Football Manager 2023 is launching worldwide on Nov. 8, 2022, on every platform except the PlayStation 5. The “unforeseen complications” that will keep FM23 away from PS5 players do not extend to PC, so we were able to jump into the beta version and conduct some experiments. Hold on tight, we have 20 years of European Championships to go through.
The most recent European Championship went through some turbulence due to the global pandemic but ultimately ended up becoming one of the more memorable entries in the event’s 60-year history, not least because England was on the receiving end of a penalty shootout in the final.
England and losing on penalties has been a running joke for decades, but they had never suffered the dread of a penalty defeat in a final. Euro 2020 felt like the culmination of a tradition started by Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle back in 1990. Do the Three Lions recover at any point during our 20 seasons in Football Manager 2023? We won’t keep you on your toes for the entire article, the answer is no. Italy is back, though.
In fact, the reigning European champions became the most successful nation in the competition by winning it in succession in 2032 and 2036, for a total of four trophies. That’s a huge leap for a nation that had a single European Championship trophy to its name just over a year ago.
Italy is kind of a big deal in our FM23 simulation, as you can see in our report on what happened in the World Cup. English fans might be left with a slightly more positive feeling from that one. Not saying they will, just that they might.
Back at the Euros, we have a surprise champion in the shape of Austria. Smaller central European nations are set for a renaissance in Football Manager 2023 by the looks of it. Austria won Euro 2028, the Czech Republic reached the final of Euro 2024, and another nation from the region won the World Cup in Qatar. Crazy times, but enough teasers for the World Cup.
There were no Cinderella stories in the first and last European Championships in the simulation. France and Germany picked up a trophy each. The Germans equaled Italy’s Euro trophy count with their success, a nice setup for a continued rivalry in the next 20 years to come.
