• Category: Games

November 21, 2025

Football Manager 26 Console: 7 Tips For New and Returning Players

• Andrew SinclairPR & Content Exec, Sports Interactive

Football Manager 26 Console is out now, ready for you to step into the dugout and take your favourite team to footballing glory.

Delivering instinctive play, FM26 Console brings new foundations for you to shape your football destiny. Optimised for play with a controller, FM26 allows you to zone in on the managerial essentials while experiencing much of the classic thrills and depth Football Manager is known for the world over. And, thanks to Smart Delivery, you’ll get the best available version of FM26 Console whether you play on an Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S or via Game Pass.

FM26 Console is packed with new additions, from the series’ most immersive Match Day experience, to new playable leagues thanks to fresh licences, and the introduction of Women’s Football.

Whether you’re an experienced manager or a series newcomer, your first couple of hours in the hotseat are vital. Here are seven top tips to help you start strong wherever your story begins.

Craft Your Game World

The first job in any Football Manager save is creating your game world and deciding the nations and leagues that you want to load. FM26 Console lets you load up to 10 nations (or 5 on Xbox One), so think about the sort of challenge you want as a manager and which competitions you want to be playable. For example, if you want to compete at the top end of the Premier League, focus on loading the other top leagues in for a more immersive experience in continental competitions.

If you’re curious about jumping in to Women’s Football, include both men’s and women’s divisions to move seamlessly between the two and explore new horizons. Whatever combination you go for, take your time to decide as the world you build shapes your story with FM26 Console.

Define Your Style and Personality

The next step is to create your manager. FM26 Console’s enhanced character creator offers more visual and stylistic options than ever – greater customisation options mean you can define your visual self with more clarity.

You’ll also shape your Coaching Style and Personality through a short set of questions that define how you feel about football and what sort of leader you are on the touchline.

Think carefully here – the selections allow you elevate the things you care about most and deprioritise those that are less important to you. They should also match the challenge you’re taking on. If you’re stepping in with a proven title-winner, high-energy, attacking football is expected. But if you’re an underdog looking to upset the odds, a motivator with strong pragmatism and defensive coaching will be more appropriate.

Master Your Bookmarks

You’ve built your world, crafted your character and defined the sort of manager you want to be. It’s now day one in the dugout and you’ve landed in FM26 Console’s revamped UI. This UI is designed to be smarter and more intuitive to navigate – and key to that are the new Bookmarks.

Simple, quick shortcuts to key game areas, Bookmarks are always accessible at the top of the screen and can be adjusted at any time to suit your preferences. Quick navigation between the core essentials of football management means you’ll always stay focused on what’s important.

Get to Know Your Squad

After you’ve sorted your Bookmarks, a vital task will be familiarising yourself with your Squad.

Take time to review what you’ve got at your disposal across your first team, reserves and youth squads. Where are you strong? What’s an area of weakness? Where have you got talented prospects ready to break through?

Reviewing your squad depth and understanding what you’re working with will help to shape your tactics and define your transfer plans.

Build Your Tactics with Your Staff

FM26 Console adds new tactical depth with separate In and Out of Possession formations, new player roles, and a dynamic visualiser showing how your team behaves in every phase. That level of detail allows you to express more control over how your side plays the beautiful game, but at the start of your save you should keep things simple.

When you set up your first tactic, the process is a familiar one. You’ll begin by choosing a style of play before setting your formations. At each stage, you’ll get recommendations from your backroom team on which options works best with your current squad.

Even if you’ve got a philosophy in mind, lean on their advice as you’re getting up to speed – and then focus on tinkering and adapting as the season progresses to get the edge on your rivals. 

Dive Into the New TransferRoom Tools

TransferRoom, football’s digital marketplace, is changing the way clubs in real life do transfer deals and it’s now doing the same for FM26 Console. This is thanks to the introduction of two new tools – Requirements and Pitch Opportunities.

