FM27 vs FM26: What’s Actually Changing So Far?

Football Manager 27 is getting closer, and the picture is finally starting to become clearer.

After the first major FM27 feature reveals and Deep Dive videos, we now have a much better idea of what Sports Interactive is trying to achieve with the next edition.

But there is an important distinction to make.

FM27 isn’t simply about adding a long list of new features. A lot of the work so far appears to be focused on changing how you move through the game, how information reaches you, and how connected you feel to the football world outside your own club.

So, how different is FM27 from FM26?

Here’s everything that has been officially confirmed so far — and what those changes could actually mean when you start a new save.

FM27 vs FM26: The Biggest Changes So Far

The most noticeable changes announced so far can be grouped into a few key areas:

• A redesigned navigation experience
• Fewer clicks and more information on individual screens
• More control over bookmarks and screen layouts
• Customisable tiles
• A revamped News experience
• A wider and more dynamic football world
• The return of Cup Draws
• A bigger focus on Transfer Deadline Day
• A new Continue Flow system
• More control over how often the game interrupts your progress
• Redesigned Club, Competition and Nation screens
• Full-screen Career History on player profiles
• Quick navigation between players
• More emphasis on discovering what is happening outside your own club

And that’s only what has been revealed so far.

1. FM27’s Interface Is Moving Beyond FM26

One of the biggest areas of change is the interface.

FM26 introduced a new design direction, but FM27 is taking that foundation and changing how you actually interact with it.

Sports Interactive says the goal is to make navigation more intuitive, reduce unnecessary clicks and make it easier to find relevant information.

In FM26, tiles were used both to display information and as a major part of the navigation system. In FM27, that approach is being adjusted.

The result should be a more flexible interface where important information can be accessed without constantly moving through additional screens.

That’s particularly important in Football Manager because the amount of information available can quickly become overwhelming.

FM27 is therefore not simply changing how the game looks.

It’s changing how you move through it.

2. You Can Finally Take More Control of Your Screens

One of the more interesting additions is tile swapping.

In FM27, certain tiles can be replaced with another tile of the same size.

That means your Portal and other screens can be adjusted around the information you actually care about.

If you are managing a club where recruitment is your main focus, you can prioritise information that helps you identify transfer opportunities.

If you’re deep into a long-term save and more interested in squad development, other information may be more useful.

This is also part of a wider move towards customisation.

FM27 isn’t trying to force every manager to consume Football Manager in exactly the same way.

Instead, the game is giving you more control over what appears in front of you.

3. Bookmarks Are More Flexible

The Bookmark Bar is also receiving an overhaul.

FM27 introduces text descriptors for your bookmarks, making them easier to identify rather than relying entirely on icons.

More importantly, you’ll be able to rearrange the order of your bookmarks.

That might sound like a small change.

For anyone who spends hundreds of hours in a single save, however, small changes to navigation can have a surprisingly large impact.

Your priorities also change throughout a season.

Pre-season might be all about scouting and recruitment.

During the season, you might spend most of your time monitoring fixtures, injuries, squad dynamics and opposition.

Being able to reorganise your bookmarks around those changing priorities should make the interface feel more personal.

4. FM27 Wants You to Look Beyond Your Own Club

This could be one of the more important changes to the overall Football Manager experience.

Sports Interactive has placed a much greater emphasis on creating a football world that exists beyond your own club.

The new approach to News is a major part of this.

In previous versions, the “For You” system brought different types of news together.

FM27 separates personalised content from wider football news, including transfers and developments from around the football world.

The aim is to make the wider football landscape feel more alive.

That means your save should contain more reasons to look beyond your own squad.

A title race somewhere else.

A manager losing their job.

A major transfer.

A club preparing for a new season.

A relegation battle.

A developing story that has nothing directly to do with your club — but still makes your football universe feel bigger.

That is an important philosophical change for FM27.

5. News Is Becoming More Connected to the Season

FM27’s News system isn’t just getting a visual redesign.

The content itself is being expanded.

Sports Interactive has confirmed more season-specific stories, including pre-season previews, mid-season updates, relegation battles and title run-ins.

That should help different stages of a season feel more distinct.

In Football Manager, it’s easy for the calendar to become a blur.

You play a match, press Continue, read a few messages and move on.

FM27 is trying to make the journey between those matches feel more meaningful.

Instead of simply filling your inbox with information, the goal appears to be creating stories around what is happening in your save.

6. Cup Draws Are Back

One of the clearest examples of FM27 bringing back familiar Football Manager experiences is Cup Draws.

They are returning in FM27.

