Transfer market revolution meets gaming revolution

TransferRoom has revolutionised the football transfer market since its launch in 2017, bringing together a global community of club decision-makers, agents and players across 130 leagues worldwide.

The online platform gives the people calling the shots in the transfer market the opportunity to connect directly with each other, pitch players directly, share budget, squad and player requirements, and see who’s available in real time.

The 800+ clubs and 550+ verified, Trusted Agencies on the platform also get access to a comprehensive suite of performance, player, squad and Head Coach data, and market intelligence.

In 2023, TransferRoom brought its world-leading marketplace to the world of gaming through FM24, powered by Sports Interactive, with the “Offer to clubs via TransferRoom” functionality.

Now, recruitment is more realistic and comprehensive than ever with an enhanced TransferRoom experience in the new FM26 game, through two new features: Requirements and Pitch Opportunities.

Here is what Sports Interactive said in the announcement of FM26’s recruitment offering.

New transfer tools, powered by TransferRoom

FM26’s two biggest recruitment additions, powered by our partners at TransferRoom, can be found in the overview screen.

TransferRoom is football’s online transfer marketplace, a digital platform where clubs are able to simply and directly communicate their recruitment needs and desires with other clubs.

We began our collaboration with them in FM24 by giving you the option to offer your players for sale via TransferRoom. That’s still there but their integration has levelled up in FM26 with the addition of two new features modelled on the real-life functionality they provide to clubs around the world – Requirements and Pitch Opportunities.

Let’s focus first on Requirements, as these are there to give you a more realistic and authentic experience when it comes to buying players. These are essentially a way for you to communicate directly with every other club in your game world and outline your specific requirements in the transfer market.

When creating an advert, you can specify what position you’re looking for and the sort of player roles you’re interested in - for both In and Out of Possession.

You can also set an expected playing time, from a star player right through to someone that’s coming in to provide squad depth, as well as the type of transfer and age profile you’re looking for.  

From there, your ad will be circulated to every club in the game, and they’ll have the ability to come back to you with players they have that might fit your needs. Your Director of Football will make recommendations to you based on what the clubs come back to you with, with you then able to approach their agent, scout the player for yourself, make an offer or wait for more options to arise.  

Simply put, Requirements streamline the incoming recruitment process for you by allowing you to express your needs directly and giving you a clear insight into what options might be available in the market.

Bringing new players in often means letting some go and that’s where Pitch Opportunities come in. These are the direct counterpart of Requirements, allowing you to see what other clubs in your game world are looking for in the transfer market.

Opening the TransferRoom Out card allows you to see Requirements that other clubs have put out, with the exact same detail regarding position, role, playing time and so on. You can filter these by both transfer and loan ads and if you find something that you think matches someone in your squad that’s surplus to requirements, you can directly offer them to the club. Simple as that.

The Pitch Activity tab allows you to easily keep track of everyone you’ve offered out, as well as any transfer bids that come back your way.  

You’ll still receive bids independent of Pitch Opportunities and can still offer players directly to clubs through their Player Report. However, Pitch Opportunities give you more autonomy and choice when approaching player sales and by directly exposing the needs of other teams in your game world, makes it easier for you to find deals and shape your squad the way you want to.

Ultimately, the introduction of both Requirements and Pitch Opportunities change the way you interact with the transfer market in FM26 beyond, allowing you to get more of what you want while having to be less hands-on all the time.

Why this partnership is a game-changer

After the transfer market reality of TransferRoom to Football Manager from FM24 onwards in this partnership, Miles Jacobson, Sports Interactive’s Studio Director, said: “We are incredibly proud to be the first games company that TransferRoom are working with.

“TransferRoom are helping to bring football into the digital age by connecting the right people and getting deals over the line that probably wouldn’t have happened before.

“Having TransferRoom onboard as official partners will help us to elevate the authenticity and realism of transfer deals in Football Manager. FM24 is just the beginning of their inclusion in our games and the team are thrilled about the potential of what we can do with them in the years to come.”

Jonas Ankersen, the Founder and CEO of TransferRoom, added: “Football Manager is a staple for football fans around the world and a benchmark for making a game as true to reality as possible.

“Together, we now get the chance to show those playing Football Manager how football transfers happen in real life, bringing an added level of realism to the game.”

What is TransferRoom? Everything you need to know

The growth of TransferRoom's marketplace

Launched in 2017 as a platform for club-to-club communications and transfer activity, TransferRoom's subscription-based offering went to the next level in 2021 when agencies were welcomed into the marketplace as Trusted Agents.

To be on TransferRoom, agents must get verified as the representatives of their players, by their players. Being on the platform also allows them to connect directly with an unrivalled global network of club decision-makers, pitch players to them and see what clubs are looking for in real time. They can also see data such as players' Expected Transfer Value, Player Rating, and also how they compare to any players and leagues of their choice.

Since 2023, professional players aged 18 and over have been able to sign up for free, and either connect with a Trusted Agent or bring their own agent onto the platform. Players can get access to more and better transfer opportunities across 130 leagues, and also see their agent's real-time activity for them, including pitches to clubs and the clubs' responses. As with the club and agency offerings, it brings a new level of transparency and trust to the transfer market.

Since then, TransferRoom have launched a dedicated Intelligence platform for clubs and agents, which includes a host of unique datasets and data-driven tools, such as:

• Predicted Requirements, showing data-driven predictions of upcoming squad needs by position
• Loan Destination Finder, where you can find suitable loan destinations for your players and see clubs' history and success with loans
• Advanced API, where clubs extract data points across our unique view of the market to power real-time recruitment at scale, and plug it straight into their existing data systems.

Then there's Salary Benchmarking, our tracker for club staff moves (Club Staff Tracker), our Agency Influence Index across all clubs and much more.

And that's not it. TransferRoom has now launched Contingency AI, allowing clubs' Sporting Directors and Finance teams to track all transfer and player salary payments at scale in one automated dashboard, so they know when every clause or contingency is being paid in or out.