With the release of Copa City in 2025, a soccer game is coming that isn’t about Ronaldo, Messi or Mbappé – but about infrastructure. What will that look like? And who will enjoy it?
Building in Berlin? Still a difficult topic since the BER airport. Fans of construction games 2025 are allowed to prove that it can be done better. The first football tycoon, Copa City, is all about preparing for a game – including in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.
One city and three clubs to follow
The city and arena are one of three locations that you will be able to choose from when the game is released next year. Warsaw and the PGE Narodowy Stadium there have also been confirmed so far. The third location is still being kept secret by the creators of Copa City. Developer Triple Espresso is providing three modes: campaign, challenge and single game.
The opponents for the virtual games are not Hertha BSC and Legia Warsaw, but FC Bayern Munich, FC Arsenal and Flamengo from Rio de Janeiro. Three more clubs are to follow by the time of publication, including licensing.
But let’s go back to Berlin for now: the goal is to prepare the infrastructure for the capital city within the 14 days before a football match in the Olympic Stadium. Copa City is a fictitious sports event company whose bosses have certain expectations of the players. After all, the event should be a complete success.
To achieve this, you first have to ensure that fans arrive at all – marketing and advertising are the keywords here. Once enough hype has been created around the game, the supporters of the two clubs in Berlin must be taken care of. Food, shelter, entertainment and security are their needs.
Berlin, Berlin, we are building in Berlin!
To do this, you can rent various buildings and services that meet these needs – such as restaurants or hotels. You can also provide food for fans in fan zones by setting up food trucks there. But where do you get the ingredients? So you need supply chains, and you need to work with supermarkets.
And who works in the food trucks? Who is helping to get the event off the ground? Professionals are expensive, so you need to keep an eye on the finances. You can also use recruitment centers to find volunteers for your own cause. You have to think of almost everything.
And that in several districts of the city: the developer Triple Espresso divides Berlin digitally into real districts such as Charlottenburg, Kreuzberg or Mitte. The player’s task is to keep order everywhere. Because the fans can be moved back and forth between the districts to optimize resources.
Once you have mastered the first rush, you can increase: The Olympic Stadium is not sold out at the beginning. It couldn’t be otherwise: The arena is in a rather poor state. There is a lack of almost everything, and it is up to the players to upgrade it accordingly. Install substitution benches and advertising boards, hire catering services and build ticket booths to increase the permitted capacity. And then there is the virtual turf.
Is it sufficiently watered? Is the height of the blades of grass right? These are questions you have to ask yourself if you want to pass the inspection. Of course, such an event can only take place if the conditions are given the thumbs up by independent auditors. “We take a holistic approach in Copa City,” say the creators – with one exception.
The focus is not on football
The organization’s processes and interrelationships are mapped in detail. Right up to the kick-off. Because the actual footballing action should hardly be part of the game. Although the developer eSport announced a rudimentary presentation of the game at gamescom – but the success or failure of the event has already been decided there. You also have no influence on the sporting action.
Copa City is not primarily about football, but about building structures that happen to come in a football guise. Except for a few aspects, the planned event could also be a concert or a trade fair. Which in turn defines the target group more closely: a love of tycoons should probably outweigh a love of soccer in order to have the greatest possible fun in Copa City.
What the developer emphasizes are soccer-specific characteristics of the visitors – such as fan chants. Authentic battle songs should be heard in Copa City. “The only place we don’t go home to is the stadium.” The chant that usually echoes through the Olympiastadion will probably not include the name Hertha BSC. But maybe it will be: ‘The only place we don’t go on the pitch is the stadium.’