As with any other season, the starting day of the next g.s. is calculated by adding an interval of 112 days, which corresponds to the duration of an entire season, to the first day of the previous one.
The global season counter clearly starts from the first season of Sweden, the only league already active in the game from the start.
However, as part of initial expansion of Hattrick, other 9 leagues share the global season count as well, although they are not as old as Sweden. These leagues are England, Germany, Italy, France, Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Argentina and USA. They all are at least 11 seasons younger than Sweden and therefore, for example, their season 1 is called season 11.
This counting system created an obvious global confusion which was subsequently resolved. After the creation of these leagues, all other leagues have been assigned their own season numbers starting from 1.
Notable events
A summary of Hattrick's history is shown below following the global season.
Note that:
the date "in brackets", in european format (dd/mm/yyyy), corresponds to the "first day" of the new g.s.;
the first g.s. day is the "Sunday" before round 1 of main cup;
the real global season 1 was only 7 weeks long, so it is necessary to use the conventional date of "1 June 1997" to identify mechanically the subsequent seasons and the current one.
16 teams are in Hattrick, all playing 4-4-2 - the only formation available.
Two test series are played in 7 rounds.
Splash image circa 2011 (source: hattrick.org login page)
Season 2
(23 Nov. 1997)
Features
HT 2! A new and dynamic Hattrick wake up after a long break due to re-coding and a move to the portal passagen.se.
The new release allows for a total of 680 teams and adds a few features still available today, such as the transfer list and a germinal league pyramid where teams' position in the series is determined by random selection during the off-season.
A new type of transfer system is implemented (previously anyone could bid on any player and the transfer was only made if the owner accepted the offer).
News
The first international game ever is played. Sweden – Denmark 1-2, even if the Danish team is a clone of the Swedish players.
Thanks to a new training combination, Per Emilsson goes beyond the roof of 5 * (stars), and becomes the first and only player ever to get the grade of "saint" - a kind of impossible dummy value HT-Björn invented in the unlikely conjecture that it could ever happen.
The week after, more levels are added and the new grading system becomes 0, H, HH, HHH, *, **, ***, ****, *****, *****!, *****!! and so on.
Season 5
(15 Nov. 1998)
Nothing in particular happened this season according to the history books.
1999
Season 6
(14 March 1999)
If something extraordinary really happened this season it didn't make it into the history books.
Splash image circa 2011 (source: hattrick.org login page)
ExtraLives AB is the name of the new company that develops game design. It is established in January 2000 in Stockholm by Björn HT-Bjorn Holmér, Johan HT-Johan Gustavsson and Daniel HT-Daniel Abrahamsson.
The community moves from passagen.se to Delphi forums.
2000: Extralives is established in January2000: Hattrick’s nostalgic look is buried
A clown as portrayed by the artist Beach. The primordial rules stated that a "popular guy" with "solid leadership" could help the team, but no such effect has ever existed in reality.
Season 10
(04 June 2000)
Features
Hattrick’s "nostalgic look" gives way to the new "classic design" that will reign for 8 years.
News
HT-Johan and HT-Daniel ask the English artist Beach to become the official Hattrick illustrator. Since 2000, Beach has been involved in all of the art pieces we see in the Game (his design/idea are pixel art player faces, avatars, Christmas/Halloween backgrounds, cartoons, icons, etc.).
Season 11
(05 Oct. 2000)
Features
With HT 5 Hattrick is always online and everything happens live. The new match engine brings to the game new remarkable features such as
15 different player skill levels including the current peak level "divine",
real time features such as instant transfer processing and live matches (previously matches occurred during downtime each night).
World
At this time the game reaches roughly 12 000 users. Swedish league is expanded to 10920 teams, which rapidly fills up) and Hattrick world includes now more countries: England, Germany, Italy, Spain (which will become Mexico the next season), France, Argentina and USA.
Users who had previously played in Sweden and new users alike fill in the new leagues.
2001
Season 12
(4 Feb. 2001)
Features
From the beginning of this season on, teams are placed in the same series as they finished and the promotion/demotion system is established.
Hattrick Supporter is launched almost close to the season 13 (single price: 24 €).
World
The English version of the rules are now up.
First global conference in English (Swedish is no longer the official language of the game).
2001: Bob "the beloved" is born2001: The news ticker with latest news in real time is one of the most interesting features of the new supporter's package2001: Together with the supporter add-on, the legendary green kit is born
Here is a reinterpretation of the kit
Season 13
(27 May 2001)
Features
International transfers are now possible and foreign players will have a 20% higher salary now on.
New leagues: Singapore, Malaysia, Iceland, Austria, Belgium (it was België at the time), Switzerland (the first season of many of these countries is called "season 2" due to an error that occurred several times also in 2002 and 2003).
Capacity for a 7th (and more) division in each league,
The special events, a concept very familiar to every manager today.
