It’s finally time to step into the dugout, with FM26 Advanced Access Beta now live and playable across Steam and the Epic Games Store.

If you’ve pre-purchased from a SEGA-approved digital retailer[privacy.sega.com], the FM26 Advanced Access Beta is now fully playable*. You can kick-off a single-player career or battle for bragging rights in an Online Career. As with previous editions, any progress made in Career mode can be carried forward to full release from 4 November.

You can continue to pre-purchase FM26 with a 10% saving and gain entry to the Advanced Access Beta** until the game is fully launched.

Made with the Unity engine for the first time, FM26 sets new foundations for you to define your football destiny. 

You’ll step into a game that has been rebuilt for the future, where a revamped interface greets you, tailored to streamline exploration for all players - letting you access deeper details and features at your own pace. The UI has been completely reinvented and although it may take some more seasoned players time to become accustomed, we truly believe it will make your experience smoother and more enjoyable as you get used to it.

Immerse yourself fully in richer, more atmospheric match days, craft your footballing philosophy with In and Out of Possession formations and break new ground with the introduction of Women’s Football.

Please note that as this is a Beta version you may encounter some bugs and glitches that our developers will be working tirelessly to address in future updates.

Your feedback is essential to this process – if you find issues, please use the Report Bug button located in the bottom-right corner of every game screen. You can also log them on our community forums[community.sports-interactive.com].

For a refresher on this year’s new additions, check out our Feature Blogs[www.footballmanager.com] for a more detailed look.

Purchases from Steam

Simply quit and restart Steam and you’ll see that FM26 is available to install.

Purchases from Epic

Quit and restart the Epic Games Launcher and you’ll see that FM26 is available to install.

Purchases from any other participating digital retailer

Your retailer should have sent you a confirmation email with a code, or a link to redeem your code which can be activated on Steam by following the instructions below:

1. Launch the Steam client software and log into your Steam account or create a new, free account

2. Click the Games Menu

3. Choose Activate a Product on Steam

4. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the activation process

* The Store, Steam Workshop and both the Pre and In-Game Editor are not available in the Advanced Access Beta but will follow at launch. 

**The Advanced Access Beta also contains information that is still under approval process by right holders and may contain data that does not, at this time, accurately reflect real world data. For context, some club and player assets may be absent during Advanced Access.

Deciding the sort of manager you want to be and the world you want to manage in are essential considerations at the start of every FM career.

For Football Manager 26, we’ve refreshed the entire game setup and manager creation experience, enabling you to be unmistakably whoever you are, or whoever you want to be in the dugout and explore the most playable nations in series’ history.

The full story is available on our website, here.[www.footballmanager.com]