Manchester United will be rebranded as Manchester UFC in Football Manager 22, as Manchester United and Sega have settled a trade mark dispute over the use of the club’s name.
Manchester United and Sega have agreed a settlement to amicably resolve their trade mark dispute relating to Football Manager. Both parties are pleased to resolve this matter to their mutual satisfaction. pic.twitter.com/OQXeY7nMXP
— Football Manager (@FootballManager) August 6, 2021
Both parties have apparently received “mutual satisfaction” by the outcome of this – Man Utd for getting their way, and Sega for not having to deal with a potentially costly trip to court. It’s all a bit of a faff, but the dispute has been settled on a “no admissions basis”. That means Sega and Sports Interactive say they don’t need permission to use the Manchester United name, but are kindly choosing not to so that Manchester United stop bothering them about it.
SEGA and Sports Interactive maintain that they do not need a licence to use the ‘Manchester United’ name but have made the change as a gesture of goodwill so that both parties can move on.
— Football Manager (@FootballManager) August 6, 2021
You know who’s going to be most pleased by this? The Ultimate Fighting Championship, best known as the UFC. Manchester’s red football club will now be known as Manchester UFC, after all.
We doubt this means that the team will embrace a new form of thuggish football, but then again, former Man Utd player Eric Cantona was banned from football for eight months for the infamous ‘kung-fu’ incident in the mid-90s.
Sports Interactive recently announced a new initiative for the Football Manager series, to incorporate women’s football into the game for the first time. Women’s football won’t be in this year’s game, as SI describe this as a multi-year project, and commit to recreating the women’s game in just as much analytical detail as the men’s game. That goes from trying to feature representative leagues from around the world, to ensuring that players have suitable motion capture and kits, and they’re even considering incorporating the sports science and need for female athletes to train around their menstrual cycle and possible pregnancy.
Football Manager 21 was another great entry in the long-running football management series. In our review, Aran said;
“Football Manager 2021 combines the best elements of previous games and undergoes a dramatic improvement that cuts deeper than the superficial. It’s heavy, detailed, and been given a new texture by a more personal take on management.”
Source: Twitter
