Football Manager Available to Play for Free for ANOTHER Week as UK Goes Into Lockdown

Sports Interactive are giving football fans another week of free access to Football Manager 2020, with more and more countries (the United Kingdom and India in the first two days of this week alone) locked down to slow the spread of the coronavirus. 

The number of people playing the popular sporting overlord simulation has spiked dramatically since people in the UK began to work from home and 'socially distance' in the last couple of weeks, hitting a game record of over 80,000 people online at once last Sunday – and numbers only flying up since.

SI started allowing free access to the game in the middle of last week, and saw online players peak at over double the pre-lockdown record this past Sunday; with over 180,000 managers...managing. 

Which is loads. 

The SI statement read: "We’re delighted to announce that following on from the success of our Football Manager 2020 free week last week, we’re extending it for a second (and final) week. This means that FM20 will remain completely free to play on Steam until 3:00pm GMT on Wednesday, April 1st.

"If you took advantage of the initial free week then you don’t need to do a thing as FM20 will remain in your Steam library until the free period expires.If you’re yet to start your managerial career, then it’s easy to get access to the game. If you already have a Steam account, all you have to do is head to the Football Manager 2020 page and hit the ‘Play Game’ button. This will give you access to the game until the free period expires."

Sports Interactive are also offering free space on their in-game advertising hoardings to mental health charities, in order to help people through what is a difficult time for some in isolation.

For more from Chris Deeley, follow him on Twitter at @ThatChris1209!