Although the football (soccer) season is winding down in North America, things across the pond in Europe are in full swing with leagues and tournaments already underway. So, as a football fan, what are the best apps for your iPhone?
The first one I downloaded when I got my new iPhone last month was ScoreMobile FC. It’s the same architecture as the ScoreMobile appbut dedicated to football. It features most of the major leagues around the world including EPL, Serie A, Bundesliga, Superliga and even some of the league cups, Champions League, UEFA and FIFA. Almost all provide 2 minute updates on scores plus tables, news and stats. It’s a great app but the only complaint I have is that it doesn’t feature any push notifications. I did speak with someone from the Score team and they assured me this is coming, just no set date at this point (look for it on the ScoreMobile app first).
Of course, any true football fan will undboutedly look for UEFA and/or FIFA apps. Surprisingly, there isn’t any for the latter but UEFA.com does supply a free app that’s not bad. It offers (often) live results from Champions League, Europa League, Women’s Champions League and currently, Euro 2012 qualification matches. You also get to browse photos (which I thought were only OK quality) and videos that stream nicely but at lower quality than one would like. Again, my major complaint is that it lacks push notifications.
Lastly, I checked out the MLS MatchDay 2010Â free app even though there’s only four matches left this season (and not a one for Toronto FC). It’s similar to the NHL GameCenter app I reviewed a couple of weeks ago but with some very cool added features. In the game summary, if you switch to landscape mode it not only displays the pitch with goals but it overlays on top of a Google map view of the actual field the match was played at! Plus, it offers a Pubs button for each city where you can watch the match. Unlike NHL GC, this app also lets you watch goal, shot, card, substitution and full match highlight videos for free at decent quality. Plus, it has push notifications which makes me happy (and anxious for next season).
There are countless apps for individual teams and leagues, most of which you have to pay for and mostly from independent developers. Although I didn’t get a chance to try them, Infindo Technology seems to be the best of the developers for providing an app for many individual European leagues WITH push notifications for just $0.99 each.
