When is FM26 Beta Release Day

Football Manager 2026 Early Access is set to begin on October 23! If you buy FM26 from fmscout, you'll get this Beta Access plus bonus rewards for free.

By Stam Updated on Oct 21, 2025 97694 views 15 comments

Early access to a fully-playable pre-release version of Football Manager should open approximately 2 weeks before the official FM26 street date that is set for November 4.

FM 26 Early Beta Access (officially called "Advanced Access" initially) is one of the free bonuses you get for pre-purchasing Football Manager 2026 from participating retailers, such as the FMSCOUT store.

Other free bonuses include a scratch card (on our partner's site) and 5 chances to win a key for our exclusive tool Genie Scout 26g for FM26.

Pre-Purchase FM26 from FM Scout

Start playing ~2 weeks early with advanced access, and enter a special giveaway for 5 chances to win GS26g.

When exactly is FM26 Early Access coming?

Here are 3 things to remember about Advanced Access (also called Early Access):

Advanced Access will be made available approximately 2 weeks before the final game release (November 4th)
Advanced Access will be released whenever Miles Jacobson (SI studio director) feels it's ready
Advanced Access is expected be ready on October 21st or October 23rd

FM26 Early Access Explained

Since Beta / Early Access became a thing for the game all the way back to FM13, it unlocked 14-20 days before release. Scroll down to find the table of historic dates. That made it safe to assume we can expect it to be "at least 2 weeks".

The fully-playable pre-release version should normally be available no later than Tuesday, October 21st. My personal guess was that Football Manager 2026 Early Access would unlock on October 21.

However, the Epic Games leak revealed the FM26 Beta will drop on October 23rd and that proved to be on point after all as Sports Interactive announced that Early Access kicks off on October 23!

We'll keep watching what Sports Interactive say in their social posts or pre-release blogs and videos regarding this year's early access date.

20 Oct Update: SI confirmed the launch date for Beta access: Thursday, 23/10!
So mark the date.
23 October 2025

16 Oct Update: The official FM account posted the following text on Twitter/X:

Understandably, over the past 24-hours there’s been increased speculation about the Advanced Access Beta. We’re just finalising the details and we’ll have a concrete date to share with you next week. We’re nearly there.

There are 2 takeaways from that message:

It's the first time they've used the "Beta" word for FM26's Early Access, meaning they were not planning for this to be a Beta but ended up at that state possibly due to the amount of unresolved gameplay issues/bugs.
It's also the first time they talk about setting a fixed date for Early Access. The likely launch dates are now 21/10 (Tuesday) and 23/10 (Thursday).

15 Oct Update: It was reported this afternoon that some users who ordered the game on Epic Games store saw the text "Available 10/23/2025" for it. Others kept seeing "Available 11/4/2025" an hour before and right after the reported incident.
Since this was also reported by WTS, we can assume it's not a fake report. Apparently a similar incident happened for FM24, 2 days before beta launch and it proved accurate. However, this might not be the case this time as it doesn't align with historical pattern.

25 Sep Update: It appears SI accidentally leaked the early access date on their official website, while announcing their partnership with Hawk-Eye. Here's a screenshot of the relevant paragraph with the date highlighted in yellow.

A few hours later they changed it to Nov 4.

History of Early Access Dates

Version	Early Access	Release Date	Days
FM13	Oct 19, 2012	Nov 2, 2012	14
FM14	Oct 16, 2013	Oct 31, 2013	15
FM15	Oct 23, 2014	Nov 7, 2014	15
FM16	Oct 29, 2015	Nov 13, 2015	15
FM17	Oct 18, 2016	Nov 4, 2016	17
FM18	Oct 26, 2017	Nov 10, 2017	15
FM19	Oct 18, 2018	Nov 2, 2018	15
FM20	Oct 31, 2019	Nov 19, 2019	19
FM21	Nov 10, 2020	Nov 24, 2020	14
FM22	Oct 21, 2021	Nov 9, 2021	19
FM23	Oct 20, 2022	Nov 9, 2022	20
FM24	Oct 19, 2023	Nov 6, 2023	18
FM26	Oct 23, 2025	Nov 4, 2025	12

Get Early Access to FM26 for Free

Purchase FM26 through fmscout.com much cheaper than Steam store & enjoy early access 2 weeks sooner, get a 5x chance to win a key for the 'g' edition of Genie Scout 26, & our gratitude for supporting our community financially.

