Football Manager introduced the plan to incorporate women's football into the game back in 2021, and now that plan has been realized through this sequel. FM states that their vision has always been one ecosystem, meaning to integrate women's football as it is in the real world. SEGA and Sports Interactive did not want to create a separate game for women's football, but rather aimed to create one ecosystem where you can successively manage both women's and men's teams.
In FM26, you start by choosing whether you want to manage a men's team, a women's team, or begin as unemployed.
The FM26 database on women's football consists of over 36,000 players and an additional 5,000 individuals who are not players.
The game will feature 14 leagues in 11 countries across 3 continents, including the following licensed competitions:
- Barclays Women's Super League (England)
- Barclays Women's Super League 2 (England)
- National Women's Soccer League (USA)
- Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga (Germany)
- WE League (Japan)
- Serie A Femminile (Italy)
- OBOS Damallsvenskan (Sweden)
- Elitettan (Sweden)
- A-Liga (Denmark)
- A-League Women (Australia)
- Adran Premier (Wales)
- UEFA Women's Champions League (Europe)
FM notes that it took them 30 years to build the current database for male footballers and states that their goal in the coming years is to build the largest and most accurate database on women's football. To achieve this, FM has a research team currently consisting of 40 members.
Each female footballer in FM will be able to have a maximum of 20 points for each attribute/segment, just like their male counterparts.
What differentiates women's football from the football played by men is also applied in the game, with the most significant differences being in contracts, finances, and the transfer market. In women's football, contracts are shorter, and buyout clauses are rare. In women's football within FM, club revenues and average salary expenses have also been adjusted to reflect reality as closely as possible.
FM states that the transitions of players between the "men's" and "women's" football teams will contribute to the originality of your career.
FM reminds us that it will be released on November 4, 2025, for Xbox, Xbox GamePass, and PS5, while the Nintendo Switch version will be available from December 4. The FM26 mobile version will be released on November 4, 2025, exclusively for Netflix subscribers on iOS and Android devices.
