Football Manager 26

0:00 Football Manager 26 was released on Nov 4, 2025 on PC, Mac, consoles and Netflix, the first game in the series made with Unity, with fully licensed Premier League clubs and women's football for the first time. It was also the worst-reviewed: a Metascore of 68 from 44 critics and, on Nov 1, 2026, 38% positive English Steam reviews ("Mostly Negative"). Yet SEGA said it was selling about 30% more than Football Manager 2024, "the fastest pace in the series' history". Its successor, Football Manager 27, comes out on Nov 10, 2026; how the two differ is on FM27 vs FM26.

Quick facts

Sources: Football Manager, Nov 4, 2025; SEGA, Sep 11, 2025; Steam and Metacritic, Nov 1, 2026; PCGamesN, Nov 5, 2025.

Release and platforms

Football Manager 26 came out on Nov 4, 2025 in four forms: the full game on PC and Mac (Steam, Epic Games Store, the Microsoft Store and Xbox Game Pass), FM26 Console on Xbox and PS5, FM26 Touch on Apple Arcade (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV) and FM26 Mobile on Netflix only. FM26 Touch on Nintendo Switch followed digitally on Dec 4. PC and Mac pre-purchasers could play an Advanced Access Beta from Oct 22, 2025, the early-play period that FM27 replaced with its Free Trial and Launch Preview. SEGA Japan gave Nov 5, 2025 and 7,990 yen for its region.

The move to Unity

Football Manager 26 is "the first of our games made with Unity", in SI's words; FM26 Mobile alone stayed on the old technology. The move was the work that sank Football Manager 25: Miles Jacobson later described translating the old C++ code into C# for Unity, as FM Scout summarized his interviews. SEGA Sammy credited Unity and a "fully redesigned UI" with better graphics and gameplay. The match day was the clearest gain: PC Gamer found the game showed details "that weren't there before".

What it added

0:00 The headline additions were the Premier League, fully licensed for the first time, and women's football. Steam lists 14 playable women's leagues from 11 nations, including the Women's Super League and the NWSL, along with TransferRoom recruitment, separate In and Out of Possession formations, the Portal, Bookmarks and the FMPedia glossary. FM27 builds on both licenses; see Leagues and Licenses and Women's Football.

What was missing at launch

Two long-standing features were absent: heat maps and International Management. International Management came back as a free update on May 26, 2026 for FM26, FM26 Console and FM26 Touch, with official 26-man World Cup squads in June. FM27 has it from the start (International Management).

Reception

Critics were divided. PC Gamer scored it 75, praising the revamped match day as "worth the wait" while finding the new interface overwhelming and the time between matches slow. Metacritic's 68 is the lowest of any Football Manager PC game from 2005 on, against 80 or better for every annual game before it (see Football Manager Games in Order).

Players were harsher. A day after launch Steam's score was 22% positive from over 2,000 English reviews, and SteamDB ranked it the second-worst-rated 2025 release with at least 50 reviews. By Nov 1, 2026 the overall figure had climbed to 38% of 9,456, and the last 30 days read 69% positive of 234 ("Mixed"). Metacritic's user score stands at 3.0 from 212 ratings.

SEGA Sammy named the causes to its investors: the engine change and the redesigned UI, which players found harder to play, plus weak translations in some languages and bugs. By Feb 2026 it said evaluations were "trending upward" after updates, while listing FM26's "quality issues" among its challenges.

Miles Jacobson's review of FM26

6:43 On May 11, 2026 Studio Director Miles Jacobson published a review of the game. He wrote that what SI released "failed to meet the expectations of many", took "full responsibility" for it, called the platform-agnostic interface "ultimately detrimental", and named immersion as the next game's priority. He also said the fixes were possible only because of Unity. FM27's Interface and Navigation changes follow that review, and SI tied FM27's free play period to rebuilding "player trust and confidence in the Studio".

