fmsave

Read your Football Manager 26 and 27 saves from disk into Python records, DataFrames, CSV, and JSON.

Documentation: guides and the full reference. Release notes cover each release.

No Python? Open fmsave in your browser and drop a save on the page. You get your squad and every player in the save, with all attributes, CA and PA, this season's stats, and CSV downloads. The save is read on your computer and never uploaded.

Game coverage

FM27 support covers build 27.0.0+2486695 through the normal API and commands. Other FM27 builds open as unverified builds: fmsave borrows the 27.0.0+2486695 layouts for each section whose schema matches, and a reader of a section whose schema differs raises UnsupportedGameError. Every reader runs on FM27, including fixtures, league tables, competition rules, suspensions and per-match histories. Named set-piece routines and nonempty training header entries and mentoring groups are not supported, and three season-stat fields are not read. Run fmsave validate SAVE --json for reader coverage and checks.

FM27 field meanings remain unconfirmed; structural checks do not establish correctness. known_build is true for 27.0.0+2486695 because every reader has a registered layout, not because its fields are confirmed. It is false for other FM27 builds. Unknown values stay explicit rather than borrowing FM26 meanings. Finance rows are snapshots, not current-month totals, and money is not converted to display currency. See the trust guide before relying on a value.

Install

fmsave needs Python 3.12 or newer.

uvx fmsave info path/to/career.fm   # try it without installing
pip install fmsave
pip install "fmsave[pandas]"        # adds Table.to_pandas()

Quickstart

import fmsave

with fmsave.open("career.fm") as career_save:
    my_club = career_save.managed_clubs()[0]  # empty when you are between jobs
    squad = career_save.players().where(club_uid=my_club.club_uid)

    for player in squad.sorted_by(lambda player: player.ability.current, reverse=True)[:5]:
        print(player.name, player.age, player.ability.current, player.attributes.finishing)
        # "Alex Example" 24 148 16

    squad_frame = squad.to_pandas()  # needs fmsave[pandas]
    squad.write_csv("squad.csv")

A player carries his names, birth date and age, nationality, club, height, positions, all 52 attributes, the 8 personality attributes, current and potential ability, reputation, transfer value, condition, traits, his contract and any unserved ban. Records and tables are immutable and keep working after the save is closed. Use uid for joins within a save and unique_id to match database people or clubs across careers; created people can reuse deleted people's IDs. Club uid 0 is valid. Use is not None to check whether a club reference resolved.

Each reader returns a Table: where(...), filter(...), sorted_by(...), find(name=...), by_uid(...), by_id(...) and coverage, plus to_dicts(), to_columns(), to_pandas(), to_polars(), write_csv(...), write_json(...) and write_jsonl(...).

What else it reads

30 readers in all, each returning a Table of records:

• People: players(), contracts(), suspensions(), staff(), staff_lists()
• Clubs: clubs(), managed_clubs(), finances(), sponsorships(), facilities(), stadiums(), affiliates(), job_vacancies()
• Competitions: stages(), competitions(), fixtures(), league_tables(), competition_rules(), transfer_windows(), player_match_stats(), player_season_stats(), player_season_history()
• Nations: nations() pairs save-local nation ids with game database ids.
• Injuries: injury_types(), injuries()
• Your own club's work, which only the club you manage stores: training(), mentoring(), tactics(), set_pieces(), selections()

Every field is either verified against the game or unconfirmed; ask with fmsave.field_status(fmsave.Player, "contract.wage"). Values come from the save as stored, a value fmsave cannot read is None rather than a guess, and money is kept in the unit the game stores it in, which can differ from the currency it displays.

Reader checks test completeness, joins and expected ranges. A failed check warns and returns the table; strict=True raises instead. Structural failures raise in either mode. See Trusting a number before relying on a result.

What it cannot read

• Names the game renders from its own installed database. Competitions, leagues, nations, cities and most grounds. fmsave ships none of these and reads nothing from your game install. Competitions carry database_id, the id every outside name source is keyed on, so you can supply your own map. See Competition names.
• Links the save does not store, such as which competition a rules block belongs to, or which ground a club plays at. Worked out from the fixture calendar where possible, left empty where not.
• Meanings for numbers the game never displayed, such as most settings inside a tactic, or staff job titles on FM26. These come back as raw numbers rather than as labels fmsave guessed at.
• Partial history and unsupported fields: match-score coverage that varies by save, older injuries, and today's availability, the next match's line-up (selections() holds the stored picks), staff attribute values, club debt and asking prices.

Competition names

competition_names = fmsave.read_competition_names("competition-names.csv")
with fmsave.open("career.fm", competition_names=competition_names) as career_save:
    for competition in career_save.competitions():
        print(competition.database_id, competition.name)  # 12345 "Example League"

The file is UTF-8, 2 columns, database_id then name; a leading header row is skipped. Any mapping of database id to name works too. Without a map, name and every denormalised competition_name is None. Competitions without a database id cannot use this map; those created during a career may have no entry in an outside name source.

Command line

fmsave info career.fm
fmsave export career.fm players --managed-club -o squad.csv
fmsave export career.fm players --nation 7 --columns name,age,club_name,contract_wage
fmsave validate career.fm --json

export writes any of the 30 tables as CSV, JSON, or JSON Lines, and needs a scope: --club, --managed-club, --competition, --nation or --all. Nested groups flatten to contract_wage-style columns and a coded value gives a label column plus a _code column, so JSON is the lossless format. --all is explicit and is for local analysis of your own single-player save. validate runs every reader and reports its checks, counts and coverage, holding no names, uids or text from the save, so it is safe to paste into an issue.

Where saves live

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 26/games/
• Windows: usually Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 26\games\
• Steam Cloud and other stores may keep saves somewhere else.

If the game is running, copy the save and read the copy.

Safety

fmsave is read-only. It never modifies saves, makes no network connections, and does not read game memory. Local single-player analysis is supported. Using hidden data to gain an advantage in a shared online career may break platform or community rules.

Contributors

Thanks to everyone who has reported bugs, suggested features, helped test or worked out how the game stores its data:

• @1e16miin
• @Buglerru
• @BWH95
• @GetChatGPTToDoIt
• @guyluzon64
• @hostlund
• @jeohist
• @johnmmcparland
• @jtstothard
• @kdr6989
• @matthiasvetter1104
• @Namhahaha1110
• @OdumWorld
• @rui7avares-create
• @thaffy

Support

fmsave is a hobby project, maintained on a best-effort basis. Report problems through GitHub issues. Do not attach or link a save file in an issue. To share a save, email a link to the address on my GitHub profile. See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to report a wrong value without sharing real data. To request removal of any content, open an issue with the rights request form.

fmsave does not merge pull requests from other people. Open an issue instead, and you'll be credited when the change ships. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Disclaimer

fmsave is an unofficial fan project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Sports Interactive or SEGA. Football Manager, Sports Interactive and SEGA are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.