Requirements are a way for you to communicate directly with every other club in your game world and outline your specific requirements in the transfer market. Conversely, Pitch Opportunities allows you to see what other clubs in your game world are looking for in the transfer market.

Having studied your squad, you should know where you need to make new additions and where you may have players that are surplus to requirements. Dive into these tools to target signings and offload players efficiently. With TransferRoom, Recruitment has never been this streamlined.

Savour Your First Match Days

Squad assessed, tactic created and new signings made. Before long, it’s time for kick-off.

In FM26 Console, match days bring new levels of depth and drama thanks to gloriously upgraded visuals and the inclusion of new volumetric animations taken from real-life matches. These animations bring every moment to life, delivering smoother, more realistic player movement and adding new cutscenes, lighting, and sky effects to every stadium.

In your first few games as manager, take in as much of the action as possible. It’s not just because of the visuals (although they are great) – but watching how your team plays will allow you to make some early tactical tweaks to help your side hit the ground running.

After those first few games, you’ll be fully immersed in the world of football management.

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In FM26 Console, every decision, tactic, and transfer reflects your vision. Football belongs to you – now it’s time to change the game.

Football Manager 26 Console

SEGA

☆☆☆☆☆ 124

★★★★★

$59.99

Get it now

PC Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass

CHANGE THE GAME – PLAY NOW New foundations set the stage for you to shape your football destiny. Delivering instinctive control, a redesigned UI combines with the series’ most immersive match day experience to bring you closer to every match-defining moment. MADE WITH UNITY Savour the richest Match Day experience in series history with gloriously upgraded visuals and on-pitch details, from lighting to cutscenes and stadiums, that bring new levels of depth and drama. Every attack has more personality thanks to fresh motion capture and volumetric animations, while new controller shortcuts between highlights better empower you to tinker from the touchline. WELCOME TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE Immerse yourself in football’s most-watched league with the Premier League fully-licensed for the first time. Authenticity reaches new heights as you pursue domestic football’s biggest prize with the full broadcast experience from the best seat in the house. ADVANCED TACTICAL INNOVATION Explore the cutting edge of football tactics with the introduction of in and out-of-possession formations. Redefined player roles and new tools showing how your team adapts in every phase of play levels up your pre-match prep. CLOSER TO THE ACTION  A redesigned UI delivers smoother, smarter navigation. Flow through match planning at your pace, with the key info delivered when and where you need it, driven by the new Portal which connects you to the footballing world. INTRODUCING: WOMEN’S FOOTBALL   Break new ground as women’s football debuts, seamlessly integrated into FM26 as one footballing world. Explore new horizons with 14 playable leagues across 11 nations, including top competitions like the WSL and NWSL, and discover new stars with the biggest women’s football database in games. TRANSFORMATIVE TRANSFER TOOLS Harness the power of TransferRoom, the professional game’s online transfer marketplace, to shape your title-winning squads with even greater insight. Sign and sell players more easily with the introduction of Requirements and Opportunities, giving you more targeted control in every window. YOUR MANAGER, YOUR WAY Express more of your personality and style in every career with a revamped manager creator. Craft your look with enhanced character options before developing a career backstory unique to you and your life in the dugout. In FM26 Console, football belongs to you and your vision. It’s time to change the game. By using this product, you agree to this EULA:  https://games.sega.com/eula

The post Football Manager 26 Console: 7 Tips For New and Returning Players appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Football Manager 26 has pushed out another significant update for its Console editions, with the most recent patch now live on PlayStation and Xbox and set to arrive on FM Touch for Apple Arcade in the coming days.

This latest build focuses heavily on stability, UI refinement, and a long list of quality-of-life improvements across tactics, navigation, and squad management. From controller-specific fixes to revamped wage-demand logic and several long-standing visual bugs being addressed, Update 26.0.6 is one of the broader maintenance drops of the cycle. Sports Interactive has also provided a non-exhaustive changelist and continues to encourage players to submit any new issues via the official Bug Tracker.

