Football Manager 2026

[RonnieTodger]

Some pretty hefty required specs there

[RoboFox]

All the talk was that they cancelled FM25 and rolled over into FM26 because it's some revolutionary, built-from-the-ground up game with new match engine and all.

 

Instead, they've spent two years updating the UI and adding some new lighting and animations? 

 

It couldn't be more obvious that they've absolutely hit their ceiling with this. They'll never be able to pull off the changes players actually want without missing releases because they 1. aren't capable. 2. probably can't afford it. 

 

Back to the EA playbook of "change the colours, update the roster and feed them some bullshit about absolutely meaningless minor feature additions - they'll never realise it's the same game" 

 

Looking forward to seeing more of the absolute abominations that are SI's idea of human faces.

 

 

Edited 11 September 2025 by RoboFox

[GLC]

Im giving away a copy of this.

 

[Muzzy_no7]

Buzzing for this game, although it means I’ve finally gotta cave in and get a new laptop after 13 years!

[Brainy]

Is there a steam version of this available for pre order and with early access? Just saw it for £31 on there but managed to catch the lack of early access message 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Brainy said:

Is there a steam version of this available for pre order and with early access? Just saw it for £31 on there but managed to catch the lack of early access message 

I was looking the other day and as far as I can work out the cheapest is from Fanatical with an affiliate discount code from YouTubers/websites, which comes to £38.94. The first one I came across was this one

[AjcW]

Just to gather everyone's thoughts.

 

A lot of people have said SI have reached "just tart it up a bit and release the database" levels and the game has hit its "ceiling"

 

Genuine question, if they did that every year would anyone actually care? I would happily pay £35-£40 a year for a new database and maybe some colour/layout changes.

 

Why? Because it's literally the only game I play, and has been for 17 years  

 

I'd actually say i'm more annoyed this year that they've changed so much because i'll need to upgrade my device! Might actually just keep going with 24 as can't change device until at least next year.

 

I guess my point is why have they felt the need to do this, the game has a cult following, people love how basic (and yet complex...) it is. No one asked for FIFA light graphics.

 

 

[Finnegan]

On 30/09/2025 at 13:25, AjcW said:

I would happily pay £35-£40 a year for a new database

 

Jesus ****ing Christ this says so much about the gaming industry.

 

I'd happily pay a tenner every year for that, maybe?

 

Thirty to fifty quid for a new database would be abusrd.

 

I don't disagree with the concept of leaving the game alone for two, three, four year cycles and just releasing database updates but obviously that'd be a terrible business model and they aren't going to do it.

 

I also don't necessarily agree that Football Manager's potential has hit a plateau and the game can't be any better. The game could be massively, massively better it's just that it would take years of development time to do that and they don't have the resources to both bring out the next iteration and also work on turning FM in to a brand new game.

 

[AjcW]

3 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

Jesus ****ing Christ this says so much about the gaming industry.

 

I'd happily pay a tenner every year for that, maybe?

 

Thirty to fifty quid for a new database would be abusrd.

 

I don't disagree with the concept of leaving the game alone for two, three, four year cycles and just releasing database updates but obviously that'd be a terrible business model and they aren't going to do it.

 

I also don't necessarily agree that Football Manager's potential has hit a plateau and the game can't be any better. The game could be massively, massively better it's just that it would take years of development time to do that and they don't have the resources to both bring out the next iteration and also work on turning FM in to a brand new game.

 

I do think my point is probably in isolation though, I have never and will never play anything else. Never been a gamer, just love FM. So me willing to pay that much is just my situation, I don’t necessarily think others would be willing to!

 

I’m just annoyed because I literally can’t buy it this year because of my device  

[Finnegan]

1 hour ago, AjcW said:

I do think my point is probably in isolation though, I have never and will never play anything else. Never been a gamer, just love FM. So me willing to pay that much is just my situation, I don’t necessarily think others would be willing to!

 

I’m just annoyed because I literally can’t buy it this year because of my device  

 

You know that fans put out database updates right?

 

They do it for older versions, too? You can probably get a 25/26 database update for like, FM 2018 if that's your favourite version.

 

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

You know that fans put out database updates right?

 

They do it for older versions, too? You can probably get a 25/26 database update for like, FM 2018 if that's your favourite version.

 

I was going to say, if all you want is the same game but with an updated database and a different look then there's no need to pay any money at all, let alone £40

[Ashley]

2 hours ago, AjcW said:

I do think my point is probably in isolation though, I have never and will never play anything else. Never been a gamer, just love FM. So me willing to pay that much is just my situation, I don’t necessarily think others would be willing to!

 

I’m just annoyed because I literally can’t buy it this year because of my device  

There's current season data bases for Champ Manager 01/02

 

It wouldn't work. Expecting big things from this year's version. It needs to be that game after what a year/two out? 

