How to play Euro 2020 tournament in FIFA 21 or PES 2021
Can you play the Euros better than the real-life England team?
With the Euro 2020 fixtures finally kicking off, you might be wondering how to play the tournament yourself in the current crop of football simulator games, namely FIFA 21 and PES 2021 (or eFootball PES 2021 Season Update, to give Konami's game its full clunky title).
Of course, whenever there's a major football tournament going on in real life, the temptation is always there to boot up a game and see if you could do better than the real-life players in your team of choice. (It's normally not too hard to do better than the actual England squad.)
So if you're in the mood to play some Euro 2020 action at home on your PC or gaming console of choice, should you load up FIFA or PES this time around? Read on for all the essential information on that front!
Can you play Euro 2020 in FIFA 21?
EA Sports does not have the rights to UEFA's Euro 2020 tournament, so you will not find an official way to play through the Euros on FIFA 21. To put it bluntly, the Euros are not in FIFA 21.
Even if you become an international manager on the European scene during your first season of a Career Mode, the Euros simply will not happen when the summer rolls around. We found this out the hard way, having been very excited to nab the England job, only to find out later that the Euros don't exist in this warped version of reality.
The closest thing you can do, if you really want to scratch the Euros itch in FIFA 21, is to head into the Tournament mode and create a custom international tournament. You can't make the exact Euros - because EA doesn't allow for 24 teams in a tournament - but you could make something similar with either 16 or 32 teams.
In the FIFA Ultimate Team game mode, there is an event called 'Festival of Futball' kicking off at 6pm on Friday 11th June.
During this FUT event, we'd expect to see boosted cards for players that perform well in the real-life Euros. It's not quite a fully-fledged Euros event, but it's as close as EA can get without the official licence.
But if you really want to play through the Euros as a tournament, you'd be much better off playing PES 2021. Keep on reading to find out why.
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Can you play Euro 2020 in PES 2021?
Yes, you can play through the Euro 2020 tournament in PES 2021, with Konami picking up the official rights to portray the Euros in gaming form. To put that simply, yes, the Euros are in PES 2021.
If you don't already have PES 2021, the full name of the game you need to pick up is eFootball PES 2021 Season Update. The full game is available on Windows PC, PS4 and Xbox One. It's not on Nintendo Switch or Google Stadia, though.
You can also play the game on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S through the magic of backwards compatibility. The full game is currently available on Xbox Game Pass, so it's basically a freebie if you're already a member of that subscription service.
Where to buy eFootball PES 2021 Season Update:
- Buy the PS4 version from the PlayStation Store (£24.99)
- Buy the PC version on Steam (£24.99)
- Get the Xbox version with Xbox Game Pass (£2.99 for a 14-day trial)
Is Euro 2020 in PES Mobile?
There is also a free version of PES 2021 on mobile devices (iOS and Android), but the Euro 2020 content works a bit differently on there.
It's worth noting that the mobile version of PES 2021 is not the same as the console and PC version, with the entire mobile game focusing on your quest to build a strong club squad (like FIFA Ultimate Team). Because of this, you cannot play through the Euros on PES mobile in the traditional sense.
But there is a special event going on, in the mobile game's 'Matchday' mode, which lets you play online using a selection of international team kits. You'll still play with your usual squad of players, though, regardless of their nationalities.
On the console and PC version of PES, you can play through the Euros in the normal single-player way, selecting a nation and trying to guide them to glory. Below is the info you need on getting started.
How to play Euro 2020 tournament in PES 2021
Once you're in the PC or console version of the game, you might find that it's not immediately obvious how to play the Euros. If you're struggling to find the Euros mode, this is where you need to look:
- On the main home screen menu, click the football icon marked 'Welcome!' (or it might be called 'Kick Off' if you've played on PES before)
- On the next menu, scroll down to where it says 'Cup' and click on that
- On the next menu, you should see 'UEFA EURO 2020' on the list of available tournaments to play
Click on that, choose your team, and you'll soon be playing through the tournament and testing your mettle against the best national teams in Europe. The teams are automatically put in the right groups, too, in keeping with the proper Euro 2020 schedule.
- For the latest news and expert tips on getting the best deals this year, take a look at our Black Friday 2021 and Cyber Monday 2021 guides.
How to change international squads in PES 2021 for Euro 2020
We've just tested out the Euros mode in the Xbox Series X version, and it seems to run just fine, with some special animations and even the proper match ball.
The only thing that wasn't right was the international squads, which seem to be out of date, with big-name players like Phil Foden not being in the England squad.
Konami is said to be working on updating the squads during the tournament, with a squad update due to take place as the real-life tournament enters the knockout stages. This will change the default international squads, making it so the right players are in them.
Until then, the good news is that you can edit the squads yourself, if you really want to have all the right players at your disposal. You'll need to do that before you start the tournament, though, by following these steps:
- From the main menu, select 'Settings'
- From the next menu, select 'Edit'
- From the next menu, select 'International Team Selection'
From there, you can select the country whose squad you want to edit and make sure all the right players - or just your favourite ones - are chosen for international duty. Once that's done, go ahead and start the tournament. Here's hoping you'll be lifting that trophy before long!
For more info on football sim games, check out our FIFA 22 hub. And for all the essential in on Euro 2020, check out our Euros coverage.
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Authors
Rob Leane is the Gaming Editor at Radio Times, overseeing our coverage of the biggest games on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, mobile and VR. Rob works across our website, social media accounts and video channels, as well as producing our weekly gaming newsletter. He has previously worked at Den of Geek, Stealth Optional and Dennis Publishing.
