Interface and Navigation

0:18 Football Manager 27's interface keeps Football Manager 26's look but moves navigation back to the top of the screen: a primary bar with six sections, Portal, Squad, Tactics, Recruitment, Training and Club, each with drop-downs, a secondary bar under it, and a control panel on each main screen for that area's key actions. Sports Interactive says the work was "driven by internal reviews and your feedback" after FM26's interface was poorly received, and that FM27 evolves the existing design while reintroducing familiar behaviors. This page follows SI's interface deep dive of Sep 25, 2026 and later reveals, all from development builds; SI said the skin and color scheme were still being finalized then. The clip is SI's Sep 22, 2026 interface deep dive, over development-build footage.

Quick facts

Sources: SI, navigation deep dive, Sep 25, 2026; SI, personal and accessible deep dive, Oct 15, 2026.

What went wrong with FM26's interface?

In Football Manager 26, Miles Jacobson wrote in May 2026 that the changes made to the user interface "weren't well received by everyone", and named immersion, "be that game world, UI navigation or the UI itself," as the next game's focus. PC Gamer's report on FM26's launch-week Steam reviews summed up the complaints as a fiddlier interface with more clicks and information split into smaller widgets. In FM26, tiles did two jobs, showing information and navigating, and many screens opened as pop-up "cards." How the two games compare overall is on FM27 vs FM26.

The navigation bars

1:16 The primary bar runs along the top: Portal, Squad, Tactics, Recruitment, Training and Club. Squad, Tactics and Training now land directly on the squad, tactics and training, and most items have drop-downs; Squad's covers the overview, first team, youth team, dynamics and loans. Under it, the secondary bar lists the section's screens. In SI's screenshots, the Portal's reads Overview, Messages, Calendar, News, Data Hub, Competitions and Career, and Recruitment's reads Overview, Player Database, Scouting, Planner, TransferRoom, Transfers, Shortlists and Staff Recruitment.

The top bar also carries back and forward arrows, Search, the date with the next match, and the Continue button. What Continue does is on Continue Flow and the Football World.

Choosing where each menu opens

9:01 Secondary Navigation Landing Spots, in Preferences, set which screen each primary menu opens on; SI's example is opening Squad on the first team instead of the squad overview. The clip is SI's Oct 22, 2026 First Look Livestream, played on a pre-launch build.

The Portal

The Portal is the home screen. SI's screenshot of a Brighton save on Dec 24, 2026 shows messages on the left, then news, the fixture schedule, the league table and player stats, and on the right tiles for the league stage, fixtures, the wage budget, recruitment focuses and the training week.

Control panels

A control panel near the top of each main screen holds that area's key actions: in Squad, team meetings and delegation; in Recruitment, staff advice, budgets, a recruitment focus, scouting range and budget, and delegation. The Recruitment panel is shown on Recruitment and Scouting.

Tiles and Tile Swapping

4:13 In FM27 tiles mainly show information, and most navigation moves to the top menus. Tile Swapping adds a drop-down to some tiles to exchange them for another of the same size, such as Recruitment's Transfer Window tile showing affiliate clubs or transfer history instead. It also works on the match screen, and SI calls it "the start of a longer-term screen customisation project."

Fewer cards

2:08 Asked whether there would be fewer cards than in FM26, SI answered "Yes," turning many into full screens. Career History and player profiles' Personal Overview are full screens again, with "quick flicks" through your squad and your rivals', and FM Scout reports finance screens are full screens instead of pop-ups.

Messages and news

2:01 Messages are color-coded by topic and show news and scout reports inside the message; transfer offers and scout reports can be acted on in place, and several offers for one player arrive as one message. More tooltips explain things, including staff attributes and medical reports. Player status flags now stack up to three, with four new flags for a language course, a coaching badge, leadership training, and reserve or youth team availability.

Shortcuts and Bookmarks

4:44 Shortcut Remapping lets you edit the in-game keyboard shortcuts in Preferences. Bookmarks, which SI says "offered a quicker, more reliable way to navigate in FM26," gain text labels and drag-and-drop reordering. In SI's screenshots a row of labeled buttons on the right of the secondary bar reads Transfer Activity, Player Database, First Team, Messages and Calendar.

Layout sizes, ultrawide and performance

6:21 Adaptive layouts resize screens to the monitor, tables fill the screen, and ultrawide monitors are supported automatically. Three scaling modes work only on QHD and 4K monitors (1440p and above). SI first called them Default, Detailed and Condensed, then renamed them Large, Medium and Small on Oct 15, 2026. SI also cites reduced input latency. Hardware needs are on System Requirements.

Accessibility and readability

Fonts are larger across the game, and FM Scout lists an Accessibility section, a color-blind mode and black-and-white commentary text. FM Scout also reports SI's answers that attribute color boxes are off by default and can be turned on, and that staff attributes stay as text, not numbers. The accessibility options are gathered on Manager Creator.

What is not known

As of Nov 1, 2026: the final skin and color scheme, whether more tiles become swappable at release, and how the interface differs on FM27 Console, FM27 Mobile and FM27 Touch (SI said FM27 Touch changes its iPhone skin, with details to come).

Frequently asked questions

Is the FM27 interface better than FM26's? Sports Interactive rebuilt FM27's navigation after FM26's interface was poorly received, moving it to a top bar with drop-downs and cutting pop-up cards. Reviews of FM27 were not out as of Nov 1, 2026, so whether players prefer it is not yet known.

Can I change keyboard shortcuts in FM27? Yes. FM27 lets you edit its in-game keyboard shortcuts in Preferences.

How do bookmarks work in FM27? FM27 Bookmarks have text labels and can be reordered by drag and drop, building on the bookmarks Football Manager 26 introduced.

Why can't I find the smaller layout in FM27? FM27's Large, Medium and Small layout sizes appear only on monitors of 1440p and above.

Does FM27 support ultrawide monitors? Yes. SI says FM27's adaptive layouts support ultrawide monitors automatically.

Are there fewer pop-up cards in FM27? Yes. SI says FM27 has fewer cards than FM26, turning many into full screens.

Sources

• The return of International Management and a review of FM26, Sports Interactive (Miles Jacobson), May 11, 2026
• Football Manager 26 launches straight into a relegation battle as Steam reviews plummet to Mostly Negative, PC Gamer, Nov 5, 2025
• FM27 Deep Dive: Navigation Upgrades, Sports Interactive, Sep 25, 2026
• FM27: A Deeper, More Immersive Football World, Sports Interactive, Sep 25, 2026
• FM27: More Personal, Accessible and Yours, Sports Interactive, Oct 15, 2026
• FM27: 2D Match Engine, In-Game Editor and Deeper World Upgrades, Sports Interactive, Oct 16, 2026
• What we know about Football Manager 2027, FM Scout, Oct 27, 2026
• FM27 New Features Guide, FM Scout, Oct 27, 2026
• Football Manager 27, Steam, screenshots as of Nov 1, 2026
• Clearer Interface & Smoother Navigation | FM27 Feature Deep Dive, Football Manager, Sep 22, 2026 (video)
• FM27 | First Look Livestream, Football Manager, Oct 22, 2026 (video)
• A Deeper Football World | FM27 Feature Deep Dive, Football Manager, Sep 25, 2026 (video)