Wonderkids around the world are changing clubs during the January transfer window, and Football Manager 2024 has reflected this as the Winter Update has just been released.
The annual Winter Update is comprised of two changes. One is a database update that moves players to new clubs and can impact the Current Ability & Potential Ability of players should anyone start a new save. The other will fix some bugs and re-balance parts of the game.
Let's take a look at what is to come.
Football Manager 2024 Winter Update
The annual Winter Update for Football Manager has several official names from Sports Interactive. This year it's called "Football Manager 2024 Main Data Update".
The Winter Update arrived on 29 February, plenty of days after the January transfer window closed, and it included all the moves clubs made in real life to strengthen their squads.
That's already started, with FM24 wonderkid Vitor Roque heading to Barcelona after completing a move that was agreed to in the summer. He's not alone though, with Valentin Barco and Claudio Echeverri also on the move.
Data update
The data update won't just be players moving around the world, but there will be changes to existing players too in both their Current Ability (CA) and Potential Ability (PA).
Last year's Winter Update saw big bumps in CA for Arsenal players thanks to their success in the Premier League. This year Aston Villa players like Ollie Watkins and Douglas Luiz made positive moves while other teams like Chelsea saw their players get worse.
Gameplay update
The FM24 Winter Update fixed plenty of bugs and glitches that were plaguing the game and also tuned some aspects of the AI such as transfer logic.
This update also fixed the biggest FM24 glitch to date, where AI-controlled clubs were accepting managers’ transfer offers that were way lower than the player's market value.
Players were abusing this transfer glitch to buy world-class players such as Mbappé, Haaland, or Vinicius for pennies, so it's great to see it has been fixed.
Other bugs such as staff responsibilities disappearing randomly, VAR missing in Europa League knockout matches, or no rain and snow particles being shown in matches.
Winter Update notes
Here are the full FM24 Winter Update notes.
Gameplay, UI and Technical
- General stability and crash fixes
- Fixed exploit where AI clubs accepted human manager’s transfer offers that were substantially lower than the player’s market value
- Fixed issue where negative budgets were given to clubs even when they are performing well financially
- Tweaks to how players are scouted that will ensure more Recommendations and Near Matches are generated in Recruitment Focuses
- Tweaks to AI logic when evaluating whether to loan list young players
- Managers now receive a wider range of offers when they offer players out for loan via the TransferRoom
- Fixed issue where top clubs were signing too many centre-backs
- Improvements to the ESC Work Permit process
- Fixed issue where VAR is missing in the knockout stages in UEFA Europa League
- Fixed issue where semi-pro training is set to unavailable as soon as the user modifies the schedule of a match week
- Some clauses that were previously inactive can now be bought or sold
- Fixed issue where order of attributes in Training and player profile are different when the game is in certain languages
- Fixed issue where the Staff Responsibilities disappeared randomly
- Fixed issue where Home Grown status progress wasn't displaying in the player information screen
- Fixed issue where players were able to play for First and Second teams during intra-squad friendly
- Fixed issue where no rain and snow particles were shown in matches
- Klopp and Xavi to leave their current clubs at the end of the 2023/24 season
- Fixed issue where Spanish clubs were registering low squad sizes
- Fixed an issue where Turkish clubs weren't registering full squad on registration deadline day
- 2024 UEFA Champions League knockout stage match ball updated
Competitions and rulegroups
- Competition update for Hungary, Turkey, Brazil, Romania, Finland, China, Canada, USA, Colombia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland (Liechtensteiner Cup), continental competitions and more
- Fixed issue where Trained in Nation players were not being counted in registration
- [Austria] Fixed issue where players get unhappy during the Austrian winter break
- [Asia] - fixed instances of teams playing in both continental club competitions at the same time
- [Belgium] KV Oostende have a total of six points deduction
- [Brazil] Major work on state championship scheduling in order to alleviate general fixture congestion
- [China] Added bespoke early start date for users wanting to utilise the first transfer window in 2024
- [England] Added text to squad registration screen to inform the user all loan players must be registered regardless of age in the Championship
- [England] Added prize money for all rounds in the Carabao Cup
- [France] Fixed issue where the Ligue 1 winter ball is used for the rest of the season following the winter start date
- [Germany] Added a playoff for final league position in the Bundesliga in the event all other sorting rules are tied
- [Japan] Fixed issue where youth players' Home Grown status is not displaying correctly in Japan
- [Singapore] Albirex Niigata now use regular league rules after converting to being a "local" club
- [Turkey] Improvements to definition of the Turkic/TITP player rules in the Turkish Super League
- [World] Fixed issue where the World Cup 2026 hosting nations don't play their matches in their own nations
Database 24.2
- Over six million database changes since the initial release of FM 24
Pre-Game Editor
- Fixed issue where existing person names couldn't be edited
- Fixed issue where female non-players can't be added to database
- Fixed issue where there was no option for female in the gender search dropdown
- Fixed issue where player transfers would not take effect in Real World mode
- Gibraltar and Japan now appear as editable nations in the Current Nations list
We hope this article was useful and helped you understand all the changes the FM24 Winter Update introduced.
Best Corner Routine in FM24 | Best Players in Football Manager 2024 | Best Coaches in FM24 for ANY Team | Best Football Manager 2024 Wonderkids | OP Tactics for Football Manager 2024