'Enhancing the game': Football Manager includes women's clubs

New women's leagues are set to appear in the upcoming Football Manager video game launching next month, marking a historic first for the long-standing series known for its detailed simulations of team strategies and transfer dealings.

This update in "Football Manager 26" captures the growing popularity of women's football, highlighted by massive attendances at Euro 2025 and the recent World Cup.

"It has taken quite some time," explained Tina Keech, who spearheaded the development of an extensive database from the ground up, enabling players to manage 14 international women's leagues in depth.

"Naturally" a few supporters have voiced sexist objections, she shared with AFP, yet "most responses have been very encouraging".

"In truth, it simply improves the gameplay, offering a fresh and engaging perspective," Keech added.

Among the millions who play Football Manager, 96 percent are male, as reported by the UK-based creator Sports Interactive.

Keech anticipates that this addition will draw more female players to the title, while also increasing attendance at actual women's matches for teams handled virtually on consoles or computers.

"Football Manager 26", set to include the traditional men's squads as well, launches on November 4, following the postponement and cancellation of "Football Manager 25" due to challenges like enhancing technical features.

A key rival, EA Sports FC's career mode, added women's teams the previous year.

EA Sports FC, formerly known as FIFA, has incorporated female football icons into its primary match simulations for ten years now.

In 2015, EA Sports executive Peter Moore expressed dismay at the "sexist backlash" surrounding the inclusion of women, stating: "We must rise above this."

 'Little stick men'

The inaugural Football Manager game emerged in 1982 from the work of Kevin Toms, with the name later used by Sports Interactive for their Championship Manager lineup.

"Back when I created Football Manager... and handled the visuals, they were basic stick figures. Though they might just as easily have represented stick women," Toms commented to AFP.

During the 1980s, women's football remained "far more limited" in scale, but "at its core, women can handle virtually every aspect of the sport", noted Toms, who has reintroduced his early game under the banner "Football Star Manager".

Sports Interactive revealed intentions to add women's teams back in 2021, originally planning their introduction in "Football Manager 25".

The subsequent delay required Keech and her colleagues to keep pace with rapid changes in the women's sector.

Last July, Arsenal paid a record £1 million ($1.3 million) to acquire Canadian striker Olivia Smith from Liverpool.

"Just a year earlier, we could not have imagined a million pounds going towards signing a female player," Keech remarked.

Interest 'higher than ever'

Factors like briefer contracts and injuries more prevalent among women were key distinctions Keech faced while compiling data on over 36,000 female athletes.

Her global research team of about 50 scouts is "substantial", though "still smaller than for the men's side", she observed.

The Football Manager creators also recorded fresh motion capture footage for female players to more accurately depict their actions during in-game fixtures.

Sports Interactive and its Japanese owner Sega chose not to disclose the investment made in integrating women's teams into the series.

Some detractors attribute the latest game's delay to the focus on women's teams or argue it wastes effort on features few users will engage with.

Kevin Chapman, operator of a Football Manager YouTube channel with almost 200,000 followers, predicts that opposing fans will intentionally post negative reviews.

"On balance, feedback has leaned positive, roughly a 50/30/20 breakdown of supporters, those indifferent, and opponents," Chapman indicated.

However, his data reveals that enthusiasm for Football Manager stands "at an all-time peak".

"I believe the women's aspect is playing a role in that surge," he concluded.