However, HT6 does not solve the growing economic problems within the game. To boost the in-game economy, which had entered the equivalent of a depression, the developers resort to distributing 250 000 US$ (or the equivalent in each country's currency) to each team.
World
V. Division in Germany.
First official national teams, and, with them, elections and World Cups. The first World Cup is held in Japan and South Korea at the end of the season, with Sweden beating England 4-0 and becoming the first champion.
2002: CHPP applications will have a long hiatus between 2008 and 2013
2002: Friendlies were depicted this way from the first moment and still are today
2010
2008
2006
2002
2002-2010: World Cup Trophy evolution
The SMS Tracking advertising banner for many years visible on the right of the main logo
A split in management is made when Hattrick is moved into a separate company and entrusted to Hattrick Limited, while ExtraLives employees are only partially devoted to work on the game.
World
VII. Division in Nederland. Sweden, Switzerland and Netherlands broke through the 10 000 users barrier.
2003: The earliest appearances of Hammo, the guy sleeping careless while the site is down. Just in time for Black Friday!2003: New remarkable features on live matches
Season 20
(20 July 2003)
Features
HT 6.5 launches the system for coaches recruiting.
4 tactics (pressing, counter-attacks, AiM, AoW) are now available.
Conference are language-specific, managers can speak in their native language.
World
VI. Division established in Italia, Poland and Finland; VII. Division in Switzerland.
Announced more than a season in advance, the league reform was completed during the off-season, in April. Following this restructuring, all bot teams at that time were relegated to the bottom division, replacing them by promoting extra teams from lower divisions.
The reform was intended to solve the problem of league pyramid capacity after the unexpected surge in registrations. The growth had made it necessary to add a new division (consisting of 1024 series) almost every season and the largest countries, over 60 000 each, had swelled to a 12 levels pyramid. Divisions 8 and 9 would now double in size to 2048 series, and 10 and below would increase to 4096 series.
News
Between rounds eleven and twelve, there is a long downtime of about 70 hours. For the second time, the HT universe is restored from a backup (see also season 21 events).
Intel became Hattrick's official technical partner.
2006: Arena Designer tool2006: HT-Oxidus (who was simply Oxidus at the time) created a primordial and successful new edition of Kit Designer and published it as a gimmick on a website on his own2007: For a long time, youth academy players were displayed in black and white
Season 30
(13 Aug. 2006)
Features
Old players' skills decline more frequently, in smaller increments, than before.
Changes to stamina skill: levels fall steadily during the season and training is revised.
2007: Hattrick 10th birthday! - from homepage crest2007: Anniversary T-shirt from Shop
Season 33
(15 July 2007)
Features
Player birthdays are individual. Previously all players had their birthday the same day (in the end of the season). Now all players have their birthday on one of the 112 days of the season.
World
League extensions up to 10 levels: Poland and Portugal.
Head to head for supporters (later free for everyone).
Transfer market regulation; you can't transfer list a player more times than he has played games for your team.
Squad limit of 50 players.
News
Hattrick Stage opens for a limited number of signup: approximately 5000 users access to the game test environment.
2009: Hattrick stage allow user to test the incoming features before introduction
2009: Immediately after release of Avatars, many managers argued that only male version exist. A few weeks later, lady avatar are also introduced for female users
2009-2010: Another idea inspired by the site's new design: Hatsticks Official Sticker Album combined with three World Cup editions
Season 39
(18 May 2009)
Features
More accurate match rating including the full effect from confidence, confusion and pulling back.
The possibility of managing clubs by SMS is abandoned.
For security reasons, from now on users have a login name different from their nickname.
Season 40
(06 Sept. 2009)
Features
All bot teams from level six and below started to demote to the lowest division at season's end (and teams with active managers started taking their places to spice up the competition).
Managers can list their favorite teams with a small new feature.
News
A Facebook official application.
Season 41
(28 Dec. 2009)
Features
With a major match engine tweak, the distribution of basic chances in the game engine is changed, making some chances exclusive for each team, to improve the balance and reduce the variance in the game.
The tweak also enables a better handling of the counterattack and pressing tactics.
2010
Season 42
(19 April 2010)
Features
A completely new match engine that is not based on 4-4-2 and can handle all formations without having to reposition players.
The new regular chances distribution system is integrated.
Chance to get a special event is less dependent on midfield (possession) than before.
News
m.hattrick.org, the mobile site only for smartphones.
2010: An example of match report2010: Driven by a completely redesigned site, a lot of new features sprout, such as the group photo for club
Season 43
(09 Aug. 2010)
Features
Faster training on many skill levels, but also slower on high levels.
Staff limit to 30 members in total or no more than 10 of the same kind. Goalkeeping coaches have been merged with assistant coaches, and accountants have been removed.
End to longer injuries: when a player stops, +4 is now the longest injury time he will get.
