Football Manager is expanding its virtual horizons, with the popular soccer video game's latest release — FM26 — featuring women's teams for the first time in history.

The FM26 lineup spans some 40,000 players across 14 leagues, including the NWSL, the UK's WSL and WSL2, Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A, and Japan's WE League as well as the UEFA Women's Champions League.

Football Manager's new women's soccer offering follows similar moves from other video game entities, with EA Sports also expanding its integration of women's teams and players across its NHL, FC, and NBA2K games in recent years.

Launched in 2004 by British developer Sports Interactive and gaming giant Sega, Football Manager puts users in the driver's seat of their favorite teams, navigating club finances, player transfers, tactics, and even training plans in the hunt for success.

To mimic the manager role most realistically, FM amasses extensive data on players and clubs — with that information bank now so deep on the men's side that clubs have employed it for scouting purposes for over 10 years.

The road to launching a similarly real-world women's game required similar stat-gathering, a project which began in 2021.

"An army of people from the women's game helped us, who wanted us to ensure that women's football was properly represented," said Sports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson.

Football Manager also recreated their motion capture models using former WSL and WSL2 professional players, twins Mollie and Rosie Kmita, to accurately portray women's movement and body structure in FM26.

"Growing up, I would never have imagined playing Football Manager because it wasn't a space for us," Mollie told BBC Sport. "I think we're about to engage a whole new audience and I'm excited to see how this community continues to grow."

How to play Football Manager 26

FM26 is currently available for download across multiple gaming platforms.

World No. 5 Germany is heading to the 2025 UEFA Women's Nations League Final, advancing with a narrow 3-2 aggregate advantage after surviving a semifinals comeback bid from No. 6 France in Tuesday's 2-2 draw.

The German women will next face reigning Nations League champions and world No. 1 Spain in this winter's two-legged finale, after the perennial titans quickly dispatched No. 3 Sweden by adding a 1-0 Tuesday victory to advance on a lopsided 5-0 aggregate score.

The two-match 2025 Nations League championship will kick off on November 28th in Germany, before Spain hosts the second leg on December 2nd.

While Germany's international prowess isn't new — with the program's resume boasting two World Cup wins (2003, 2007), an Olympic gold medal (2016), and eight of the 14 total Euros titles — the German Federation is doubling down on the national team's future by making a landmark €100 million investment into the country's top-flight domestic league: the Women's Bundesliga.

The German Football Association (DFB) announced the plan last week, with the DFB General Assembly readying to vote on the funds at next month's meeting.

Once approved, the move will mark the largest single investment in German women's football history.

"We want to ensure that the women's Bundesliga can stand on its own two feet: economically, structurally, and in terms of visibility," DFB president Bernd Neuendorf told German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau. "It is an investment in the future — in equality, in opportunity, and in the growth of the women's game."

Continuing their historic coverage of women’s soccer, ata football announced Wednesday that it has added Frauen-Bundesliga to the company’s broadcast lineup.

Fans of Germany’s top women’s league will now be able to find 34 matches this season live on atafootball.com. It’s the latest development in a growing number of league and major broadcast alliances that have increased the visibility of the women’s game. ata football now features games from the FA Women’s Super League, D1 Arkema, Primera Iberdrola and Serie A.

Matches will also be shown on nbcsports.com as part of ata football’s U.S. partnership with NBC.

“This is the first time that full live games of the FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga will be broadcasted in the U.S.,” said DFB GmbH Managing Director Dr. Holger Blask. “We are very excited to kick off this partnership to bring German top-class women’s football to the ata football community and nbcsports.com, while increasing the exposure of our league, clubs and players in North America.”

Momentum has been building for ata football and the women’s game. The company’s content reached more than 3 million viewers during the 2020-21 season, with visitors spending more than 50,000 hours on the platform while taking in matches, highlights and exclusive programming.

With the help of NBC Sports, DAZN and other league deals, that number is expected to increase.

“We’re thrilled to bring the best of Frauen-Bundesliga to the ata football community,” said Co-Founder and General Manager of ata football, Esmeralda Negron. “Providing a larger stage for top flight women’s football, and its greatest clubs and players, is central to our brand mission and delivers even more value to our growing community.”