SWOS 96/97 Mod 1.0 - Serie C1/C2, Libertadores, Intercontinental Cup

SWOS 96/97 Mod 1.0 - Serie C1/C2, Copa Libertadores, Supercopa, CONMEBOL and the Intercontinental Cup, in career mode too

A long time ago - in 2004 - in a galaxy far, far away, where the Internet was only just leaving behind the sound of the modem, artificial intelligence was the stuff of science fiction novels and video games were sold in elegant cardboard boxes in shops, yours truly - together with Ali Erdinc Koroglu, Jan Wickberg, Martin Binet, Zlatko Karakas, Ross Mayhew and Steve Smith - founded the Swos Working Group ( web.archive.org/web/20040831085727/http://swos.erdinc.info/ ) in honour of our all-time favourite video game: the 1996-1997 edition of Sensible World of Soccer. We were driven by a dream: to make that game even better by adding a few competitions whose absence we felt especially keenly. The Italian Serie C (split into C1 and C2), where players who would later become international stars, such as Simone Inzaghi and Gianluca Zambrotta, were playing, and the South American cups, above all the legendary Copa Libertadores, which, in an age when football on TV was still a novelty and far from plentiful, held for us the charm of exotic, faraway things. We would have loved to play these competitions above all in career mode, the SWOS players' absolute favourite: partly because in season mode and in the preset competitions we had already managed to add them, in a new edition of SWOS that was going to be called Swos 2024. The work was done by reverse engineering and hex editing; I remember the thrill of discovering the routines that add competitions, but also the bitter frustration of not being able to make them work in career mode, which would freeze every time. Today, in the year of grace 2026, I wanted to settle the score with this personal story that never left me over these two decades: the regret of having come close to a dream and never quite making it. After all, I told myself in an attempt at consolation, I ended up becoming a web and mobile developer; reverse engineering 1996 x86 code had already been a miracle, and hardly any of the many modern modders had managed the feat.

Today, thanks to AI, which has changed the very idea of programming forever, the feat is accomplished: you can now download the patch that adds, in every language of the game, Serie C1 and C2 to the Italian league, with the original squads of the time, and above all adds, for South America, the Copa Libertadores, the CONMEBOL and the Supercopa, with the entry rules of the day. And, as the icing on the cake, the Intercontinental Cup could not be missing. What matters to me, though, is not only the result but also the explanation of how we got there through AI. So here we publish, in English and Italian, the complete documentation of the method followed to create the patches, which finally revealed to me what we had not understood back in 2004, and which I hope will inspire other developers and lovers of the most beautiful video game in the world to expand its career mode even further. An immense thank you to the work of Zlatko Karakas, whose fundamental disassembly of the original executable I found after so many years of absence ( github.com/zlatkok/swos-port ).

This patch is dedicated to the memory of Steve Smith, an extraordinary compiler of updated squads for SWOS, who left us far too soon. And to everyone who hopes to see, sooner or later, a dream come true, even one that has lasted 22 years…

— Davide Lorigliola

What the patch adds

• Italy with 4 divisions: Serie A, B, C1 and C2 (18 clubs each), with the real 1996-97 clubs, squads and coaches. No end-of-season freeze.
• South American club cups: Copa Libertadores (groups + knockout), Supercopa and Copa CONMEBOL, in the menus, in the world view and in career mode. Qualifiers come from the South American standings every season, with the holder rules of the time.
• Intercontinental Cup: in December, Champions Cup winner vs Libertadores winner, updated every season and saved with the career.
• Works with all four executables of the CD: ITALIAN.EXE, ENGLISH.EXE, FRENCH.EXE and GERMAN.EXE.

Download and install

1. Download swos-9697-mod-patcher.html from the release page: github.com/aminta/swos-9697-mod/releases/tag/v1.0
2. Open it in any browser (it works offline, nothing is uploaded) and drop your language's executable and DATA\TEAM.020 from your SWOS 96/97 folder.
3. Download the patched files and copy them into the game folder (TEAM.020 into DATA), after backing up the originals. Start a new career.

The patcher contains only differences, no game files: you need your original copy of the game. It checks every file before and after patching, so a different edition or an already modified file is refused instead of producing a broken game.

Technical manual (how it was done)
English (ENGLISH.EXE addresses): aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/
Italian (ITALIAN.EXE addresses): aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/it.html
Source code and build tools: github.com/aminta/swos-9697-mod

Notes

• Italian version tested in depth over several seasons; English, French and German tested in career mode to season end.
• Experimental: the Intercontinental Cup for clubs from countries with a league cup (e.g. English clubs) uses the play-off slot and has not been tested in a real career yet.
• In 1996-97 Serie C1 had 2 groups and C2 had 3: the mod uses a single 18-team group for each.

Feedback, bug reports and saves that misbehave are very welcome, here or on GitHub.

Huge thanks to Zlatko Karakas for the swos-port disassembly, and to everyone who kept SWOS alive all these years.