This is more than just a cosmetic addition.

Cup draws are one of those moments that can create genuine anticipation during a save.

For a lower-league club, you might be hoping for a favourable draw.

Or perhaps you’re dreaming of getting one of the biggest clubs in the competition.

The draw itself becomes part of the story of your season.

It’s exactly the kind of smaller interaction that can make a long-term save feel less like a spreadsheet and more like a football world.

7. Transfer Deadline Day Is Getting More Attention

Transfer Deadline Day is also returning with a much greater focus.

Agent offers will be more visible through the Recruitment screen during transfer windows, with more activity appearing on Deadline Day itself.

This should give the final hours of a transfer window more of an event-like feeling.

And that matters because transfer windows are some of the most dramatic periods in any Football Manager save.

A player suddenly becoming available.

An unexpected bid arriving.

A deal collapsing.

An agent offering a player you weren’t even considering.

FM27 appears to be leaning further into those moments.

8. The Continue Button Is Changing

This might be one of the most important changes for people who spend hundreds of hours playing Football Manager.

In FM27, pressing Continue won’t simply mean returning to the same News experience every time.

You’ll regularly be taken to different areas of the game.

The idea is to encourage exploration and make the world feel less static as time progresses.

But there’s an important addition here:

You can customise it.

FM27 introduces a new Continue Flow system.

There are three preset options:

• Streamlined — fewer interruptions and faster progression
• Balanced — a middle ground between speed and information
• Comprehensive — more information and more frequent updates

There is also a Custom option.

This lets you decide how frequently the game stops for messages, results, fixtures and news.

That is potentially a very useful addition for experienced players.

Some managers want to fly through a season.

Others want to inspect almost everything that happens.

FM27 is allowing both approaches.

9. Player Profiles Are Being Reworked

Player Profiles are also receiving some important changes.

Career History is returning as a full-screen experience, making it easier to follow a player’s journey through the game.

FM27 also introduces quicker navigation between players.

That should make it easier to move through a squad or compare players without repeatedly backing out of one profile and opening another.

For scouting and squad-building saves, these changes could be particularly useful.

Instead of treating a player profile as a single information page, FM27 is making it easier to explore the player’s wider context.

10. Club, Competition and Nation Screens Are Being Redesigned

The changes aren’t limited to the Portal or News screens.

Club, Competition and Nation screens are also being redesigned.

The intention is to surface useful information more quickly while still allowing you to dig deeper when you want to.

For example, Club screens can now bring together current information, transfer activity, club history and relevant news.

Competition screens are also being expanded, with a new Competitions Hub providing a broader snapshot of the leagues loaded into your save.

This should make exploring other leagues more natural.

And that’s important because one of Football Manager’s biggest strengths has always been the sheer amount of football happening outside your own club.

So, Is FM27 a Completely New Football Manager?

Not exactly.

And that’s probably the most important point to understand at this stage.

FM27 is not being presented as a complete restart of Football Manager.

Instead, Sports Interactive is evolving the foundation introduced with FM26 while bringing back some behaviours and ideas that long-time players are familiar with.

The difference is that these changes affect the way you experience the game rather than simply adding another isolated feature.

Navigation.

News.

Discovery.

Customisation.

The Continue experience.

Player profiles.

The wider football world.

They are all connected.

FM27 vs FM26: What We Know So Far

What Hasn’t Been Revealed Yet?

This is where things get interesting.

We still don’t know everything about FM27.

The Match Day experience is one of the major areas still being revealed, with Sports Interactive confirming that upcoming Deep Dive content will cover environments, animations, lighting and other match-day improvements.

There are also plenty of questions around areas such as tactics, scouting, recruitment, AI behaviour, transfers and the match engine that will need more information before we can properly compare FM27 with FM26.

So it’s too early to judge the entire game based on the information released so far.

What we can say is that the direction is becoming much clearer.

The Bigger Picture

Looking at everything announced so far, FM27 appears to be focused on one central idea:

Making the Football Manager world feel more connected.

The interface is designed to get you to information faster.

The News system is designed to make the wider football world more relevant.

The Continue Flow gives you more control over how you experience your save.

Cup Draws and Transfer Deadline Day bring back moments that create anticipation.

And the redesigned screens are intended to make exploring other clubs, competitions and nations easier.

None of these changes alone completely transforms Football Manager.

Together, however, they point towards a different kind of FM experience.

One where you’re not simply managing your club.

You’re living inside a football world.

And with several more FM27 Deep Dives still to come, we haven’t seen the full picture yet.

We’ll keep this guide updated as Sports Interactive reveals more.