‘NUTMEG!' Brings ‘Balatro'-Style Retro Football Manager To PC In 2026

Forbes

13 hours ago

Most football supporters of a certain age — those in their mid-30s and older — know the thrills of two things: collecting stickers, and losing years to football management games. NUTMEG!, landing on PC in 2026, promises a mixture of the two and elements of Balatro, so they can once again kiss goodbye to their free time.
Developer Sumo Sheffield and publisher Secret Mode have pitched NUTMEG! as a card-based football management game that draws on the heady days of English league football from the 1980s and 1990s, long before the Premier League was even a thing — when you could park your car on the touchline, have a cigarette or five during the game, and don a replica of some of the most questionable kits in history. Who doesn't want WANG on their bright yellow shirt?
NUTMEG! puts players in charge of a Fourth Division team, and you need to guide them through two decades of competition as you play for promotion to the top level, while securing legendary players before anyone realizes just how good they are.
Success is a balancing act: management duties unsurprisingly include transfers, training, ticket pricing, and PR, but the meat on NUTMEG!'s bones is with its deck-building mechanics. Cards are earned through training and deployed in fast-paced, strategic battles at key moments on the pitch.
Along the way, NUTMEG! promises to keep things exciting in the longer term, unlocking new teams, tactics, and abilities along the way. All the while, both die-hard football fans and newcomers alike will get the chance to relive the game's most iconic eras through classic kits. Who doesn't want PLEASURE ISLAND on their fever dream shirt?
NUTMEG! also proudly follows in the footsteps of classic International Superstar Soccer games with its evident lack of licensing. All teams that aren't straightforward place names (e.g. Newcastle, Oxford) are a little more creative, meaning that Arsenal become Artillery, Nottingham Forest are Sherwood FC, Tottenham Hotspur transform into North London, and Everton are Mersey Blues. If anything, it gives it even more retro charm.
This sideways glance at the soccer management sim may not arrive until next year, but fear not — Kevin Toms Football Star Manager, a faithful remake of the very first Football Manager game from 1982, lands on Steam in mid-August, and you'd better believe that I'll be taking Hartlepool United all the way to the top of the English football pyramid.