15 Sep, 2025
All you need to know about the FM26 Early Access release. When is the release date? How to access it, what platforms it will be available on, and much more.
With 2 years of waiting now under our belts for a new Football Manager game, it’s safe to say a bit of impatience has now creeped in. With Sports Interactive recently announcing the full release on November 4th, we take a look at when we can expect the Early Access Beta to be released. The most commonly reported date for this is the 20th/21st October, ‘Approximately two weeks’ before official release. However this is just a benchmark and for official updates, we will need to stay up to date with Sports Interactive’s social posts.
If like me you are one of the more impatient among us (I can’t blame you its been 2 years) and would like to play the Early Access Beta, then there’s a few things to bare in mind.
FM26 Early Access (Official name: Advanced Access) will only be available when pre-ordering the game through official retailers and partners, on both Steam and Epic Games. So make sure you check before pre-ordering to ensure that your retailer is one of the official partners. Once you have received your key/downloaded the game, those with Early Access will be able to play the game from Beta Release Day.
Nothing, you will be able to load up all of your saved files as normal. Your game will automatically update.
Yes, all indications are that these will be available to play. Until we hear otherwise, we can assume this will be a function.
At the moment no, Advanced Access seems like it will just be targeted at users on PC and Mac to begin with. Until we hear otherwise, mobile users will have to wait until the official launch date to play the game.
It will not cost any extra for advanced access. The retail price for the game is set at £49.99. However, online retailers who are able to provide pre-orders, are able to offer substantial discounts such as Fanatical who are selling it for just £38!
Click here to secure your discounted copy!
Also, make sure you keep an eye on our Feature Articles section! We will be releasing all FM26 related news as and when we get it!