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Discussion: When is FM26 Beta Release Day

15 comments have been posted so far.

Stam • 1 week ago

@Vastath: That was a typo in the table. I'm afraid it's only 12 days this time. It's the first time ever they make use of the "approximately" safety net and delay the early access beyond the historic 14-day threshold.

@bfcnick: Genie Scout 26 is definitely planned, but can't announce it until we actually get our hands on the game and investigate what needs to be done. I trust Eugene will figure it out and we can start the countdown for GS26 soon.

2
Vastath • 1 week ago

how is it 18 days from tommorow to 4th of november? I pre purchused the game from here as always but this is the ,after last year;s dissapointment, the first time i am so sceptical they had 2 years to develop the game and 1 year to fix it with no pressure and we still talk about bugs and problem with the ui whicj according to Jacobsen was one of the main reasons for cancelling last years game?
bfcnick • 1 week ago

How does the draw for the Genie Scout G edition work? I bought through the FMScout link.

Also, I'm guessing Genie Scout will take a bit longer this year before it's released as there is so much change?
Stam • 1 week ago

@proton6: Beta launch day was officially confirmed yesterday. It's coming on Thursday, October 23rd. The time wasn't announced, but they usually launch early access in the afternoon (like 3-6pm UK time).
proton6 • 1 week ago

I think today , Tuesday 4pm in the UK. Its now exactly 2 weeks before the actual release . Considering its a new type of game it gives them a full 2 weeks for bug solving . Unless they delay the release its NOW
Stam • 2 weeks ago

@R4JD7: We obviously recommend getting your Steam key through us as it's much cheaper than Steam store, it comes with Beta access (plus a couple of extra rewards) and supports FM Scout.
tactee • 2 weeks ago

@R4JD7 yes when it becomes available not immediately

1
R4JD7 • 2 weeks ago

so if you buy the game off the steam shop do you get beta/early access or not?
SirTAVARES • 2 weeks ago

poor guys, didn't had time to release it, maybe better to delay one more year xD

2
koutsdimis • 2 weeks ago

Would be great if they released the beta tomorrow Friday to give us working folk a break. I prefer waking up for work with more than 3 hours of sleep...

1
bezman • 2 weeks ago

@Stam. I agree that the game needs to be fully playable before release but surely after 2 years it must be very close to it. It is worrying that they haven't communicated very well and needs some training on that or is it that they are taking their loyal customers as mugs which isn't my view but you have to see it from both sides.
Stam • 2 weeks ago

@SirTAVARES: According to a rumor, SI are being silent because of a security vulnerability but I don't believe that. To be fair, it's a bit worrying they haven't posted anything since Oct 9. However, they usually do their feature drops on Thursdays.

@bezman: They need to ensure the game is at a good enough state, being playable without any breaking bugs. That can be a valid reason for delay.
SirTAVARES • 2 weeks ago

23rd October
bezman • 2 weeks ago

My personal view is SI Games really need to show some gratitude to its loyal customers and with 2 years to get this right the game should near as damn it be close to the final version barring a few bugs which can be reported. With having that extra time why wait for 2 weeks prior to release date to let the advanced access happen. They could really need our help with finding bugs and other things which could be rectified before official release. Sorry just my thought on it being a loyal FM player for many, many years.
Lopessamuel13 • 1 month ago

I have been playing Football Manager since I was little, and since it was announced that the game would undergo changes to the engine and switched to Unity Engine, I have been quite curious. But when the trailer and then the gameplay video came out, I was at a loss for words to describe how incredible the game is; many hours will be well spent with this game!! Congratulations Miles and SEGA!!!

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