Sports Interactive, owned by Sega, has signed a multi-year partnership with FIFA to bring official licensing to its Football Manager series for the first time. The deal will feature FIFA's major tournaments in Football Manager 2026, including the 2026 World Cup, Women's World Cup, and Club World Cup. The game launches globally on November 4, 2025, following the cancellation of Football Manager 2025.
Sports Interactive announced the partnership on October 21, 2025, marking the first time the Football Manager series, which originated in 1992 as Championship Manager and rebranded in 2004, has secured FIFA properties. The multi-year agreement ensures that future editions will also include these licenses.
Starting with Football Manager 2026, players can access officially branded FIFA tournaments with broadcast-style graphics and full tournament branding. This includes the FIFA World Cup 2026, hosted in Canada, Mexico, and the USA; the FIFA Women's World Cup; and the FIFA Club World Cup. A free content update scheduled for 2026, ahead of the World Cup kicking off in June, will introduce a revamped International Management mode. This update will make all 48 participating national teams playable, complete with official kits, tournament logos, and authentic graphics. Football Manager 2026 Mobile on Netflix will receive the update at launch, while other platforms get it post-release.
The game will launch on November 4, 2025, for Windows, PlayStation, Xbox, and Xbox Game Pass, with FM Touch on Nintendo Switch and FM Mobile on Netflix following later. This release follows the cancellation of Football Manager 2025, the first skip since 2004, due to development challenges including a planned switch to the Unity engine that impacted player experience and interface design.
Women's soccer debuts in the series with leagues such as England's Women's Super League and WSL2, Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga, and Sweden's Damallsvenskan and Elitettan. Other licenses include the English Premier League (first time), France's Ligue 1, Germany's Bundesliga, the Dutch Eredivisie, Scotland's Premiership, and Belgium's Pro League. Since 2022, the game has featured UEFA competitions like the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League.
Miles Jacobson, studio head at Sports Interactive, noted that the previous edition, launched in November 2023, attracted 19.09 million players, with 7.5 million playing more than five hours.