Update 07.04.2026:

Update to version 5.1

For updates and further information, please check here

 

 

 

To install the skin, do this:

 

  • Download the bundles archive
  • Locate your game directory. For steam this will usually be:
    \Steam\steamapps\common\Football Manager 26\fm_Data\StreamingAssets\aa\StandaloneWindows64\
  • For Gamepass installations it should be
    \XboxGames\Football Manager 26\Content\fm_Data\StreamingAssets\aa\StandaloneWindows64\
  • Make sure you have an unmodded Game, as you will otherwise create an unhealthy mix of modded files and those from this skin
  • In case you're unsure, verify your gamefiles first!
  • Copy and paste the files form the skin archive into the above game directory. When asked, choose to overwrite/replace the existing files.

 

The mirror links will now directly point to the Skinbuilder site - where you can download them and directly manage the Skin (including easy updates!) in the tool.

For some quick guidance, you might want to check here.

 

 

Credits: 

 

My special thanks goes to lotsgon, sic, MW90, MrTini23, LuckyLuke - and in general to the community on FMML discord, for massive support and sharing stuff and ideas while trying to work into this new environment, as well as ongoing - as this is and has been incredibly valuable - and finally to my old friend Flut who teached me so many things in the past. To show my respect, I selected two of his backgrounds for the Startmenu. 

 

Additional credits going to

 

  • TinyHips for sharing his prematch lineups
  • Ferrigi97 for providing a load of additional prematch lineups as of V3.0

 

 

Enjoy.

 

This is a call to the FM26 player community… 

 

Support FMSB Development
If you’d like to support ongoing development of FM Skin Builder and help cover hosting, tooling and research time, you can do so via https://ko-fi.com/lotsgon. The builder will remain free to use — contributions simply help keep the project online, stable and improving over time.

 

 

Comments
SweetRascal
14 years ago
9 hours ago
6
Premium

Ho fatto tutta la procedura corretta per installare la Skin ma mi fa errore quando avvio il gioco…..

ARookieKeeper
6 years ago
10 hours ago
114
By SweetRascal 28 May 2026 - 15:18 PM UTC 

Ho fatto tutta la procedura corretta per installare la Skin ma mi fa errore quando avvio il gioco…..

 

The skin currently does not work with update 26.3.1. Wait for the skin to be updated.

flut
16 years ago
5 hours ago
4,131

Hello Darkside, my friend. 

 

I've been away from FM for a long time and only today did I see your work on the FM26 skin (I haven't tried it because I've practically abandoned FM; I bought it, didn't like it, and never opened it again 🙂 ). But I'm absolutely sure it looks great. Congratulations and keep it up! And thank you so much for the beautiful and kind words you dedicated to me in the skin's presentation. 

 

A big hug, 

Flut

franck69
14 years ago
2 days ago
35
Premium

Flut, you are a legend. So many years i played FM with your skins, thank you again. Darkside is the best skin (i think) on FM26. We are waiting for an update LOL

flut
16 years ago
5 hours ago
4,131
By franck69 29 May 2026 - 14:30 PM UTC 

Flut, you are a legend. So many years i played FM with your skins, thank you again. Darkside is the best skin (i think) on FM26. We are waiting for an update LOL

 

Thank you Franck. That's very kind of you. And yes, I believe that the Darkside Skin will be the best for FM26!! 🙂

Mark C 123
4 years ago
3 hours ago
246

I loved the flut skin in fm24 and I tried a few. Thanks flut for your hard work over the years

Mag1lc2
8 years ago
3 hours ago
173
Premium
By flut 29 May 2026 - 13:53 PM UTC 

Hello Darkside, my friend. 

 

I've been away from FM for a long time and only today did I see your work on the FM26 skin (I haven't tried it because I've practically abandoned FM; I bought it, didn't like it, and never opened it again 🙂 ). But I'm absolutely sure it looks great. Congratulations and keep it up! And thank you so much for the beautiful and kind words you dedicated to me in the skin's presentation. 

 

A big hug, 

Flut

 

Hi Flut, the skin modder Legend! 

 

For years, I’ve played every single version of FM using only your skins. It’s great to hear from you again!

 

Nowadays, I use Darkside’s skins—they are simply fantastic!

 

Nic_Dev
13 years ago
1 day ago
1

Bonjour, savez-vous quand une mise à jour du Skin sera disponible pour la dernière version du jeu ?

ARookieKeeper
6 years ago
10 hours ago
114

Have patience, please.

xxx Darkside xxx
6 years ago
8 hours ago
580
Premium

Updated to be ready for WC update!

 

No new feature or chanmges applied for now. MacOS version  hopefully following early next week…

Riyaz Rajan
12 years ago
3 days ago
11

Hi, I cannot seem to see/find the Mac version? Used this skin before this update and it is awesome - well done!

xxx Darkside xxx
6 years ago
8 hours ago
580
Premium

As written above, not updated yet - hopefully early next week…

Riyaz Rajan
12 years ago
3 days ago
11
By xxx Darkside xxx 31 May 2026 - 15:04 PM UTC 

As written above, not updated yet - hopefully early next week…

Thanks sorry, did not see that!

