Does FM27 fix what FM26 players complained about?

Football Manager 27 comes out on 10 November 2026.⁶ Its predecessor had a hard year with players. As of 3 November 2026, 37% of Football Manager 26's 21,852 reviews recommend it, and many of its players say they went back to Football Manager 2024.¹ We read 120 of FM26's reviews in full, the most helpful and the latest, and set each of its main complaints against what Sports Interactive says FM27 changes in its own deep dives. These are the studio's plans. We'll read FM27's player reviews once it's out.

The short answer

On paper, FM27 goes after most of what FM26's players complained about. Sports Interactive says it cuts the clicks, moves navigation back to menus at the top of the screen, brings back Pass Maps, Cup Draws and Transfer Deadline Day, and rebuilds Shouts.^2,3,4 Heat maps, which many FM26 players miss, don't appear in the studio's deep dives. Whether the changes work is for players to judge after launch.

The menus and the clicks

FM26's players say basic tasks take several times the clicks they took in FM24, with stats hidden behind pop-ups and tiles, and many find the screens poorly suited to large monitors.¹

Sports Interactive says FM27 moves almost all navigation into primary and secondary menus at the top of the screen, keeps tiles mainly for information and turns many of FM26's cards into full screens, which means fewer windows to close. The toggle for switching between screens in an area is back, keyboard shortcuts can be edited again, and messages now hold what they refer to, so a scout report sits inside its message. For QHD and 4K monitors there are new scaling modes, and ultrawide screens are supported.²

The match data

FM26's players miss heat maps and pass maps, and they find the match data thin.¹

In FM27, Pass Maps return to the Data Hub after a match.³ Match data now splits passes into short, medium and long, each with a total and a success rate, and eight per-90 figures, among them xG, xA and dribbles, carry more decimal places.⁵ The studio's posts don't mention heat maps.

Shouts and control from the touchline

Several FM26 reviews list shouts and touchline orders among what they miss.¹ FM27 keeps Shouts, rebuilt so they affect a player's mood with clearer explanations of each one, and adds Tactical Tweaks, which apply several instructions at once during a match, such as swapping the wide players or sending the goalkeeper forward.³

The features players want back

Sports Interactive says Cup Draws return, and so does a bigger Transfer Deadline Day, with more agent offers arriving on the day.⁴ Seasonal and all-time Best XIs are back, and the captains list can be reordered by drag and drop again. Up to three status flags show on a player once more, and an unemployed manager can browse the player database and build a shortlist.⁵

The console feel

Many FM26 players find its interface designed for controllers and awkward with a mouse.¹ Sports Interactive says FM27 keeps the design language FM26 introduced and brings back navigation habits from earlier editions. Editable shortcuts, the scaling modes and ultrawide support are the PC-side changes.²

Bugs

FM26's players report crashes, freezes at half time, saves that won't load and broken set pieces, and many call its release a beta.¹ Sports Interactive lists fixes for fixture-scheduling problems that FM26's updates didn't reach, and says this year's Launch Preview was meant to be closer to the finished game than past early builds.^5,6 How stable FM27 is will show in its first week of player reviews.

The match engine

Several FM26 players say the decisions underneath its new 3D matches are the same as FM24's.¹ For FM27, Sports Interactive says player movement draws on more tracking data from Hawk-Eye, running speed follows each player's attributes, defenders jockey more, and attackers' runs into the box are more varied, with smarter players timing and angling them better.³

Should you wait for FM27?

If FM26's menus and missing data put you off, FM27 is aimed squarely at them, and it's a week away. FM24 is no longer sold on the PC store, so it's an option only if you already own it.⁷ FM27 comes out on 10 November on Steam, the Epic Games Store and the Xbox PC app, and on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, with the boxed PlayStation 5 version on 20 November. Saves started in the Launch Preview carry over to the full game.⁶

For how FM26 and FM24 compare in their players' own words, read FM26 vs FM24. The Football Manager 27 page will switch to what players say once its reviews are in.