It’s official: Football Manager 2024 will not receive a database update with current season data after the sequel was postponed to 2025.
The Bundesliga 2024/2025 season is in full swing and normally football manager games would now be releasing a database update with the latest data, either as a free download or in the form of a successor.
But players of Football Manager 2024 are waiting in vain for such a database this year. Developer Sports Interactive has now made that clear, disappointing fans in droves.Especially with the reason given for it.
Because the Football Manager 25 is once again causing problems and discussions
That’s why there won’t be a database update for the 2024/2025 season
Just recently, the studio behind the world’s biggest football manager had to postpone the release of a new version in the fall of a year for the first time in history – Football Manager 25 is now scheduled to be released in March 2025
Following this much-criticized decision, fans at least demanded an official database update for the predecessor with the 2024 in the title. With the new season, new football rules have come into force around the world, there have been changes to competitions and, of course, a lot has happened in the transfer period over the summer regarding club squads.
But via the short message service X (formerly Twitter), Sports Interactive has now destroyed ‘s hope :
Clarity on why an FM24 Data Update is not possible ahead of FM25’s March release. pic.twitter.com/IKrR6cGtIE
— Football Manager (@FootballManager) October 22, 2024
According to the post, the new data, which is already being used in Football Manager 25, is not easily compatible with the structure of Football Manager 2024. This is because the new version is the first to use the Unity Engine. In addition, license partners would have to give their okay.
Although Sports Interactive claims to have examined the possibility and also discussed it with clubs and associations, they ultimately decided against an implementation. The necessary work would have been “a significant undertaking”.
The company does not want to divert “critical resources from delivering FM25 in the best possible quality”. This is a project “we simply cannot compromise on”. The fans naturally see it somewhat differently in the comments.
The community is irritated
The negative sentiment towards Football Manager 25 is expressed in posts like that of user JayCaulls: “If it continues like this, it will most likely be the first FM year that I skip.” And barry adds sarcastically:
“The switch to Unity has simply proven to be so beneficial. There are so many positive aspects that I’m struggling to count them.”
However, at least in terms of player data, there is a simple alternative:Several fan groups are painstakingly creating their own data sets for football managers like We Are Football or Football Manager. These are already available for download for the current season; the transfer window in January 2025 should also be translated into the game with fresh data shortly afterwards.
Since the packages are used exclusively for personal and non-commercial purposes, the creators are generally not prosecuted by the license holders.