Dev diary · October 2026
1.6

Your academy

You give your academy its money and its direction, and the other managers now change things too, even mid-season. Before every competitive game your assistant tells you which eleven he expects the other side to put out.

At a glance
  • You set your academy’s budget and its focus – numbers, elite or loyalty – and so who comes through.
  • On 24 June the academy reports how big the new intake is, and whether there is a gem among them.
  • Other managers change their system when results, the squad or money demand it – even mid-season.
  • Before every competitive game, your assistant reports: expected shape, top scorer, team news, last meeting.
In numbers
1.8 to 2.5academy players a season now make the step up to the first team in our test runs, depending on the size of the club. The small clubs used to manage just 1.2.
40%of the youngsters are loyal or modest when the academy goes for loyalty. Before, it was 13%.
60 to 67%of the other managers stick with their formation through the first season. Before, it was 94%, so almost all of them, and the first season felt frozen.
200or so young free agents are still looking for a club each summer. Before, it was around 2,000. The rest mostly drop into amateur football like in real life, and squads still have as many young players as before.
25%of all players, roughly, start your first season in the last year of their contract. Before, it was 6%, almost only the oldest. In real football it's about a fifth.
230 MBis the most the world takes up after 20 seasons, because old seasons now get cleared out. Without that it would grow by about 24 MB every season.
What went wrong while building it

The market filled up

In the last check before release, the free agent market filled up: at the start of a season up to one pro in nine had no club. That's why 1.6 waited a day. The search turned up three causes at once. The clock for free agents started too late, academy players lost a year of their contract when the season changed, and in the starting world almost every contract ran out in the same few years. In real football only the best keep looking for long without a contract, most young players drop into amateur football. That's how it works here now too: at the start of a season around 5% are without a club instead of up to 11%, and in the starting world about one player in five has a contract that ends after the first season. Names, ratings and clubs all stay the same.

All changes in 1.6
New
  • The academy now has its own card at the club: you set its budget each month (cut back, standard or invest) and who it brings in (numbers, elite or loyalty). Right at the top, in big numbers: how many of your graduates are in senior squads.
  • In the squad, the academy shows how many youngsters come through each year and at what level.
  • On 24 June a letter tells you about the new intake: how many youngsters are coming and whether there's a gem among them.
  • The academy also works in careers you started before 1.6.
  • Other managers change their system when results, the squad or money demand it, even mid-season. Against two strikers, some go to a back three.
  • Before every competitive game your assistant brings his report: the table, the eleven he expects the opponent to field on a pitch, plus top scorer, team news and the last meeting. That eleven is his prediction, on the day the other side can line up differently. If they set up differently than usual, he tells you before kick-off.
  • No more silent no on transfers: if the selling club has no replacement, it names a higher fee and tells you why. The idea came from a review on Google Play.
  • Messages from the studio show up in the main menu: when a new version is out, and short notes, for example when we're working on a bug.
  • "What's new" in the main menu shows the card "New in 1.6 · Your academy".
Better
  • The free agent market stays lean: young players whose clubs don't renew them mostly drop into amateur football, like in real life. Only the best keep looking.
  • The starting world has real contract lengths: for about one player in five, the contract ends after the first season. Names, ratings and clubs stay the same.
  • Not every youngster makes it: some young players stall again, like in real football.
  • Big clubs now bring in young talent alongside their stars.
  • Old seasons get cleared out, so your save doesn't keep growing.
Fixed
  • If you win the league on goal difference alone, the title letter now arrives too.
  • Offers you receive can be accepted for a full week. Before, one in seven was already gone after a week to think it over.

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