If controlling players in EA FC 24 is getting your hands too dirty, you can always bark orders from the technical area in FM 24.

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And for those gamers, we have the Football Manager 2024 release date, with everything you need to know about the latest features.

Listen to our One More Life gaming podcast - the new episode is about FM!

We were quite impressed with the latest managerial outing, as can be read in our FM 24 review, but it definitely feels like a lot more is just over the horizon - as was confirmed in the developer's blog, The Future of Football Manager.

We caught up with lead designer Ant Farley in our One More Life podcast, where he described FM 2024 as a "love letter" to the series, which is exactly how the last outing of this Football Manager era feels.

However, you may already be well aware of all of this, especially if you've been obsessing over player stats during the early access.

There's plenty of new content and gameplay mechanics in FM 24 to get to grips with, though, so let's kick off before you kick off about how much we're rambling.

When is the FM 24 release date?

The Football Manager 2024 release date is 6th November 2023.

Anyone who pre-purchased the game, meanwhile, was granted around two weeks of early access from 23rd October.

As per the official website, "versions may go live at different times on different platforms". So, what's the release time in the UK?

When is the UK launch time for FM 24?

The UK launch time for Football Manager 2024 is 4pm on Monday 6th November.

Perfect for coming back home to after the first day of work or school for the week - and for putting our brains to something actually useful, like transfer windows and which players to keep rested ahead of big matches.

If you pre-ordered FM 24, you could've started playing back in October, though!

Can I pre-order FM 24?

You can pre-order Football Manager 24! Pre-order pages are now live for the PC version of the game (Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store) and Console Edition on PS5 and Xbox.

All pre-orders offer 10% off the full price (costing £40.49 instead of £44.99) and up to two weeks of early access.

You cannot currently pre-order the game on Nintendo Switch.

Which consoles and platforms can play FM 24?

Sports Interactive and Sega have confirmed that FM 24 will be available on PC via Steam, Epic, Microsoft Store and Xbox Game Pass, as well as coming to PS5, Xbox (Xbox One and Series X/S), Nintendo Switch and iOS and Android for mobile (exclusively via Netflix).

As ever, we would expect there to be different versions of Football Manager on a number of those platforms, including the popular Touch version on mobile and Switch, and the Console Edition for PlayStation and Xbox users.

FM 24 gameplay: new features revealed

Sports Interactive has promised that FM 24 will be "the most complete version in the series's history" and a celebration of its 20th anniversary.

In the aforementioned official blog post, the developers promised that FM 24 will have a major new feature that fans have been asking after for years - "the ability to transfer saved games from one version of FM to the next".

That's right, folks! As the developers said: "You’ll be able to bring your FM23 career into FM24 across all platforms."

How will this work? According to the creators: "When you first launch Football Manager 2024, you'll be given the option to continue your FM23 story, picking up exactly where you left off - powered with the new features and revamps that FM24 will introduce."

Players will have three options when it comes to starting their first save. As well as continuing with their FM 23 save, players will have the choice of either "Real World" or "Your World" - the former loading teams as they are in reality on that date, and the latter resetting everything and ignoring real-world ramifications. It's an ingenious choice - check out the official tweet below:

The developers have also said: "You can expect a host of improvements, big and small, both in new features and revamps to existing areas of the game."

As and when the specifics of those are confirmed, we'll let you know when more is announced!

Will FM 24 have women's football?

Lucy Bronze in an England kit, striking a ball
Lucy Bronze. Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

No, FM 24 will not feature women's football. However, there is good news on this front! Sports Interactive has confirmed that they are working hard on getting women's football right in time for FM 25's big revamp next year.

Studio head Miles Jacobson said in a blog post: "The FM25 cycle will also see the long-awaited introduction of women’s football to the Football Manager series.

"Before I go into the details, I want to acknowledge that since we first announced our commitment to introduce the women’s game back in July 2021, we haven’t provided any further public updates on the project which has led to speculation and some frustration.

"The facts are that we’ve made really good progress in many areas, including research, the match engine and translation. But there are other areas that haven’t made enough advancements, a lot of which are legal issues.

"The women's game deserves to be the best it possibly can be when it is released - and the new graphics engine will help deliver that."

Is there an FM 24 trailer?

Yes! There's a Football Manager 24 trailer that provides a great overview of the game. Check it out below:

Read more on Football Manager:

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Authors

Ben Huxley, RadioTimes.com contributor
Ben HuxleyFreelance Writer

Ben Huxley is a freelance contributor to Radio Times, with bylines also in TechRadar, WhatCulture, GAMINGbible, and Live Science. A writer of fiction, too, he has a few short stories published and a novel on the way. He has a BA in English Literature, and an MA in creative writing.

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