Football Manager
The beautiful spreadsheet
Sports Interactive's Football Manager series let players manage every detail of a football club, creating obsessive depth that has consumed millions of hours.
Overview
Football Manager (and its predecessor Championship Manager) proved that managing football could be more compelling than playing it. Players control transfers, tactics, training, and every other aspect of running a club. The game’s detailed database of real players became so respected that actual football clubs use it for scouting.
Fast facts
- Developer: Sports Interactive.
- Key figure: Miles Jacobson (studio director).
- Predecessor: Championship Manager series (1992-2004).
- Database: hundreds of thousands of real players and staff.
- Annual releases: new edition each November.
- Industry use: genuine scouting tool for professional clubs.
The split
From Championship Manager to Football Manager:
- Eidos relationship: Sports Interactive developed CM for Eidos.
- 2004 split: SI and Eidos parted ways.
- Database departure: SI kept the player database; Eidos kept the name.
- Result: Football Manager (SI) and Championship Manager (new developer) competed.
Depth and obsession
Why managers disappear into it:
- Granular control: every training session, every tactic.
- Emergent stories: wonderkids develop, veterans decline.
- Realism: accurate player data and match simulation.
- Time sink: hundreds of hours per save common.