Football Manager 2022: what we know so far

With the new season now off and running, Football Manager fans are already looking forward to the latest edition of the popular yearly series.

The developers of the series – Sports Interactive – released their first FM title in 2005, meaning this year’s edition will be the 19th yearly game in the series.

SI have released little information so far about the features of FM22, with release likely to be a little over two months away.

Here’s what we know so far:

The future of women’s football in FM

Women’s football has never before been included as part of a Football Manager game.

However, that is about to change in the future. Back in July, FM released a blog post stating that they have been working on implementing women’s football into the game for some time – but understandably, given the data and other logistics involved, it will be a while yet before we see women’s football in FM.

They state that the process is going to be a “multi-year project”, but add that their plan is “to make this happen as soon as we possibly can”.

Release date

Each Football Manager title is generally released around mid-November, although FM21 was released on November 24.

Football Manager Touch – the streamlined version of the game – was then released on December 1.

Last season’s release saw the game return to Xbox consoles for the first time in 13 years. It is unknown at the moment whether FM22 will be released on new consoles, or even whether it will again be published on existing consoles.

New gameplay features

Barring the announcement of a future women’s football database, news has been thin on the ground about new gameplay features.

However, this is traditional when it comes to Football Manager. Players normally have to wait until close to release to find out substantial gameplay improvements – although SI always deliver on this front.

On FM21, we saw the introduction of new team Dynamics, which allows managers to have better control over the dressing room atmosphere and team cohesion.

There was also a new Development Centre, giving managers greater control over their youth system and long-term player growth plans.

Will there be a beta/early access?

The beta for each Football Manager game is traditionally released around two weeks before the full game is brought out.

If a mid-November release date is indeed confirmed by SI, that would mean the beta is likely to drop around early November.

Featured Image Credit: Sports Interactive