Based on the July 17 Early Access build. Strikers Club launched free on Steam on July 17 and sits at Mostly Positive (72% of just over 1,000 reviews as of July 20). Read the negative reviews and a pattern jumps out: new players bounce off the passing, and public lobbies are full of people who treat 5v5 like a solo dribbling showcase. Both problems have fixes, and most of them are habits, not mechanics. If you have not installed the game yet, start with the how to play walkthrough and come back here for the habits.
1. Pick a position at kickoff and actually play it
The game asks you to choose a position at the start of every match, and every position is represented, including a dedicated goalkeeper. This choice matters more than anything else you do in your first session. A 5v5 team where two people picked striker and nobody wants to defend loses to a coordinated team every single time. If you are new, defender is the most forgiving place to learn the physics: the game comes to you, and your mistakes happen facing the play.
2. Try goalkeeper before you decide the game is not for you
Goalkeeper is the single most praised thing in early Steam reviews, and it is the one role with its own extra mechanics set. Saves feel earned because shots are real physics objects, not dice rolls. If outfield play frustrates you in hour one, a half hour in goal will probably show you why people like this game. We wrote a full goalkeeper guide for when you get hooked.
3. Accept that passing has no assist, then learn it properly
There is no target lock and no ball magnetism. You aim a pass yourself, you power it yourself, and the ball goes where the physics say. That is why passing feels hard on day one and why it feels incredible on day ten. Two habits fix most early misery: pass to where your teammate is running, not where they stand, and use less power than feels right when the target is close. The passing guide breaks this down situation by situation.
4. Slow down your first touch
Dribbling is physical too. The ball is not glued to your feet, so sprinting at full speed means pushing the ball further from your body and gifting it to any defender who holds their line. Move at cruise speed in traffic, save the sprint for open grass, and treat every touch as a small pass to yourself. When carrying the ball starts feeling natural, the dribbling guide covers beating defenders and the skill moves that are actually confirmed in the game.
5. Stop chasing the ball
The most common complaint about public lobbies is that everyone swarms the ball like an under-7s match. Be the exception. Hold your zone, offer a passing lane, and let the nearest teammate pressure the carrier. One disciplined player visibly raises a team’s level in this game because space is where goals come from. The positions and team play guide covers who goes where and why, and the tactics board lets you show your squad instead of typing it.
6. Learn jockey mode before you learn tackling
The v0.78.0 update added a jockey mode for controlled defending, and it is the difference between defenders who contain and defenders who fly past the play. Jockeying keeps you square to the carrier at a controlled speed so you can react to their next touch. Commit to a tackle only when the ball leaves their feet. More in the defending guide.
7. Respect the rules, they are all here
Strikers Club implements real football rules: throw-ins, corners, penalties, fouls with cards, offside, even the advantage rule and extra time with a golden goal. That last-ditch lunge from behind is not a free reset like in arcade football games. It can be a foul, a card, or a penalty against you. Defend on your feet first, and skim the football rules guide once; ten minutes of rulebook is worth several matches of confusion.
8. Expect matchmaking to take a few games to place you
Skill-based matchmaking arrived in v0.79.0, about a week before launch. With a brand-new player pool it needs a handful of matches to find your level, so early stomps in both directions are normal. There is also a mercy rule that ends matches at a five-goal difference, which keeps the bad ones short. There is no visible ranked ladder yet; how the hidden rating works is covered on the ranked page.
9. Shoot less than you want to
Reviews joke that every teammate is the main character. Shots from bad angles are turnovers with extra steps, because a human goalkeeper is watching the whole play develop. Work the ball until someone has a clean look. When you do shoot, the shooting guide explains why placement beats power against human keepers.
10. Fix your ping before you blame your hands
This is an online physics game, so latency shows up in your touch. The game shipped region filters in a June patch, and picking the right region matters more than any graphics setting. Reviews also report the game leans on the CPU in busy matches. The settings and performance guide covers what is in your control and what is on the developers.
11. Do not spend money yet
Monetization sells no gameplay edge, and the store text confirms cosmetics are also obtainable through gameplay and events. Nothing you can buy makes you better. Play a week, see which position you love, then decide if a kit is worth it. And if you find a website offering redeem codes, close it: there is no public code-entry screen in the game right now.
12. Find people to play with early
Solo queue teaches you mechanics. A regular 5v5 group teaches you the actual game. Clubs are a core pitch of the game (create a club, recruit players, climb), and the official Discord is where squads form right now. Even one familiar teammate who passes back transforms the experience.
Your first session checklist
| Step | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Play the tutorial or a casual match unranked in your head | Feel the ball physics with zero stakes before judging the game |
| Pick defender or goalkeeper | Both roles teach positioning while the game comes to you |
| Test keyboard and a controller | Steam lists both, with partial Xbox pad support; comfort beats convention |
| Set your matchmaking region | Ping is a hidden difficulty modifier in a physics game |
| Complete one match without sprinting in possession | Forces clean first touches and honest passing weight |
| Sketch one shape on the tactics board | Thirty seconds of planning beats thirty minutes of ball-chasing |
When these twelve feel natural
The community is already producing deeper material. This launch-week tips video goes beyond the basics above; watch it after a few sessions, when you know which problems are actually yours.