Sports Interactive said working on a data update for Football Manager 2024 would cause problems in FM25’s development. Find out how to update the game yourself.
Sports Interactive announced this Tuesday, Oct. 22 that Football Manager 24 isn't getting an official data update.
Football Manager fans have been asking for this data update ever since Sports Interactive delayed the release of FM25 until March 2025. Football Manager games typically release at the end of the year after the Winter transfer window is finalized, allowing fans to play with their favorite teams with realistic squads and updated competitions.
However, Sports Interactive had to delay the release of Football Manager 2025 because of struggles with moving the game engine to Unity. The game engine is one of the most important aspects of the FM experience as it dictates what happens in the simulated games, so SI thought it was better to delay FM25 until they figure it all out.
An official data update for Football Manager 24 would allow fans to play with updated squads and competitions such as the new format for the UCL, UEL, and UECL. Sports Interactive said it analyzed this possibility, but delivering this would make them pull resources away from FM25's development.
"Having now scoped the work that would be required, and despite a good initial response from many of our licensors, we cannot lift assets that we are using in FM25 and make them work in FM24 without recreating them in full.
The same applies to the many competition rules, translations and database changes that cannot be back ported. The updated assets and data would both be required to obtain licensor approval — they cannot be separated.
This is a substantial undertaking which would take critical resources away from delivering FM25 to the highest possible quality, which we simply cannot compromise on.
If you have pre-purchased FM25 and wish to seek a refund then please contact your retailer. We sincerely thank you for your paticence. We are passionately commited to delivering the best game possible when we release in March 2025."
While this isn't great news for us Football Manager fans, there are unofficial means to update FM24 while we wait for FM25's release.
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How to download a data update for Football Manager 2024 and play with updated teams and competitions
There are plenty of fan-made data updates for Football Manager 2024 out there, but my favorite is from SortItOutSi. They just update the teams and competitions, without messing around with players' attributes and league rules, which can potentially break the game down the road.
When Sports Interactive announced the delay of Football Manager 25, I simply downloaded SortItOutSi's data update to play a new FM25 save. For increased realism, you can go on vacation until the end of 2023/2024 season to start playing.
Here's how you update your Football Manager 2024:
- Download SortItOutSI's data update. They update the file every day.
- Extract the files and paste them into one of the paths below.
- Windows: My Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2024/editor data/
- Mac: /Users/YOURNAME/Library/Application Support/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2024/editor data/
- Launch Football Manager 2024 and click on "Start a new game -> Career" and enable all the update files you downloaded.
- Choose "Original" as the game mode, select the leagues you want, and start your new save with updated rosters and competitions.
That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more Football Manager news.
