kits, stadiums, and videos.

Classic XI & World League XI

The game also features a Classic XI team, assembled by EA Sports, consisting of great football legends, and a World XI team, consisting of current superstars, chosen by FIFPro. Both teams have the

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

as their primary ground. These clubs must be unlocked in the "Fan Shop" with "FIFA Points".

Commentary

This installment broke a short tradition of commentating from

John Motson John Walker Motson (10 July 1945 – 23 February 2023) was an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Mo ...

and

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland i ...

, replaced by

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's Clive Tyldesley and

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

pundit Andy Gray for the game's English-language version.

''FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup''

The

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

version, titled ''FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup'', featured only national teams and a brand-new engine taking advantage of the Xbox 360's graphical capabilities. It was the first FIFA game on a

seventh-generation console The seventh generation of home video game consoles began on November 22, 2005, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 home console. This was followed by the release of Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006, and Ninte ...

Trivia

The Classic XI home kit is the same one used by the Allies team in the 1981 football film ''

Escape to Victory ''Escape to Victory'' (stylized as ''Victory'') is a 1981 American-British-Italian sports war film directed by John Huston and starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Max von Sydow and Pelé. The film is about Allied prisoners of wa ...

''. The away kit is also the same shirt used by the Allies team goalkeeper played by

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

Reception

At the time it was the highest-selling game of the ''FIFA'' series, ahead of its predecessor ''

FIFA 2005 ''FIFA Football 2005'', also known as ''FIFA Soccer 2005'' in North America or simply ''FIFA 2005'', is a football simulation video game released in 2004. It was developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for the Play ...

'' by over 100,000 copies. In total, ''FIFA 06'' has sold more than 3.6 million copies. The PlayStation 2 version of ''FIFA 06'' received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the

Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was originally founded as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), and the ...

(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Across all platforms, it sold more than copies in the United Kingdom, making it the UK's best-selling game of 2005, above rival ''

Pro Evolution Soccer 5 ''Pro Evolution Soccer 5'' (abbreviated ''PES 5''), known as ''World Soccer: Winning Eleven 9'' in Japan and North America (sometimes mislabeled as ''World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 International''), is a 2005 football sports simulation video game d ...

'' in second place. The game was met with positive to very mixed reception.

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

and

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave it a score of 80.69% and 78 out of 100 for the PC version; 80.50% and 80 out of 100 for the GameCube version; 79.80% and 80 out of 100 for the Xbox version; 78.29% and 80 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version; 73.33% and 77 out of 100 for the PSP version; 66.22% and 75 out of 100 for the DS version; and 49.50% and 70 out of 100 for the Game Boy Advance version.

References

External links

EA Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fifa 06 2005 video games Electronic Arts games EA Sports games Association football video games Esports games

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...