Football Manager to introduce women’s football into the series

Football Manager to introduce women’s football into the series
Ben Borthwick Updated on by

Posted in News

Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more

Developer Sports Interactive has announced the studio’s intention to bring women’s football into the long-running Football Manager series.

The multi-year project won’t be a separate or standalone game, but rather fully integrated into the regular game. New managers will be able to pick either a women’s or men’s team from the start and move between them at will.

Unfortunately, the project won’t be ready in time for this year’s Football Manager 2022 release, but it’s hoped to be added as a future update as soon as SI possibly can. The studio doesn’t have a definitive date for when it expects the project to be completed just yet, however. Either way, the project isn’t a one-off, with director Miles Jacobson detailing the plans in an extensive blog post on the game’s website.

Jacobson says: “We have NO interest whatsoever in making a standalone women’s football version of FM. What we are doing is adding women’s football to FM… one sport, one game.” He continued: ” Women’s football will be a part of the living, breathing world that constitutes every one of your FM saves; that world will just be whole lot bigger and a little more varied.”

“We also know that adding women’s football to Football Manager is going to cost millions and that the short-term return it delivers will be minimal. But that’s not the point. There’s no hiding that there’s currently a glass ceiling for women’s football and we want to do what we can to help smash through it. We believe in equality for all and we want to be part of the solution. We want to be a part of the process that puts women’s football on an equal footing with the men’s game.”

The extensive process will involve building a comprehensive database of women’s football, and are already working with professional women’s teams and players including AFC Wimbledon Ladies & Girls, Watford Women and Leicester City Women. You can check out some more behind the scenes info on the Football Manager blog.

Football Manager 2021 is currently available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.