Football Manager 26 studio turned down FIFA World Cup mode at first for this reason

Well that was an unexpected announcement, wasn't it? Football Manager 26 will have a revamped international management module later in its cycle complete with a FIFA license, on top of the Premier League license at launch.

FM26 will be the latest entry into the iconic Football Manager series with a brand new game engine, UI (user interface) and loads of other new features such as licenses never before seen in the franchise.

But wait, FM26 wasn't going to have international management at all, was it? Well...

"We took international management out of FM25 because only five per cent of people were playing it and the reason for that wasn't because they didn't want to play it, it's just because it wasn't very good," Sports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson OBE openly told indy100.

"We wanted to take the time to actually really improve international management and we spoke to a bunch of real life international managers to find out how we could make it a better mode.

"We have the design all sorted for it, we know exactly what we're doing, we haven't done all the engineering yet because we wanted it to come out as part of a content update later on."

Miles Jacobson speaking at the Soccerex Global Convention in 2016 Getty Images

The FIFA license means FM26 will include the official licenses for the World Cup, Women's World Cup and Club World Cup with further tournaments, such as the Youth World Cups across men's and women's football, to follow.

As well as that, there will be a completely revamped international management module in a content update.

Jacobson revealed it all came about because the studio has been working with FIFA on the World Cup of Football Manager - and that Sports Interactive actually previously turned down the chance to work with FIFA before that.

He said: "The same people who helped put FIFAe together are also the people that do the licensing for video games and they previously approached us about the possibility to work with them before the World Cup of Football Manager in 2024.

"We actually said 'international management isn't great inside the game, so, no'.

"But doing FIFAe, we got to know that team better and started talking to them about what our plans were and it makes total sense going into a World Cup year to be an official part of the tournament.

"We want to give users the experience they deserve with international management with this revamped mode."

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The new FIFA World Cup license will have all the details and graphics expected - which is exactly why it's not available at launch.

"FIFA can't give us the broadcast graphics yet as they don't exist," Jacobson explained. "They're not going to have those assets until January time so we can't make it look like the real tournament until those are in place.

"But it's really exciting; like with all the league deals, they are trusting us with their IP and to do a good job with it. It's a pretty big honour."

Argentina are the defending FIFA World Cup champions / Getty Images

The international management module will release as part of a content update later in the year and Jacobson said there are plans to release fresh content throughout each game's cycle more frequently.

He said: "We'll gradually add new features instead of just patching it. We're delighted with the Premier League license and we're delighted to be working with FIFA directly."

Football Manager 26 on PC and Mac, Football Manager 26 Console on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Game Pass, Football Manager 26 Touch through Apple Arcade and Football Manager 26 Mobile through Netflix all release on 4 November. Football Manager 26 Touch releases on Nintendo Switch on 4 December.

The advanced access beta on PC through Steam and Epic Games launches on 23 October and can be accessed be pre-purchasing the game.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Football Manager 26 match day first look has dropped - and gamers have a lot to say
• Football Manager is finally back - and fans have an awful lot to say about it

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