The Football Manager saga will finally add women’s football: “the same sport, the same game”

“The short-term economic benefits will be minimal. But that’s not the point,” says Sports Interactive.

The Football Manager saga is gearing up for its biggest revolution in a long time. Such an ambitious project, it will take Sports Interactive several years to complete. We are talking about the arrival of women’s football to the game, which will be integrated into the main saga and not as an individual mode or a separate title. The intention of SI is that players can take the reins of both men’s and women’s teams in future versions of the game, so it will not be implemented in the current Football Manager 2021 .

The short-term economic benefits will be minimal. But it’s not about thatMiles Jacobson, YESIn fact, SEGA describes women’s soccer in Football Manager as “a multi-year project” so it may not be available for Football Manager 2022 this fall either. Sports Interactive adds that they do not have a specific date set to complete the project, but their idea “is to incorporate women’s football as soon as possible ” into the saga, the company confirms. All this in a realistic time frame, and ensuring that women’s football has the same level of realism and attention to detail “that characterizes the saga.”

The director of the study, Miles Jacobson, affirms that his intention is not “to create an exclusive FM version of women’s football. What we want is to incorporate women’s football into FM … We know that incorporating women’s football into FM is going to cost a fortune , and the short-term economic benefits will be minimal. But that’s not the point . ” In the end, the aim of the study is to break down the barriers between women’s and men’s football, since it is about “the same sport, the same game” .

They want to break the glass ceiling in football

“It is well known that, today, there is a glass ceiling for women’s football and we want to do everything in our power to help break it. We believe in equality for everyone and we want to be part of the solution,” she adds the director of Sports Interactive. For her part, Emma Hayes, Chelsea FC women’s coach , states the following: “for the women’s category to move to the next level, it must be seen as an integral part of the world of football and not as something isolated or different.”

The female category should be considered an integral part of footballEmma hayes“We want the next generations to grow up in a world where football is not divided between men’s and women’s, but is football, without more,” says the London manager. “The ambitious plan that the Sports Interactive team has for Football Manager will play a critical role in that process.” The study has published an extensive blog entry detailing much of the changes and challenges that the arrival of women’s football in the game represents.

And the project involves much more than expanding the game database with female soccer players. In line with the Sports Interactive project and her intentions with it, our colleague Sherezade Atiénzar recently spoke to you at 3DJuegos about inclusion in video games and its importance . Of course, if you have not tried this year’s installment of the saga yet, here is our analysis of Football Manager 2021 .