FM26: How to Set Up Your Preferences

The Preferences menu in Football Manager 26 does not change how matches are calculated, but it has a huge impact on how the game feels to play. The right setup improves clarity, reduces wasted time, speeds up long-term saves, and prevents small frustrations from building up over multiple seasons.

Under the Detailed tab, we break down each section of the Preferences menu and explain what every setting does, with practical recommendations focused on performance, usability, and long-term enjoyment rather than visual flair.

Whether you are starting a new save or fine-tuning an existing one, these settings will help you get the smoothest Football Manager experience possible.

How to Access the Preferences Menu

To open the Preferences menu in Football Manager 26, click the ⚙️ (Settings) icon in the top of the screen, then select the Preferences tile:

🌏 Your World

This section controls how information is displayed throughout Football Manager 26. None of these settings change gameplay mechanics, but getting them right makes the game far easier to read and manage over long saves:

Game Language

Changes the language used across menus and in-game text. This does not affect realism, player names, or database content.

💡 Use your native language unless you’re deliberately learning another.

Currency

Controls how money is displayed across finances, transfers, and contracts. Football Manager uses live exchange rates internally, so changing this is completely safe.

💡 Using the local currency of your save makes finances feel more natural.

Wages

Decides how player and staff wages are displayed. Weekly wages are the traditional Football Manager format.

💡 Monthly or annual figures are often easier for long-term budgeting.

Units

Temperature, height, and distance settings are display-only and do not affect calculations.

💡 Use your local system unless you’re deliberately trying to learn a different one.

Match Odds

Purely cosmetic. Choose the format you find easiest to understand at a glance.

Date Format and Separator

An important clarity setting. If dates ever look confusing or ambiguous, this is usually the reason. Set it once and forget about it.

💡 Use your local format unless you’re intentionally adjusting to another.

Financial Formatting

Controls how positive and negative figures, decimal symbols, and digit grouping are shown. These settings are crucial for avoiding misreads when scanning budgets and balance sheets.

💡 Using parentheses for negative values makes finances easier to read quickly.

Auto Saves

Always keep them enabled and with rolling files to keep your saves safe.

💡 Use weekly auto save with 3 file rolling

English Attribute Sorting

Keeps attributes displayed in the familiar Football Manager order.

💡 Leave this enabled unless you are used with other language sorting.

🔊 Audio and Visual

This section controls how Football Manager 26 looks, sounds, and responds. While none of these options change match outcomes, the right settings can significantly improve clarity, performance, and overall usability.

Screen Resolution and Mode

Always use your native screen resolution for the clearest display:

• Fullscreen generally offers better performance and fewer distractions.
• Windowed mode is useful if you record gameplay, stream, or frequently multitask.

Custom Skin Colour

Controls how attributes and status indicators are coloured throughout the interface. You can select a preset scheme or fully customise colours for attributes, positional competence, and player statuses such as On Loan, On Trial, or Shortlisted.

💡 Choose high-contrast colours to make attributes easier to scan at a glance.

UI Transitions

Menu animations look slick but can slow down navigation, especially over long sessions. Turning these down or off makes the interface feel far more responsive.

💡 Set this to the fastest option for the snappiest experience.

Sound

Match and ambient sounds add atmosphere and immersion, especially on match day.

💡 With Intro music enabled you can enjoy the Champions League theme when you play a match in the competition.

Highlight Hyperlinks in Text

Makes clickable links in inbox messages and news items easier to spot.

💡 Strongly recommended for quicker navigation.

Generated Player Pictures

Displays faces for newgens and generated staff, greatly improving immersion over long-term saves.

💡 For best results, pair this with our Newgen Faces Megapack.

Display Natural Position Only

Shows only a player’s natural positions rather than every role they are capable of playing. This reduces visual clutter and helps with faster, clearer decision-making.

💡 Recommended for cleaner squad and player views.

♿ Accessibility

Small menu, big impact. These settings are designed to improve readability and usability, and in some cases can dramatically change how information is presented.

Flashing Commentary on Goals

Flashes commentary text when a goal is scored. While intended to draw attention, many players find it distracting.

💡 Often turned off for a calmer match experience (for people not affected by flashes).

Plain Commentary Colours

Displays commentary text in black and white instead of team colours. This only affects the commentary feed.

💡 Useful if coloured text is hard to read or visually overwhelming.

Colour Blind Mode

Provides alternative colour schemes for players who need them. Only enable this if required.

⚠️ This can override attribute colours and may make the interface look inconsistent if you don’t need it.

Radial Menu Selection

Primarily affects controller users by changing how radial menus are selected.

💡 Mouse and keyboard users can safely ignore this option.

⚽️ Match Day

This section controls how matches play out, how much you see, and how quickly games progress. Getting these settings right can dramatically improve pacing without sacrificing tactical understanding.

In-Match Options

Displaying all player names during matches adds visual clutter and can distract from the flow of play.

💡 Most experienced players keep this disabled.

Dynamic Highlights

Automatically adjusts the number of highlights based on context. For example, showing more action in high-importance matches.

💡 Highly recommended for a more natural and engaging match experience.

Highlight Type

Extended highlights strike the best balance, offering strong tactical insight without making matches feel too long.

💡 Extended or Key highlights work best for faster saves while still preserving match context.

Match Speed

• During highlights, slightly faster than normal keeps the action moving without becoming chaotic.
• Between highlights, higher speed settings save significant time over a season.

💡 Adjust gradually until it feels comfortable: too fast can make matches hard to read and intervene.

3D Graphics

Lower graphics settings generally result in smoother match performance, especially on older systems.

💡 Visual quality does not affect tactical calculations or match outcomes.

⚙️ Processing

This is the most important section for long-term enjoyment, especially in large databases or multi-season saves. These settings directly affect simulation speed, responsiveness, and how the game progresses in the background.

Continue Game Timeout

Disables automatic progression when you step away from the game.

💡 Turn this off to prevent the game from advancing without you noticing.

Processing Breaks

Controls how often the game pauses during background processing.

💡 Longer breaks with fewer pauses tend to work better for large databases and improve overall flow.

Match Scheduling

By default, this maintains realistic match calendars.

💡 Leave it enabled for realism, or restrict matches to Sundays and Wednesdays to improve processing speed.

Speed to Process Other Teams’ Matches

Determines how quickly non-user matches are simulated.

💡 Set this to Fast for quicker processing without losing meaningful responsiveness.

Match Storage Space

Controls how much match data is stored.

💡 The default setting is fine for most players and avoids unnecessary disk usage.

Continue Button Legacy Mode

When enabled, the game waits until all messages are read before continuing, replicating the classic Football Manager “space bar” behaviour.

💡 Enable this if you prefer the old-school pacing and manual control.