DaRmaZat After skipping a year and scrapping the ill-fated Football Manager 25, Sports Interactive promised a true rebirth for the world’s most famous management sim. Football Manager 26 arrives built on Unity Engine, complete with a visual overhaul, revamped menus, new recruitment systems, and, for the first time, women’s football. On paper, it sounds like the start of a fresh era for the series. In practice, though, it often feels like a confusing restart that struggles to find its rhythm.
A New Era, Not Without Confusion
Even for a veteran like me, who has spent hundreds of hours in past editions, Football Manager 26 feels like stepping into someone else’s save file. The new tile-based interface replaces the classic left-hand menu with a web of cards, portals, and nested pop-outs. It’s a bold redesign that aims for accessibility but ends up being overwhelming. Everything technically works, but finding what you need—whether it’s penalty takers, scouting reports, or tactical tweaks—can take several extra clicks compared to before.
Sports Interactive tried to soften the blow with features like The Portal—a homepage stuffed with data—and FMPedia, a built-in encyclopedia of the game’s many systems. There’s even a customizable bookmark bar to speed up navigation. Yet even with these tools, the first few hours feel like getting lost in your own training ground. It’s change for the sake of change, and while it may appeal to newcomers or console players, longtime PC managers will need patience to adjust.
Managing the Mess
Fortunately, underneath the chaos, there’s still a classic Football Manager heart beating. Scouting and recruitment have been smartly restructured around a single hub, integrating the real-world TransferRoom tool. You can now advertise your needs—say, a left-back with pace—and wait for offers from other clubs. It’s a small but clever system that feels closer to how modern football actually operates.
Fourteen leagues are available at launch, and the addition of women’s football is another highlight. The shorter contracts and smaller budgets make every signing count, adding a welcome sense of challenge. But then there are the baffling omissions. International management is gone altogether—no more leading your country to glory—and some of the series’ most iconic systems have been simplified. Staff no longer use the traditional 1–20 attribute ratings, replaced instead with vague descriptors like decent or outstanding. It’s less precise, and it removes much of the satisfaction that came from fine-tuning every backroom role.
On the Pitch: Where It Matters?
Not surprisingly, the one area where Football Manager 26 truly earns its upgrade is in the match engine. Player animations are smoother, ball movement is more realistic, and the new lighting system gives stadiums a proper sense of scale. For once, goals look and feel like real moments, not scripted coincidences. Tactical flexibility is also at an all-time high: you can now design different formations for when your team is in and out of possession, with a new Visualizer tool that maps positioning across the pitch.
Still, even here, the rough edges show. The beta build is riddled with bugs—missing animations, frozen buttons, misaligned text, and even matches that can’t proceed after penalties. While updates are sure to come, the sheer number of issues I experienced this close to launch doesn’t really inspire confidence.
Final Thoughts
What’s missing from Football Manager 26 isn’t content—it’s a natural, intuitive flow. Past entries had that addictive “just one more match” pull for me that could turn an evening into an all-nighter. Here, that spark flickers. The combination of clunky menus, missing features, and technical hiccups makes it easier than ever to simply close the game.
Football Manager 26 is ambitious, but in trying to reinvent itself for a broader audience, it risks alienating the fans who built it up in the first place. The match engine and recruitment tools show promise, and women’s football is a genuinely exciting addition. But the UI overhaul, removed features, and performance issues make this new beginning feel more like an extended pre-season than a triumphant comeback.
To conclude, Football Manager 26 is a necessary evolution that’s arrived half-formed. Beneath the clutter lies the same obsessive, detail-driven simulation fans love—but it’s buried under a confusing interface and too many growing pains. The future of the series may yet be bright, but this debut season of the “Unity era” is anything but a clean win — yet.
Additional Information
Release Date: Nov 4, 2025
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: Sports Interactive
Publisher: SEGA
Relevant links: Football Manager 26 on Steam
