Sensible Soccer: European Champions is a fast-paced soccer game. The action is shown from a top-down perspective which only shows a part of the playfield. The controls only use one button to initiate a shot: how long the button is pressed determines the strength and the direction pad controls the direction. However, there is also a novice mode available with the usual division between a shoot and pass button. Another important option is the dribbling (novice or expert) which sets how well the ball sticks to the controlled athlete. Before starting a match, there are also some limited tactical options available (choosing the formation and switching the position of athletes around).
In contrast to the computer versions there are no pre-set tournaments, but the player can start two tournaments with customizable requirements: cup or league. The cup allows to set the number of rounds (one to four) and some rules can be switched on or off for each round individually (number of legs, extra time, penalties). The league on the other hand has the options number of teams (between one and seven), how often the teams face each other (between once and four times) and if a win rewards two or three points. The pitch type (normal, dry, wet, icy, hard or random) can be set in both modes. There are twenty national and twenty club teams (all with slightly changed original names) to choose from. General options are the game length (between three and seven minutes) as well as switching weather on or off.