Below are the listed changes in the latest patch. To read the source for yourself, check it out here.

Football Manager 26 Update 26.0.6 (PlayStation and Xbox) – Patch Notes

• The latest update for FM26 Console is now available on PlayStation and Xbox, with a rollout for FM Touch on Apple Arcade to follow in the coming days.  
• The update includes further improvements to game stability and performance, as well as a wealth of gameplay fixes. A non-exhaustive changelist is provided below.  
• For queries about how to update on your respective platform, please review this FAQ.  
• As always, please continue to make use of our Bug Tracker for any new issues you encounter, and our dedicated team will be on hand for support. 
• 26.0.6 Changelist 
• Further extensive polish and refinement done to the User Interface. 
• Further extensive crash and stability fixes.  
• Further fixes to freezes at Half-Time during Human vs. Human Online Matches. (PS/XB Only) 
• Further improvements made to in game translations.  
• Adds Substitutes to the iOS Tactics Planner  
• Improvements to controller navigation in dashboards 
• Adds the ability to view Condition and Match Rating via a toggle in the Tactics Planner  
• Fixes an issue where mouse emulation was active when trying to use the Radial wheel 
• Fixed soft lock while trying to view a past match. 
• Added button to view match stats, match momentum, and xG story during highlights. 
• Tweaks made to the general screen flow. 
• Improved logic behind youth player wage demands.   
• Improved logic behind player wage demands in the lower leagues. 
• Fixed issue where player condition would always display full. 
• Tweaked frequency of rain occurring during matches. 
• Fixed crash when continuing with club from United Arab Emirates (UAE) during Advanced Game Setup.  
• Loading a tactic within a match now functions as intended.  
• Fixed issue preventing user from assigning shirt number to players out on loan.  
• Fixed issue where home shirt icon would always display in the in-match Tactics Planner, regardless of the kit worn on the day.  
• Data Hub > Last Match > Summary will now display data from the correct match.  
• Fixed Place of Birth functionality within Manager Creation.  
• Clicking ‘Apply’ when selecting which attributes to filter between on the Player Search now takes you back to the correct landing page.  
• Fixed issue where all subs would display as “S1” on team talks.  
• Fixed issue where Ligue 1 trophy image would display regardless of the competition.  
• Fixed an issue where the Prize Money portal message would incorrectly state that the user had drawn.  
• Added a Recruitment Budgets tile to the Finance Summary.  
• Fixed an issue allowing the user to create a Recruitment Focus for a Women’s competition despite managing a Men’s team, and vice versa.  
• Refined AI logic of Saudi based clubs when it comes to buying players.  
• Passing Risk player instruction will now display correctly locked as “Take More Risks” for a Midfield Playmaker role. 
• Fixed issue where the sub keeper would display in an outfield kit in the in-match Tactics Planner.  
• Fixed an issue allowing user to renegotiate transfer/loan fee despite contract terms already being agreed.  
• Improved squad building logic of top clubs.  
• Players will more appropriately decline entering contract negotiations upfront if there is a large discrepancy between the desired wage and the max wage the club can offer. 
• Fixed issue where Finance Graph would always display in USD.  
• Club > Finances will now display the correct data for Income and Expenditure.  
• In match Opposition Instructions will now correctly reflect any substitutions that have been made.  
• Fixed issue preventing the Sponsorships card in Finances from being opened.  
• Fixed issue where sponsorship end date would display as 1/1/1900.  
• First team players no longer wear a substitutes bib during pre-match team talk. 
• Tweaks to how a player’s current reputation is processed following a match.  
• Fixed issue preventing user from leading of all required team talks if they are in charge of multiple teams. 
• Player Comparison polygon graph will now display the correct attribute points. 
• Fixed an issue where the Squad Bar could not be expanded after being collapsed. 
• Added ability to add columns to tables and autosize them. 

These days, the gaming industry prioritizes expanding audiences over retaining core elements that make a game good or unique. For developers, this means lowering the barrier to entry and making the niche universally palatable. Sports Interactive’s Football Manager 26 is the latest example of this philosophy. 

