Football Manager 2026 Press Previews: What's Good & Bad

Instead of the expected Early Access launch today, we saw multiple hands-on previews getting published on selected press outlets.

I've read the 5 most important ones and prepared a summary for your convenience.

In a nutshell, all previews agree that Football Manager 26 comes with major breakthroughs, but at the same time is riddled with issues.

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After skipping last year, FM26 is the biggest change in the series' history.

It's built on a completely new engine (Unity), which brings exciting new features but also many problems that need fixing.

A few moments later, SI posted an official statement on socials to say that they'll have a concrete date for the Advanced Access Beta next week.

I'll share my thoughts on that last bit towards the end of this article. Now I'll summarize what the press previews had to say.

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What's New and Good in FM26

If you've been following either the official feature deep-dives or my summaries here, most of what's listed in this section will be familiar.

Better Graphics and Match Display

• Improved visuals: Colors are brighter, player movements are smoother, and the game looks more realistic.


• Best new feature: The return of the 2D overhead view during matches. This lets you watch the full 90 minutes and understand tactics much better.


• Realistic moments: Actions like a striker controlling the ball with their chest now look much more natural.

Revolutionary Tactics System

• Two formations: You can now set different formations for attacking and defending. This wasn't possible in the old game.


• More tactical options: The game now better reflects how real football teams play.


• New complexity: When buying players, you need to think about how they perform in two different positions (attacking and defending).


• Changed roles: Some familiar player roles have new names like "Channel Midfielder".

Women's Football Fully Added

• Four years of work: Sports Interactive built the world's largest women's football database from scratch.


• High quality: Female players have detailed stats and realistic animations from motion capture.


• Current limitation: Fewer league divisions available compared to men's football (this will improve over time).

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What Needs Fixing in FM26

This aspect in the press previews was unexpected because in a way I felt like reading bug reports.

You can find a detailed list of issues that need fixing in the bottom half of this article.

Major Technical Problems

• Very buggy: The game had around 430 reported bugs on the tested alpha build from early October.


• Visual glitches: Players sometimes move in jerky ways or freeze during matches.


• Strange faces: Player face models look unnatural and "creepy".


• Performance limits: Graphics are held back because the game must work on old laptops.

User Interface Issues

• Missing conveniences: Many helpful features from previous games are not included yet.


• Navigation problems: Some menus don't have a back button, forcing you to return to the main screen.


• Broken features: Opening a player profile can undo your substitutions.


• More clicking: The new card-and-tile design sometimes requires more clicks than before.


• One good addition: A bookmark feature lets you save your favorite menus for quick access.

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The Bottom Line

The good news:

The core changes are successful. The new tactics system and match engine create a more modern and realistic game.

The concern:

The game needs a lot of bug fixes before November. If Sports Interactive can fix these problems, FM26 will be an excellent fresh start. If not, many players might stick with older, more stable versions.

First impression warning:

The game feels very different and confusing at first. Reviewers say you need to "stick with it" to appreciate the improvements.

Overall:

This is a bold new direction with great potential, but success depends entirely on fixing the technical problems before launch.

List of FM26 Issues & Bugs

Now I'll try to list all issues/bugs mentioned in the FM26 press previews.

1. User Interface (UI) & Navigation Issues

These are flaws in the new design that break old habits and lead to frustration:

• Missing Back Buttons: Some new pop-up or detail menus simply do not have a 'back' button, forcing the user to close the window entirely and restart their navigation path.


• Missing Information: The new player search screen reportedly lacks central information that was easily visible before (e.g., nationality or star rating).


• Clunky Navigation: In some areas, the new tile-and-card menu system requires more clicks than before to reach a final destination, making it slow to perform tasks like delegating responsibilities.


• Notification/Inbox Changes: Must-reply emails/notifications are no longer highlighted in red, making it harder to quickly spot and address critical tasks in the queue.


• Loss of Tooltips: The ability to hover over a button (like the "i" button) to quickly view a player’s key attributes is gone.

2. Matchday & Tactical Interface Bugs

These are issues specifically related to match preparation and the in-game action:

• Substitution Reversion Bug: If a player tries to make a substitution and then clicks on a player profile before confirming the change, all substitutions are reverted without warning.


• Fiddly Substitutions: The process of substituting players is complicated because only a tiny part of the player row is selectable for drag-and-drop, and the scrolling bar on the tactics page no longer scrolls when trying to move players into the sub slots.


• Tactical Muscle Memory Break: Mid-game formation changes are harder because a player must be moved individually for both the in-possession and out-of-possession setup, breaking the old drag-and-drop muscle memory.


• Removed Micro-Management: The option to encourage or shout instructions at players during the match has been removed entirely.

3. Match Engine & Graphical Flaws

While the graphics are improved, several visual and stability issues were reported in the early build:

• Match Freezing: The game froze repeatedly during matches, while the ticker continued to run. When the game resumed, players would "jerkily start moving" as they caught up.


• Creepy Faces: The new player faces were described as "creepy" (gruselig) and spectators resembled mannequins, indicating low-detail modeling in these areas.


• Display Errors: Close-ups showed graphical bugs, such as transparent jackets on staff or faulty skin and hair textures.


• Unrealistic Animations: Some of the old, unrealistic animations persist, such as players still occasionally shooting the ball wildly "over the stadium roof."

4. Missing Features & Design Choices

These are confirmed removals or design choices that reviewers found frustrating:

• Missing Modes: International Management is confirmed to be missing at launch, and the Fantasy Draft Mode was absent from the preview build.


• Player Attributes: The game uses verbal ratings ("good," "outstanding," etc.) instead of displaying a hard numerical rating for core coaching attributes, a choice some reviewers disagreed with.


• Repetitive Press: The tedious press conferences and media interactions still appear to be pulling from the same long-standing bank of questions and answers.


• Role Confusion: New tactical roles (like 'Channel Midfielder') feel clunky because they break established role language and differentiation.

While the new tactical depth and women's football are major "Great Progress" features, the "430 bugs" (as cited by Miles Jacobson in one preview article) and the issues listed above will require extensive patching to smooth out the new UI and stabilize the game.

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Reading Between the Lines

I believe the volume of unresolved issues must be the reason SI added the word "Beta" today in their official statement.

Because they won't manage to iron out all those bugs in time for Early Access, which they wouldn't want to cancel at this point.

They must feel obliged to launch that "approximately" 2 weeks before Nov 4, as it's the main perk and promise of the whole pre-order deal.

Since FM13 Beta they've been using that word (approximately) as a safety net, and successfully released the Beta 14-20 days before the street date.

But only now it seems they're gonna have to play that card to delay the original early launch plan (21/10) by 2 days as per the EG leak (23/10).

Either way, as disappointing as this minor setback may appear to some people, it's just a couple of extra days of waiting. No big deal really.

I remain excited and slightly optimistic about FM26, despite knowing it might be riddled with bugs at launch.

How do you guys feel? Let me know in the comments.

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Sources: eurogamer.net, forbes.com, shortlist.com, radiotimes.com, kicker.de

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