FM26 Content Partnership Strategy
Football Manager, 2025
Using partnerships as formats to bring Football Manager 26’s features to life.
MY ROLE
Led the partnership strategy, shaping which platforms, creators and formats carried FM26 across the campaign cycle.
CONTEXT
Football Manager already existed within football culture, but our content partnerships didn’t reflect that.
Most partnerships promoted the game without tapping into the ideas people associate with FM. It meant the game sat alongside football content, not inside it.
FM26 introduced meaningful change: a new match engine, expanded tactical systems and the addition of women’s football. Those features needed to move beyond product messaging and join the wider football conversation.
STRATEGY
Partnerships were built around formats that brought each FM26 feature to life naturally.
Match Engine - SV2
Recreated FM goals in real life, showcasing the match engine’s upgraded animation and realism.
Tactics - The Overlap Breakdown
The Overlap’s tactics board used FM26’s tactical systems to frame football analysis and discussion.
Women’s football - The Cutback
Longer-form conversations around women’s football and its arrival in FM26.
Culture - Mitre
A limited-edition ball and campaign with Steve Bracknall extended FM into physical football culture.
WHAT CHANGED
FM stopped sitting alongside football content and started showing up inside it. The features became part of analysis, debate and football conversation not standalone promotion.
Creators broke down tactics, recreated goals and used FM as part of their own content, driving response and debate.
Each piece added to the next, keeping FM26 present across the wider campaign cycle.
FIRST-EVER
Football Manager football collaboration
4.5M
video views across social media
BIGGEST PRE-ORDER
in Football Manager history
Images & Video: Sports Interactive, Mitre, SV2 & partners