Football Manager 26 Review (PC) – Tactical Changes But Can The Champions Defend Their Title?

It’s been nearly two years since Sports Interactive released a new Football Manager title, following the well-publicized cancellation of FM25. With that in mind, it’s safe to say that players like me have been chomping at the bit in anticipation of Football Manager 26 (FM26). The question is, can this genre-defining franchise retain its position as the champion of sports management games, or is it about to have an off-season? I’ll answer that and more in The Outerhaven’s review of Football Manager 26.

Game Name: Football Manager 26
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (reviewed), Nintendo Switch
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Sports Interactive
Release Date: November 4, 2025 (PC, PS5, Xbox) / December 4, 2025 (Nintendo Switch)

Before we get into the bulk of this review, it’s important to note that everything discussed here is based on the early access PC version of Football Manager 26. Your experience may differ depending on platform or future updates.

Big Changes On and Off the Pitch

If you’ve followed the series for even a few years, you’ll know that Football Manager 26 brings massive changes. For the first time in franchise history, the game is built on Unity. This major shift is part of why FM25 never released; the team at Sports Interactive wasn’t satisfied with how it was shaping up. So, they took an extra year to learn Unity and deliver FM26. So, what’s new this year?

Football Manager Has a New Look

Upon loading Football Manager 26, you’ll immediately notice the redesigned UI/UX. Gone is the spreadsheet-style interface of old, replaced with a clean, tile-based layout clearly inspired by modern websites and social media. The new UI aims to present more information at a glance while still allowing data-hungry players to dive deep when needed.

From a design perspective, it’s sleek and modern with several quality-of-life improvements. Being able to pop out a page and make adjustments before jumping back to another task feels far smoother than the constant backtracking of previous games. The new look also swaps the sidebar navigation for a top bar menu. While that’s not a major issue, I do wish there were an option to revert to sidebar navigation.

As someone who’s played this series for over two decades, I’ve seen many pivots in design philosophy, and this is one of the biggest yet. Whether you like the new UI or not may depend on how long you’ve been playing. It took me several hours to get comfortable with it, and even after 20+ hours, I’m still discovering new details. Some long-time players are struggling to adapt—after all, you can’t retrain decades of muscle memory overnight. My advice: stick with it. Once it clicks, and you realize there are multiple ways to navigate to any screen, it becomes much easier. If you ever get lost, type the page name in the search bar and jump straight to it. The bookmark system also helps—letting you save up to twelve pages (depending on resolution) for quick access.

Personally, I like the new UI, but it could use refinements. Letting users customize tile placement and sizes would be a massive step forward.

Missing Features

The UI itself isn’t the problem—it’s what’s missing underneath. We were told the move to Unity would mean cutting some existing features, but the extent of it has caught many veterans off guard.

Touchline shouts are gone for now, supposedly returning later. While their impact on gameplay was debatable, they added to match-day immersion. Without them, matches feel more passive than in FM24. Team selection saves are also missing—a small feature, but one that made managing rotations easier.

The biggest loss, though, is attribute color customization. For most, this isn’t a big deal. But for colorblind or dyslexic players, this omission could make FM26 borderline unplayable despite colorblind modes being present.

Everyone plays Football Manager differently, so what’s missing for me might not matter to others—but the loss of accessibility and flexibility will disappoint someone. Sports Interactive has confirmed that some features, like international management, will return in a free content update later in the FM26 cycle.

Massive Tactical Changes

It’s not all bad news. One of FM26’s strongest improvements is its overhauled tactics system. For the first time, you can set distinct in-possession and out-of-possession tactics. This long-requested feature gives you unprecedented control over how your team behaves in every situation.

For example, you can run a 4-4-2 diamond in possession, then drop a midfielder into defense off the ball, forming a 5-3-2. You simply couldn’t do that before, and now it works beautifully. As someone who’s been playing for over twenty years, this is one of the most exciting additions ever, and I can’t wait to see the creative tactics players design around it.

Better Matches in FM26

These tactical options shine in FM26’s new Unity-powered match engine. It represents a huge leap forward—not only visually, but in how players behave and interact on the pitch. The graphics still aren’t cutting-edge, but animations and contextual behaviors are vastly improved.

Every match feels different, filled with new animations—from backheels and volleys to players looking up before crossing. The immersion is bolstered by full Premier League licensing: authentic kits, intros, sponsor hoardings, and even official music. Seeing an EA FC logo in Football Manager as a Premier League sponsor is surreal in the best way.

A Step Backwards in Accessibility

Customization—or the lack of it—hurts FM26’s accessibility. Previous games were among the most customizable, which made Football Manager one of the most accessible franchises in gaming. This year, that flexibility is heavily reduced.

However, controller support has vastly improved. The PC version is fully optimized for gamepads, and with the tile-based UI, it’s far smoother than before. This bodes well for the console versions, which will have bespoke UI layouts tailored for controllers. Time will tell how well those versions perform, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Technical Issues

On PC, FM26 is noticeably buggier than past entries. My first session froze on the manager creation screen and crashed during my debut match. Later patches have improved stability, but bugs remain—such as pop-out menus lingering after matches or substitutes entering the pitch still wearing tracksuits (which, admittedly, is hilarious).

At the time of writing, two more patches are planned before the November 4 release, so most players may never encounter these issues. To Sports Interactive’s credit, they’ve been quick to address them. Still, after years of stability on the old engine, this rocky transition to Unity is concerning.

The Final Whistle

In the end, Football Manager 26 is a mixed bag. The new tactics system and match engine are the best in the series, while the new UI, though modern and efficient, demands patience. Missing features and reduced customization hurt, but for many players, the positives will outweigh the negatives.

Despite its rough edges, FM26 remains the premier sports management experience available today. With more polish and returning features, it could easily become the definitive version of Football Manager.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of Football Manager 26 was provided for review purposes by SEGA. For more information on how we review games and other media, please see our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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