Here’s all you need to know about the Football Manager 2023 Winter Transfer Update. Get ready for the upcoming FM23 patch!
Around this time of the year, any seasonal Football Manager fans eagerly anticipate the day the official release of the Football Manager 2023 winter transfer update arrives. For some of us it’s a big event as we can finally begin our long-term save! For others, the new FM23 patch is an essential update as it includes the latest football transfers, loan deals, squad updates and other changes to clubs and leagues to reflect what just happened within the real-world transfer window that just shut.
With immense expectations for the changes and improvements coming to Football Manager 2023, you might wonder when the official Football Manager 2023 winter transfer update is coming and what you can expect from the new FM23 patch.
The Main Data Update for Football Manager 2023 (PC/Mac) is now live, complete with updated squads following the recent transfer window*.
The Main Data Update is also now live on FM23 Console (Xbox and PS5), FM23 Touch (Apple Arcade and Nintendo Switch™) and FM23 Mobile (iOS/Android).
About the Main FM23 Winter Update – 23.3 Database
More than 3.7m database changes are incorporated within the Main Data Update, including alterations to the Current Ability levels of thousands of players around the world based on their real-life performances in recent months.
Here we will give you all the information you need to stay alert for the release of the FM23 winter transfer update & let you know what you can expect of changes and improvements. We will even update this page with all the most important changes to the FM23 winter update as soon as it’s live!
When can we expect the FM23 Winter Transfer Update to arrive?
The release date of the official Football Manager winter update is released at the end of February or beginning of March – a few weeks after the closure of the January transfer window. This year the FM23 winter update arrived March 2nd, 2023.
For the last years, there have been two releases of the winter update. The main winter update for FM22 was released February 24th, 2022, while the final update dropping one month later with further tweaks and fixes.
Like last year, it might be a similar case of updating the European Leagues with all the latest transfers from the winter transfer window 2022/23 with a minor update for those few leagues with a transfer window end in February.
For FM23, the release of the winter transfer update is right around the corner. Whilst we don’t have any inside information on when it arrives, it’s clear indications that it will be available in the coming days.
However, Sports Interactive do not have a set schedule or an exact release date for when their Football Manager updates arrives. Typically, their response is that it’s ready when it’s ready, as real-life scenarios might affect the release, like the case with the earthquake in Turkey and Syria that made an devastating impact on the Turkish Football Leagues.
Keep an eye on the official Football Manager website, or their social media channels for any news and announcements regarding the release of the Football Manager 2023 winter transfer update.
What will be updated in the new FM23 patch?
The Football Manager 2023 winter transfer update includes a number of essential changes to the FM23 database. To reflect the real-life transfer window and other changes in the global football world, the new FM23 patch includes all the latest football transfers, loan deals, staff movements, changes to clubs’ transfer budgets and their financial situations, updates and improvements to players’ profiles, such as changes to current ability, potential ability, reputation and player attributes.
Alongside transfer changes to players and staff, the update includes other useful fixes and improvements to the game. You can expect stability and crash fixes, gameplay adjustments, bug fixes and other features that makes Football Manager 2023 as realistic as possible.
To summarize, here’s what’s normally included in the Football Manager Winter Update:
- stability and crash fixes
- Format structure and rule changes to leagues and/or competitions
- Data updates of clubs, players and staff (e.g. reputation, finances, attributes, CA & PA as well as other database upgrades
- These data updates includes but are not limited to new wonderkids in Football Manager 2023 and upgraded players to reflect recent performances and transfer market value increases.
- Gameplay adjustments and improvements to the Match Engine (ME bug fixes)
- Added minor features to improve the user experience within specific areas of the game (e.g. last year ‘Last Match Analysis’ was added to be viewable after one match is played.
All gameplay adjustments will take effect in current careers, although you will need to begin a new save to take advantage of the data updates.
Last year, the main winter update alone contained over 4.4 million changes and fixes to both improve the overall gameplay and adjust the game to make it as accurate as possible to real-life events happened after the FM23 database was locked in October.
Once the main Football Manager 2023 winter transfer update is released, all the main changes will be outlined in the update release notes, which will be made available on this page as soon as the update is released!
Changes included in the 23.3 Update
We will update this page with all the most important changes to the main changes in the FM 23.3 update below.
Stability and crash fixes
• Fixes to reduce mistakes from bad touches in certain areas of the pitch
• Fixes to defenders not preparing correctly for crosses in certain situations
• Improvements to defender reaction to long through balls
• Tweaks to make attacking players move quicker to support counter-attacks
• Improvements to how AI managers use different midfield role combinations
• Improvements to central defender and defensive midfielder positioning from long goal kicks
• Improvements to how attacking wide players track back when defending
• Fixes for defending wide indirect free kicks at the edge of the area
• ‘Header won’ statistic now only counts contested headers
• Improvements to the Recruitment Focus logic
• Fixed cases of reserve or youth team tactics appearing blank in the Development Centre
• Tweaks to development loans for AI teams
• Improvements to fixture scheduling, particularly the frequency of consecutive home or away games
• Updated substitution rules across various competitions
This update also contains fixes and improvements across multiple areas of the game. All gameplay adjustments will take effect in current careers, although you will need to begin a new save game to take advantage of the data updates.
For a more detailed list of changes, please visit our community forum. Please note that the update may go live at different times on each platform.
How to get the latest FM23 Update?
The latest FM23 update will be available for download through the game’s auto-update feature on your preferred software, either you have Football Manager 2023 installed via Steam, Epic Games or are playing the FM23 Mobile, or FM23 Console.
Normally, the software will check for updates automatically and download the transfer window update as soon as it arrives, as long as you are not playing the game. If so, you need to quit the game and click Update.
Most updates of this nature should download automatically but if yours doesn’t, just quit and relaunch Steam or the Epic Games Store to prompt it to do so. If you’re playing via the Windows Store or Game Pass, you may need to manually search for the update – more information is available here.
You can manually check for updates on Xbox by hovering over Football Manager 2023 Console, pressing the menu button, navigating to ‘Manage game and add-ons’ and selecting ‘updates’.
On your iPhone and iPad, apps that you download from the App Store are automatically updated by default. If there’s an issue, you can update an app manually.
For FM23 Mobile players on Android, the game should update automatically. You can update manually by opening the Google Play Store App and tapping the profile icon. From there, tap ‘Manage Apps and Device’. Apps with an update available are labelled ‘Update available’.
For FM23 Touch (Nintendo Switch™), if you’ve enabled the Auto-Update Software option, the update should automatically install. If not, you’ll need to ensure that the console is connected to the internet and then from the home menu, select the FM23 Touch icon to update it.
*Further data updates will follow in the coming weeks, covering transfers and player rating changes from later closing windows, including MLS.