Football Manager 2026

[moore_94]

 

[moore_94]

Time to upgrade my PC a bit, I can already tell my current one will struggle 

[CollinsLCFC]

I’m guessing they’re set for a more visually immersive FM going forward. Being a pessimist, I'm just hoping that doesn’t mean sacrificing the deep stats and databases, which is what makes it what it is.

 

Are we about to get a FIFA/Football Manager lovechild here?

[Guest RYM]

Loved the 93/94 championship manager with that bloke that looked slightly like Ken Dodd on the front. I've never recovered since TBH.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

A sorely needed new edition, I've still been ragging FM24. Got Bursaspor to the Turkish top flight while listening but nothing but Kiss Kiss by Holly Valance and eating shish

 

Missed an 88th minute pen on the final day to lose the title on goal difference. But I said to the boys "go out there next season and win it for me" and they did, getting slapped about something chronic in the Gazprom though

[Finnegan]

It's still gonna be ****ing purple innit. 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

On 13/08/2025 at 15:14, CollinsLCFC said:

I’m guessing they’re set for a more visually immersive FM going forward. Being a pessimist, I'm just hoping that doesn’t mean sacrificing the deep stats and databases, which is what makes it what it is.

 

Are we about to get a FIFA/Football Manager lovechild here?

 

I don't think they'd bin off the reason people play the game for it, I dare say there will be a fair bit of superfluous fluff. I've always been a 2D top down or text man anyway, watching the game in 3D always shattered the immersion a bit for me

[Gamble92]

I think the lack of updates from the team has been incredibly poor. Almost King Power esque levels of fan interaction. 

 

I've noticed people getting very annoyed at Miles Jacobsen in general last few years with the chip on the shoulder he has when he's responding to fans.

 

They've certainly got a lot of making up to do. It's difficult to see this game being a success but let's hope they pull it off. 

[Brainy]

Gagging for this to come out as I don't get on with FM24. I want to turn Monaco into the best team in the world via some lower league Serie C side or maybe some random European side. Haven't done Hungary in a while and Czech Republic/Ukraine is always tempting as is Scandinavia. 

[Brainy]

Im going to reminisce about my experiences out loud for everyone to ignore while I try and blank out that Leicester City currently exist

 

Austria: Red Bull Salzburg, Rapid Vienna

Belarus: Vitebsk

Belgium: Charleroi, Royal Francs Borains, Gent

Bulgaria: Litex Lovech

Croatia: Hajduk, Croatia Zmijavci

Czech Republic: Sparta Prague, Viktoria Zizkov

Denmark: Aab, Middelfart, Silkeborg, Copenhagen

Finland: SJK

France: Nancy, Cannes, Bastia, Guingamp

Germany: Union Berlin, Leverkusen

Greece:  

Hungary: Puskas Akademia

Iceland: Filmleikafelag Hafnarfjordur (or something, FH for short)

Israel: Hapoel El Umm Fahm 

Italy: Inter Milan

Netherlands: Sparta Rotterdam, Maastricht

Norway: Rosenborg

Poland: Wiska Krakow, Stal Mielec

Portugal: Sporting, Casa Pia

Romania: Rapid Bucharest

Russia: Dinamo Moscow

Serbia: Trayal Krusevac

Slovakia: Slovan Bratislava, Trencin

Slovenia: Krsko

Sweden: Elfsborg

Switzerland: Vaduz

Turkey:

Ukraine: Dnipro, Obolon Kyiv, Lviv, Zorya, Dynamo Kyiv

 

Would love to do something in Greece/Turkey as there's definitely potential with some of their top clubs

 

Highlights: Vaduz (FM 19ish without a doubt is unique as they're a Liechtenstein club playing in the Swiss Leagues, but qualify for Europe every year due to them competing in the Liechtenstein Cup. By far and away the best side in that competition, from memory there are 8 teams that contest it, 2 of which are your u21 and u18 sides. I once played my u21s in the final. Typically a 2nd tier side but they have played in the top tier recently. I managed to get them promoted and win the Swiss Super League. There is a catch though that they cannot qualify for Europa via Swiss Super League finishes, therefore if you want to try and win the Champions League with them you have to win the Europa League. My time with them was pre-Conference League so I imagine now they have to win that to get into the Europa League.. then win that to get Champions League  

 

Trayal Krusevac (FM 20) - the only time i've taken a nothing-side to Champions League glory. Serbia is generally a regen/wonderkid hotspot and soon became very easy to pinch starlets from Partizan/Crvena Zvezda. Won the CL as well as many Serbian Super League titles and left after 15 years to then go on and win the World Cup with Serbia

 

