| Football Manager 2007 | |
| Developer: | Sports Interactive |
| Publisher: | Sega |
| Series: | Football Manager |
| Released: | Windows & Mac Xbox 360 & PlayStation Portable |
| Genre: | Sports Management |
| Modes: | Single-player, multiplayer using TCP/IP, Wi-Fi (PSP only), Xbox Live (Xbox 360 only), or Hotseat mode |
Football Manager 2007 (also known as Worldwide Soccer Manager 2007 in North America) is a 2006 football management simulation game. Commonly known as FM2007, it is the third game in the Football Manager series overall, following Football Manager 2006. It was developed by Sports Interactive, and published by Sega. FM2007 was released for Windows, Mac, Apple–Intel on 18 October 2006 with Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable versions following in December 2006. It was succeeded by Football Manager 2008.
As a result of user feedback and continued evolution of the game in general, Sports Interactive introduced over 100 new and revised features to Football Manager 2007. These include:
The PSP version of the game also included wireless multiplayer for the first time, and was named Football Manager Handheld.
A significant new addition is the ability to create a feeder club affiliation. This allows larger clubs to set up a relationships with a smaller club and vice versa. This can be used by users managing larger clubs to "farm out" players to their feeder club to gain the first team experience that they are unable to get at higher levels. They both work together for mutual benefit. A smaller club can benefit from the ability of these players on loan deals, and can also receive financial help. The larger club may also profit from merchandising in the smaller club's country.
The smaller club may also benefit from lucrative friendly matches against their parent side and get the "first option" on signing players released by the larger team. American and Chinese teams used as feeder clubs are known to significantly boost a parent club's income through merchandising.
Many fans had requested of SI the inclusion of feeder clubs in recent years, both on the official message boards and elsewhere. Fans of SI claim that the uncommonly close relationship between the design team and the players led to the inclusion of such desired features.
On Saturday, 30 September 2006 a demo of the game was released in four different versions: Strawberry and Vanilla for both Mac and Windows.
The Vanilla demo is basic and only includes English language, and the English league, with no kits, player photos, sound, or graphics.
The Strawberry demo includes playable leagues for Brazil, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Sweden, many kits and player photos, and language support for many other regions.
The game received almost universal critical acclaim on release, with an average score of 87 out of 100 on Metacritic. GameSpot described Football Manager 2007 as a "truly immersive football experience", while PC Gamer suggested that "no other game comes close." Football Manager 2007 was also nominated for a Golden Joystick Award and won the Gamers Award at the BAFTA.[1] [2]
Football Manager 2007s computer version received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[3] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[4]