Football Manager 2024 review: Is FM24 the best version of the game we've ever seen?

This review of Sports Interactive Football Manager 2024 was conducted on a Macbook Air, with the game downloaded from Steam.

Video games aren't supposed to be real. They're supposed to be forms of escapism, whether you're building an ultimate team of iconic footballers of yesteryear, or you're a hedgehog collecting rings.

That being said, it just doesn't feel right that Switzerland won World Cup 2022 in this reviewer's FM23 save last season. It's not that we have anything against Switzerland – it's just not very likely. Well, Sports Interactive have taken steps to ensure that no such fantasy repeats itself. Unless you want it to.

The level of detail is such in Football Manager 2024 that things you didn't even consider needing an update have received one anyway. The Saudi Pro League, for example, has become the force of nature that it is in real life. Pep Guardiola's 'John Stones role' has been fully replicated, in one of the most subtly game-changing updates for years – now you can fully control your buildup shape – while set pieces have been revamped totally.

Previously, whipping balls near post to tall players with good heading stats was enough to rack up 20 goals a season from corners. Now, dead ball situations are simultaneously more in-depth and also, not your problem: set-piece coaches ask for your opinion, suggest their ideas and you can let your experts get on with it, while also being able to fully edit the setup should you wish. The FM team have clearly listened to FFT, who noted this as the most significant way the game could upgrade itself last year. 

The other headlines with this new game are subtle enough for casual players to greet with a shrug – but trust us when we say that having played FM24 for a few weeks now, we couldn't imagine going back to the previous version (and incidentally, you can now import previous saves from old FM games into 24!). 

The top three Japanese leagues are now fully licensed, giving the realism that's been so brilliantly realised in the Bundesliga and Champions League to new shores and undiscovered talents. Intermediaries are introduced to sell players, meaning that you'll never be left with an unsellable squad ever again. Players can be set targets, meaning that you don't have to promise that useless fringe star a position in your squad in 2028, only for him to underdevelop out on loan. 

And that's without touching on the match engine, which has seen noticeable improvements from last year, too. FM25 is set to be a bolder revolution in the series – but considering that FM24 is a mere evolution in comparison, it feels more updated than perhaps even diehard fans expected. 

It all adds up to a more realistic product – unless, of course, you use the new modes to wipe all summer transfers from the database before you begin. Could Tottenham Hotspur be even better, had they not sold Harry Kane? Could Manchester City achieve invincible status with reported targets Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice signed to the side? Alternately, you can watch players sign on the exact dates they did in real life, and play out reality as it happened. 

Football Manager has a knack for imitating the beautiful game through wonderkids, underdogs rising up the pyramid and 'Moneyball clubs' dominating. It's in the ways that you don't expect FM to be lifelike that it manages to surprise you, though. FM24 is another triumph in that respect and as the last of this current engine before a bigger update in FM25, this is the finest version of the simulation we know and love. Just so long as Switzerland don't romp to Euros glory next year, of course.