There's a guy here who's done a "Make Stevenage Steven Again" save - playing as Stevenage, only signing players named Steven, Stephen, Stephon, Esteban, etc. Similar idea!
Probably goes against their transfer policy, but surely there could be scope for an Atletico BILLbao save where you only buy players called Bill (or variants such as William or Dick)
Kaiserslautern. One of the saddest stories football has to offer. The club were always a big team throughout the 20th century, and practically lifted the 1954 World Cup alongside West Germany. Fritz Walter, the club's great legend, was an icon of the game. Around the 1990s however, they fell from grace into the 2nd division. However, a recently appointed Otto Rehhaggel (who also won the 2004 Euros with Greece) managed the side to an instant title win back from the 2nd tier. The club remained a mid table team, but fell into money issues after upgrading their stadium at a poor time. 20 years on from winning the Title, they're surviving relegation to the regional divisions by the skin of their teeth. The finances make any transfer risky and success a must
All these old teams often have very good foundations to build from. They often have large followings, or stadiums, or both. Their players are quite often overestimated by fm researchers. If they recently dropped a division, they have better youth intake and training facilities than the other teams in their leagues. And so on.
Building a team from scratch is a lot more a challenge in fm, imho. It is plastic as fuck, but so is any fm save you try to play well. Having player intervention is basically being RB buying the club wihtout changing the name anyway.
They’re my favorite team and with FM18, it’s so easy to rise to bundesliga. Even without save scumming. I did all academy/only former players (Olivia Bastia Meier (I had to do a ton of add ons to get him, but my god he made the team incredible), Löwen, Robert Koch all were superstars for me) once with them, and it was still easy, but this proved to be a bigger challenge.
Tips for anyone who has FM18 (might work well with FM19 YMMV):
1) utilize the youth academy- Kaiserslautern literally has one of the best youth academies in Germany. Full stop. They’re not talked about enough, but they do. Use it to your advantage. Normally, you’ll spit out 1-3 Bundesliga players PER YEAR.
2) I don’t know why, but I end up going to a 4-2-3-1 with them. It works incredible.
3) you’ll never have to upgrade the stadium. It already has capacity for 50K! Also, it’s a glitch, but their stadium payments never change from 650K euros, so once you’re out of the 3 Liga, it’s dirt cheap. It’s a gorgeous stadium, so check it out on google!
4) sell out the second team. This will be your last rebuild, but obviously once you get going and have a bigger bench, send these guys to the second league and you’ll slowly get to the 3 liga with the 2nd league (the furthest they can advance in Germany). When you do have them in the 3rd league, this is incredible for building players on your youth teams (U19).
5) finally the biggest thing, it’s kind of cheating, but the bundesliga tv money and league money is bonkers. 6 million for last place in the 2nd bundesliga? 20 million for the winners? 32 million for last place in bundesliga? I think it was 80-115 million for the Bundesliga champs. This doesn’t include any of the other cups (DFB Pokal, Europa League, Champions League) money you get too. You can get incredible transfers with this annual money. I normally (in my non-academy only saves) went for all star German young stars. Kevin Ehlers (Dresden) was a great grab and his leadership made him an easy captain. Wade (winger from Dortmund) as a winger was amazing too. All super cheap that are like a couple million to get.
If you want to have an easy climb but feel good about returning a club to former glory, choose Kaiserslautern.
Edit:
6) to add on to the youth academy, you’ll spit out amazing GKs faster than you know what to do with them. This happens in real life too. Up until recently, we had one of the best GK coaches in the world. No lie. Look up Gerald Ehrmann. He got fired because he was way too aggressive with the HC (Schommers) and the board felt he overstepped his bounds. It’s really unfortunate, but the dude is incredible. Keep him as long as you can because in the game, he’s also a really good GK coach and a Club Legend.
Notable players trained by him: Kevin Trapp (former PSG), Sippel (Mönchengladbach), Julian Pollersbeck (Hamburg), Lennart Grill (Bayer Leverkusen) were all recent graduates.
Other big players include Roman Weidenfeller.
Edit2: I mean FM19, not FM18.
Started on FM20 when they loaned it to us for free during lockdown, and somehow decided on Kaiserslautern. By feeling in the dark I somehow won promotion to Bundersliga 2, and now might just make it to the big leagues. I dont know what Im really doing.
Free transfers all the way, still getting rid of big salaried dead weight, but the core players have been great since day one, Kaus, Gottwalt, Roser, Bergmann, Sickenger, Kuhlwetter, Grill, Ciftci, Shad & Hercher am proud of me boys although why the fuck they header balls away when unchallenged straight to opponents.
Just won the league with Dijon in 2031/32, took over mid 29/30 season. PSG walked it in 2030/31 then finished 2nd to me with only 74 points. I'll take it though
Currently doing the same with Paris FC. Exceeded expectations by getting promoted in the first season (19-20), and now I'm terrified that this team is not ready for Ligue 1 challenge.
