With the Europa League – Europe’s premier football (or soccer for US readers) competition – kicking off tonight, it’s fitting that fans of The Beautiful Game will want a mobile pastime in the excruciating wait until kick-off. Thankfully, Miniclip are here with yet another sport-focused free-to-play release in the form of Football Strike (Free). As the name heavily implies, Football Strike is all about shooting those devastating long-distance strikes into the back of the net. With an abundance of modes allowing free kicks, target practice or classic penalty shoot-outs, Football Strike’s PvP multiplayer action looks particularly appealing for soccer fans, and has made its first team debut on the App Store today as a free download.

One interesting aspect of Football Strike that helps make it stand out against its competition is the ability to play as the goalkeeper, especially in the aforementioned PvP shootouts. Flick Kick Football ($0.99) has already mastered many of the elements that take up the core shooting of Football Strike, but saving shots is a nice element that will be interesting to try out. Football Strike also has a few licenses of players from some of Europe’s elite clubs such as FC Zenit and Schalke 04, as well as some other teams like Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund. Considering most arcade football titles on mobile are bereft of any official representation, it’s nice to see even a limited presence in Football Strike, even if my beloved Arsenal are missing. The jury’s still out over whether the free-to-play monetisation and what looks like loot boxes get in the way of the action, but all signs suggest another solid mobile outing from Miniclip in Football Strike. For more information on this latest football/soccer App Store outing, head over to our dedicated Football Strike forum thread.