Football Manager 2023 is the most realistic ever – thanks in part to the Champions League, says the team behind the game

Football Manager 2023 is already pretty realistic, if those who have played the beta version are anything to go by. 

Erling Haaland has been scoring at a rate of knots according to screenshots flying across Twitter – the team behind the game say they watered him down at one point – while some of the managerial changes within the game have looked like eery foreshadowing. 

But perhaps the biggest point of realism is that the Champions League is here. So how does this play into the game itself? And what will the future of FM look like from here?

The Champions League is part of Football Manager 2023

“So last year, we added graphics for the Bundesliga, to make it look like a Bundesliga match would on the telly – and it went down really well,” says Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive, the team behind the game. “So we were already going to do it for the EFL this year. Then UEFA came along and we got a chance to do it for that. Because of the UEFA deal, we decided to revamp the cup draws in-game, too. We’ve got the music – you might as well use the music in more places!

“It’s very important to us,” he says. “There are different ways to take the look. With the UEFA competitions, we’re able to use their fonts to make it more realistic. We want people to celebrate those special moments. If you’re one of those people who takes over a smaller team rather than the big six and you get into Europe, that should feel really special. 

“It’s about that differential: we talk about FM being a giant story generator, right? It’s to make you feel like you’re even more inside the universe. You can use your imagination but it’s even better if it’s there on-screen.” 

It's not just the competitions that are real to life, either. There are other ways that the game can look more and more like real football.

“Match engine-wise, we try to make the game look like a game of football,” Miles says. “We’ve worked really hard this year on blocks and interceptions: that was something that we felt was really lacking this year in FM compared to the modern world. The animation changes this year are really fluid. 

“What we’re not interested in doing is face-scanning 500 players. One, we’re at a zoomed-out camera angle in the game. Two, you can’t physically go and do that.

“The look is way more important than it has been historically but we’re not there yet with the graphics. We’ve got a long way to go before we’re at the stage where it looks like you’re watching a game on telly. But we’re working on it – it’ll take time.”

Miles is a massive Watford fan and in the past, he's told us that he always starts with his beloved Hornets. So the big question: has he brought the Champions League trophy back to Vicarage Road, yet?

“Not in FM23!” he says. “I’ve managed to get them back into the Premier League. I’ve been doing my testing with various teams this year – but my Watford save is slightly different. I know what days the cup draws are in-game, now. Which is worrying!”