Bad news, gaffer: Football Manager 2025 has been cancelled

Football Manager, née Championship Manager, is an absolute pillar of both football and gaming itself. Millions of us have been ogling its cleverly disguised spreadsheets year after year for decades now, so it’s quite a shock to hear that Football Manager 2025 is simply not happening.

Publisher Sega announced the cancellation of the game as part of its financial results summary. The game’s previously been delayed twice, so this hasn’t come completely out of the blue, but it’s still a blow to armchair managers.

Refunds are being offered to anyone who pre-ordered the game.

It doesn’t mean the series is going anywhere, though. Development focus is simply shifting to FM26, so players can enjoy the new features that SI were trying to implement in FM25 later this year instead.

It marks the end of a 19-year run of annual Football Manager releases, dating back to Football Manager 2005 which released (naturally) in November 2004. And prior to that, of course, developer Sports Interactive was making Championship Manager games throughout the ‘90s and ‘00s before a split with longtime publisher Eidos left the IP name in the latter’s hands.

So why’s this one been cancelled? In an official statement, SI said: “With the launch of FM25 we set out to create the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era.

“Due to a variety of challenges that we’ve been open about to date, and many more unforeseen, we currently haven’t achieved what we set out to do in enough areas of the game, despite the phenomenal efforts of our team.

“Whilst many areas of the game have hit our targets, the overarching player experience and interface is not where we need it to be. As extensive evaluation has demonstrated, including consumer playtesting, we have clear validation for the new direction of the game and are getting close – however, we’re too far away from the standards you deserve.”

It’s not difficult to sympathise with a studio who’s been releasing games to an annual cadence for two decades shooting for something bigger. Given the state of certain other annual sports franchises, Football Manager’s been doing a sterling job, upholding a high standard throughout each new game.

Hopefully the community will support SI’s vision to make dramatic new changes that gives the player a fresh experience, even though it means skipping a year.

Because let’s be honest, with the honorable exception of Jay Cartwright, it’s not like anyone’s completed the last one. Even Championship Manager 01-02, now legally old enough to drink in the UK, enjoys an active community of modders who keep the game alive with modern databases and new tactics to try every year.

So if you’re stuck for a footy management fix until FM26 releases (they usually turn up around November) head over to Champman0102.net and enjoy some retro kicks from the days of prime Henry, wonderkid Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the legendary Maxim Tsigalsko.