Premier League Mornings Live
Football Manager, 2026
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Designing a Football Manager experience built for quick participation at a Premier League fan event.
MY ROLE
Led the concept and content strategy for Football Manager’s first Premier League fan event in the US.
CONTEXT
This was Football Manager’s first Premier League activation since securing the licence, and the first time the partnership was brought directly to fans.
Premier League Mornings Live brings together a football-first audience in the US and puts Football Manager directly in front of fans beyond paid and owned channels.
The event moves quickly, with people drifting between activations and deciding within seconds whether to stop. For a game built on depth and immersion, the entry point needed to feel intuitive while still reflecting what makes Football Manager compelling.
STRATEGY
One Minute Manager distilled Football Manager into a pick-up-and-play experience.
Participants picked a Premier League team, selected their tactics and played out the weekend’s fixtures on FM26 Touch, including the title decider between Manchester City and Arsenal.
Win, lose or draw, they moved into a post-match interview in front of a step-and-repeat board. Everyone stayed in role, answering questions about the match they’d just managed, which gave the content a natural energy people wanted to share.
Working with the Premier League’s in-house agency, HudsonGray, the activation was built around a screen showing live matches alongside an FM-themed dugout. People could move straight from watching the match and into the FM dugout.
Using Football Manager 26 Touch kept the activation easy to pick up while staying true to the game. We worked with Apple and Foudy’s to provide merchandise giveaways and created content with influencers and Premier League ambassadors to extend the event beyond Tampa Bay.
WHAT CHANGED
One Minute Manager was one of the busiest partner activations at Premier League Mornings Live in Tampa Bay.
Participants stepped into the game, took on the post-match interview and shared the content. The live Premier League screen drew people in and created a constant flow of people around the space, with others stopping to watch before joining in.
The activation showed FM could work in a fast-moving live environment without needing much context or explanation. It marked the largest Football Manager activation in the US to date.
750+
participants across the weekend
400k
social media impressions
95
FM26 Touch downloads on
Apple Arcade
Images: Premier League, Sports Interactive