Did you hear the one about the game that was cited in 35 divorce filings?
That figure came about in 2012 to reflect on the obsessive nature of the Football Manager series. Long before Steam told you that you’d spent far too long on a game, Football Manager’s UI would display messages like ‘turning your underwear inside out saves on washing’ and reminders to check in your significant other, or just simply to bathe.
This fanatical subset of our sport pulled a Dallas Sidekicks moment, taking a break a year ago before relaunching to a little less enthusiasm than planned.
Championship Manager, as it was previously known, goes back over 30 years to the Amiga and Atari. Last year, game developer Sports Interactive promised a new and improved version of the game with its graphic engine moving away from a proprietary system to the popular development platform, Unity. Long story short, the game was deemed unplayable to the point that SI scrapped the release.
That brings us to the past couple of weeks.
Football Manager 26 was released on November 4. One of the perks for preordering the game was access to a beta version. There are plenty of articles and videos that can tell you all about the problems with the beta, that’s not what we’re focusing on here. I will say the patch released on Thursday did address a lot of the issues I found going through the beta for this write-up.
So what’s the local interest?
The big decision every year is who to manage. Some people want to just win and be the big clubs, others want to do right by their local team, and some are looking for the challenge of turning a nobody into a somebody.
With that in mind, let’s explore the local connections.
FC Dallas
FM has held licenses with MLS and the MLS Players’ Association for some time. Jerseys, logos, and player photos are all in the game by default. Major League Soccer has traditionally been one of the challenges, swapping the global style of buying players for trades and drafts.
As if you didn’t need more than local appeal, you can finally try to prove your theory that you can do a better job of roster building than Andre Zanotta.
Sorry, Eric, I jumped into your shoes to test this out!
Going through the early introductions, you get your targets laid out by Clark Hunt, and it couldn’t have been much more true to life: sign young players to develop for profit, and to finish midtable, i.e., the lower end of the playoffs.
One small thing I did notice – I’m not sure if it’s a mistake or just a bug that didn’t fully load – Toyota Stadium is listed as 11,000 seats, but with nothing to suggest a restored capacity or building work.
One good point with FM over the years is that it’s a great tool to learn league rules. That may be something as simple as residency rules in Spain, right up to the U22 Initiative in MLS. (You can right-click and open in a new tab for the full-size images.)
FC Dallas, in its current form, isn’t overrun with potential superstars, but you can focus on your youth side so that you’ll get new prospects coming through the ranks. The increasing role of MLS NEXT Pro is interesting. It was an unrealistic hack to stash players off-budget originally, but I gather that loophole has been closed.
Dallas Trinity FC
One of the biggest new features is women’s soccer. FM26 has 14 leagues to play, but USL Super League may have just come along a little too late, as only NWSL is playable in the US from the jump.
With the lack of a USL license, you’re left with this…
However, the Football Manager series is built around a modding community and the ability to customize. I was able to find at least two mods that would make the USL Super League playable between Sort It Out SI and FM Scout.
A quick search for logos online and some kitnerding on the FM Kit Creator, and voila!
Elsewhere, Denton Diablos, Fort Worth Vaqueros, Texoma FC, McKinney Chupacabras, and North Texas SC all feature as non-playable teams (that can be unlocked).
What caught my eye is that they have quietly added the MLS NEXT and ECNL structures and clubs, which could make for a great add-on where you could find the next Nolan Norris in the youth clubs.
Further to that, there are always mods to make all the USL levels playable, and one that adds in the NCAA to give that unique development step in the US.
Speaking of finding the next great players, Football Manager built its name on a thorough database put together by over 1,300 researchers and scouts worldwide. Everton signed a deal to use the extensive database as a tool to identify players and staff through the various data points. Hoffenheim credited the game for their discovery of a young Roberto Firmino, and Ben Brereton Diaz‘s Chilean eligibility was discovered by a researcher, leading to his call-ups for two Copa Americas.
So what does that mean locally? You can shape the journeys of players here in the Metroplex, and those who have gone further afield.
Tanner Tessmann is listed with a current ability of 135 out of 200, and a potential ability of 144 – in line with the current ability of Christian Norgaard and Neymar. Ricardo Pepi is a little higher at 139/155, meaning SI believes El Tren could one day be as good as Darwin Nunez or Gabriel Martinelli.
Funny enough, at the ripe old age of 40, 155 is also Cristiano Ronaldo‘s current ability in the game. Julian Eyestone has a potential range that could see him behind only Alisson and Thibault Courtois as the best men’s keeper in the world!
