I'm not going to put any images of the database itself, and how awesome it is. Because FM26 is one of the most un-photogenic games of the year. But I will outline the changes, and hopefully it's enough for you to play it.
92-Team Premier League
Opening Stage - Regional Groups
Teams are placed into four regional groups of 23 (North West, North East, South West, South East) based on their location relative to Derby. Each team plays 22 matches (one vs each team, home OR away).
Top 6 in Each Group: Championship Group(s)
Middle 12 in Each Group: Classification Group(s)
Bottom 5 in Each Group: Relegation Group(s)
Secondary Stage - Performance Groups
Each group keeps 100% of their points from the Opening Stage.
Championship Group ( North & South ) — 2 groups, 12 teams each. Teams play another 11 matches.
Top 6 in Each Group: Champions Playoff
7th to 12th in Each Group: Wild Card Table
Classification Group ( North A, North B, South A, South B ) — 4 groups, 12 teams each. Teams play another 11 matches.
Top 3 in Each Group: Champions Playoff
4th to 12th in Each Group: Wild Card Table
Relegation Group ( North & South ) — 2 groups, 10 teams each. Teams play another 10 matches.
Top 6 in Each Group: Wild Card Table
Bottom 4 in Each Group: Relegated to Enterprise National League
Premier League Fans' Shield
So far, Relegation Group teams have played 31 matches and Classification / Championship Group teams have played 33 matches. The best overall-ranked team at this point is awarded the Premier League Fans' Shield.
Wild Card Table ( North & South ) — 2 groups, 30 teams each
All Wild Card teams are placed in either group, and are ranked by their overall performance so far to secure one of the eight remaining Champions Playoff spots.
Top 4 in Each Group: Champions Playoff
Champions Playoff (32 teams)
Teams play knockout rounds (First Round → Second Round → Quarterfinals → Semifinals → Third-Place Playoff → Final) hosted in a Major Host Nation.
Participants:
12 from Championship Group(s)
12 from Classification Group(s)
8 from Wild Card Table
96-Team National League
This is actually easier to explain. Teams start in one of four groups of 24: North West, North East, South West, South East, based on their position in relation to the city of Derby. They play Home and Away, for the usual 46 fixtures. The Four Groups then each have their own playoffs in the usual National League Promotions Playoff. At the same time, the four teams who have topped their divisions and already won promotion to the Premier League play in a Semi Final, Third Place Playoff and Final, to decide which team will take the National League Trophy home. These games are played at the Four Home Nations National Stadiums.
Fantasy Changes
Other than the obvious, there are other fantasy changes, outlined below.
The Premier League has roughly another £90-120M in money across a season, which I think is realistic, since they are no longer paying Solidarity Payments to the Championship, League One and League Two, because they're all in their division.
The 96-Team National League does have Prize Money. The combined amount teams can earn as a maximum is around £4M. Roughly £1.8M in Prize Money + TV Revenue if the team topped their division and won it. Plus around £2.2M in Solidarity Payments.
All Cups have updated Prize Money to align with the fact that a lot of competitions have more stature now E.g: the Vertu Trophy is now technically a Top Flight competition (but its still set so the same types of clubs would play in that competition and roughly the same Youth Teams), the Prize Money in the Final is around £960K, instead of £100K-ish. The only really large increase is in that the FA Cup and Carabao Cup are up from £2M and £100K (Is it really that low IRL?) to £11M and £8M. But with how compact the English Pyramid is now, it feels necessary.
Updates
Another minor update, just a number of changes to do with when you'll get updates on fixtures chosen for television, and attendances for Final(s) of some stages of the Premier League and Enterprise National League. Changes below.
The Premier League Opening Group(s) now has a 18-Day Rolling Window for TV Decision Dates, with its first cycle kicking in 4 days before Matchday 1.
The Premier League Championship Group(s), Classification Group(s) and Relegation Group(s) now have 16-Day Rolling Windows for TV Decision Dates with their first cycles kicking in 2 days before Matchday 23 (First fixture in those group(s)).
The Premier League now has Fixture Attendance Info set, so that the Third Place Playoff and the Final of the Champions Playoff both have more realistic, increased attendances.
The Enterprise National League now has Fixture Attendance Info set, so that the Final(s) of the North West Playoff, North West Playoff, South West Playoff and South East Playoff, plus the Third Place Playoff and Final of the Champions Playoff all have more realistic, increased attendances.
The Enterprise National League now starts Matchday 1 one week earlier by default, it made sense to make the league align closer to how the Premier League has changed.
This has a bunch of mostly minor updates to the fantasy elements of the database, mostly aligning some elements of the Enterprise National League, with the Premier League. Changes are outlined below.
The Premier League now correctly has break periods set in the Opening Group Stage(s) to respect a Winter World Cup.
The default Matchday Rules of the Premier League (set via the Squad Selection Rules) has been altered, so that there can be no more than eight loan players in the Match Squad (Starting XI + Bench).
Seeing as the Enterprise National League is now the 2nd Tier in the English Football Pyramid... While the league DOESN'T take breaks for the September, October, November or March International Windows, managers can now opt to request for a match to be postponed if at least 10 of their players are called up for international duty.
The Enterprise National League DOES however have a break set in the Group Stage(s) to respect a Winter World Cup. Additionally if a Winter World Cup is scheduled, the league now has an Additional Helper regarding Winter World Cups in place, so that the league starts 2 weeks earlier (in Late July / Early August), and all other Fixture Dates take place 1 Week later than usual, which aims to help counteract the break and reduce potential fixture congestion.
The Group Stage(s) of the Enterprise National League now has a Rolling 21-Day TV Decision Date, which begins its first cycle 5 Days before Matchday 1 (This means, that from 5 days before the First Matchday, and every 21 days thereafter, you'll be informed as to which matches in the next 21 day window have been selected for Pay Per View broadcast.)
The Enterprise National League now requires stadiums to have minimum of 3,000 seats. However, a dispensation period of 2 years is given to current (and future) clubs, during which time, the requirement is reduced to 300.
To make the new-look Enterprise National League the destination for football prospects while promoting English Talent Generation, the default Matchday Rules have been expanded. In the Match Squad (Starting XI + Bench), teams may include no more than eight loan players (previously five), must have at least six English players (not necessarily as their primary nationality), and must include at least four U21 players, two of which must be U19. In the Starting XI, at least two players must be under 21.
The Substitution Rules of the Group Stage(s) of the Enterprise National League is now "5 from 9 in 3 stops" (Instead of "5 from 7"), aligning with the Premier League's Substitution Rules.
The Substitution Rules of the Playoff(s) of the Enterprise National League is now "5 from 9 in 3 stops, +1 ET" (instead of "5 from 7, +1 ET").
Aligning with these changes, the Substitution Rules of stage(s) of the National League Cup, FA Cup, FA Trophy, and Vertu Trophy are all "5 from 9 in 3 stops" or "5 from 9 in 3 stops, +1 ET", where applicable.
I have been notified of an issue with Premier League games being played during International Breaks. I have it set how it should be to avoid that, and its still doing it. So I've put together a working, but messy fix for it. Basically 5 days before and after each window, between those ranges, the league has manual breaks set.
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@Ollie1999 I've checked the database, and thee Premier League is already set to Check For Clashes with All. So, it should be taking breaks for International Windows. I don't know why it isn't, it doesn't seem to be an issue with what I've set.
There's problems with players going on international duty and there's still premier league matches during the same time. Not a fun time having 90% of your first team leave for international as you have to play.
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Discussion: MLS & NFL-Inspired 92-Team EPL & 96-Team NL
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