On paper, the idea of streamlining and simplifying complex systems sounds like a good idea. But if you’re going to do it in a way that makes long-time players more confused, you’re kinda losing the plot. Don’t get us wrong, FM26 is still highly complex, but it makes some decisions that leave you scratching your head. 

Many other games have also been pulled in two opposing directions, trying to appeal to newcomers without fully committing to their original audience. 

What’s Wrong With Football Manager?

The Football Manager series is known for its uncompromising depth, making it not just a sports game but a digital obsession. You might not master every system, but you’ll at least have the chance to understand how everything works. Unfortunately, things have never been more confusing for this franchise. 

At launch, FM26 quickly garnered negative reviews on Steam. Our own FM26 Review praised the match engine, the tactical evolution, and the graphical improvements. We were also quick to point out the negatives: the clunky UI, plethora of bugs and glitches, and a couple of missing features from previous games. 

They introduced an oversimplified tactical system using OOP role logic, visualized pressing shapes, and added further cinematic analysis. For newcomers, these changes might be easier to understand, but for veterans, tactics are now harder to control with depth. 

On top of that, there’s no arguing that the game changes things a lot. The new tactical roles are fresh and modern, but some of them lack behaviours that used to be clearly visible through attributes and instructions. Staff management, which was one of the clearer systems, has also been overhauled. A lot of the attributes feel like they are wrapped in vague presentations and graphical abstractions. 

Even the user interface reflects this problem. FM26 tries to look cleaner and more modern, but in doing so, it hides information behind vague visual elements, layered menus, and role-based abstractions. Staff attributes, training effectiveness, and player suitability are now hidden behind extra clicks and interpretation. It looks simplified, but it actually makes core systems harder to understand. Instead of improving accessibility, the UI takes away clarity, which is the one thing Football Manager could never afford to lose.

Why This Philosophy Fails

I don’t know if this can be called greed, but new sports games are in pursuit of the largest possible market, resulting in a failed execution. The main challenge is to maintain a balance between trying to make a game that retains the loyalty of old fans and is also a fun experience for beginners. It’s a line that’s hard to balance, and even veteran game designers struggle with it. 

The Forza Horizon series sets up to be a textbook example of this. Forza Horizon 5 is quite a popular game, and its popularity mainly stems from letting you do whatever you want. You can follow the objectives, or just drive around and do nothing. That is not how the series started. Earlier games balanced free driving with strong identity, curated progression, festival atmosphere, and a semblance of structure. Forza Horizon 5 is freedom above all those aspects.

In an attempt to appear more modern and more accessible, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 fell into a similar trap. It abandoned the tight, responsive levels for poorly thought-out ones, and introduced shallow online mechanics that didn’t serve either audience. It wasn’t nostalgic or catering to fans, and it didn’t feel welcoming to newcomers either. 

Learning from Wii Sports

Though difficult, it is not impossible to make a game that appeals to everyone, and Wii Sports proves just that. Instead of amplifying the sport or adding unnecessary features, it simplified the controls for each sport. Instead of teaching players football physics or tennis mechanics, it lets them experience those concepts naturally.

What made Wii Sports a “game for everyone” was that it had a low barrier to entry, but a high ceiling for mastery. Anyone could understand it within minutes, but timing, spin, accuracy, and positioning in most games still required practice. It’s a game that respects your time, without demanding prior knowledge. 

The key difference is that Wii Sports didn’t try to be both a complex sports simulator and a mass-market product. It is fully committed to its identity. It was designed to be approachable from the ground up. Nintendo never tried to stretch an existing, complex formula to fit a wider audience; they came up with an entirely new one. 

Pick A Side

Football Manager and many other sports games should understand that they just need to stick to their own niche. There is no need to be the second Wii Sports; rather, be proud of what you truly represent. 

