The soccer season is upon us, and that means there's a lot of action to follow if you're a sports fan. Whether you follow the Premier League, Major League Soccer, Champions League, or local non-league teams, the right iPhone app can make all the difference.
They'll notify you about scores, results, and news, help you stay abreast of rumors and transfers, and crunch through statistics and player data. Unfortunately there's little in the way of video coverage here (you'll need a premium subscription like ESPN+ for that), but these are still indispensable companions.
Here are our favorite iPhone apps for soccer fever.
1. Onefootball
If you're looking for a single app to follow your favorite club or national team, check out Onefootball. It's a one-stop hub for news, fixtures, and results, complete with customizable push notifications. You can choose to follow teams, competitions, and players to get a personalized feed of what matters to you.
All the information you'd expect is here: fixtures, results, transfers, league tables, and a live match tracker. There's also small amount of video content aggregated from Twitter feeds, but it's nothing to write home about. The app manages to pack in a lot of information in a concise matter, which makes it easy to follow and catch up on news.
Notifications let you follow all the action from your favorite teams, which makes this a great match day companion.
Download: Onefootball (Free)
2. LiveScore
LiveScore is one of the nerdiest soccer apps on the App Store. It's a score tracker for soccer, hockey, basketball, tennis, and cricket, and its coverage is exhaustive. Almost every semi-professional league is included, from top flight European soccer to leagues across Africa, Asia, and beyond.
For that reason, it's the best place to follow small hometown clubs or international matches that might not register on other apps. While it lacks some the notification settings and rumor roundups seen elsewhere, it's a great resource to have available---even more so if you follow one of the other sports covered by LiveScore.
Download: LiveScore (Free)
3. Goal Live Scores
The official iPhone app of Goal.com, Goal Live Scores sits somewhere between Onefootball and LiveScore in its approach to delivering results, news, and gossip. You're first invited to add a few favorite teams, then the app uses these selections to deliver information that's relevant to you.
You won't find the same comprehensive coverage of scores for obscure teams and competitions as LiveScore, but there's a good emphasis on statistics, goal alerts, club news, and player transfer gossip. The app claims to provide the fastest goal alerts, but in my experience most of the apps on this list that offer this functionality are pretty punctual.
One neat feature worth mentioning is the head-to-head data analysis, which delves into the history of previous matches between two clubs.
Download: Goal Live Scores (Free)
4. Bleacher Report
The official app for the website of the same name, Bleacher Report approaches sports coverage from a distinctly social angle. It's not a goal or match tracker per se, but a news tracker for your particular team. In addition to soccer, the app covers a variety of sports including hockey, MMA, Olympics, AFL, and college soccer (among many, many others).
Once you've chosen who to follow, Bleacher Report creates a feed for you. This draws on a huge number of sources to deliver every tiny bit of news or rumor relating to your team. This includes gossip and drama, as well as the usual fitness reports, transfer news, and post-game reactions from players and coaches.
It's not for everyone, and it's not designed to replace your match tracker. But you probably won't find a more exhaustive way to follow club news.
Download: Bleacher Report (Free)
5. TLS Soccer
Another comprehensive statistic-tracker is TLS Soccer, powered by one of the leading data collection agencies in soccer, Opta. The app is fairly barebones and not particularly pretty to look at, but the data is all there. From past results and upcoming fixtures to head-to-head data, squad news, and even a map of each team's home ground, you'll find it all.
You can follow individual teams and competitions, and opt to get notifications on a per-match basis. The statistic reporting is on a par with LiveScore, with a huge number of obscure clubs and competitions to choose from. You can also quickly look up individual players to see a wealth of information, from birthplace to current form, weight, and height.
TLS is supported by ads, but you can pay $3 to remove them in-app.
Download: TLS Soccer (Free)
6. Forza Football
Forza Football might just have the slickest interface of any app on this list. It's yet another comprehensive way to track clubs, international teams, and competitions, but it's the presentation that really counts. Forza uses a simple calendar view to keep you updated with what's happened and what's coming up. At the top you'll find the matches you're following; below you'll see everything else.
You can tap on teams to get more information about their current standing, transfer news, and current squad. Notifications are entirely customizable, with ten metrics to choose from including goals, match start, and video highlights (where applicable). You can also look up players to see information about them, but don't expect a great deal of statistics as per some of the other apps.
For ease of use and aesthetics, Forza rivals Onefootball in overall user friendliness.
Download: Forza Football (Free)
7. Stats Zone
If you're the kind of person who overanalyzes soccer games (or you play a lot of sports management sims), Stats Zone is the app you're looking for. This app delves into every pass, shot, and on-field play with all the detailed statistics and dizzying graphics you could hope for.
Unfortunately, if you want to cover the current season's matches, you must subscribe. You can do so on a per-league basis (a Premier League season subscription costs $4), or pay a flat fee to access everything ($11).
Download: Stats Zone (Free, subscription available)
8. Premier League Official App
We finish with the only official app of the English Premier League. On first launch you're asked to pick a club, but you can also pick General Premier League fan to follow the action from a neutral standpoint. If you're a fan of the PL2 and U-18 competitions, you can follow those here too.
The interface is slick, but the limited coverage of one league means it's only likely to appeal to EPL fans. There's a wealth of information available, including fixtures, results, and the league table, as well as ticket information, broadcast schedules, and highlights where available.
The app also makes a great match companion, with detailed updates about in-game happenings, statistic breakdowns, and lineup information. The overall user experience is excellent, and it even integrates with the official EPL fantasy soccer game.
Keep in mind that you also have other ways to watch EPL online.
Download: Premier League Official App (Free)
Track All the Soccer You Want
Personally, I've got Onefootball installed for all my A-League, English Championship, and Premier League match day needs, with LiveScore on standby for checking results and standings for the Welsh Premier League. Bleacher Report is great if you really don't want to miss a beat, but the sheer volume of news can be overwhelming unless you eat, sleep, and breathe soccer.
Looking for a simpler way of following your favorite sports teams? Learn how to download sports fixtures directly into Google Calendar.