2011: New My office with "Secretary" reports, "Hattrick announces" communications and "What's going on?" calendar2011: Hattrick Open independent website hosts the beta version of the tournament system
Season 46
(11 July 2011)
Features
Letting two players swap positions on the pitch also becomes possible.
All users get access to the basic training report.
News
Hattrick Open, an independent website, allows everyone to use the game engine for private tournaments.
Season 47
(31 Oct. 2011)
Features
Match order page is improved with a rating predictor.
Hattrick Gears, a collection of pay-per-use small features.
News
New statistics available after closing the old Alltid.org site down.
2012
Season 48
(20 Feb. 2012)
Features
With loyalty players who stay on the same team for a long time perform better. A crusade against traders?
Tournaments available directly on website after closing the Hattrick Open site down.
News
Hattrick joins Zattika.
2012: Tournaments, a new and apart from leagues alternative competition system
HT Supporter has now three different packages and prices (Silver, Gold, Platinum). Diamond will be later introduced.
Only Supporter and Credits in shop, and not any physical products such as t-shirts and hoodies.
News
Offerwalls made possibile to earn reward points to get Supporter and Credits without having to spend real life money.
2013: Hattrick Supporter is now Platinum, Gold and Silver2013: In a ladder your goal is to reach the highest rung and become the "King of the Hill" and then stay there for as long as you can
Season 52
(13 May 2013)
Features
Additional club registration opens for Supporter Platinum.
An alternative competition with a faster pace for those who want more action: Ladders
Season 53
(02 Sept. 2013)
Features
The community in the anniversary vote requested and gets to dismantle the Golden Goal rule.
Youth teams will no longer have a week off during the senior teams' season break.
More play-offs and play-outs added in the lower divisions to make more matches matter for a longer period during the season.
Manager Network, a new way to keep track of the teams and managers users care about.
News
Training for all at the end of the season thanks to the introduction of weekend friendlies (no more extra benefits for teams playing the qualifiers).
World
Supporters can now play in more than one league at a time, with no limitation to their own national league.
2014: After years of waiting, the long announced new staff system is reality
2014: In the injury history page, the duration and the specific part of the body affected by the injuries are recorded (and the type of injury also has a graphic rendering from 2020 onwards)
Season 56
(04 Aug. 2014)
Features
Cup system is redesigned and Divisional Cups are added to let more lower divisions teams enjoy the experience of a meaningful cup run.
Prize money for winning the league is increased and also prizes at earlier stages of the Cup.
New mobile web and redesigned iPhone and Android apps.
The Supporter Week Trophy is an official tournament for supporters only with the grand prize of a lifetime "Hattrick Supporter Diamond".
2014: After cup system reform, at least three cup matches per season are guaranteed to everyone
Season 59
(06 July 2015)
Features
From now on, match report shows all chances in the games after they have been played.
Chat with members of series, within match opponents or in a federation.
Season 60
(26 Oct. 2015)
Features
Staff system update with contracts for staff members.
World
At last, HT-Time is abandoned. Managers can choose the time zone and finally be able to follow matches without having to calculate how much time difference there is with where you live and Central Europe.
2016
Season 61
(15 Feb. 2016)
Features
Players and reports show levels above "divine".
2016: Brand New Live Viewer with a live commentator2016: Team Analysis, not a success, at least until it was integrated with the match order form
Season 62
(06 June 2016)
Features
New Live Viewer provides interesting and updated stats during the match. It also adds a chat.
With the Team Analysis tool, managers can quickly analyze the previous matches of upcoming opponents.
Season 63
(23 Sept. 2016)
Features
Match Replay is a new Hattrick Gears product to simulate a match 20 more times.
Improvements to youth team, such as the training results available immediately. Scouts no longer present 17 years old talents in youth academy or 19 year old players in scouting network.
2017
Season 64
(16 Jan. 2017)
World
Hattrick International, a whole new league for supporters! (The first champions will crown themselves in some 6 seasons time).
Hattrick International
Generation Trophies
2017: 20 years of Hattrick! Official crest from login page
Season 65
(08 May 2017)
Features
Match order page with new visual design and a lot of new functionality (such as being allowed to bench 7 substitutes) to help managers setting up a good lineup.
Season 66
(28 Aug. 2017)
Features
Generation Trophies, an international competition where managers face off against other teams that got started in around the same time.
New training page gives better planning tools and more detail about what factors impact training.
2018: Team of the Week was an old feature already present on Alltid site before merging with the game
2019
Seasons 71, 72, 73
Features
The minimum stamina training allowed has increased from 5% to 10%.
New and improved look for series table.
New activity rule: all managers that have played Hattrick for more than one year will not lose the club after 7 weeks of inactivity, but only after 14 weeks.
With Tryouts supporters can see how a player will perform in the lineup simulator before deciding to add the player to your team.
News
The match commentator's gives more information during the match.
