Conceived by Dean Lester, Soccer Kid was created by most of the same team who previously worked on the Manchester United franchise at Krisalis Software and uses the same game engine as with Arabian Nights, another title made by the developer.

Initially released for the Amiga platform, the title was later ported to other home computers and consoles including the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, Amiga CD32, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Advance, MS-DOS, PlayStation and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, each one featuring several changes and additions compared to the original version.

The Super Nintendo version received a more mixed reception from reviewers who felt divided with the graphics, sound design and gameplay.

The DOS conversion, although mixed, got a critical response similar to the original Amiga version for its visuals, sound and gameplay.

By pressing different buttons at the title screen, the player can change the colours of their character's clothes to represent their favorite team.

Soccer Kid was created by most of the same personnel who worked on the Manchester United series including programmer Peter Harrap, who co-wrote the title alongside Nigel Little, artist Neil Adamson and composer Matt Furniss, among other team members that shared multiple roles during its development process, while the overall concept was conceived by Dean Lester, in addition to also sharing the same game engine as with Arabian Nights, another platform game by Krisalis.

[2][3][4][7][9] Nigel stated that to assure such project would be playable, the team wrote a primitive physics engine early in its development and implemented real-life rules for the ball to react realistically, which would eventually prove to be feasible after multiple testing phases.

[12][18] A 3DO port developed by Team17 and published by Studio 3DO was first released in North America on 2 May 1994, and later in Japan on 9 December using the name Great Soccer Kid like the Super Nintendo version.

He criticized the player character's moves as being too "fiddly", but praised the graphics and particularly the "fearsome" difficulty, saying it gave the game good value for money.

He compared the game to the acclaimed Arabian Nights, saying it was even better due to the superior control and greater focus on platform action.

[70] GamePro gave it a positive review, citing smooth controls, strong sound effects, good variety of musical tracks, and exceptional graphics.