Update - v1.0.1: GOG version supported

The patcher now also recognises the executables of the GOG release, in all four languages. GOG's files differ from the CD by just 2 bytes (a fixed national cup date), and the patched game keeps GOG's fix. Nothing else changes, so if you already patched the CD version you don't need to do it again.

Download the latest patcher here: github.com/aminta/swos-9697-mod/releases/latest

SWOS 96/97 Mod 1.1 is out: more of the world

Version 1.1 takes the mod beyond Europe and South America. Everything works in every language of the game (ITALIAN, ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN.EXE), CD and GOG versions.

What's new

• Costa Rica: its 12 clubs were already hidden in the game files, with no name and no league. Now they play a PRIMERA DIVISION in North America.
• Five new African countries: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria and Cameroon, each with its 1996-97 first division (1997 for Nigeria and Cameroon: real clubs and real final order) and a national cup.
• African club cups: CAF Champions League (groups + knockout), CAF Cup Winners Cup and CAF Cup, in the menus, in the world view and in career mode. Every season the qualifiers come from the standings of the 8 African countries (Algeria, South Africa and Ghana included), and the lists are saved with the career.

About the players - we need your help
For the 82 clubs of Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria and Cameroon we could not find the 1996-97 squads: no reliable source lists the players and coaches of those leagues for that season. Clubs, final order and relative strength are real (Al Ahly, Zamalek, Raja, Wydad, Etoile du Sahel, Esperance... are the strongest), but player and coach names are invented, using common names of each country.
If you have real squads from those years, even for a single club, please help us replace them: write here or open an issue on GitHub. Costa Rica uses the original game's squads, and Algeria, South Africa and Ghana are unchanged.

Download and install

1. Download swos-9697-mod-patcher.html from github.com/aminta/swos-9697-mod/releases/tag/v1.1
2. Open it in any browser (it works offline, nothing is uploaded) and drop your language's executable and DATA\TEAM.020.
3. Download the patched files (the executable, TEAM.020 and the new TEAM.052, 053, 054, 056, 058), copy them into the game folder (TEAM files into DATA) after a backup, and start a new career.

Notes

• The 1.1 additions were tested in career mode for one season, including save and reload. Reports on long careers are very welcome.
• The CAF Cup Winners Cup takes the 3rd and 4th placed clubs, because the game keeps no record of the national cup winners.
• Everything from 1.0 is still there: Serie C1/C2 with real squads, Copa Libertadores, Supercopa, CONMEBOL and the Intercontinental Cup.

Technical manual (new chapter on how a country is registered in the game, for anyone who wants to add more):
English: aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/
Italian: aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/it.html

Next on the list: the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, then Asia.

SWOS 96/97 Mod 1.2 is out: Asia and Central America

After Africa in 1.1, version 1.2 brings the career mode to Asia and Central America. As always it works in every language of the game (ITALIAN, ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN.EXE), CD and GOG versions.

What's new

• Asia: South Korea (1997 K-League), China (1997 Jia-A) and Saudi Arabia (1996-97), each with real clubs, the real final order and a national cup.
• Central America: Guatemala and Honduras (1996-97): Comunicaciones, Municipal, Olimpia, Motagua and the others, with their national cups.
• Asian club cups: Asian Club Championship and Asian Cup Winners Cup, with clubs from Japan, South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and India.
• CONCACAF Champions Cup: clubs from Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
• All the new cups work in career mode: your club enters them when it qualifies, every season the qualifiers come from the standings, and everything is saved with the career. Saves from 1.0 and 1.1 still load.

About the players - we still need your help
As for the African clubs of 1.1, we could not find the 1996-97 squads of the new clubs: there are no reliable sources for those leagues and that season. Clubs, final order and relative strength are real, but player and coach names are invented, using common names of each country. That now means 138 clubs in total: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala and Honduras.
If you have real squads from those years, even for a single club, please help us replace them: write here or open an issue on GitHub.

Download and install

1. Download swos-9697-mod-patcher.html from github.com/aminta/swos-9697-mod/releases/tag/v1.2
2. Open it in any browser (it works offline, nothing is uploaded) and drop your language's executable and DATA\TEAM.020.
3. Download the patched files (the executable, TEAM.020 and the new TEAM.052, 053, 054, 056, 058, 061, 063, 086, 087, 088), copy them into the game folder (TEAM files into DATA) after a backup, and start a new career.

Notes

• The 1.2 additions were tested in career mode for one season, including save and reload. Reports on long careers are very welcome.
• Everything from 1.0 and 1.1 is still there: Serie C1/C2 with real squads, the South American cups, the Intercontinental Cup, Costa Rica, the five African countries and the CAF cups.

Technical manual (chapter 19 explains how a country and a club cup are added to the game):
English: aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/
Italian: aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/it.html

Next on the list: the European extras (Intertoto, European Super Cup, the 1997-98 Champions League format).