Football Manager 25 revealed, with women's teams, new UI & different engine

The world's most extensive and detailed football game in existence has just peeled back another layer of the beautiful game's onion.

Football Manager is a title which is actively used by genuine football managers, scouts, and analysts, but now, it's expanding its database once again. This should give players more opportunities to manage their way through the entire world of football.

As we edge closer to Football Manager 25, Sports Interactive has revealed that it has secured a range of women's football league licenses, as well as developing a brand-new engine.

Football Manager 25 opens its doors to the women's game

After building 124 leagues in its database, ranging from the English Premier League (of which it has recently acquired a license) to the J-League 3, Sports Interactive is now opening its doors to women's football.

"As you know, we have been working on adding women’s football to Football Manager for several years now. I can confirm that we have already secured multiple licenses for FM25, and we’re confident more will follow," said Sports Interactive Director Miles Jacobson in a blog post.

It's not known how many leagues will be added, but the developers have always been adamant that they hope to have a large enough database to make the women's game just as good as that in the men's - with enough leagues and players to scout and network.

"Full details of which leagues will be playable will be revealed in the coming months, but, yes, you will be able to seamlessly move between managing men’s and women’s teams. One game, one ecosystem."

FM 25 receives UI and engine overhauls

In FM25, the engine is being completely remade, as is the UI. The title will be moved over to Unity Engine, which intends to set up Football Manager for the next two decades. "In essence, FM25 is the starting point for the studio’s next 20 years," Jacobsen said.

As for the UI and features, FM25 will actually eliminate some of the more menial systems, such as touchline shouts and the social media dashboard. Game modes like Create-a-club and Versus mode will also be jetting off to the sunset, with less than 5.5% of players being spread across both modes.

Instead, Challenge Mode will be returning to the franchise in the future (although not FM25 but rather FM26 or 27) alongside Fantasy Draft. Football Manager 24 appears to have been the foundation for what's to come, and FM25 is laying the bricks for what Sports Interactive hopes will be the franchise's dynasty.