Football Manager 26 [REVIEW] – A Promising Rebuild That’s Not Quite Match Fit

After taking a year off and shockingly cancelling Football Manager 25, Sports Interactive has come back with what might just be its boldest overhaul yet. Football Manager 26 isn’t just a yearly update, but rather a full rebuild and refinement of everything that came before, introducing a new interface, a revamped match engine, deeper tactical systems, and even women’s football. It’s undoubtedly a huge step forward for the series, but also a reminder that big rebuilds rarely go smoothly on the first attempt.

Check out some screenshots down below:

One of the biggest changes in Football Manager 26 comes with its refreshed visuals, redesigned menus, and vastly improved animations. Matches finally look alive, with players moving more naturally, their control of the ball feeling more believable, and goals having a stylish flair that was missing in previous releases. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t come with the fancy bells and whistles of similar sports titles, but for a management sim, it’s easily the most life-like that the series has ever been.

The new match engine does more than make things look better though, but also offers smarter ways to manage the play-by-play action. You can actually see the differences between players’ styles on the pitch, whether that’s with quick wingers darting into space, defenders make positioning errors you can identify, and subs that really do look fresher when they come on. It means watching matches now gives you information you can act on, not just stats to read later. It’s a fantastic innovation that really makes you feel like you’re there on the touchline and soaking in all of the action of each match.

Another nice addition? Football Manager 26 finally features full Premier League licensing, bringing with it official kits and branding that adds a deeper level of polish and authenticity to the experience. For fans of English football, it makes a big difference to immersion, and as UK-based gamers, it’s something we particularly loved.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Football Manager without some match day quirks. Goalkeepers might sometimes wander out of their box like they’re auditioning for a sweeper role they weren’t assigned, you might find a defender seemingly trapped within the goal, whilst the odd animation glitch or freeze still crops up. These issues don’t ruin the experience at all, but they do show that whilst the graphical presentation of matches has come on leaps and bounds, it still has its wackier moments.

On the gameplay side, Football Manager 26 adds some of the most significant tactical upgrades that the series has ever had. You can now define separate in-possession and out-of-possession formations too, which might seem like a small-sounding change, but it completely reshapes how you can set up your team. Maybe you press high with a 4-3-3 when attacking but drop into a compact 5-3-2 off the ball… it’s now possible and surprisingly intuitive. It’s easily one of the standout features this year and adds genuine depth for players who love experimenting with the formations of their team across a multitude of scenarios during a match.

“Football Manager 26 is a bold rebuild that doesn’t quite get everything right, but you can feel it has the ambition and pieces in place to be something special.”

That being said, not everything around tactical control is smooth – the menus to set them up are slower to navigate than before, and changing player roles or moving positions can feel clunky. Even switching between tabs takes a beat longer than it should, and whilst it’s not game-breaking, it feels a bit sluggish when compared to the snappiness of older Football Managers (and trust me, I’ve been playing Football Manager 24 for two years, so I’d notice).

However, it’s the UI overhaul is that will prove most divisive amongst long-time Football Manager fans. Gone are the familiar sidebars and list-heavy screens, and in their place is a tile-based interface that does look cleaner and more modern, but demands unlearning years of habits and comfort. It’s… weird, removing that sense of familiarity that I’ve spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours with over the years.

Of course, once you do adjust, it does have some upsides. The new layout puts more information on screen at once and lets you ‘pop out’ windows to make quick changes without backtracking through menus, which is actually a nifty addition. There’s also a handy bookmark system that lets you pin up some of your most-used pages, which saves time once you get into the rhythm of using it. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into optimizing the menu-browsing experience for players, and in many ways, it works really well.

Still, for all its sleekness, the UI just doesn’t feel as intuitive as it was before. Text is smaller, some panels are buried under too many clicks, and simple tasks like checking fitness or making substitutions feel more awkward and time-consuming than before. Long-time players will undoubtedly find the transition jarring, and whilst I have started to get used to it and appreciate some of its features after over close to twenty-hours of play, it still feels less efficient than before. Maybe I’ll get used to it, or maybe it’ll be refined with some patches to get a ‘best of both’ kind of situation… we’ll have to see.

It’s also worth noting that things have been changed up across other areas of the game’s design. Touchline shouts are gone, taking away a layer of match-day interaction that made you feel like you were influencing the game in real time, whilst gestures during press conferences and team talks have also disappeared, leaving those moments flatter than before. International management is also missing at launch, though it’s due to arrive later via an update. But hey, at least the addition of women’s football is a welcome change, with it fully integrated rather than treated as a side mode.

Check out some screenshots down below:

One thing that hasn’t changed is just how much time Football Manager demands, and in some ways, it demands more than ever now. Progressing through a season feels slower than before, not because of difficulty but because of the constant interruptions and extra steps in navigation. Even if you delegate tasks to your backroom staff, the sheer amount of minor notifications and small pop-up menus make it tough to build momentum, which can hurt the pacing as you’re starting to initially put your team together.

Despite its flaws, Football Manager 26 still has that irresistible pull that makes it hard to step away from the game (or not find yourself glued to the screen until the early hours… yeah, I’ve not been having a lot of sleep lately). The ‘just one more match’ feeling is certainly alive and well, even if it’s occasionally slowed by clunky menus and small frustrations, and once you settle into its rhythm, it’s an engrossing, satisfying experience that constantly tempts you back for another fixture. It’s clear that many of the game’s new cogs are in place but not yet running at full speed, but given time and polish, everything here could click beautifully into motion. For now? It’s a slightly uneven but still tantalising return for football’s most addictive management sim.

Developer: Sports Interactive
Publisher: SEGA
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3551340/Football_Manager_26/