It’s been a while since we’ve last seen anything FIFA in the world of video games, namely because EA took a gamble on saying goodbye to the sports association’s official licence back in 2022. Whether that has paid off, literally, is neither here nor there right now though, as FIFA announced this week that it has signed a “multi-year partnership” with Football Manager, once again bringing its recognisable (if potentially tainted) name back to video games.
Well, technically this is the second FIFA game connection since the EA split, seeing as earlier this month it also revealed FIFA Heroes, but that one’s just for phones so we can ignore it for now. In any case, this particular deal sounds like it will go into effect pretty soon, as there’ll be official licences for things like the FIFA World Cup, the Women’s World Cup, and Club World Cup.
According to a blog post, all this FIFA stuff will be coming as part of a “playable, revamped International Management module,” coming to Football Manager 2026 sometime next year, ahead of the World Cup itself – that kicks off (pun intended) the middle of June, so this update will at least be out in the first half of the year. Said blog post also notes that kits for all 48 of the participating teams in the world cup will be included, as well as some broadcast graphics and tournament branding.
Is any of this particularly necessary? Probably not, but it does show that FIFA is still quite interested in having a games presence. Time will tell if that recent, and internally controversial, private buyout of EA will see EA Sports FC get its old name back.
Football Manager 2026 is due out next month on February 4th.
