I keep coming back to an image in my head when I think about representation in Football Manager.

Meet Holly

She’s twelve-years-old and sitting at her desk at home. She’s borrowed her older brother’s laptop because it has Football Manager installed and, until now, it’s always been his thing. But today, she’s feeling curious. She clicks the shortcut, the screen loads, and suddenly she’s staring at the same menus I’ve spent half my life staring at.

Holly goes to start a new save. She scrolls down the league list, and then it hits her: her favourite league is there. Not hidden away, not a fan-made mod she’s had to download from some dodgy forum, but right there in the official game. She clicks it and there’s her favourite team – the one she’s watched every weekend, the one whose shirt is drying on the radiator in the next room.

She opens the squad screen and her heart does a little flip. Because there, in all its glory, is the profile of her favourite women’s player. The one whose poster is taped above her bed, whose shirt she begged her parents for last Christmas, whose highlights she’s replayed on YouTube a hundred times.

And now Holly isn’t just watching her idol – she’s managing her.

Deciding where to play her. Giving her the captain’s armband. Building the whole tactic around her.

And of course, Holly does what every FM player does the first time they see their heroes in the game: she laughs at the attributes. 

Her idol only has a “12” for Finishing? Outrageous.
Her star winger is only “Fairly Determined”? Lies.
And her goalkeeper, the one she swore was flawless, apparently panics in one-on-ones.

That’s the joy of Football Manager, it demystifies football. It takes the players you idolise and puts them into numbers and attributes – but instead of making them less magical, it makes them feel closer. 

More human. More like you.

Because when Holly sees her idol given a “12” for Stamina, she thinks: maybe she gets tired just like I do. Maybe she started somewhere small, maybe she grafted, maybe she grew those numbers through dedication and hard work..

And if she can, then maybe Holly can too.

When I Was Holly’s Age

I’ll be honest, I’m jealous of Holly, because when I was her age, there was no version of me in the game.

I didn’t grow up watching women’s football. Like so many others, my football education was dominated by men’s leagues – that’s what was on TV, that’s what was written about, that’s what mattered.

When I discovered FM, of course it was men’s football only. I didn’t question it – why would I? That was the world I knew. And when I played, I had to mould myself into a man’s profile because that was the only one available.

So when FM finally introduced the option to play as a female manager, it floored me how much difference one little word in a dropdown menu could make.

For once, I didn’t have to pretend to be a bloke with a mullet. I could just… be me. And sure, the game didn’t suddenly treat me differently, but still, it mattered.

Because it told me: you exist here. You belong.

That’s why FM26 matters to me. Because it isn’t just a new database. It’s a chance for more women to feel like this game is theirs too. Representation doesn’t just change what’s on the screen, it changes who gets to sit at the table. And if that makes a few men uncomfortable? Good, it’s about time.

What Representation Really Means

Representation is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot, and sometimes it sounds like a buzzword wheeled out in a PR statement.

But let’s bring it back to something simple: representation is walking into a room and realising the chair has been pulled out for you. It’s logging into FM and seeing that, finally, you’re part of the same footballing world as everyone else. 

For Holly, that moment at her desk isn’t just about pixels and numbers on a screen, it’s about permission. If her favourite striker has a profile on FM, then so could she. If female managers can be in the game, then she can picture herself on the touchline too.

And representation doesn’t just stop with Holly at a desk, it ripples outward.

Her parents see her passion and start taking women’s football more seriously. Her brother, who once assumed FM was only for him, now has to accept she’s every bit as good at winning the Champions League. Her schoolmates notice she’s the one with all the knowledge about players and tactics, and suddenly she’s the go-to for football chat.

And then Holly grows up – maybe she plays, maybe she coaches. Maybe she doesn’t do either, but she carries that love into adulthood, into spreadsheets and blogs and online communities.

The point is: Holly belongs. Because the game told her so.

More Than Just a Game

I’ve always said Football Manager is more than just a game, it’s a community. For years, those spaces have been dominated by men – not purposely, not necessarily by exclusion, but simply because of who the game was built around.

Now, women’s football being fully included changes that balance.

It means more women will pick up the game for the first time, just like Holly borrowing her brother’s laptop. It means more conversations, more saves shared, more tactics created. It means more women will step into those spaces with stories and knowledge that enrich the whole community.

And it also means the misogynists will get exposed. Because when the door opens, they’re the ones left looking silly, shouting in the corner about how things used to be. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just playing Football Manager.

What Happens Next

FM26 is the start, not the end. Representation isn’t a checkbox you tick once – it’s something you build on and expand.

The women’s database will grow and the accuracy will improve. More leagues will be added and more players rated. And alongside that, the community will grow too.

It’s not perfect yet, it never will be, but it’s happening.

And so I keep coming back to that image: Holly at the desk, the borrowed laptop, the moment she realises her heroes are in the game. Because that moment, as small as it seems, changes everything.

Maybe she’ll be inspired to write her own FM blog, make her own tactics guide, or start her own Twitch series. Because she saw herself here, and once you’ve seen yourself, you can’t unsee it.

And maybe one day, Holly will be the one in the database. Maybe another twelve-year-old girl will load up FM and see her, and think: I can do this too.

That’s what representation does. It’s not just about football, it’s about possibility. And Football Manager has finally, gloriously, made space for it.