Armchair sports fans or strategy freaks. Call them what you will. One of the most prosperous products a mail order company could ever produce is a sports strategy game. Most of the majors have kept out of this genre (only Addictive Games continue), but what they're missing is one of the most dedicated and loyal computer gaming groups in the UK. Some of us dream of managing our own favourite soccer, American football or cricket team and with the aid of your Spectrum it's possible for your dreams to come true - well, almost. Ace sportsman and all round sports fan PHIL KING takes a look at the top sports strategy games around at the moment.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS
Producer: E & J
Price: £7.95

Other soccer management games are based on the English League and the FA Cup, but European Champions involves 32 national teams trying to win the European Championship - yes, England could finally do it!

Before you can take part in the Championship Finals, your team must qualify by winning its group of four teams. As in real life friendlies can be played to build up a team's fitness and morale.

Each of the 22 squad players has three attributes: tackling ability, skill rating and goal scoring potential.

In addition to your chosen 11, five additional substitutes must be selected. This allows for the extra strategy of making tactical substitutions.

Your team can play a short passing, neutral or long ball game, and decide to be defensive, average or attacking. Both these options alter the strategy of the match.

The graphical display of the match is extremely simple (only the ball is shown) and time consuming, but at least you can see how the team for the ball) is doing. This feature, along with the potential for substitution strategy, makes European Champions far more exciting than many other results-only games.