Football Manager developer denies newspaper claim it edited its player database after accusations of racial profiling

The developer of Football Manager has insisted it did not change the way the game works in response to an allegation of racism.

An article published in The i newspaper this week alleged Sports Interactive altered the way the simulation’s widely-used player database works following the publication of an online article in 2019 that accused Football Manager of having “a racism problem”.

Football Manager’s database represents real-world footballers by a number of stats (roughly 250 each) covering a variety of aspects from the physical (Pace, Strength, Shooting, Tackling etc) to the mental (Adaptability, Creativity, Decisions, Leadership etc). These stats are initially compiled by a network of more than 1000 researchers around the world, then refined and compiled into the final database by Sports Interactive’s in-house team.

This database is used by professional clubs all over the world in their talent ID processes, and has been credited with predicting the success of a raft of superstar footballers, including Kylian Mbappé, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Aguero.

In June 2019, Quartz published a report based upon an analysis of data from Football Manager’s player database that found “players and staff with darker skin tend to have worse ratings on non-physical attributes”.

Quartz examined the share of players and staff with each skin colour number who received a rating of 10 or above on Sportsmanship, Temperament, Professionalism, and Loyalty – aka, those who rank in the top half of scores for these non-physical attributes. The charts make for grim reading.

Additionally, Quartz analysed the Professionalism rating of more than 900 players in the English Premier League, and found lighter skin players tend to receive higher scores on non-physical attributes. Sports Interactive did not comment at the time.

It’s worth explaining exactly how these “personality” attributes work. They are hidden, that is, players can only find them if they own Football Manager’s in-game editor. Each player has a Personality, which is a descriptive word and visible to players. For example, a player’s personality can be described as Determined, Fairly Determined, Ambitious, Professional, etc.