As the release of the long-awaited Football Manager 26 gets ever closer, we've taken a look at the new features the game has to offer.
While the postponement and eventual cancellation of the 2025 edition brought dismay to millions of players, 2026 looks set to more than make up for the delay, with the game receiving its biggest overhaul in a number of years.
Below, we've taken a look at all the new features unveiled ahead of the game's release on 4th November.
Women's football
For the first time, women's football will be available in Football Manager. Players can start games with either just men's, just women's or a mix of both men's and women's leagues.
More than 36,000 female players and 5,000 non-players have been added to the database, with 14 playable leagues across 11 nations and three continents, including the Barclays Women's Super League and Super League 2.
Attributes for female players will be scaled within their database, as opposed to being compared to their male counterparts.
In-possession and out-of-possession tactics
After years of clamour from FM players, in-possession (IP) and out-of-possession (OOP) tactics are being introduced to the game.
Managers will start with their preferred tactical style and pick an in-possession formation, with complementary out-of-possession formations suggested from there.
As part of the IP/OOP additions, managers are presented with a visualiser to see the effects of their tactical style and how player roles are impacted.
New player roles
As part of the shift to IP and OOP tactics, player roles have been overhauled. The Mezzala and Enganche are gone, with nine new roles introduced:
No-Nonsense Goalkeeper
Ball-Playing Goalkeeper
Overlapping Centre-Back
Playmaking Wing-Back
Advanced Wing-Back
Midfield Playmaker
Wide Central Midfielder
Wide Forward
Channel Forward
There will also be OOP roles introduced to FM26.
Improved match day intelligence
FM26's match engine has also been significantly upgraded. Players react more naturally and intelligently when dribbling, passing and making decisions on the pitch, with other upgrades defensively including enhanced interceptions.
Enhanced match day experience
One of the biggest changes to FM26 will be the match day experience. Premier League licensing will permit the competition's branding throughout games.
Regarding matches, there will be more animations, better physics, better lighting
Dynamic Highlights
One brand new addition for FM26 is the introduction of Dynamic Highlights. If you're winning comfortably in a less important game, you'll see fewer highlights. In a closer, more important game, you'll see more highlights, heightening suspense.
New user interface
As part of Football Manager's leap from FM24 to FM26, users will be presented with a brand new user interface. The new Portal acts as the game's home page, featuring a manager's inbox, calendar, league table and fixtures.
A new navigation bar sits at the top of the screen, with Portal, Squad, Recruitment, Match Day, Club and Career providing clearer navigation.
Recruitment revamp
As part of the UI overhaul, managers will be presented with a whole new recruitment experience. The recruitment panel has tiles for transfer activity, a contracts summary, a player database, recruitment objectives, budgets and more.
As part of FM26's collaboration with TransferRoom, managers can place adverts for players they're looking for by position and role, including for in and out of possession. Alongside adverts, you can set an expected playing time for players you're after, as well as filtering by transfer type and age profile. Looking for a young loanee to provide squad depth? Or an experienced player to take your side to the next level? You can do both and plenty more.
While you can act as the buyer within recruitment, you can also do the reverse as the seller, via Pitch Opportunities. Have a talented youngster who needs more minutes? See if there are clubs after such a profile and pitch your player to them.
FIFA partnership
The latest reveal confirmed that Football Manager had partnered up with FIFA, however this isn't just about licensing kits and competitions.
It had been confirmed that international management had been removed from Football Manager 26, set to return in future iterations of the game.
But the most recent news from Sports Interactive revealed that international management would return in "a Content Update next year in advance of FIFA World Cup 26."
