2026/27 League Updates - FM24 & FM26 - Official / Ongoing Status Thread

Another year has rolled around and it's that time, again, to start producing league updates for the games for which we actively provide a Data Update: namely, FM24 and FM26.

Firstly, it's important to note that there are now two versions of the game for which we have to do this. That does increase the workload, naturally, but I think it also means it is worth clarifying that here at SortItOutSI we are absolutely committed to continuing to support both FM24 and FM26.

Secondly, I've been working over the past few weeks to establish exactly what is possible in terms of dealing with a long-standing challenge - which is the fact that the start date of the game is now three years ago (for FM24) and a year ago (for FM26). The good news is that I'm fully confident in achieving an in-game start date of 2026 for both games for all playable nations. This will not only allow us to provide files that enforce a ‘current season' in-game date, but also remove the need to account for the years that have passed through offsetting contract dates, dates-of-birth, player histories and having things like overlapping competition histories in-game. In short, we'll be targeting a smooth ‘2026 start’ experience for every playable nation.

I've got the full workflow sorted and the intention is to prepare updated files for every playable nation and then, at a set point in the near-ish future, release them all into the FM24 and FM26 Data Update at the same time. Realistically, we're likely to target this release and fundamental change for either the end of the World Cup (mid-July 2026) or, possibly, to coincide with the end of the European transfer window (start of September 2026). I'm sharing this so the community know the direction and know work is underway.

In the meantime, we are going to do an interim update on as many of the playable nations as possible, as quickly as possible, to reflect promotions/relegations as a minimum. We know the community will be keen to start playing a 2026/27 start ASAP, especially in popular, major nations. I will maintain a table of progress so everyone has a clear and visible reference point. As of writing this opening post on 25/05/2026, none of the nations have yet been finished - but I am starting with England, which earlier today saw the last promotion decided.

Finally, if there is anyone who is familiar with the Pre-Game Editor - or wishes to learn and would be willing to contribute their time - there is always room on the Staff team for new additions. Please get in touch with myself or @Footygamer via DMs in the first instance if that is of interest.

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Overall Status (01/06/2026):

The table below shows a list of any nations which have been updated to reflect the upcoming 2026/27 season. If a nation is in this list, the updated file is in the Data Update for the game(s) indicated with ‘Updated’; including a date to show when the file was integrated to the update. Files updated since the previous update to this post are in bold.

Ive started to do mine by using the editor. Done a few leagues but cant seem to remove pts deductions. I can add them but not delete them.

I'm downloading the fm26 update however it is not giving me updated leagues. I'm using a MAC and it only shows 4 files when download. Can anyone help

Four files is the right amount. That's how many there are in the FM26 Data Update at the moment.

Contracts is the file that contains all of the contractual changes globally, which includes transfers.

The England Lower League Pyramid is the specific, additional file that enables playing a deeper level of leagues in England.

New People contains all of the newly-created players.

Player Attributes contains the updated attributes for all of the players in the original database - this file is, specifically, the paid-only feature.

You may be expecting to see more files having been used to FM24 - where there are many individual files that update the different nations with promotions/relegations, updated league structures and so on. In the case of FM26, as the first season since the game's release is only just coming to a conclusion, now, no such files have needed to be produced yet. They will be, however, and added to the Data Update as different nations wrap up and our staff team are able to produce those files…which is exactly the position the opening post in this thread explains.

Unfortunately, if you're expecting the Data Update to already contain updated leagues to reflect 2026/27, you're a little early. As an example, the top batch of divisions in England kicked a final playoff ball only yesterday, whilst many other nations still haven't finished their seasons, including games that decide promotions/relegations. As such, it's impossible for us to have accurately taken care of all of them already.

Thanks @M.C and @Footygamer, this is good news, especially from the FM24 side of things.

I can already vision you “copying” and “pasting” the template above and just changing the season start dates for FM24, year after year, the way its gone/going 😂

Thank you for taking the time to do this, do you know yourself roughly how long until we would likely see the first interim update? I am not familiar with the number of leagues left for promotion but was not sure if the CL final would have effect on that too.  Thanks again! 

I would say that updates for completed nations will start to materialise within the next 24-48 hours. I can make that commitment on the basis of personally being the one working on, for example, England. I don’t know how thick and fast they will start to arrive - but I’m setting aside time each evening to work through things. We will prioritise the ‘big’ nations as much as viable.

I will go as fast as I am able, but I do have to work around family and life commitments as do most people. Other members of the staff team will also be helping, but I am not going to pin them down to committed timelines as it wouldn’t be fair of me.

Thank you @M.C and @Footygamer and any other contributors to this effort.

Are we close to the English leagues being updated?

Very close! I am going to be uploading for FM24 tonight. I would've had it completed earlier, but a combination of work and family life scuppered those plans.

FM26 should follow suit soon enough after.

will this start in the 26/27 season on FM24 

No; these initial updates will still use an in-game start date of 2023. Please see the first post where I explain the expected timeline for the series of files that will be released and update the in-game start date to 2026.

One of the reasons for releasing them all together is because if we drip-feed them, then players who want to enable multiple nations in-game would end up with some nations with a 2023 start date and some with a 2026 start date…and that would be a messy experience.

