Football Manager 2026 (FM26) finally launched on 4 November 2025 after a bruising two-year wait that included the cancellation of FM25. Expectations were sky-high. Reality? A storm.
Within 48 hours, FM26 was sitting on a “Mostly Negative” rating on Steam, with complaints clustering around stability, the overhauled UI/UX, and removed or missing features. GamesRadar even noted it had sunk into Steam’s worst-rated lists on day one.
But is the criticism justified? Or is this a case of “We fear change…”
Below, a quick timeline, the main flashpoints, and a curated snapshot of how creators and everyday “managers” reacted on X/Twitter, Reddit, and official forums—plus what Sports Interactive (SI) has done since release.
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Short excerpts (under 25 words each), with links to the original posts:
Even some mainstream coverage captured the split: The Guardian’s review praised ambition and freshness but cautioned that the redesign “may take some getting used to.” NME highlighted fans calling it “unbelievably bad.” The consensus: promise in the match engine and ideas, but a painful transition for heavy users.
One clear positive: SI has moved quickly. Between late October and the week of launch, the studio pushed multiple hotfixes, first on the public beta branch and then wider. Note highlights:
Community trackers (FM Scout, FM Blog) corroborate the rapid patch notes cadence, suggesting SI is triaging UI polish and stability first, with feature gaps likely to be longer-term.
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In fairness, some reviewers and players do like parts of FM26: the match engine’s flow and certain tactical touches, plus the potential of the new foundation. But for FM’s core audience, the interface and stability must feel invisible.
SI’s early patches are steps in the right direction; the question is whether enough of the old efficiency and flexibility can be restored (or reimagined) quickly.
What to watch in the next few weeks:
The problem SI faced, which they were acutely aware of, is that any change to the format, look, design, UI of the game was always going to cause issues. When there have been big changes in past iterations of the game, from the original Championship Manager series to the big upgrade for CM2, then the development of CM2 over the years, including the change from Championship Manager under EIDOS to Football Manager under Sega, there have always been dissenters at each step of the way.
There is the maxim of ‘if it isn't broke, don't fix it', but why did SI make the change to the Unity engine and the changes to the UI?
There is a real push from SI to improve the “matchday” experience, which is arguably the main reason why the switch to Unity came to fruition. The older style matchday, was clunkier, whereas the new Matchday has drawn pretty positive comments across the communities. Graphically, the new game has upped the ante considerably with smoother action and a wider array of animations.
However, the change in UI is the biggest bone of contention. Many comments have complained about elements missing, the UI being clunky, requiring lots of clicks to access information, key information missing and bugs galore.
It seems it is the interface that is causing the most consternation, but in a way, this is a function of the game, rather than a feature of it. It is a bit like when a supermarket changes its layout – it doesn't mean that your favourites are not there – you may just need to look for them in a different place.
Over time, I envisage these criticism's will diminish as SI releases patches and updates and people get used to the game. FM had played the same way for over a decade so when a change of this scale was made to it, fallout was always likely.
But with 20 million players, and a break of a year, the build up of expectation always meant that this game would be under more scrutiny, and criticised, much more than any other iteration. 20 million managers never want to play the game the same way and have very different ideas about the ‘key' features. Changes on the scale made, were inevitably going to cause plenty of dissenting voices.
However, the longevity of the game proves, fans can learn to use a new UI, especially one tweaked and improved over time. SI has never failed to deliver a quality game, even if it has taken them patches and years of development to get it polished.
So yes, the furore was expected, likely and predictable. Is it fair? Probably not. But that's football managers for you. They are an emotional bunch.
And if Football Manager 2026 isn't to your liking, well you can always play bet365's Fantasy Football game instead.
FM26 launches a new era on Unity—and right now, it shows. The matchday core has promise, but the day-to-day “management work” feels slower and buggier than FM lifers will tolerate.
Players and creators have been blunt about it; SI is shipping fixes quickly. If the next few patches nail stability and reduce UI friction, FM26 could settle into the solid base SI envisioned.
If not, many veterans will park their saves and wait for FM27.
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