| Online Slot Machine | Football Champions Cup |
| Slot Provider | NetEnt Casino Software |
| Jackpot Slot | No |
| Reels | 5 |
| Win Lines | 20 |
| RTP | 96.80% |
NetEnt have clearly been anticipating the up coming Euro 2016 tournament with the release of the Football Champions Cup slot. And on the face of it and as you can see from the video it looks pretty good with a penalty shootout and a cup tournament free spins round. So let’s analyse it properly.
The Base Game:
There really is not much to the base game, no stacked symbols, no huge paying symbols, not much going on at all really. There is a mini feature that randomly triggers where two or three wild balls bounce over the screen and land on the reels, sometimes giving you a big win but more often than not offering not much at all.
The Penalty Shootout Bonus Game:
The first bonus feature is the penalty shootout which drops in about ten times more often than the free spins cup bonus. The penalty shootout is won by landing 3 scatters. If you manage to land 4 or 5 scatters then the shootout starts with a greater multiplier and higher value for the goals scored.
Initially you get 5 shots on goal and have to try and save 5 penalties. For each goal you win coins and for each save you gain plus 1 multiplier. Should the scores be level after 5 shots each then the game goes to sudden death.
The average win from this bonus round is in the region of 20 times stake though if you land 4 or 5 scatters you are looking at anywhere between 60 and 100 times your stake, though this doesn’t happen very often at all.
The Football Cup Free Spins Bonus Game:
The free spins bonus is won by landing the 3 trophy scatters in reels 2, 3 and 4. Here your chosen country plays up to 4 rounds with additional wilds. There are home team blue wilds on reels 1 and 2. And there are away team red on reels 4 and 5. For every blue wild you score a goal and for every red wild you concede a goal. The match is played over 6 spins and goes to extra time if the scores are level (though for some reason NetEnt call extra time and sudden death “overtime”).
There is a first round, quarter final, semi final and final. If you lose in the semi final you will enter the 3rd and 4th place knockout match.
In my first 4,000 test spins so far my highest placing was 4th.
Overall Verdict:
I am not too sure yet what to make of this slot. Playing at 1.00 per spin over 4,000 spins I only lost 200 euro’s with bank balance dropping to minus 400 at its lowest point. So on that score in theory it should be ok for running down wagering. However with a smaller balance it could be costly as it did burn through 150 euro in the space of 200 spins at one point.
The highest win gained never broke the 100x stake value during the entire 4,000 spins so that was a disappointment and my bank balance never rose above the starting value at any time.
The game-play itself is actually very boring outside of the cup. After the first one or two penalty shootouts I was bored of it and kept praying for the free spins, I would scrap that bonus feature altogether and have more of the free spins if I could.
The free spins cup on the other hand does have some excitement in it as you do get the feeling of a football match and really do want to win each match. Unfortunately as I have said I never got better than 4th place (Belgium seemed to win the tournament each time apart from when I was playing as Belgium of course).
To get a decent win you really have to either land 5 penalty shootout scatters or make it to the final of the cup. And here in lies the problem. I suppose for the casual gambler this slot would be a lot of fun but for me I would sacrifice the penalty shootouts in favour of having the free spins land more often. Lose those middling prizes and give me more chance of a good free spins win. But that is my preference and I am sure not all of you will feel the same.
Try it out for yourself:
