How to win in Dream League Soccer

Dream League Soccer is among the best football simulation games you can play on mobile (Android and iOS). The simple but tight controls make this game very enjoyable, easy to jump in and play. The game is very popular in the mobile football lovers community, the proof of this being the short amount of time you have to wait until you get matched agains a real-life opponent.

Dream League Soccer is unbalanced

As much as I hate to say it, the game can get quite uneven. You start off with a team of no names with overalls between 60 and 70. Matchmaking in Dream Soccer League is like rolling the dice. You may get matched against a team ranked similarly to you, in which case the game is enjoyable and the best one will win deservedly. The problem occurs when you get matched against a 90+ team with Neymar and Messi.

This is when the game becomes frustrating. All your opponent has to do is kick the ball as far as possible with his goalkeeper and his attackers with excelent pace and speed will be no match for your sluggish defenders. Even if you have a defender rated 70-75, he will still be much slower off the ball than your opponent's Suarez with the ball at his feet.

Can I stand a chance in Dream League Soccer?

You may have a chance if you do things by the book. I win approximately 1/3 of these matches, and if I can so can you. Without spending a single dime in the game, you can cause some trouble to your opponent and squeeze at least a draw.

But, to be absolutely clear and to lower your expectations, there are some matches where you simply cannot win, especially if your opponent is also a skilled player.

Fortunately, a lot of opponents with 90+ ranked teams just bought the players with real money, but don't have any sort of skills. These are the players that you stand a change against.

Make use of Career Mode in Dream League Soccer

Before talking about tips & tricks in direct matches against better opponents, it is important to win some in-game coins in Career Mode.

Play at least 3 seasons agains AI teams. This way you will earn enough coins to have a team of only 70+ players. Make sure you don't go online with players rated between 60 and 70.

Also, you will learn the game mechanics better. I advise you to try many out of the box shots and learn in which scenarios they are more likely result in goals.

Also free kicks. Learn to score from free kicks as it is relatively accessible. You just have to aim at the last player of the wall and give pretty low power to the shot. Free kicks can be crucial in online matches as you will rarely enter your opponents penalty area, but you can trick your opponent into fouling you outside the box by quickly and repeatedly changing the running direction of your player.

In-game tips & tricks

Now that you have a team with players ranked at least 70+, it's time to try your luck online.

Poor players like yours will be useless in the second half due to low energy levels. So it is a good idea to score your goals in the first half, when your players still have some stamina and will actually make some runs. In my experience, I've scored plenty of goals in the first minutes of the game, or even in the first attack. I would advise you to try to surprise your opponents in the opening moments of the game.

Pass, pass, pass. Pass a lot. Slow build-ups are the key to success. Your team is slow and will move players up very slowly. Just keep the ball and advance step by step until you find a free player into opponent territory.

Keep the ball at all costs. You shouldn't be ashamed to play nasty and waste time. Your opponent is overpowered, so who cares if you are not fair play. Just remember, only try to dribble near your opponent's box in order to obtain a free kick. NEVER dribble near your own box, or in your own half, or in midfield. You won't even realise how quickly Virgil van Dijk can steal the ball from you and launch a counter attack. Play a simple one or two touch football for the whole length of the game.

Shoot from 25 meters. Even if you don't score, you will most likely earn yourself a corner. Don't shoot too hard, you won't have many shots and you don't want to send them astray.

Corners. They are really really important. Aim for the far post, but not too far. You will have to put some power in your cross, about 3/4 or the power gauge. You don't need to have particularly tall players in your team to score. I have scored with short players too, even though the opponent had top class defenders.

Intimidate with the goalkeeper. This has saved me lots of goals. When your opponent's striker is too fast and you notice your defenders have no chance of catching up, pull the goalkeeper out, but when he is halfway to the opponent, release the button. Your opponent will have already pressed the shot or lob button at this point, but due to the fact that your goalkeeper is retreating, he will most likely save the shot.

Defending corners. If you can score from corners, so can your opponent. I found out that if you constantly move a player inside the box, near your goalkeeper, chances are bigger that he will be the one that will clear the ball with his head. It is also important to learn where your opponent executes his corners, so you will move your player closer to that area.

Final words on Dream League Soccer

Dream League Soccer is a great game, even with all this balancing problems. These things inevitably happen in free to play games. Even though after the first unbalanced matches I encountered I uninstalled the game and was very frustrated, I have returned and now I see these unfair matches as challenges. After you manage to win a game in which you play as the underdog, you will feel on top of the world! It feels very rewarding to win against a guy that has spent hundred of dollars on his ultimate team. This feeling is what should keep you going.

Hopefully you found this article useful. Kindly reminder: we are working on our own football game, called Football Club Manager, which will be also launched on the 1st of October on Android and iOS. It would help us a lot if you would subscribe to the newsletter on the bottom of this page so that you will be notified when the game is out.