Ukraine/Slovakia (FM23ish) - started in Ukraine 2nd tier with Obolon Kyiv. Got them promoted then ditched them halfway through the next season (while being relatively safe) to take the Lviv job who were bottom. Couldn't save them but did get promoted back at the first time of asking. Joined Zorya for four very average seasons there and then left to join Slovan Bratislava, first real time dipping my feet in this country. Was incredibly successful here winning most if not all League titles and Cup's across half a dozen seasons or so. Also won the Czechoslovakian Super Cup a few times and hoovered up a lot of the young talent in the country. Seem to recall qualifying from an incredibly tough CL Group. Left to join Dynamo Kyiv and very easily took a few of the wonderkids with me on the cheap. Took a few seasons to build a team capable of knocking Shakhtar off their perch but once we did (I think the first time we won the title was beating and as a result overtaking Shakhtar on the final day) I won the League about 10+ times and became the most successful team in Ukraine which was kinda the target. Won the Europa League one year but always struggled to get close to winning the CL. Again hoovered up a lot of Ukrainian talent but never managed to sign a Shakhtar player. Left and won the World Cup with Ukraine, against Slovakia of all teams  

 

Scandinavia: (FM22 ish) - Started at Middelfart in the Danish 3rd tier. Got promoted but I think left at the end of my contract, or joined soon into the 2nd season and joined Silkeborg in the 2nd tier. Got promoted, memory is a bit cloudy now but I had a random year in charge at Copenhagen, won the league. Moved to Norway to Rosenborg, spent a few years here bit Valerenga were an absolute pain and don't recall actually winning the the league here, but did win a few Norwegian Cups and I won the Conference League beating Wolfsburg in the final. Then after about half a dozen seasons moved to Elfsborg which was brilliant. Turned them into regular league winners, won some Swedish Cups, got to the latter stages of the CL a few times. Easily my most favourite league to manage in in terms of the scheduling, a group stage Cup which turns into knockout rounds, the season then starts after the semis with the final played in the middle of the season. Eventually won the World Cup with Denmark (theme appearing here...) beating Portugal on penalties having played 117 minutes with 10 men  

 

Sparta Prague and others (FM13) - straight into a top job which isn't my approach anymore. Spent about 15/20 years here, didn't win the league every year but did most years, had some solid competition in Slavia/Banik Ostrava and Mlada Boleslav. My mate did a similar save and was interesting to see how we had different sides being competitive (Ostrava were 2nd tier fodder on his game). Never did anything in the CL, but did win the Europa League vs Roma in 2029. Left for Chelsea not long after and got sacked before the end of the season. Moved to Bayern Munich, very successful times, moved on to Sporting Lisbon, even more successful times here forcing my way past Porto/Benfica to be the leading club. Eventually moved to back to Sparta Prague for probably just as long a spell as my first, and eventually won the CL. 

 

Slovenia/Austria/Germany/Italy (FM22ish) Krsko (the nuclear boys) in the Slovenian 2nd tier, spent a few years in this level before eventually getting promoted but not long after I moved on to Rapid Vienna. Couldn't dislodge Red Bull at the top however I did win an Austrian Cup as well as the Conference League. Moved on to Leverkusen, kinda sucked and got sacked in my first season. Decided to drop a division to Union Berlin who were near the top of the league, got them promoted and had a really really fun but difficult slog to keep them in the Bundesliga, but managed it. Second season I managed to qualify for the Champions League. Eventually I left to join Inter Milan then my interest fazed out. 

 

FH (FM16ish) - can't remember much here except winning the league regularly (when they were good), the european qualifying rounds becoming the highest of my season. I think we beat Copenhagen to qualify for the Europa League group stages. Similar to Sweden I think the Cup was played before the league starts, and there was only 22 games across the entire season so it was very tiny. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brainy]

Thanks to the mod who absolutely did not read more than one line of this post before approving it, and apologies for a triple post  

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Dnipro on FM12 😍

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

The game definitely got harder (and better imo) with the league prestige and weighting actually factoring into things. For ages you could just hoover up the kids from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Serbia, Iran etc and within a few years you'd be turning sides over in the latter stages of the Gazprom and they'd never leave.

 

Much more difficult to get people to stay put and stay happy now if you're managing in some backwater and they fancy a move to Arsenal or something – especially when they can start considering options at the end of their contracts

[Brainy]

There's nothing better than when you reach a stage at a club where you have built YOUR squad, making minimal signings/sales every season, you have a great understanding of what's coming through the youth sides and are able to loan them out to affiliates or clubs in the same division as you, being able to blood them into your starting 11 at 16yo because your team is just that much better than the rest, your entire backroom staff are the masters of their profession....

 

 

[Finnegan]

19 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

I think the lack of updates from the team has been incredibly poor. Almost King Power esque levels of fan interaction. 

 

I've noticed people getting very annoyed at Miles Jacobsen in general last few years with the chip on the shoulder he has when he's responding to fans.

 

They've certainly got a lot of making up to do. It's difficult to see this game being a success but let's hope they pull it off. 

 

I'm sorry but I'm with Miles. 

 

Gamers on the internet have become obnoxiously, insanely entitled and impatient. 

 

Why the **** do you need coddling and constant updates, it's a computer game? It'll be out when it's out. 

