Football Manager x SOOO London
Football Manager, 2025
Bringing Football Manager into women’s football culture through a two-part launch at SOOO London.
MY ROLE
Led strategy and delivery for both days, shaping the concept, partnerships and audience experience.
CONTEXT
The introduction of women’s football into Football Manager had been five years in the making. The message throughout was clear: we’d waited so we could “do it properly”.
We had already started building relationships within the women’s game through media work, licensing and an in-studio event in 2024. By 2025, the focus had shifted to how FM would be received by a new community with its own voices, standards and expectations.
SOOO London, the UK’s first dedicated women’s sports store, had recently opened as we prepared to launch our Women’s Football hero video. It felt like the perfect setting to give the premiere the scale and sense of occasion the moment deserved.
STRATEGY
SOOO London × Football Manager ran across two Thursdays, with each day doing a different job for a different audience.
VERSUS were brought in to co-host the launch, bringing credibility within women’s football and introducing FM through voices already respected in that space.
Embargoed premiere event
An invite-only evening for key figures across women’s football ahead of launch. The Women’s Football hero video premiered under embargo, followed by a panel with the Women’s Super League, The Powerhouse Project and VERSUS and audience discussion.
Community open day
A public event built around panels with the Sports Journalists’ Association and Women in Football, alongside artist workshops, game giveaways, shirt printing and a live freestyle challenge. The store stayed busy throughout the day, with football, fashion and media all present around the launch, seeing FM’s ambitions beyond the game itself.
WHAT CHANGED
SOOO London x Football Manager brought together media, creators and figures from across the women’s game for the launch of women’s football in FM26.
The events gave the feature release a clearer story and stronger presence, shaping how women’s football in FM26 was received. They shifted the conversation towards the care and intent behind the game’s development and what it represented more broadly for the sport.
It became Football Manager’s largest feature launch event to date and a landmark moment in the rollout of Women’s Football in FM26.
4.4M
impressions across both events
750+
attendees across both events
35%
increase in female FM players vs FM24
Images & Video: Images: SOOO London, Kelly Anna