10 Sep, 2025
The wait is over, today we got our first glimpse at the biggest FM UI upgrade in a generation from Sports Interactive. Could these changes take the game to the next level?
The developers, under pressure after cancelling the last game, are not holding back this year – ringing in the changes in an attempt to make this the best Football Manager ever.
This article will be updated frequently with all the new updates, so make sure you check in here to stay updated!
The wait is nearly over. Sports Interactive have finally lifted the curtain on the brand-new user interface for Football Manager 2026, and it looks like they’ve given the game the biggest facelift we’ve seen in years. After months of speculation, teasers, and wild guesses on Twitter (guilty), we’ve now got our first proper look.
So what’s actually changed? And more importantly, how will it affect the way we play?
The UI crown jewel from Sports Interactive’s most recent video, the portal is a complete overhaul from the traditional UI seen in the previous FM titles. Where before you would often have to navigate to different sections of the site to view thinks like your inbox, upcoming fixtures, calendar, training etc. Now, the Portal has all these key features in one handy location, ensuring you don’t miss a thing. These are laid out neatly in curved boxes along the home screen providing for a smooth and easy experience, perfectly tailored for the ‘modern manager’. This could also provide new players with a much easier ride to begin with, particularly those who found the previous interface a bit overwhelming.
There are a variety of other key features which are centred around this new portal, and its clear from Sports Interactive’s layout that the main priority here will be smoother, easier and clearer user experience.
The improved Navigation Bar is a key feature of this. With all key features neatly organises into a navigation bar at the top, finding your way around the interface has never been easier. With each section expanding into the relevant sub-sections, finding the feature you’re looking for should prove to be a much less complex ordeal, particularly for the new user. What are your thoughts on the new Nav Bar?
Bookmarks provide the user with a high degree of personalisation not yet seen before throughout the Football Manager franchise. Now its no secret that we all play Football Manager slightly differently, and with this comes different priorities, focuses and strategies. Bookmarks allows users to keep all of their main hubs and check-ins all in the same place, creating a much less cluttered and focused FM experience. Are you a manager who likes to focus on training routines? Or perhaps youth scouting? well now, you can place all of your normal check-ins right next to each other in the bookmark section, and tailor your routine to your interface.
Now granted this is by no means a huge overhaul, but the more we read and learn, the more clearly Sports Interactive are providing a key focus on a clean and easy UI experience as opposed to a complex and cluttered one.
It seems there will also be even more enhanced details available when accessing player reports on FM26. This could be particularly useful when it comes to scouting out new players for a transfer or analysing the opposition ahead of key matches. What do you think these enhanced details could be? What would you like to see?
Traditionally the search bar would be primarily used for finding players, teams, leagues and stats. However, the new updates have brought with a huge potential improvement, as they have now provided the search bar with interactive access into FMpedia. this means that as well as being able to find the usual players, teams, leagues etc, users will now also be able to find guidance, tips and strategies to assist with their user journey. These can range from advanced tactics right down to How-to-play guides meaning this new functionality has tons of value for both the newbie and FM veteran alike.
If one thing is clear from these new UI updates, it’s that making the user experience smoother, less overwhelming and more helpful have been key priorities for Sports Interactive. If these current updates prove to be a useful as improvements then we can definitely feel optimistic about them smashing those objectives.
What do you think of the updates to the FM26 UI? Are you excited for FM26?
For more key updates including easter eggs, gameplay updates and bonus details, make sure you keep an eye on our Feature Articles section.
