Football Manager 26 Console: New Features Unveiled

Richest Match Day Experience

Match Days are where you feel the highest of highs in any FM career. In FM26 Console, you’ll experience them with new levels of depth and drama. 

Every passage of play has more personality thanks to new volumetric animations taken from real-life matches alongside fresh motion capture. 

Powered by our partnership with Hawk-Eye Innovations, these new on-the-ball animations combine with changes to our own animation blending technology to ensure more natural movement for every player. 

Those more dynamic player movements come to life on Match Day thanks to the improved graphical fidelity provided by Unity and upgrades we’ve made to the on-pitch visuals and stadium environments.  

We’ve added new sky effects alongside a revamp of all of our lighting, ensuring that every match feels different and more accurately reflects the time of day and year your season is kicking off in. 

Our new pitch shader delivers more authentic-looking surfaces, while improvements to stadium designs and their surroundings means your team’s home ground now better showcases the location, stature and standing of your club. 

FM26 Console also incorporates the upgrades we’ve brought to FM26 on PC when it comes to improved camera angles, revamped replays and the introduction of the new Dynamic highlight setting. 

You’ll also be able to make the most of the brand-new Match Overview screen that now includes the 2D pitch view. It’s also here that you’ll notice that we’ve added new, floating controller shortcuts that better empower you to tinker from the touchline and action advice from your backroom team with just the click of a button.

Welcome to the Premier League

Match Days matter more when you’re competing on the biggest stages. Immerse yourself fully in football’s most-watched league with the Premier League fully-licensed for the first time.

Authenticity reaches new heights as you pursue domestic football’s biggest prize with the full broadcast experience from the best seat in the house alongside official club logos, kits and player faces. 

The Premier League isn’t the only new licence this year, though. We also welcome Serie BKT, the ADNOC Pro League and A Lyga to the series alongside individual clubs like Club America, River Plate, SK Slavia Praha and 11 women’s football leagues. 

And wherever you manage, we’ve ramped up the anticipation of the biggest matches and the elation of victory by fully remaking all of our pre-match and post-match cutscenes.

Advanced Tactical Innovation

How the games play out on Match Day is a by-product of your tactical philosophy and in FM26 Console you’ve got more tools and control over how your team players than ever. 

The introduction of distinct In and Out of Possession formations takes you to the cutting edges of football tactics, allowing you to express your tactical style in more detail. 

The process of creating your tactic is the same as in previous editions, with the game recommending the best styles of play and formations for you to work with based on the players at your disposal. 

Just like in FM26 on PC, these formations are supported by new and redefined player roles both in and out of possession, as well as the Visualiser that shows how your team adapts in every phase of play. 

FM26 gives you more freedom to tailor your setup exactly as you want, allowing you to mirror how top managers approach the game.

Smoother, Smarter Navigation for Console

You’ll find the new Tactics menu in your top navigation bar – a central part of FM26 Console’s overhauled UI. 

Designed to allow you to flow through match planning at your pace, the new UI is anchored by the new Portal, which acts as your window to the wider footballing world. 

You’ll notice that there are fewer tiles on each screen in the Console UI compared to our PC edition, making it easier for you to navigate around your manager essentials. 

All of the key supporting tools in the new UI are in our Console edition too, with Bookmarks, FMPedia, Search and Tutorials all offering a helping hand whether you’re an experienced player or series newcomer.

Introducing: Women’s Football

There’s a whole new world of possibilities open to you following the seamless integration of Women’s Football. 

There are 14 playable leagues across 11 nations for you to choose from, including some of the world’s top competitions like the Barclays Women’s Super League, National Women’s Soccer League and UEFA Women’s Champions League. These leagues are backed by the biggest database of its kind in games, ensuring that you get the same levels of deep immersion in every career.

You’re able to customise your game world as you see fit, choosing just women’s leagues, just men’s leagues or a combination of both. If you select both, you can move seamlessly between managing men’s and women’s teams and vice versa, although do note that loading the men’s and women’s leagues from the same country will count as two nations towards your save limit of 10.

When you do step into the hotseat of a women’s team, you’ll notice that much of the core gameplay experience is exactly the same as with a men’s team. Real-world differences in how matches play out have been reflected, with bespoke motion capture and animations taken from Hawk-Eye footage capturing the way in which women’s bodies move on the pitch. We’ve also carefully mapped the differing realities of the transfer market thanks to input from industry contacts.

With new players to discover and teams to manage, the inclusion of women’s football gives you more options and opportunities to test your skills in every career.

Transformative Transfer Tools

Whoever you manage, you’ll find that each of the six sections in the new Navigation Bar have dropdown menus that allow you to swiftly find the specifics in each in-game area. In FM26 Console, you can also use the triggers on your controllers to move quickly and easily from section to section. 

One area you’ll be spending a lot of valuable time, regardless of who you manage, is Recruitment. 

This area of the game now has a more intuitive menu, giving you better oversight of your contracts and the latest reports from your Scouts. It’s also here that you’ll access the two new Transfer-Room powered tools, Requirements and Opportunities.

These options give you more targeted control over every signing and sale, allowing you to better shape your title-winning squads season after season.

Your Manager, Your Way

That’s not all, though. There are plenty more additions and new features waiting for you to discover in every career, including a revamped manager creator. 

Our Console games have long featured bespoke Dynamics tied to your style and personality - now these elements go even further at the start of each career.

Craft your look with enhanced character options before developing a career backstory unique to you and your life in the dugout. Every choice you make when it comes to your personality and style has an impact on your Attributes and how your players react to you, so choose wisely for the challenge at hand.

Expressing your individuality is vital when you’re testing your skills and battling for bragging rights in an Online Career – elevated by the inclusion of cross-play between Xbox and PlayStation 5 users.

In FM26 Console, football belongs to you and your vision. It’s time to change the game.