Football Manager 26 launches next month, with women's football available on the game.
The integration was announced four whole years ago in part because it would have been impossible to keep such a huge project quiet but now, we're on the cusp of seeing women's players in the game for the very first time.
In truth though, getting women's football into the game has taken much longer than even that
Football Manager studio director Miles Jacobson: 'Lets hope that we help, even if its a tiny bit: womens football is just football'
Were late to the party on this. I was looking at this from a commercial perspective, studio director of Sports Interactive, Miles Jacobson, tells FourFourTwo.
I was on a panel where we were talking about it and I was asked why we hadnt done womens football and I said it wasnt commercially viable.
Three Lionesses grabbed me afterwards and sat me down, and said, Unless we get the support from other games companies and media companies, its never going to be commercially viable. You need to help us break through the glass ceiling.
This was at a time when it wasnt at a level that it is now. The discussion kind of annoys me but I was part of the problem and Im part of the reason that these discussions are still happening.
Lets hope that us, Sky, the BBC, FourFourTwo, EA Sports FC and everyone else lets hope that we can get to a point where we dont have to have this discussion anymore. And to be frank, to have the discussion, Why the f*** didnt you do this before?
Real-world football clubs now use Football Manager as a scouting tool and now, Jacobson says that he hopes that FM can help as a source that will improve data in the women's game.
We were late to it but were trying to fix that now, he says. I think data will be invaluable to football clubs and will hopefully open doors to more people to do data on this side of things as well.
Because you look at the importance that womens football is having on kids around the world: everyone across society needs role models. Lets hope that we help, even if its a tiny bit. Womens football is football. Its football.
Football Manager 26is out on November 4, 2025.