Here is a pick of the higher-end talents in the game with local connections.
| Name | Age | City of Birth | Club | Current Ability | Potential Ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acosta, Kellyn | 30 | Plano (TX) | Chicago Fire FC | 129 | 137 |
| Cappis, Christian | 25 | Houston (TX) | FC Dallas | 110 | 137 |
| Ferreira, Jesus | 24 | Santa Marta (COL) | Seattle Sounders FC | 127 | 137 |
| González, Omar | 36 | Dallas (TX) | Chicago Fire FC | 104 | 139 |
| Hyndman, Emerson | 29 | Dallas (TX) | 109 | 140 | |
| McKennie, Weston | 26 | Little Elm (TX) | Juventus | 149 | 152 |
| Parks, Keaton | 27 | Plano (TX) | New York City FC | 127 | 145 |
| Pepi, Ricardo | 22 | El Paso (TX) | PSV | 139 | 155 |
| Pomykal, Paxton | 25 | Lewisville (TX) | FC Dallas | 113 | 135 |
| Reynolds, Bryan | 24 | Fort Worth (TX) | KVC Westerlo | 123 | 135 |
| Richards, Chris | 25 | Birmingham (AL) | Crystal Palace | 139 | 161 |
| Tessmann, Tanner | 23 | Birmingham (AL) | Olympique Lyonnais | 125 | 144 |
| Velasco, Alan | 23 | Quilmes (BN) | Club Atlético Boca Juniors | 129 | 140 |
| Zendejas, Alejandro | 27 | El Paso (TX) | Club América | 139 | 142 |
| Eyestone, Julian | 19 | Dallas (TX) | Brentford | 107 | 140-170 |
There are a lot of highly-rated local players on the women’s side. Kennedy Fuller (potential of 170-200), Trinity Armstrong (170-200), Emeri Adames (165), Jaedyn Shaw (150-180), and Ainsley McCammon (155) are all listed on Sort It Out SI’s wonderkids list. Sam Meza (154) and Katie Lund (152) presumably miss out due to age, but there are some great talents on this select list.
| Name | Age | City of Birth | Club | Current Ability | Potential Ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adames, Emeri | 19 | Dallas (TX) | Seattle Reign FC | 120 | 165 |
| Armstrong, Trinity | 18 | Frisco (TX) | San Diego Wave FC | 130 | 170-200 |
| Boade, Meg | 22 | Dallas (TX) | Chicago Stars FC | 117 | 140 |
| Boade, Tess | 26 | Dallas (TX) | Bay FC | 141 | 150 |
| Bright, Messiah | 25 | Dallas (TX) | Houston Dash | 130 | 144 |
| Byars, Trinity | 22 | Dallas (TX) | San Diego Wave FC | 129 | 145 |
| Fuller, Kennedy | 18 | Southlake (TX) | Angel City FC | 131 | 170-200 |
| Guidry, Samar | 23 | McKinney (TX) | Dallas Trinity FC | 103 | 110-140 |
| Lund, Katie | 28 | Plano (TX) | Racing Louisville FC | 152 | 152 |
| Matthews, Zoe | 18 | Dallas (TX) | Houston Dash | 103 | 130-160 |
| McCammon, Ainsley | 17 | Arlington (TX) | Seattle Reign FC | 102 | 155 |
| Meza, Sam | 23 | Dallas (TX) | Seattle Reign FC | 140 | 154 |
| Missimo, Lexi | 22 | Dallas (TX) | Dallas Trinity FC | 118 | 145 |
| Ordonez, Diana | 23 | Riverside (CA) | Tigres UANL | 130 | 145 |
| Reyes, Reyna | 24 | Garland (TX) | Portland Thorns | 132 | 144 |
| Shaw, Jaedyn | 20 | Frisco (TX) | Gotham FC | 148 | 150-180 |
If you’re not familiar with FM, you may want to see what the actual soccer looks like and if you are, you may just want to know the graphical difference with the new Unity engine, so I set up a friendly between Dallas Trinity and NC Courage at the Cotton Bowl.
What a game it ended up being. DTFC raced to a 3-0 lead behind a Tamara Bolt brace and a goal from a trialist. The Courage came back in the second half, taking a 4-3 lead late on. Bolt missed an absolute sitter in the 87th minute, only to find the keeper miles off her line in stoppage time. You can see the last goal and the presentation elements below.
So whether you’re new to management sims or you’re an absolute FM sicko like Maarten Paes, there’s a lot to do locally in this year’s edition. You can activate any number of leagues to take on DTFC or our local lower league teams, finally win MLS Cup with FC Dallas, or guide Julian Eyestone to the Ballon d’Or and a few Champions League titles.