 

As the kids say, "let them cook."

 

[Beliall]

28 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

I'm sorry but I'm with Miles. 

 

Gamers on the internet have become obnoxiously, insanely entitled and impatient. 

 

Why the **** do you need coddling and constant updates, it's a computer game? It'll be out when it's out. 

 

As the kids say, "let them cook."

 

except when he reveals the new regens and says how good they are before showing some god awful avatar of himself using the new facial scanning that looks like a PES 6 player that was hit with a bat

[Gamble92]

2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I'm sorry but I'm with Miles. 

 

Gamers on the internet have become obnoxiously, insanely entitled and impatient. 

 

Why the **** do you need coddling and constant updates, it's a computer game? It'll be out when it's out. 

 

As the kids say, "let them cook."

 

Usually id agree but the way they let everyone down, they should have at least put out a few more updates to let everyone know there was a game in development. Which hasn't been a given until now. 

 

He's a weird character. Some of the arguments he gets in are just strange. 

[The Doctor]

3 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

Usually id agree but the way they let everyone down, they should have at least put out a few more updates to let everyone know there was a game in development. Which hasn't been a given until now. 

 

He's a weird character. Some of the arguments he gets in are just strange. 

How has it not been a given? It's a game that typically has a yearly release cycle (whether or not that should be the case is a different matter) and the cancellation of FM25 was announced with the opening statement "Sports Interactive regret to inform that, following extensive internal discussion and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25 and shift our focus to the next release." 

 

Surely anyone reasonable would read that as "it's cancelled and work is focusing on FM26 instead". 

[Brainy]

2 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

How has it not been a given? It's a game that typically has a yearly release cycle (whether or not that should be the case is a different matter) and the cancellation of FM25 was announced with the opening statement "Sports Interactive regret to inform that, following extensive internal discussion and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25 and shift our focus to the next release." 

 

Surely anyone reasonable would read that as "it's cancelled and work is focusing on FM26 instead". 

It was originally delayed until March, and then a bit before March they announced it was cancelled, no?

[The Doctor]

1 minute ago, Brainy said:

It was originally delayed until March, and then a bit before March they announced it was cancelled, no?

Yea, it was delayed initially, then in feb they said it was cancelled and focus was shifted to the next release, i.e. FM 26. I don't think we can't take it as given that FM 26 was in the works with that statement.

[Gamble92]

2 hours ago, The Doctor said:

How has it not been a given? It's a game that typically has a yearly release cycle (whether or not that should be the case is a different matter) and the cancellation of FM25 was announced with the opening statement "Sports Interactive regret to inform that, following extensive internal discussion and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25 and shift our focus to the next release." 

 

Surely anyone reasonable would read that as "it's cancelled and work is focusing on FM26 instead". 

This was very much an anomaly though and I think to not even give any update about how it's getting on was a mistake. Listen, I'll still buy the game so you're probably right. If it was me I'd have just put out a few updates saying we are still making this game. 

 

They also said they were working on fm25 for 8 months until they... actually just cancelled it. 

[Zear0]

https://www.eurogamer.net/the-big-football-manager-interview-series-boss-miles-jacobson-on-what-went-wrong-with-fm25-and-what-to-expect-from-fm26

 

Good interview (shame it's the terrible Eurogamer.net) explaining some of the issues that lead to cancelling 25. 

[AjcW]

On 16/08/2025 at 21:22, Brainy said:

There's nothing better than when you reach a stage at a club where you have built YOUR squad, making minimal signings/sales every season, you have a great understanding of what's coming through the youth sides and are able to loan them out to affiliates or clubs in the same division as you, being able to blood them into your starting 11 at 16yo because your team is just that much better than the rest, your entire backroom staff are the masters of their profession....

 

 

I have a question on this, how do you resist the temptation when you look at a FAT transfer budget just waiting to be spent  

 

I think i've just got through my biggest achievement on a save of only signing 3 players in a window and currently have £40m left in the pot.

[sharpylcfc]

Do wonder why they not done more with Football Manager in the console market especially with the power consoles have these days. Plus them being the only management game on the market for console. When you look at what LMA were doing 20 years ago on console, imagine where FM could take management games on console these days with how much more powerful consoles are. Hoping for more improvement console wise this year and being able to play more seasons and leagues. 

[Gamble92]

On 29/08/2025 at 18:21, sharpylcfc said:

Do wonder why they not done more with Football Manager in the console market especially with the power consoles have these days. Plus them being the only management game on the market for console. When you look at what LMA were doing 20 years ago on console, imagine where FM could take management games on console these days with how much more powerful consoles are. Hoping for more improvement console wise this year and being able to play more seasons and leagues. 

The worst thing that can happen to anything is no competition. Can you imagine what they'd be forced to do if LMA was still around with all of those features we used to have? 

 

We obviously got a hell of a lot more depth in stats and the rest of it with FM but we lost our massively in the more fun aspects of what manager games were. They're only just starting to realise they need to look visually a lot better in this era.