Football Manager has just released the FM 26 Match Day Experience deep dive, going over all the things that were introduced and improved to create the best and most advanced Match Day Experience in franchise history.
In this year's title, Match Day Experience and the new graphic engine have been the two main topics. It's clear that Sports Interactive spent a lot of time working on both, and that's evident by the FM 26 marketing campaign, which has heavily focused on both things and the addition of women's football.
But what changes were made to the Match Day Experience, and how will they impact the players' experience? Let's find out!
New Features Come Together with Improved Ones to Deliver an Authentic Experience
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In FM 26, hundreds of new animations, camera angles, and cutscenes were added to make gameday look and feel more realistic. But that's not all, as the beloved highlight system was massively revamped, lighting was improved, stadiums were upgraded, and the pitch textures were also tweaked.
All of this has one simple goal: to make the FM 26 Match Day Experience the most authentic possible, making players field they are actually watching a real football game.
The addition of volumetric animations adds a layer of realism to the game, as players now move more smoothly with and without the ball. Players' movements don't look robotic anymore, now being more true to life, with passes, shots, headers, and just movement in general feeling fluid.
This was also incorporated into the women's games in FM 26, with this realism being achieved thanks to the help of motion capture. You will notice how players move differently from the women's to the men's games, making FM 26 feel even more immersive and realistic.
One of the major improvements made was the enhancement to the attacking players' intelligence. Players will now be smarter about the runs they make, when they make them, when to take on opponents, or pass the ball. The passing risk system was overhauled, so you will now see more risky passes.
As mentioned above, new camera angles have been introduced, and they do a great job at making you feel like you are watching a game from your TV or from the dugout. The new camera angles allow you to have a better view of the pitch and experience the game in different ways.
Something that might seem quite small, but can actually have a huge impact, is the sound improvements. The crowd reacts accordingly to what is happening on the pitch: a goal, a big save, or a foul. This makes the entire atmosphere feel more realistic and immersive.
The replay system was also overhauled, and you are now able to see your goals from many more different angles, with FM 26 taking into consideration the type of goal you scored to generate the best replay possible.
Part of the new highlight system is Dynamic mode, which is a smarter mode that will pick and choose which highlight mode to use based on the context of the game. If it's a close rivalry game, you will see more and longer highlights as the game approaches its end, but in an easy victory, you will see only a few of them.
Rejoice, as the stadiums have finally been upgraded. Stadiums now look different from each other, and there are clear distinctions between the stadium of a top-tier club and one from a non-league side. The stadiums' surrounding environments look much better. The "location, stature, and standing of your club" is now better reflected in FM 26, which is a big upgrade, as for many years, stadiums looked very similar.
The Lighting and texture overhaul work together with the brand-new cutscenes to make every match day feel much more immersive, and to better represent the stakes of the game you are about to play. Special games now feel truly special.
If you are a 2D aficionado, don't worry, as the traditional 2D view isn't going anywhere. Furthermore, between highlights, FM 26 introduced a new match overview screen, where you can see the match going on in 2D, as well as player fatigue, ratings, match stats, and more.
Football Manager 26 did a complete overhaul of the Match Day Experience, adding features fans had been asking for quite some time, while also introducing potentially revolutionary features to improve players' Match Day Experience, continuing to push the boundaries of authenticity.
This new era of Football Manager feels like it can be truly special, and the changes made to the Match Day Experience have created even more excitement around the most anticipated sports game of 2025.
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