 

slevinkele
9 years ago
12 hours ago
1
Premium

Hi, very good job! Which modified bundle file controls the display of the player information popup when I hover the cursor over a player's icon in the Recruitment / Player Database screen? With the modified skin, the player's face/portrait is no longer displayed in the hover popup. I'd like to restore only this specific element to the original version while keeping the rest of the skin unchanged.

Thanks!

xxx Darkside xxx
6 years ago
8 hours ago
580
Premium

I'll have a look into this… Wasn't aware of it being missing. Currently busy with the MacOs versions but will find some time early next week hopefully…

ARookieKeeper
6 years ago
10 hours ago
114

Main Menu page seems to be missing all the buttons, except for Manager Profiles.


EDIT: Seems to be an issue on my end. Investigating.


EDIT #2: Validated files, reapplied skin bundles. Main Menu functioning correctly. The rest of the skin seems to be OK too. Many thanks!

ARookieKeeper
6 years ago
10 hours ago
114

I am not seeing the player pictures to the right side of the tactics screen for the Combined screen. I do see them for IP, OOP and Both. Are they not supposed to be there?

xxx Darkside xxx
6 years ago
8 hours ago
580
Premium
By ARookieKeeper 31 May 2026 - 16:37 PM UTC 

I am not seeing the player pictures to the right side of the tactics screen for the Combined screen. I do see them for IP, OOP and Both. Are they not supposed to be there?

 

Those?

 

 

xxx Darkside xxx
6 years ago
8 hours ago
580
Premium
By slevinkele 31 May 2026 - 15:45 PM UTC 

Hi, very good job! Which modified bundle file controls the display of the player information popup when I hover the cursor over a player's icon in the Recruitment / Player Database screen? With the modified skin, the player's face/portrait is no longer displayed in the hover popup. I'd like to restore only this specific element to the original version while keeping the rest of the skin unchanged.

Thanks!

 

It will return…

 

morpheus2019
14 years ago
10 hours ago
1
Premium
By xxx Darkside xxx 31 May 2026 - 17:49 PM UTC 

It will return…

 

 

First of all thanks for your work, FM26 wouldn't be the same without your skin. Are we getting by any chance to see scout reports in the popup as well?

 

ARookieKeeper
6 years ago
10 hours ago
114
By xxx Darkside xxx 31 May 2026 - 17:47 PM UTC 

Those?

 

 

Yeah, those. Shows up for the other three, just not Combined.

But it's OK, no big deal. Skin looks great as usual.

xxx Darkside xxx
6 years ago
8 hours ago
580
Premium
By ARookieKeeper 01 June 2026 - 07:50 AM UTC 

Yeah, those. Shows up for the other three, just not Combined.

But it's OK, no big deal. Skin looks great as usual.

 

You're using custom views there? If so, switch to a buil-in one and redo from there. That should bring back the pictures… 
I can only patch the pics into the predefined views but not into custom views ;-)

xxx Darkside xxx
6 years ago
8 hours ago
580
Premium
By morpheus2019 31 May 2026 - 22:50 PM UTC 

First of all thanks for your work, FM26 wouldn't be the same without your skin. Are we getting by any chance to see scout reports in the popup as well?

 

I'll might look into at a later point… Currently still catching up on things and not yet looked into the WC part ;-)

ARookieKeeper
6 years ago
10 hours ago
114
By xxx Darkside xxx 01 June 2026 - 18:58 PM UTC 

You're using custom views there? If so, switch to a buil-in one and redo from there. That should bring back the pictures… 
I can only patch the pics into the predefined views but not into custom views ;-)

 

Will have a look to see if the predefined view has the same issue. Only really added some columns, nothing more than that.

xxx Darkside xxx
6 years ago
8 hours ago
580
Premium
By ARookieKeeper 01 June 2026 - 20:29 PM UTC 

Will have a look to see if the predefined view has the same issue. Only really added some columns, nothing more than that.

 

Almost sure this is the case… As soon as you touch something, FM will create a cope of the view you were starting from. 

So just return to the original view, Pictures should come back. Now redo your changes to the view and pictures will persist…

ARookieKeeper
6 years ago
10 hours ago
114

That is indeed the case. And that's fine for me. But good to know. Thank you!

guga81
15 years ago
1 day ago
2
Premium

Hi everyone, 

 

I've had this same issue when I've installed this skin for the 1st time but it resolved itself when one of the updates came out. I have now installed the latest version of the skin and the problem is back… Does Anyone know how to resolve this without changing the font size?

 

The 1st line of the goalkeeper attribute doesn't show totally…

rocchinho
11 months ago
9 hours ago
2

how can i use the standard backgrounds? i do not want the dynamic

ARookieKeeper
6 years ago
10 hours ago
114
By xxx Darkside xxx 27 April 2026 - 12:42 PM UTC 

Btw, as a general remark… Still seeing decent download numbers here, I highly suggest again switching to Skinbuilder right now and get the latest version there… 

 

You can then directly download the most recent Version of the Skin directly in the tool… There had been a couple of additonal changes and fixes since the 5.1. release here!

 

 

If you need some help with how to do this, you can find a nice guide over here!

 

It would be nice if you could still download the bundles and not the FMSB file only from the website.

I guess the only workaround to get the bundles is just to apply the skin and then get the bundles from the game folder, if you want to customize them.

kwiatek23
14 years ago
7 hours ago
125

Great skin, just add more ad bands and it would be awesome

You'll need to Login to comment