You can play Football Manager 26 now in early access if you pre-order on PC

Football Manager 26 has launched into early access on PC, available to those who pre-order the game on that platform. For those on consoles or mobile, the game will become available to play a little later on the 4th November.

The beta was pushed back a few hours by developer Sports Interactive, so some final checks on the early access build could be made, but as of writing those who drop £44.99 / 53,99€ / $53.99 can now play the game. It’s available on Steam, the Epic Game Store, and the Windows Store. It’ll be coming to PC Game Pass soon, alongside the Xbox release in November.

In this early release version of the game, you can hop into a single player career mode or an online career, all progress in both will of course carry over in the full release come November. The game has a revamped interface compared to previous entries in the series, as well as fresh UI, possession formations (not the supernatural kind), and women’s teams!

The game also has a revamped manager creator, which allows players to really put those fine touches on the poor soul who’ll be blamed for every lost game and subpar benching decision. Football Manager announced earlier this month that the series had partnered with Fifa in a multi-year deal, which provides an official licence for big FIFA competitions to the game. This includes the FIFA World Cup 2026, in Canada, Mexico, and the USA.

We’ve played Football Manager 26, and it’ll take some getting used to for series fans. However, if you’re sick of hearing about the game and want to see all these changes yourselves, the game currently has a 10% discount during the early access period. Why not buy it, and check it out?