Football’s global appeal reaches millions, but a management simulator naturally narrows the audience and can deter casual fans. As someone from Southeast Asia, football isn’t a big thing in our country, so when we got the chance to play an early build of Football Manager 26 ahead of Tokyo Game Show 2025, my initial thought was one of intrigue, seeing if a newcomer like me could get up to speed.

After several hours with the build, Football Manager 26 clearly prioritizes depth for football enthusiasts while still offering enough accessibility to invite newcomers to explore the world of simulation games.

Football Manager 26 Hands-on Preview

In a nutshell, the Football Manager series of games puts you in charge of a football club’s future, making decisions, and building a winning team through scouting, trading, and more. If that’s not enough, you’re here to push numbers too, fixing budgets, managing players and staff, and essentially doing all the managing, as the title suggests.

It’s essentially a “numbers go up” game, and it is surprisingly deep, driven by loads of menus, windows, and tables. After taking a look at previous entries, one of the most noticeable upgrades is the redesigned UI, which makes understanding and navigation a bit easier on the eye. Menus are cleaner, with key information surfaced at a glance, and this makes a significant difference.

The improved search function also delivers more accurate results this time around, along with recommended selections now guiding users toward optimal decisions, making it feel like having a personal assistant at your fingertips.

Additionally, one of the customization options allows players to tailor the interface to their own style, making navigation more personalized and efficient based on their preferences.

Football Manager 26’s match engine animations are actually pretty impressive, considering this is a simulation game. Character models are well-animated, with smooth and lifelike movements, paired with stadiums that feature dynamic crowds and detailed environments. Somehow, it’s like watching a live broadcast of your favorite match, and it’s literally watching since the gameplay happens automatically, just like a simulation.

Notably, motion capture for women’s players has been developed specifically for them, adding authenticity and celebrating the growing diversity in football.

When we say “manage,” it doesn’t stop in the pre-game, but it extends to the game itself as well. Football Manager 26 also allows players to execute tactics during a match, and it’s pretty straightforward. Controls feel responsive, and it presents clear indicators for player status and match dynamics.

The Dynamic Mode during matches adds an interesting flow to the game, offering the freedom to manage matches according to their preferences. Players can watch the action unfold or take control of every detail of match decisions.

That said, the Football Manager 26 build we played is still in development, and there’s still time to clean up some kinks here and there. AI can use some improvement, and with over a month to go, we expect the team to do further tuning.

After three hours of gameplay, Football Manager 26 appears to be a game that series veterans will welcome back with open arms. Newcomers are welcome to try it out, and with a more user-friendly interface, enhanced match visuals, and flexible tools, it’ll be interesting to see how the game opens up to entice a wider audience.

Football Manager 26 will launch on November 5, 2025, on PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, PC, Mac, and Netflix.