Football Manager 26 Review – A Game of Two Halves

Football Manager 26 Review

Football Manager made the brave decision to skip a season in favor of a complete tactical overhaul. While this meant many fans had to stick with FM 24 for another year, it gave Sports Interactive the time to transition to the Unity engine, revamp the UI, and introduce a host of new features, making FM 26 the most ambitious release in the franchise’s history. But was this the perfectly weighted pass that leads to a stunning finish, or a defensive slip-up resulting in an own goal?

For those unfamiliar, Football Manager is the most complete tactical simulation of the sport. Unlike other iterations of the beautiful game, your focus is solely on management. FM 26 gives you complete control to tinker with tactics, formations, and systems to create the perfect setup for your team. While the sheer number of options can feel overwhelming, concise tutorials help you quickly get to grips with the many responsibilities at hand. These lessons are short and to the point, ensuring you’re not over-guided and that full control is handed to you early on. Although the game doesn’t fully explain some systems, most tactical options are intuitive enough to understand. You can also delegate certain duties to your staff, allowing you to tailor the experience to your preferred level of involvement. The result is a truly engrossing management simulator and one that remains unrivalled by any other title.

A New Beginning

Where most sporting releases consist of updates for the latest teams and a handful of improvements, Sports Interactive has completely rebuilt the game for a new engine. Although many aspects feel familiar, a variety of noticeable changes alter the experience. The user interface has undergone several changes aimed at reducing the amount of information displayed on screen at once. While this streamlines navigation for controller users and those playing on the Steam Deck, the traditional setup suffers as a result. Previously accessible features are now buried within submenus, leading to moments of frustration when you need key information quickly.

New tactical options allow you to select formations in and out of possession. This opens up a range of strategic possibilities, allowing for a more fluid and dynamic structure. As most modern coaches don’t rely on a singular formation, this addition helps to better reflect the sport, giving you complete control over how your team plays in both offensive and defensive situations. You can also select from a long list of player roles to ensure that each member of your squad contributes in the manner that you dictate. This leads to situations where minor tweaks can have a large impact, delivering the kind of deep, satisfying feedback loop that captures the essence of true football management.

Signing that key player can completely transform your team. It’s not only a cornerstone of good management, but also one of the most exciting aspects of the game. This area of the game has been completely revamped, refining elements to improve the process. Powered by TransferRoom, you can now directly communicate with clubs to purchase players that meet your requirements. The developers have integrated scouting and negotiations, making this pivotal element easier to navigate.

A View From the Sidelines

Other additions, such as the inclusion of women’s football, expanded manager creation tools, and new licensing agreements, help flesh out the experience. However, the real highlight is the matchday presentation. One of the most requested features in the franchise’s history has been an overhaul of the matches themselves, and Sports Interactive has finally delivered, offering a major leap over previous iterations. In addition to broadcast-quality introductions for line-ups and other pre-match details, you can now view games in several ways. While the traditional top-down method remains, the new in-game engine allows you to watch full matches or key highlights. Though the visuals are reminiscent of the PS3/360 era, the upgrade significantly enhances immersion and makes it easier to react to on-field developments in real time.

Even though the game has been in development for a considerable amount of time, bugs and crashes do occasionally surface, hindering the experience. At times, prompts are absent or don’t work and load times can make the whole experience feel clunky. While Sports Interactive is already working on updates, these should have been in place long ago.

Football Manager 26 excels in many areas but stumbles in others. Match presentation is the best it’s ever been, helping to strengthen your connection with players as a manager, while new tactical options, including refined player roles and formations in and out of possession, add greater depth on the pitch. The user interface, though improved for controller use, buries too many menus, and overall performance still needs work, leaving the experience feeling slightly unfinished. Despite these issues, FM 26 remains the best management sim available, and it’s easy to lose hours to its deep, endlessly rewarding gameplay loop.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***