Football Manager 25

Football Manager 25 was announced on Sep 30, 2024 for Nov 26, 2024, delayed to March 2025, and canceled on Feb 7, 2025 because Sports Interactive said it would not reach the standard required. Every pre-order was refunded, and the series went on with Football Manager 26 and then FM27.

0:00 Football Manager 25 was canceled on Feb 7, 2025, when Sports Interactive said that even with the later date "we would not achieve the standard required", and all pre-orders were refunded. It had been announced on Sep 30, 2024 for Nov 26, 2024, then pushed to March 2025. It was the first Football Manager since 2004 that never came out, and its work became Football Manager 26, released Nov 4, 2025. Football Manager 27 follows on Nov 10, 2026.

Quick facts

Announced	Sep 30, 2024
First date	Nov 26, 2024 (Switch: Dec 3, 2024)
Delayed	Oct 10, 2024, to March 2025
Canceled	Feb 7, 2025
Planned platforms	PC, Mac, Xbox, PS5; FM25 Touch on Switch
Engine	Unity (the first in the series)
Pre-orders	All refunded
What came next	Football Manager 26, Nov 4, 2025

Sources: SEGA, Sep 30, 2024; PCGamesN, Oct 10, 2024; PC Gamer, Feb 7, 2025.

What Football Manager 25 promised

0:02 SEGA and SI announced it on Sep 30, 2024 for Nov 26, 2024 on PC, Mac, Xbox and PS5, with FM25 Touch on Switch on Dec 3. It was to be the first game on Unity, with a revamped interface, women's football and the Premier League, whose multi-year license SI had announced on Jun 10, 2024. Miles Jacobson called it "just the starting point for the studio's next 20, 30 years".

The delay

Ten days later, on Oct 10, 2024, SI moved it to March 2025, saying it had been "simply rushing too much" and that things were "moving slower than we had predicted". Sky Sports counts three slips in all: from an early November target, to late November, to March.

Why Football Manager 25 was canceled

SI announced the cancellation on Feb 7, 2025, after "careful consideration with SEGA". Its reasons, in its own words:

Quality: approaching milestones at the turn of the year, it was "unmistakably clear" the game would fall short, and the interface "is not where we need it to be".
Timing: SI would not go past March, as that was too late in the football season to expect players to buy another game later that year.
The wait: SI said legal and financial regulations meant Feb 7 was "the earliest date" it could say so.

PC Gamer reported that fans were "weirdly pleased" that SI admitted it rather than ship a broken game.

Refunds

Every pre-order was refunded, PC Gamer reported.

What happened to Football Manager 2024

Because Football Manager 25 never shipped, Football Manager 2024 stayed on sale and on Apple Arcade, Game Pass, Netflix and PlayStation Plus until its successor arrived. SI made no 2024/25 data update for it, saying the work would take resources from the next game. So the 2024/25 season was the first since 2004 with no new Football Manager, a run PC Gamer described as "like clockwork".

What Miles Jacobson said later

Jacobson stepped back from public-facing work after the cancellation. In interviews with Eurogamer and The Athletic, as FM Scout summarized them on Aug 29, 2025, he called it "a disaster" that lost the revenue from every sale, described converting the old C++ code into C# for Unity, and said Football Manager 26 was not what FM25 was going to be, "because that was a mistake".

What followed

0:00 Football Manager 26 came out on Nov 4, 2025 with the Unity engine, the Premier League and women's football that Football Manager 25 had promised. It was poorly reviewed but sold fast. FM27 counts "the previous two titles" for Save Carry Over as Football Manager 2024 and Football Manager 26, since FM25 never existed. The whole run of games is on Football Manager Games in Order.

Frequently asked questions

Why was Football Manager 25 canceled? Sports Interactive said on Feb 7, 2025 that the game, and especially its interface, would not reach the standard required even with a March 2025 date, and that any later date would be too late in the football season. FM27 is the second game made since.

Was Football Manager 25 ever released? No. It was announced on Sep 30, 2024, delayed on Oct 10, 2024 and canceled on Feb 7, 2025. The series went from Football Manager 2024 to Football Manager 26 and then FM27.

Did Football Manager 25 pre-orders get refunded? Yes. All pre-orders were refunded when the game was canceled on Feb 7, 2025.

Is FM27 the same as Football Manager 25? No. Football Manager 25's work became Football Manager 26 (Nov 4, 2025), and FM27, out Nov 10, 2026, is the game after that.