Sports Interactive and Sega has announced that Football Manager 26, the experience of managing a football team from the dugout rather than the pitch, will arrive on 4 November for all platforms. This edition is a big leap forward from its predecessors, filling the two-year gap since the last instalment following the cancellation of Football Manager 25.
FM26 has been developed for the first time in the series using the Unity game engine, and includes some major new features in the user interface, as well as offering access to women's football for the first time in the franchise's history. Although the engine is new, the technology that converts game saves to the new format means that FM26, FM26 Console (PS5 and Xbox Series versions) and FM26 Touch (Nintendo Switch) are compatible with Football Manager 2024 and Football Manager 2023 game saves from launch.
Sports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson said: "It is an honour and a pleasure to be able to announce the release date for Football Manager 26 today."
"It has been a challenge to prepare Sports Interactive for everything that is to come in the next 20 years and beyond, but I couldn't be prouder of the effort the whole team has put in over the last two years. The launch of FM26 is a turning point in our mission to achieve football management perfection, and the entire studio is excited to share it with the rest of the world."