While it sounds like a no-brainer concept that should/could have been included years ago, but SEGA Europe and Sports Interactive has announced a multi-year project which will see Women’s Football included in the Football Manager series. Furthermore, there is currently no plans to split this into a separate Women’s Football Manager line of games, instead incorporating it into the mainline game. According to them, “managers [will be] able to take control of either men’s or women’s clubs and move between them seamlessly”.
According to both studios, there is no definitive date on when this will be implemented, but claim an intention “to incorporate the women’s game as soon as realistically possible”. They further state that the development team at Sports Interactive is “Committed to ensuring that women’s football is represented as authentically as possible and with the level of realism and attention to detail that the series is renowned for”.
We have NO interest whatsoever in making a standalone women’s football version of FM. What we are doing is adding women’s football to FM… one sport, one game.
We know that adding women’s football to FM is going to cost in the millions and that the short-term return it delivers will be minimal. But that’s not the point. There’s no hiding that there’s currently a glass ceiling for women’s football and we want to do what we can to help smash through it. We believe in equality for all and we want to be part of the solution.
We want to be a part of the process that puts women’s football on an equal footing with the men’s game. We know that we’re not alone in this – the historic TV deal that Sky and the BBC recently agreed with WSL in England is proof of that – but we intend to do everything we can to get women’s football to where it deserves to be.
Miles Jacobson – Studio Director at Sports Interactive
Women’s football is capturing the imagination of fans across the globe and we’re making huge strides in terms of attendance figures and broadcast deals.
For the women’s game to get to the next level, though, it needs to be recognised as an integral part of the world of football, not something separate and different. We want future generations to grow up in a world where football isn’t divided into ‘women’s’ and ‘men’s’… it’s just football.
The ambitious plan that the Sports Interactive team have for Football Manager will play a huge part in getting us there.
Emma Hayes – Chelsea FC Women Manager
