Big changes are occurring over on Football Manager (FM) with news that women’s football is coming to the iconic management simulator.
This won’t be a standalone edition of the game, but rather a brand-new women’s database merged with those already existing on FM in a ‘one sport, one game’ approach, giving managers a chance to take control of either men’s or women’s teams and move between clubs with ease in future titles.
Unlikely to take shape in time for the release of FM22 later this year, it’s a multi-year project that is still in its infancy according to Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive: “Our existing database has taken 28 years to build,” he said in a statement, “and there’s a lot of info in there that we need to research when adding just one team, let alone multiple leagues.”
Speaking to NME, the FM stalwart added that while it’s far from an easy undertaking it’s nonetheless an important one: “We first started talking about it like five or six years ago and the cost-benefit analysis didn’t work out. And about 18 months ago we realised that unless someone like us went ahead and did this, it was never going to work out, because there’s a glass ceiling — and it’s ridiculous there’s a glass ceiling in the first place — so we decided to try and smash through it.”
Helping to crack this will be Tina Keech, Head of Women’s Research, along with expert input from some of the biggest names in the game, including Chelsea Women’s Boss Emma Hayes, who last year took her side to last season’s UEFA Champions League Final. “We want future generations to grow up in a world where football isn’t divided into ‘women’s’ and ‘men’s’… it’s just football,” said Hayes. “The ambitious plan that the Sports Interactive team have for Football Manager will play a huge part in getting us there.”
Football Manager 22 is released later this year.