Football Manager, also known as Worldwide Soccer Manager in North America from 2004 to 2008, also known colloquially as FM, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game began its life in 1992 as Championship Manager. Following the break-up of their partnership with original publishers Eidos Interactive, triggered by the fiasco release of Championship Manager 4 in 2003, Sports Interactive lost the naming rights to Eidos Interactive but retained the game engine and data, and re-branded the game Football Manager with their new publisher Sega. The penultimate version of Football Manager, titled Football Manager 2024, was released on 6 November 2023. Football Manager 2024 is the most played title in series history, clocking over 19 million players as of September 2025. Football Manager 25, originally intended for a November 2024 release, was cancelled in February 2025 after multiple delays. The most recent game in the series, Football Manager 26, was released on 4 November 2025.
Main series Football Manager 2005
On 12 February 2004, after splitting from publishers Eidos Interactive, it was announced that Sports Interactive, developers of the Championship Manager game, had retained the rights to the source code but not the rights to the title Championship Manager, which were held onto by Eidos (who previously acquired the brand rights from Domark upon their merger in 1995). These developments led to a further announcement that future Sports Interactive football management simulation games would be released under the famous Football Manager brand name. Whilst the Championship Manager series would go on, Eidos no longer had any source code or a developer for Championship Manager.
Having been left without a publisher for its football management series, Sports Interactive teamed up with Sega. In April 2006, Sports Interactive was acquired completely by the publisher in a continuing trend of consolidation within the games industry. The first game released under the newly acquired Football Manager brand was Football Manager 2005. Commonly known as FM 2005, it competed directly with Championship Manager 5 from Eidos-funded Beautiful Game Studios. Football Manager 2005 included an updated user interface, a refined game engine, updated database and competition rules, pre and post-match information, international player news, cup summary news, a 2D match engine, coach reports on squads, jobcentre for non-playing positions, mutual contract termination, enhanced player loan options, manager mind games, and various other features. Football Manager 2005 was released in the UK on 5 November 2004, closely followed by releases in many other countries around the world. The Macintosh (Mac) version of the game came on the same dual format disk as the Windows version, so its sales were also included. Football Manager 2005 became both the 5th fastest-selling PC game of all time and SEGA Europe's fastest selling game.
Football Manager 2006
Football Manager 2006 for Windows and Mac OS was released in the UK on 21 October 2005 (two weeks earlier than the originally stated 4 November 2005 release). On the same day as the game's release, Sports Interactive also released a patch to fix some bugs discovered during the Beta and Gold stages of development. In its first week of release, it became the second-fastest-selling PC game of all time in the UK.
Essentially a season update of FM 2005, it includes many small adjustments and improvements to the general gameplay. These adjustments include team-talks, simplified training, and in-game help screens. Furthermore, the game is updated by its many researchers (unpaid fans of the game augmented by in-house collaboration). The database is usually updated twice in the period of the release of the game. The first comes with the game and the second is usually downloadable in February as a free data update to reflect the changes which take place during the winter opening of the FIFA transfer window. As has been customary with the series, a beta demo of the game was released on 12 September 2005. This was later followed on 30 September 2005 by a gold demo. This is a cut-down, limited time version of the full game, which is sent to the game manufacturers. With a special download from Sports Interactive, one can play as the fictional football team Harchester United from Sky One's series Dream Team.
Football Manager 2006 – Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 version was released on 13 April 2006 and is the first home console game in the Football Manager series. The full 50 playable league systems are included, as well as a 250,000-strong player database (very near to the figure of the PC version). Due to the large save files of the game, which is region free, the Xbox 360 hard disk drive is required. This version also makes use of the Xbox Live functionality, allowing players to create online leagues and cups with up to 16 human-controlled teams using team data they have exported from their offline game. Voice chat is fully supported during online play. It was also confirmed that Sports Interactive would release new content through the Xbox Live Marketplace system.
Football Manager 2007
On 8 June 2006, Sports Interactive published details on Football Manager 2007. On 1 October 2006, Sports Interactive released a Gold Demo of Football Manager 2007, available in two versions: vanilla and strawberry. Both versions allow users to play six months into a season. The strawberry version contains a larger collection of quickstarts so users can try out more leagues. It also contains more graphics than the vanilla version. Football Manager 2007 was released on 18 October 2006.
