Football Manager 26 Review – Rebuild Season

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For years, Sports Interactive has consistently released fantastic Football Manager games. After a less impressive installment, the series is back with Football Manager 26, which promises to be a major update. This version marks the first engine change and significant system overhaul in a long time, aiming to refine the game’s already successful formula. The result is mostly a triumph, thanks to key changes and improvements, though it isn’t without a few shortcomings.

For the first time, Football Manager 26 is built using the Unity engine, bringing a completely revamped matchday experience to the series. While previous Football Manager games have always prioritized in-depth management and tactics, FM 26 significantly improves how matches look and feel. Expect exciting new camera angles and cutscenes, more detailed stadiums and crowds, and, most importantly, much more realistic player movements and ball physics, making games far more enjoyable to watch.

Basically, beyond teaching your team a general game plan, you can now also customize tactics for when your team has the ball and when they don’t.

While the in-game graphics aren’t as advanced as games like EA Sports FC, that’s never been the main focus of Football Manager. FM 26 has noticeably improved the matchday experience, but it still prioritizes off-the-field management. The new match engine is a solid step forward, even if you still encounter some familiar glitches in player movements and animations. Considering FM 26 is built on the same core code as previous versions, despite the engine change, these imperfections aren’t entirely unexpected.

Let’s talk about what Football Manager is famous for: its realistic tactics and team management. Football Manager 26 delivers on that front, staying true to what fans expect. However, it also introduces some interesting new features that significantly change the way the game has always played.

One of the biggest changes in Football Manager 26 is a greater emphasis on formations as the core of your tactics, rather than individual player positioning. Essentially, alongside your usual team training, you now create distinct tactics for when your team has the ball and when they don’t. FM 26 requires you to select different formations, player roles, and instructions for each of these situations, and you’ll likely be adjusting them frequently during matches.

Football Manager 26 also significantly revamps the user interface, and this is where the game arguably falls short the most.

This feature offers another way to approach gameplay, letting players finely tune their tactics and strategies during matches. It also makes it more practical to try out different team approaches and styles, whether you’re preparing for a specific game or practicing during training. However, to truly succeed, it’s still important to develop a consistent, long-term plan for your team.

Beyond the revamped tactics system, Football Manager 26 includes numerous smaller improvements to areas like transfers, scouting, and training. However, these changes aren’t as dramatic as the tactical overhaul. The game still delivers the familiar, deeply detailed management experience that Football Manager is known for – both the good and the bad. Unfortunately, some long-standing issues remain, such as unhelpful player conversations and repetitive media interactions that feel more like chores than meaningful gameplay.

One of the biggest changes in Football Manager 26 is the user interface, and unfortunately, it’s also where the game struggles the most. The beta version received a lot of criticism for the new UI and its numerous problems, and those issues remain in the full release. These aren’t easily dismissed, as they significantly impact the experience in a game like Football Manager.

It’s understandable that longtime players of the Football Manager series will need time to adjust to the new interface. While previous games have had minor UI tweaks, FM 26 features a complete redesign that can feel disorienting for veterans. New players won’t have this issue, but those familiar with the older layouts will likely need to relearn how things work.

Football Manager 26 delivers another dependable and engaging management simulation, and dedicated soccer fans will easily lose themselves in it for many hours.

However, the user interface has a lot of frustrating problems. It’s missing simple features that would make the game easier to use, and some helpful tools from previous versions have been removed. This makes navigating the menus in FM 26 quite annoying, especially since you spend so much time scrolling through different screens and lists in a Football Manager game. Hopefully, Sports Interactive will fix the biggest issues with updates, because Football Manager 26 is actually very good despite these UI problems.

Alongside other improvements, FM 26 needs several technical fixes. Players have reported problems like buttons and links not working, text being difficult to read, and performance issues such as dropped frame rates and freezes. While these issues aren’t usually severe on their own, they can become frustrating when combined, especially alongside the user interface problems.

Football Manager 26 delivers another strong management simulation experience that dedicated fans will easily lose themselves in for hours. While it has some issues – some understandable given the engine changes and gameplay updates – the most important ones need to be addressed quickly to match the overall quality of the game. Even now, though, FM 26 is an enjoyable and addictive game that sets a promising direction for future installments in the series.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

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2025-10-31 22:14