A whole lot is riding on Football Manager 26 which, after the late cancellation of FM 25, has to deliver a major leap forward for the beloved management sim. The early signs are positive, with showcases of the new-look match engine, overhauled tactics, a reimagined UI and the debut of the women’s game all going down well with fans.
One other reason to get excited is Sports Interactive’s deal with the English Premier League, arguably the greatest club league in the world, and now it has announced another biggie: a multi-year deal with FIFA, football’s world governing body, that gives FM 26 and its successors the license to multiple international competitions, most notably FIFA World Cup 26.
The World Cup is obviously as big as sport gets, and next year’s competition will be held across Canada, Mexico, and the USA. Qualification for the tournament remains ongoing, but last week saw a rampant and swashbuckling Scotland guarantee themselves a play off spot at the minimum, with automatic qualification still a possibility. England apparently squeaked through too.
Point being that this deal means that FM 26 will include the FIFA World Cup 26, alongside the official kits of all 48 qualifying teams, as well as the tournament branding and broadcast graphics. So should Scotland qualify, for example, next summer I’ll be able to give Steve Clarke his marching orders and maybe get us through the group stage for the first time ever. Then I can just ignore whatever’s actually happening on the telly.
SI adds that “this licence coincides with the inclusion of a playable, revamped International Management module in FM26, FM26 Console and FM26 Touch in a Content Update next year in advance of the World Cup.”
As well as the World Cup, this deal will bring the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup to Football Manager. The Club World Cup is an interesting one: it’s only been around for 25 years and has never been taken particularly seriously, but FIFA is attempting to make it a major part of the calendar.
While this is great news for SI and FM 26, it’s frankly even better news for FIFA. Ever since EA unceremoniously dumped the license and went its own way with EA Sports FC, the world governing body has struggled to move on. The licensed games it has managed to produce have been for the most part embarrassing: the tie-in for the 2022 World Cup was some Roblox nonsense with bowling. If nothing else, an association with a game of genuine quality might put a little lustre back on those four letters.
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