New features in the 2007 version of Football Manager include the ability to include pictures for the player as the manager, substantially increased media interaction such as approaches from national newspaper journalists about the upcoming match or asking for comments on a player's performance in recent matches, and new varying degrees of criticism or praise for players (happy with form or very pleased with form rather than just one generic good term). A similar feature has been included for such actions as admiring players or attempting to unsettle transfer targets. Improvements have also been made to board request interactions.
The main improvement lauded by Sports Interactive for this version of Football Manager is the improved scouting system. Scouts' and coaches' experience is now shown graphically via bar charts and scouts gain knowledge from areas they have scouted previously. To go with this, it is now possible to get feeder/parent club status, which allows to either send players to lower league teams to gain experience, make it easier to get work permits, merchandise sales in other areas, or, as a lower league team, to receive reserve and youth team players on free, season long loans and to generate extra revenue through associated fees and friendly matches. A patch has been released to combat some of the main bugs in the game, such as unrealistic scout reports and high amounts of injuries sustained whilst playing on the pitch. On 27 July 2007, the Football Manager website was updated with a new Football Manager 2008 section.
Football Manager 2008
On 3 October 2007, Sega Europe Ltd and Sports Interactive announced Football Manager 2008 to be released 19 October. The release date was brought forward by a day to 18 October 2007 due to some retailers shipping the game early. There were a number of new features: all features in matches seamlessly follow on from the previous one; a mini radar pitch appears during tactical changes; improved International management; new skin; advisor system; improved notebook system; a revamped captain selection; improved board and fan confidence system; transfer centre to track transfers; improved match engine; the player may change pitch dimensions; award system overhaul; in-game all-time best elevens; a revamped finance system; collective win bonuses; FaceGen system for new-gen players; and a new calendar.
Football Manager 2009
On 3 September 2008, Sports Interactive released a preview video announcing Football Manager 2009 to be released on 14 November. The main difference from past versions was the inclusion of a 3D match engine for the first time in the game's history. Other new features included the ability to have female managers and staff, a new press conference system, more in-depth feedback from assistant manager, and a more realistic transfer system. The latest incarnation of Football Manager was also released in DVD format for the first time.
The use of online-activation DRM utilised by Sports Interactive resulted in issues for consumers activating either online, or phone. This was the result of a well orchestrated DDoS attack launched upon activation servers and phone lines, resulting in many users on the Windows platform unable to activate and play. On 17 December 2008, Sports Interactive announced a deal with Arsenal F.C. to release an exclusive version of Football Manager 2009, containing all official Arsenal squad player pictures, and an exclusive skin in Arsenal's colours. Shortly following this announcement, Sports Interactive reinforced their pursuit of online retailers by offering Football Manager 2009 through eSellerate for the Mac OS X platform on 23 December 2008. This is the first incarnation of the game to be available to global users through online distribution.
Football Manager 2010
On 12 August 2009, Sports Interactive & Sega Europe Ltd. announced that Football Manager 2010 for PC and Apple Macintosh, and Football Manager Handheld 2010 for PlayStation Portable was to be released on 30 October 2009. The include competitions are Challenge Cup and Challenge Cup qualification, as well as the Caribbean Championship. This version of Football Manager has been very successful, managing to gain the number 1 spot in the gaming charts. There have been many improvements made to Football Manager 2010, including the following:
Totally revamped user interface making it simpler and quicker to find the information. Match Analysis tool showing the actions of each player on the pitch, allowing to pinpoint any team's strengths and weaknesses. Making changes from the touchline by shouting instructions from the touchline instantly. Included two new national teams (Zanzibar and Tuvalu).
Football Manager 2011
Football Manager 2011 was released on 5 November 2010. On 23 July 2010, a number of features and the design of the box were leaked before an official announcement could be made, including:
Improved training options More complex module for searching new players Improved graphics and 3D view of the game Introduction of football agents to the game Playing games in evenings (night effect) Differentiated weather conditions
Football Manager 2012
Football Manager 2012 was released on 21 October 2011.
Transfers & Contracts – significant changes to the transfer and contract systems Scouting improvements – a new much detailed in-game report has been devised 3D Match Improvements – new animations, new crowd system, and more stadiums Manage Anywhere, Anytime – the ability to add or take away playable nations Tone – new system allowing to specify the way to say things Intelligent Interface – a new adaptive layout system, new filters, and more New national team – Kiribati
Football Manager 2013