FM26 release date: New features, pre-orders and latest news on Football Manager 26

There's also a date for FM26 Mobile and FM26 Touch, for those who like to do a bit of football managing on the go, or if you can't convince those you live with to not only watch real football on the telly, but also bear witness to you obsessing over virtual player stats.

We certainly can't wait to get our hands on a new Football Manager, as it's been some years since the last instalment, with FM25 controversially getting cancelled.

With FC 26 set to release soon, we're going to be absolutely football daft this autumn and winter.

But there is so much ground to cover, so let's not dilly dally and go over all things FM26 from the Football Manager 26 release date to pre-orders!

FM26 release date speculation

Football Manager 26 will release on 4th November 2025.

The FM26 release date was quietly revealed on Steam, with no official announcement made as of writing, which is rather curious.

This could have been a mistake when someone at Sports Interactive was updating the page, or the PR people have forgotten their Twitter login again...

Still, we have a little bit of a wait until the Football Manager 2026 release date, but with FC 26 coming out in September, we'll have plenty of new footy action to keep us occupied.

FM26 Touch, coming to Nintendo Switch, will release 4th December 2025.

Can you pre-order FM26?

Yes, you can pre-order Football Manager 26.

Currently, it is only available for pre-order on PC for a number of different storefronts.

• Pre-order Football Manager 26 from Fanatical (Steam key)
• Pre-order Football Manager 26 from the Epic Games Store
• Pre-order Football Manager 26 from the Microsoft Store
• Pre-order Football Manager 26 from Steam

On the Football Manager website, you can see that the game will be available for pre-order for consoles sometime soon, but the Football Manager website says it

Which consoles and platforms can play FM26?

FM26 will be available to play on PC, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.

FM26 Touch will be coming to Nintendo Switch as well, with FM26 Mobile releasing on Netflix.

So you'll be able to play FM26 just about anywhere then!

FM26 gameplay news

SI has proven to be very tight-lipped on the specifics of FM26, as indeed they were about FM25, but there are a few things we know about the game – most of which was supposed to be introduced in FM25.

The game will mark the series' move to the Unity engine, with SI boasting that it will bring with it huge graphical upgrades – as teased in a recent clip – as well as more realistic and fluid player movements and animations.

This was then fully revealed for the first time with the Match Day First Look, posted to the game's official social media channels on 4th September.

Another key addition to the game is the introduction of women's football. While licences are yet to be confirmed, we can likely expect all the major women's leagues to be included, such as England, Spain, France, Germany and the USA, among others.

Tactics are getting a revamp, with new player roles and customisation options for formations. Players will finally also be able to dictate how their team plays both in and out of possession, something that has been high on many players' wish lists for years.

As well as all these, we'll likely see the customary tweaks to UI and menus, as well as plenty of new features that haven't been revealed yet.

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