I appreciate that means waiting a bit longer for this fundamental ‘pivot’ to a future (well, up-to-date) in-game start date. But it's the cleanest way for us to both (a) cater for those who desperately want a reflection of 2026/27 ASAP and (b) move to the different start year concept, which is the ultimate goal.

Thanks for your reply back i don't mind waiting at all i think it would be a lot better 

are we going to see the up to date update today ?

@M.C thanks for your hard work on this!

Could you put a little note in here when the England update is out tonight, excited to start with West Ham! 

I agree and the reality is that I've been working towards exactly what is involved in achieving it over the past few weeks/months or so. Figuring out and proving how it can work (using a couple of nations as my basis) was what led to me announcing/committing to that direction via this thread's first post. It is a fundamental change to how the Data Update has handled individual nation updates and of course it is a bit of a ‘unique’ challenge in the sense that we're committing to support FM24 for multiple years…therefore very much a worthwhile exercise.

As I say, the primary challenge - now - is one of workload. To provide a cohesive ecosystem with a 2026 start date really does require all playable nations to be prepared and then released together. In reality that is 55 nations, some of which have never been updated and some of which have had complicated re-structures in terms of format/rules over the past few years.

Absolutely - England's updated file for FM24 is literally about to be uploaded now. I've just done a full test to ensure everything is as it should be. FM26's equivalent will follow later this weekend.

As of 21:45, the FM24 Data Update has had a new file uploaded for England, which reflects the upcoming 2026/27 season. The opening post of this thread has been updated to reflect the same status.

do you know anymore about the fm26 one ?

I did answer a couple of posts up - but appreciate it can be easy to miss. I have, literally, immediately turned my attention to it. I'm expecting it to be done in the course of this weekend. I can't say with certainty exactly when. Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as just reusing the same work.

Will the date change mean players will not say they don't want to leave becasue they've just joined?  I.e. By moving the dates on, will players who signed at the start of 24/25 be willing to consider transfers if the date is now 25/26?  Game changer if so!

Looking forward to the FM26 version, will be refreshing this tab today!!

Will the new Squad Cost Ratio be introduced, which is replacing PSR or is this only something that the main game can alter.

Strictly speaking, I don't know for sure…but I would expect that the in-game AI would behave naturally and as though the time has passed.

Because ‘rolling forward’ the start date in-game also allows us to ‘normalise’ all of the dates in contracts/transfers etc so they match real-life, I'd expect a scenario where a player moves in July 2025 in real-life to be handled by the game as such. Therefore, when starting in July 2026, that player (and his club and whatever other AI algorithms calculate these things in-game) to behave accordingly. I just can't see why it would be any other way.

Just to confirm, as per the first post, the rolled forward start years is something that will come later. These initial updates will retain the default approach of having the original in-game start year. So, the England file that's been updated for FM24 to reflect 2026/27 still has the game start in July 2023; the one that will arrive shortly for FM26 will have an in-game start date of July 2025. Again, this is with catering for those who are itching to start with 2026/27 constitutions in mind and avoiding the scenario of making everyone wait for the first updated version any longer than necessary.

I haven't acquainted myself with exactly what those new rules are. If they can be replicated with the functionality available to us in the Pre-Game Editor, I will be glad to do it. My instincts tell me it is unlikely to be possible - but until I dig into (a) the reality of the new rules and (b) check what is possible, I couldn't say definitively either way. I must admit I haven't poked around in the FFP section of the PGE enough to know what is possible.

Thanks for the England update already - however, doesn't the current +2 age & contracts now need to go to +3? 

Yes, absolutely - that change will get processed as part of the ‘season end’ annual activities. It's managed centrally by the Site Admin, @Footygamer, alongside doing things like converting the future transfers to ‘current’ transfers and terminating the season-long loans from the previous season.

This is just an estimate, but it normally happens on, or shortly after, 1st June.

What English leagues does it go down to level 10 or conference south north 

The file that's been added for the FM24 Data Update has playable leagues down to Conference North/South, as per the vanilla game. In that table in the opening post, I'll always mention if playable leagues expand on the default offering.

The FM26 file includes playable leagues down to Level 10-11, which is why it is taking a bit more time to get prepared for 2026/27. Will be uploaded by tomorrow.

The ‘future start date’ FM24 file - which will arrive with the batch of all such files a bit later in the year - will have playable leagues down to Level 20, we expect.

Thanks for all the hard work and time spent on this! Looking forward to the FM26 file. Will we get an update in here once its live? 

Great work on making this file. Keeps the game really interesting. Is there any way loans can be removed from the start game db? Thanks in advance.

As per the message a few posts up (https://sortitoutsi.net/comments/get/883051), last season's loans will get terminated soon enough. That ‘official end’ to the previous season takes place in the near future and will get sorted.

In fact, for loans between English/UK clubs these typically are contractually, officially until 31st May and so those were auto-terminated earlier today. For loans involving players between other clubs around Europe, they typically, officially run until 30th June and so get processed - by us - as part of an end-of-season activity. This activity, which also sees pre-agreed transfers (that officially, typically, contractually go through on 1st July) processed, gets handled by the Site Admin as a central task and in previous years it has been done on, or shortly after, 1st June.