Sales and players

Football Manager 26 sold well despite its reviews. SEGA Sammy reported on Nov 7, 2025 that sales were about 30% higher than Football Manager 2024's at the same point. It was No. 1 in Europe's unit and revenue charts in its launch week, the series' biggest first week since those charts began in 2017, The Game Business reported (24 territories, Game Pass excluded). On Steam it peaked at about 85,000 players at launch, with over 50,000 playing on Nov 5, 2025, per PCGamesN. SI and SEGA have published no lifetime sales or player total for it as of Nov 1, 2026.

Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and discounts

Football Manager 26 was on Xbox Game Pass from launch, on PC and console. FM26 Console came to PlayStation Plus in April 2026, when SI also ran a free-play period announced on Apr 16, and FM26 was 50% off across platforms from Jun 11, 2026. FM27 is on Game Pass from day one too; see Game Pass.

Moving from FM26 to FM27

8:30 FM27 offers to carry over save progress from Football Manager 26 and Football Manager 2024 if the save is on the PC or in the platform's cloud storage. How it works is on Save Carry Over.

Frequently asked questions

When did Football Manager 26 come out? On Nov 4, 2025 on PC, Mac, Xbox, PS5 and Netflix, and Nov 5 in Japan. FM26 Touch reached Nintendo Switch on Dec 4, 2025; its successor FM27 comes out on Nov 10, 2026.

Why did Football Manager 26 get bad reviews? Players disliked its redesigned interface and found bugs at launch, SEGA said, and heat maps and International Management were missing. Its Steam reviews were 38% positive on Nov 1, 2026, and FM27's main changes answer those complaints.

Is Football Manager 26 on Unity? Yes. Football Manager 26 was the first game in the series made with Unity, except FM26 Mobile, and FM27 is the second.

Did Football Manager 26 sell well? Yes. SEGA Sammy said it sold about 30% more than Football Manager 2024 in the same period, and it had the series' biggest European launch week since 2017. No total has been published as of Nov 1, 2026.

Can I carry my Football Manager 26 save into FM27? Yes. FM27's start screen offers to carry over progress from FM26 and Football Manager 2024 saves found on the PC or in cloud storage.

Should I buy Football Manager 26 or FM27? FM27 replaces it on Nov 10, 2026 and was free to try until 6pm GMT on Nov 3, 2026. The differences are on FM27 vs FM26.

Sources

• Football Manager 26 launches from 4 November, Sports Interactive, Sep 8, 2025
• Football Manager 26 Launches on November 5!, SEGA, Sep 11, 2025
• Football Manager 26 Out Now Across Platforms, Sports Interactive, Nov 4, 2025
• FM26 news, Sports Interactive, Nov 1, 2026
• Football Manager 26 review, PC Gamer, Oct 30, 2025
• Football Manager 26's Steam score makes Mindseye's look good, PCGamesN, Nov 5, 2025
• FY2026/3 Q2 Results Presentation with Scripts, SEGA SAMMY, Nov 7, 2025
• Football Manager 2026 is the series' biggest launch in European chart history, The Game Business, Nov 14, 2025
• FY2026/3 Q3 Results Presentation with Scripts, SEGA SAMMY, Feb 13, 2026
• The return of International Management and a review of FM26, Sports Interactive, May 11, 2026
• Get 50% off FM26 across platforms, Sports Interactive, Jun 11, 2026
• Miles Jacobson Explains FM25 Cancellation & FM26 Plans, FM Scout, Aug 29, 2025
• Play Free: Football Manager 27 Launch Preview, Sports Interactive on Steam, Oct 21, 2026
• Football Manager 26, Steam, Nov 1, 2026
• Football Manager 26, Metacritic, Nov 1, 2026
• Football Manager 26 | Match Day Experience, Football Manager, Sep 25, 2025 (video)
• Football Manager 26 | Introducing Women's Football, Football Manager, Sep 18, 2025 (video)
• FM27 Is FREE To Play… Here’s The Catch, WorkTheSpace, Oct 21, 2026 (video)