DISCLAIMER! On February 7th, 2025, Sports Interactive took the tough but correct decision to cancel Football Manager 25 and focus all their attention and effort to deliver Football Manager 26 later in 2025. You can read the statement by Sports Interactive here and learn more about why Football Manager 25 was cancelled.
11 days after FM25 was announced, Sports Interactive has today taken the difficult decision to delay Football Manager 25 release until March 2025.
It’s with huge shock, disbelief and sadness to understand we won’t be able to get any further news about Football Manager 25 until January 2025.
According to Sports Interactive’s statement about FM25 delay, they have decided that the best course of action is to delay the launch of FM25 until March. At the time being we can only speculate, but I imagine FM25 release will arrive around the time of the annual Main Data Update which includes transfers & database upgrades from the winter transfer window.
Why is Football Manager 25 delayed?
Back in September when Sports Interactive decided to push back the release of FM25 until November 26th – when the game was initially due for release with pre-orders of FM25 already opened on the same day – they explained the reasoning “to give ourselves more time to deliver the best possible experience for this first instalment in a new era of Football Manager.“
Although Sports Interactive tried to buy themselves an extra time by moving the launch three weeks forward, they had to eventually admit the additional time has not been sufficent to deliver the gameplay quality and experience expected by the fans, or themselves.
One of the reasons has been that the development has moved slower than anticipated.
With timelines being tight as they were, the pressure of delivering a working game were high. However, as the game would not possible reach the standards for everyone working inside the studio, they felt they couldn’t compromise the delivery of FM25 by rushing its release.
To ensure Football Manager 25 reach the standards within Sports Interactive and the expectations we have about FM25, we will need to wait until March 2025 until we can fully get into the game!
What happens now?!
With Football Manager 25 delayed questions about what happens now arises. The delay of FM25 came as a huge disappointment to everyone within the Football Manager Community, especially since we’re only 11 days away from the game was announced.
Below we will try to answer all your questions about the new Football Manager 25 release date and what to do now!
What to do if you have already pre-ordered FM25?
Are you one of the people who have pre-ordered FM25 already, then you can either wait until FM25 release, or in case you wish to ask for a refund, please contact your retailer.
If you have pre-purchased Football Manager 25 through us, please contact Fanatical.com.
Will FM25 have Beta Access?
You might have been aware that the mention of Beta Access or Early Access was missing from the announcement of FM25. However, with the delay of FM25, we can confirm that there will be an Advanced Access available for Football Manager 25 ahead of its launch.
When, or how long that FM25 Advanced Access period will be, you will be updated on the new information through further news from Sports Interactive at FootballManager.com.
When will FM25 Feature News arrives?
Due to the postponement of FM25 launch, Sports Interactive has decided to delay any further news about features and game upgrades until January 2025. Once new information about Football Manager 25 features and improvements, we will update our article on FM25 features.
We hope you will still be with us for Football Manager 25 release. We will re-start our build-up to FM25 launch in January according to when we receive new information about the launch of Football Manager 25.
Football Manager 25 release: March 2025
