Developer Sports Interactive confirmed that the women’s game will debut in FM26 with full licensing, official club branding, kits, player likenesses, and authentic league structures.

This long-awaited move represents a milestone for both football gaming and the wider women’s game, placing female athletes on the same virtual stage as their male counterparts. Scheduled for release on November 4, 2025, FM26 will allow fans to manage women’s clubs in England and across multiple top international leagues.

A Historic Step for Football Manager

The Football Manager series has been running since 1992 and is known for its depth, realism, and comprehensive player database. Until now, women’s football had been absent, despite growing calls from fans and campaigners for representation.

Sports Interactive director Miles Jacobson described the inclusion of women’s football in FM26 as “the most ambitious and important update in the series’ history.” He noted that years of research, data collection, and motion capture have gone into accurately portraying the women’s game.

Barclays Women’s Super League Leads the Way

The Barclays WSL and Barclays Women’s Championship will be fully playable at launch. Clubs such as Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United Women will appear with licensed kits, crests, player photos, and authentic stadiums. Fans will be able to manage transfers, tactics, and long-term development just as they would in the men’s game.

In addition to England’s top two divisions, FM26 will launch with 14 women’s leagues from 11 countries. These include Germany’s Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga, the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States, Serie A Femminile in Italy, Japan’s WE League, and Sweden’s Damallsvenskan. Together, they offer a truly global snapshot of the women’s game.

Building the Women’s Game from the Ground Up

One of the most complex tasks for Sports Interactive was creating a player database for women’s football. FM26 will launch with more than 36,000 female players and 5,000 staff, each rated with attributes tailored to the women’s game.

To ensure accuracy, developers carried out motion capture sessions with professional women’s footballers, redesigned player models to better reflect women’s physiques, and adjusted game mechanics such as contract lengths, wage structures, and transfer markets. For example, shorter contracts and more free transfers are common in the women’s game, and FM26 has adapted to reflect those realities.

Injuries and recovery patterns have also been modeled based on data specific to female athletes, underlining the studio’s commitment to authenticity.

Integration into the Football Manager Universe

In FM26, players can choose to begin their careers managing a men’s or women’s team — or even move between the two within the same save file. This integration ensures that women’s football is not treated as a side mode, but as a core part of the simulation.

This flexibility allows fans to chart careers across both the men’s and women’s games, providing unprecedented opportunities for storytelling and immersion. For supporters of women’s football, it finally offers the chance to build their favorite clubs into global powerhouses in the same way that fans of men’s clubs have done for decades.

Impact on Fans and the Women’s Game

The inclusion of the women’s game in Football Manager 26 is expected to have far-reaching effects. For fans, it validates years of demand for representation. For young female players and supporters, it provides visibility and inspiration. For the sport itself, it represents another avenue for growth at a time when attendance and broadcast figures are breaking records across Europe.

Jacobson believes the move will help normalize women’s football in mainstream culture. “We’ve always said that when we add women’s football to Football Manager, it has to be done right, not rushed,” he said. “This is a step toward equality, and we hope it encourages even more people to engage with the women’s game.”

The release of Football Manager 26 comes at a moment when women’s football is enjoying unprecedented momentum, with professional leagues expanding, sponsors signing long-term deals, and major tournaments attracting global audiences. The decision to integrate the Barclays Women’s Super League into FM26 ensures that the video game world keeps pace with this growth.

While the women’s database will take time to reach the same depth as the men’s, the groundwork laid in FM26 sets the stage for expansion in future editions. More leagues and licenses are expected in the coming years, but for now, the arrival of women’s football in Football Manager marks the beginning of a new chapter.

When Football Manager 26 launches in November, it will not just be another yearly release. It will be remembered as the edition that brought the women’s game into one of football’s most beloved simulations, reflecting its rising status and cementing its place in the global football conversation.