They can either commit to meticulous simulation that will create a loyal fan following or commit to a mass appealing arcade experience that grants immediate sales. Simplifying things doesn’t mean you need to strip away core mechanics or reduce the familiarity that defines your game. It means explaining them better. We didn’t really need a massive UI overhaul that hides things in a pretty way; we needed a cleaner way to understand systems we already had.

It’s no surprise that the community is unsatisfied with Football Manager 26. There are numerous issues with the game that everyone is talking about. And, now four of the biggest names in FM content — Zealand, Lollujo, WorkTheSpace, and DoctorBenjy — also sat down to discuss in a joint video on what really went wrong with Football Manager 26.

Across the board, all four creators say FM26’s issues run deeper than the usual first-week chaos we expect from big annual sports sims. The UI? Clunky. The workflows? Weirdly backwards. Features? Missing or moved into oblivion. The vibe? Off. It’s like the devs redesigned the entire experience, but forgot to ask anyone who actually plays the game.

Zealand was especially harsh. He argued that FM26’s problems aren’t just small mistakes. They are the kind of issues that happen when the studio’s development process breaks down from beneath.

The planning is off, feedback loops collapse, and there isn’t proper communication between the different teams. This is how things get messy. In his words, the failure isn’t the bugs; it’s everything underneath them.

“Institutional Failure” And What It Means for FM’s Future

All the creators more or less agreed on the game’s problems and brought their own angles.

For instance, Lollujo pointed out that early access creators were allowed to show negative impressions of the alpha build, which meant the community didn’t get the usual early warning alarms. WorkTheSpace talks about how the redesigned layout feels like it was built for someone who’s never actually played FM before. 

And Benjy, in classic Benjy form, tries to laugh through the pain but ends up sounding just as baffled as everyone else.

However, despite the criticism, they didn’t say that the franchise was dead. It was more bashing and requesting that SI fix the process. The players and creators both love this franchise. They want Football Manager 26 to thrive and Football Manager 27 to be amazing. 

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the community is loud, unified, and very specific about what’s wrong. And historically, SI has listened when the noise gets loud enough.

Based on the mostly negative Steam reviews, Football Manager 26 could not have had a more terrible start. It’s certainly a very polarizing game, one that has a highly rewarding match engine that is unfortunately let down by its clunky UI and terrible quality-of-life aspects. Those are just the core issues, but players are also frustrated with little things like the absence of touchline shouts. 

We covered this issue previously when the game was still in Beta, and fan reactions surrounding it have not changed. In the r/footballmanagergames subreddit, one very frustrated player said the following:

“Nearly every player is missing this, but guys in SI office didn’t. They don’t play their game, and that shows in most parts of the game.”

A Rough Start, To Say The Least

As someone who is passionate about games and tends to be forgiving towards more issues, I take no joy from berating a game. With that said, out of FM26’s nearly 3600 English reviews on Steam, only 26% of them are positive. That means the game is rated even lower than MindsEye on Steam, which, in my opinion, was the worst AAA game launch of 2025, right behind Sony’s Concord. 

We published a review of FM26 just today, and our very own Christian Smith actually praised the match engine, graphical improvements, and the overall tactical evolution. However, he also discussed how the UI and its cumbersome menus seem to fight against you. Not a good look for a game that is basically played inside menus. 

The removal of touchline shouts is just an addition to the massive pile of issues this game already has. On the Reddit post referenced earlier, one user pointed out how touchline shouts felt like they didn’t even accomplish anything in the first place. Another user then argued that the effectiveness isn’t what matters, it’s what touchline shouts add to the feel and immersion of the game. But user Rundas-Slash had the most grounded take on the matter:

“Or you know, crazy idea, they could have made them… Do something? Is it so hard to give a small mental boost of +/- 2 on some relevant stats depending on the player’s morale during the match?”

Let’s be real here, Football Manager games have always been dated. Graphics have never been the best, and because Sports Interactive seems to ignore polish, there are a myriad of issues with each release. This time around, it just so happens that there’s more bad than good for a lot of players.