Tracking Football Manager’s Popularity over the years – has FM already hit its peak?

If you’ve ever accidentally lost a weekend to perfecting your gegenpress or scouted a 14-year-old wonderkid who turned into a Ballon d’Or winner by 2029, you’re probably aware of the phenomenon that is Football Manager. I mean, if you’re following my page, I really hope you do at this point. But behind the spreadsheets, tactics boards, and 3D match engines is a fascinating story of steady, relentless growth.

Originally launched as Championship Manager in the early 1990s, this iconic series has grown from a cult classic on floppy disks to a multi-platform juggernaut with millions of players worldwide. Let’s have a proper look into the game’s player numbers, platform evolution, and the unexpected events that propelled it to new heights… like a global pandemic.

We’ve already seen real-life players become Football Manager addicts – check out our interview with Adam Le Fondre for more on that – but just how popular is the series really?

Player Numbers by Edition: A Timeline of Growth

Here’s a quick look at how player numbers and Steam concurrent peaks have evolved across key releases:

Game Edition	Approximate Players / Sales	Peak Concurrent Players (Steam)
Championship Manager 93/94 (1993)	90,000 copies	N/A
Championship Manager 3 (1999)	170,000 copies (UK)	N/A
Championship Manager 4 (2003)	300,000+ copies (UK Platinum)	N/A
Football Manager 2005 (2004)	Hundreds of thousands (UK)	N/A
Football Manager 2010 (2009)	1M+ sales	24,343
Football Manager 2018 (2017)	1M+ sales	71,279
Football Manager 2020 (2019)	2M players	189,464 (COVID spike)
Football Manager 2023 (2022)	6.9M players	84,000
Football Manager 2024 (2023)	7M+ players (in <100 days)	89,478

Note: Recent titles include players across PC, console, mobile, and subscription services.

Chapter One: The Championship Manager Era (1992–2004)

The story begins in Shropshire, where two brothers, Paul and Oliver Collyer, coded the original Championship Manager in their bedroom. The first edition shifted only 20,000 copies, but its obsessive depth gave it cult status. CM ’93/’94 introduced real player names and sold 90,000+ copies with the help of its CM Italia spinoff, enough to keep the project alive.

By the time Championship Manager 3 landed in 1999, it was Britain’s best-selling PC game. With over 25,000 real players in the database and LAN multiplayer for up to 16 people (because why ruin just your weekend?), the series was on a tear. Championship Manager 4 (2003) became the UK’s fastest-selling PC game ever at launch, topping 300,000 sales and introducing the 2D match engine.

But then came the infamous split: Sports Interactive (SI) kept the code; Eidos kept the name. Eidos’ Championship Manager limped on with new developers and dwindling relevance. Meanwhile, SI partnered with SEGA to launch Football Manager in 2004. And thus began a new era.

Chapter Two: The Football Manager Foundation (2005–2010)

Football Manager 2005 landed with serious force. The 5th fastest-selling PC game in UK history, SEGA’s biggest launch ever, and proof the fanbase had followed SI to its new home. While specific sales figures aren’t published, FM2005 was a chart-topping hit and confirmed that Championship Manager was yesterday’s news.

Subsequent editions, from FM2006 to FM2010, saw consistent growth. FM2006 launched as the second-fastest PC game ever in the UK. FM2010 marked the franchise’s pivot to digital distribution via Steam, a move that would define the series’ next decade.

Steam gave us our first real-time view of FM fandom. FM2010 hit a 24,343 concurrent player peak in April 2010. Impressive for what was still a niche genre.

Chapter Three: Going Global in the 2010s

From FM2011 through FM2018, the series clocked in over a million copies annually. Sports Interactive head Miles Jacobson confirmed that from 2012 to 2017, each release sold north of one million units.

More significant than sales were engagement stats. FM2018 peaked at 71,279 concurrent Steam players, and nearly half of buyers were still playing it almost a year later. The average player clocked 285 hours.

Meanwhile, the FM ecosystem diversified. Mobile versions gained traction. FM Mobile 2020 surpassed one million downloads. The “Touch” version arrived for tablets and Switch. Console reboots began to take shape, and the franchise found new life outside its PC/Mac roots.

FM also started influencing the actual sport. Real-life scouts and clubs used its database. Some managers even cited it in job interviews. The game’s uncanny realism and fan-driven data made it more than just a game, it became football’s nerdy oracle.

Chapter Four: The COVID-19 Boom (2020)

Enter: the pandemic. With the world in lockdown and live football halted, FM2020 became a digital sanctuary. A free Steam fortnight and an Epic Games Store giveaway led to record-shattering growth.

• 500,000+ new players tried FM during the free Steam period
• Over 1 million more joined from the Epic Games giveaway
• A staggering 189,464 concurrent Steam players were logged on March 29, 2020

To date, FM2020 has clocked over 2 million lifetime players.

Chapter Five: Subscription Services and Record Highs (2021–2024)

The franchise didn’t just maintain its pandemic bump, it built on it. By embracing Game Pass, PlayStation, Apple Arcade, and Netflix Games, FM reached a brand-new, huge, audience.

• FM2023 hit 6.88 million lifetime players, the first ever to cross 6M
• FM2024 reached 7 million players in under 100 days… a franchise record
• Asia now accounts for 20% of the FM audience, thanks to localization in Japan, Korea, and China

Steam peaks remain strong. FM24 logged 89,478 concurrent players in January 2024. But remember, that’s just Steam. Add in consoles, Game Pass, and mobile, and you’re looking at way more.

Final Thoughts

From its modest, pixelated beginnings to its current seven-million-player peak, Football Manager has defied gaming trends. Even though it has obviously had a huge blip these past couple of years, we can’t look past the incredible growth they have sustained over the decades before. And if Football Manager 2026 is as good as we all hope it’s going to be, then the growth of the franchise could be taken into the stratosphere.