 

[dmayne7]

Teh sorry state of the club is ironically, part of why it'll probably be more fun to do a Leicester save this year. Very few if any players that you'd be sad to sell so doesn't matter if they're rated poorly (though will probably still be the best team in the league), safety net of building the team in the championship and most importantly, should have several very highly rated youngsters. Suspect some won't get the potential they deserve but obviously Monga will be great and I'd hope at least Evans has a very high potential range given he has played PL as a 16 year old and continues to score in the second string at 17

[EnderbyFox]

1 hour ago, dmayne7 said:

Teh sorry state of the club is ironically, part of why it'll probably be more fun to do a Leicester save this year. Very few if any players that you'd be sad to sell so doesn't matter if they're rated poorly (though will probably still be the best team in the league), safety net of building the team in the championship and most importantly, should have several very highly rated youngsters. Suspect some won't get the potential they deserve but obviously Monga will be great and I'd hope at least Evans has a very high potential range given he has played PL as a 16 year old and continues to score in the second string at 17

 

It's going to be extremely cathartic to get rid of Soumare, Daka, Skipp, Faes etc in the first window

[AjcW]

3 hours ago, dmayne7 said:

Teh sorry state of the club is ironically, part of why it'll probably be more fun to do a Leicester save this year. Very few if any players that you'd be sad to sell so doesn't matter if they're rated poorly (though will probably still be the best team in the league), safety net of building the team in the championship and most importantly, should have several very highly rated youngsters. Suspect some won't get the potential they deserve but obviously Monga will be great and I'd hope at least Evans has a very high potential range given he has played PL as a 16 year old and continues to score in the second string at 17

If I could purchase (laptop....) i'd be really excited by a Leicester save this year.

 

I've said in the past I have this weird thing where I hate replacing a good manager  but don't really have any strong feelings towards Marti.

 

Hopefully it'll be as easy as ever to sell the usual suspects for decent money. Load up Scandi and South America and go to town!  

[Stadt]

53 minutes ago, AjcW said:

If I could purchase (laptop....) i'd be really excited by a Leicester save this year.

 

I've said in the past I have this weird thing where I hate replacing a good manager  but don't really have any strong feelings towards Marti.

 

Hopefully it'll be as easy as ever to sell the usual suspects for decent money. Load up Scandi and South America and go to town!  

I'm always torn by players I don't rate being good IG. Thomas was far too good for years but it really breaks the immersion when paying players just for attributes.

[dmayne7]

1 hour ago, AjcW said:

If I could purchase (laptop....) i'd be really excited by a Leicester save this year.

 

I've said in the past I have this weird thing where I hate replacing a good manager  but don't really have any strong feelings towards Marti.

 

Hopefully it'll be as easy as ever to sell the usual suspects for decent money. Load up Scandi and South America and go to town!  

Ha, I know what you mean. But think I've only really thought about that when NP was in charge.

 

Yeah, I think the AI will be dumb as ever in the transfer market; by far the biggest thing that needs a change

[dmayne7]

3 hours ago, EnderbyFox said:

 

It's going to be extremely cathartic to get rid of Soumare, Daka, Skipp, Faes etc in the first window

 

19 minutes ago, Stadt said:

I'm always torn by players I don't rate being good IG. Thomas was far too good for years but it really breaks the immersion when paying players just for attributes.

See I'd be more than happy to get rid of most but will obviously tank the team cohesion. Hopefully Nelson and Okoli are decent with a least potential to be solid in the PL then I can get rid of the chuckle brothers. Probably have to keep one of VK (who's normally pretty good) or Luke. Imagine I'd be renewing Soumare and Winks just so I can make some decent money in Jan or the following season . Skipp will probably be ok on the game. Wingers are fine (assuming Monga's current ability is decent enough) so it's probs up top/number 10 where is be desperate to get someone good in.

[AjcW]

53 minutes ago, Stadt said:

I'm always torn by players I don't rate being good IG. Thomas was far too good for years but it really breaks the immersion when paying players just for attributes.

You just know that 5 games into the season, whilst you're on another save, Oliver Skipp will be Leicesters best player by a country mile  

[Aleksz]

God I cannot wait to take a wrecking ball to the club as a source of therapy on this game. 

[sharpylcfc]

Any difference with FM 26 console version to the FM 24 one as can find nothing online about it.

[DB11]

My last FM game was 2019... might go for this years one 

[moore_94]

What is the cheapest anyone has found it for?

[Fear Of The Fox]

1 hour ago, sharpylcfc said:

Any difference with FM 26 console version to the FM 24 one as can find nothing online about it.

It's gonna be the same as PC afaik under Unity Engine. The issue again is that you can't use mods in console unless they've announced something I'm not aware of. So console it's just out of the equation if you want immersion. You won't be able to fix licensing issues, no faces etc. 

[Fear Of The Fox]

Just now, moore_94 said:

What is the cheapest anyone has found it for?

Fanatical at £38.99 with advanced access tomorrow for the beta.