Football Manager 26 will finally include official FIFA licensing for the first time, with a special International Management update for the World Cup

This year, Football Manager will finally include an official FIFA license for the first time.

A new multi-year licensing agreement has been signed between Sports Interactive and FIFA, which will add official licenses to the game starting with the 26th FIFA World Cup, which will take place next year in Canada, Mexico and the United States, as well as the FIFA Women's World Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

The inclusion coincides with a revamped international management module in an update coming next year ahead of the World Cup, which begins in June. The update will be available for all versions of the game, including console and Touch versions.

So this means that all official kits of the final 48 FIFA 26 World Cup teams will be included in the game, as well as broadcast graphics and tournament branding.

“The announcement of this partnership with FIFA is an incredibly historic moment for the studio,” said Sports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson.

“Ahead of the World Cup, it was important to update International Management and make it a much more feature-rich module for our players.

“Being able to do this with the support of FIFA with an official license, providing us with tournament broadcast graphics and in-game tournament kit, is a real honor and we’re excited for our fans to experience it next year.”

“And this is just the beginning of our relationship – stay tuned for more in 2026 and beyond.”

FIFA license news follows inclusion of women's game in Football Manager 26another new entry in the series.

Football manager 26 will release worldwide on all platforms on November 4th and will be built on the Unity Engine for the first time.

Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell recently left Practical experience with Football Manager 26 to see how this new engine affected the gameplay, for better or worse: “it will take a lot of getting used to.”