On November 6, 2025, Insider Gaming reported that Football Manager 26 had reached No. 7 on Steam250’s all-time worst games list, attributing the placement to FootballGamingZone via Steam250. That is a dated report—not confirmation of the game’s current position. Steam250’s live ranking may have changed since then.
What the No. 7 ranking means—and what it doesn’t
The claim is that FM26 appeared at No. 7 on Steam250’s all-time worst games list as reported on November 6, 2025. Insider Gaming’s report attributed the placement to FootballGamingZone through Steam250. It should not be repeated as the game’s present rank without checking Steam250’s current list.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
FOOTBALL MANAGER 26 SPIELANLEITUNG: Meistere Taktik, Transfers Und Teambuilding, Um Deinen Verein... | $8.65 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Football Manager 2024 (PS5) | $34.34 | Buy on Amazon |
A ranking on a third-party list is also distinct from Steam’s own review summary. Steam labels reviews and displays counts that can change over time; the two measures should not be treated as interchangeable.
How Steam reviews described FM26
Steam’s product page is dynamic. When checked for this article’s source material, it showed English-language lifetime reviews as “Mostly Negative” and recent English-language reviews as “Mixed.” Those labels refer to different time windows, and can change as new reviews arrive. See the Steam listing for the live display rather than treating those labels as a permanent snapshot.
#1 Best Overall
SteamDB provides a third-party metadata cross-check for the game and its review percentage, but its changing figure is not Steam’s definitive review label. Its listing is available at SteamDB.
What players complained about, and how sentiment changed
FM Scout analyzed 36,004 Steam reviews across languages collected through September 2, 2026. Its findings are an independent collection and coding of reviews, not official Steam statistics.
- FM Scout counted 17,164 reviews from the first seven days after launch—48% of its collected total—with 24.2% positive.
- In its topic coding, 34.0% of negative reviews discussed interface or navigation, while 32.9% discussed bugs or crashes. A review could cover more than one issue, so these shares are not mutually exclusive and do not add up to 100%.
- In FM Scout’s monthly breakdown, 27.9% of November 2025 reviews were positive, compared with 54.6% of August 2026 reviews. This shows a change in monthly sentiment within that dataset; it does not replace Steam’s lifetime label.
These figures give useful context for the early backlash and later reviews, but they cannot establish that a particular design decision caused the negative reaction. FM Scout’s methodology and breakdown are described in its review analysis.
Why the launch was a major transition
Developed by Sports Interactive and published by SEGA, FM26 was the first entry in the series built with Unity. SEGA highlighted a refreshed interface, an official Premier League licence and the series’ first inclusion of women’s football. Those were significant changes, but the fact that they arrived with a wave of negative reviews does not by itself prove that any one of them caused the response.
Rank #2
Release dates also depend on platform and context: Steam lists November 4, 2025 as the PC release date, while SEGA’s broader launch announcement gave November 5 for its listed platforms and said the Nintendo Switch version would follow on December 4. SEGA also said save data could carry over from FM24 and FM23, with a specific limitation: only FM24 Mobile saves were compatible with FM26 Mobile. The publisher’s announcement is at SEGA.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Launch reception is not the whole story
Sports Interactive’s community announcement archive includes later FM26 updates, including the arrival of international management, as well as announcements about FM27. That later activity means launch-era criticism should not be treated as a complete description of the game’s subsequent state. The archive is available at Sports Interactive’s FM26 announcements.
The clearest reading is therefore time-specific: a November 2025 report placed FM26 at No. 7 on a third-party worst-games list; early player feedback was sharply negative in FM Scout’s analysis; and that analysis found monthly positivity higher by August 2026. None of those facts, alone, establishes the game’s current Steam250 rank or its current Steam review labels.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
