Women`s football is set to be introduced in Football Manager 26. Acknowledging the real-world flexibility for managers to switch between different football disciplines, Sports Interactive has removed any in-game barriers. This empowers players to freely choose their starting league and customize their career database to include both men`s and women`s leagues.
Consequently, users will have the option to begin new campaigns with a mixed selection of leagues or to focus exclusively on either men`s or women`s competitions within their current save.
Football Manager 26 will introduce 14 women`s leagues across 11 nations. This includes several licensed competitions such as the NWSL from the United States, England`s WSL, Germany`s Frauen-Bundesliga, and the UEFA Women`s Champions League. Additionally, national tournaments from Italy, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Wales, and Australia are also fully licensed.
As FM26 will not feature cross-gender matches between men`s and women`s teams, the developers were able to integrate the existing men`s rating system and its scale for the new additions. This means players won`t need to learn new mechanics: an athlete with a rating of 20 in any given stat is still considered world-class relative to their peers.
Managing a women`s team will present distinct challenges. On average, women`s contracts are shorter than men`s, the transfer market is largely dominated by free transfers, and there is significantly less financial resource available. The developers incorporated real-life health data to accurately reflect differing injury types and recovery periods.