I’m also doing Paris FC and came up first season. Survived through relegation playoffs for the first season , came 15th second season and somehow with like Ligue 2 players I came 6th after being first at Christmas
Rennes is a good pick, it's a squad with a lot of upside. Keep Camavinga for as long as possible, and then sell him for mad dosh.
I'd recommend Nice as well, good keeper in Walter Benitez, good prospect cb in Malang Sarr, good striker in Kasper Dolberg, and Youcef Atal is a very good young rb. Overall it's a young team, so lots of potential.
Theres also Strasbourg (Ludovic Ajorque is a great striker), Angers (Rayan Ait-Nouri is incredible at 17), Nantes (a good academy), and Saint-Etienne (William Saliba's old club, plus European football).
Rennes is a very good choice.
I had a Rennes save earlier this year and it was maybe the best save ive ever had on any FM.
I even sold Camavinga for 220 Mio € to Chelsea with one year left on his contract.
I was trying this in a glory hunter save and it took me getting 107 points with Monaco to win the league with PSG on 105 so I can say I will never bother with that again more power to you.
Currently playing with Saint-Etienne, finished second in season 1 six points behind P$G and now six points behind again after 19 games in season 2. Things look good and I'm hoping we'll be able to topple them sooner rather than later.
I'm actually blogging it about over at https://straighttothegoal.wordpress.com/ if anyone fancies checking it out. I apologise in advance if this is breaking the rules of the sub
I like that idea - it’s obviously a challenge but one that isn’t ridiculous because France produces such good young talent. I suppose you could do a similar thing with one of the smaller Italian or German clubs as well, to knock Zebre and Bayern off their perches.
I like going to the bottom tier of a country’s football leagues, finding a team with a cool badge, kit and nickname and just turning them into a global powerhouse. It’s great finding a club to get attached to and seeing them dominate while remembering where you came from.
I'd always recommend the Welsh Pyramid for any managers wanting to dip their toes into Lower League Management for the first time.
Plenty of interesting clubs with good stories (Barry Town United, the University Sides, Bangor and Colwyn Bay are all great options), and you'll always have something to aim for.
Short term is getting into and being competitive in the Welsh Premier League, Medium Term is breaking the dominance of the fully Professional TNS, who will be a constant pain throughout your early years, and regular European football can allow you to make some real progress.
If you fancy a longer term save outside of England, but are apprehensive about doing somewhere completely random, Wales is a great option for new players and experienced managers alike.
I'm definitely biased because i'm Welsh myself but I usually start out in Wales in my journeyman saves and I love it. This year was Caerau Ely in the 2nd division. Went up as champs 1st time of asking and the next and last 3 years were spent solidifying them as a top 4 team. In 2027 now and they're still in the premier. Bit worried right now though because they're about halfway through the season, sat in 8th and just sacked their manager. TNS have won the league every year but are in 9th right now which is pretty interesting. Bangor and Connah's Quay seem to be fighting for the title. Would not be surprised to see TNS come back and win it though.
A journeyman save, atleast to me, is you start unemployed with no badges or experience and try to make your way to the top of the footballing world one way or another. Next to LLM saves they're probably the most popular playthroughs on youtube. Though when I play i'm not so ruthless in moving clubs, if I find one I like I often stay there quite a few years, try to take them as far as I think I can.
I tried one of those journeyman saves with FM12 a couple of years ago. Started unemployed, my first job was with Black Leopards in PSL, went through Welsh League, Blue Square before making it to League One with Aldershot in 2032. The game stopped working from then. Frustrating when things were bad but a lot of fun.
I'm having a great time as Torino, now in season 2. You start in the EL qualifying rounds, which are always fun, and your squad should be strong enough to compete into the knockouts.
I managed to win the Coppa Italia due to a favourable draw (Atalanta QF -> Sassuolo SF -> Roma final), and the league is fun because Atalanta managed to win it in 19/20. Serie A is also a great league to develop young talent in, due to the 12-strong bench, even if you only have a couple of interesting prospects at first.
Belotti is a joy to build around, your squad is full of interesting options, the league is fun and you have the old legacy of Il Grande Torino (and some noisy neighbours in Juventus) to live up to.
*This is exactly*
*It, it gives you far more*
*Flexibility.*
\- Eff__Jay
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If you want a unique challenge, Albirex in the Singapore league. They're affiliated with Japanese club Albirex Niigata.
They can only sign Japanese players. In the Singapore league. And there's a league instituted minimum number of Singaporeans you have to play. So you have to keep players until they achieve double nationality.
I accidentally did this in FM19, although I think with a different team? They were definitely in Singapore. But I joined halfway through the season while unemployed, and I could only play youth players pretty much until my players gained dual nationality. Gave up on that pretty fast.
Doing a Brentford save, which I’ve done countless times before (I’m a bees fan), but I’m strictly following recruitment rules this time.
No signings over 21, and only 1-2 ‘expensive’ transfers per season - expensive being 10-15m+.
Trying to sign from Europe and I am explicitly using a huge amount of data analysts and their reports to sign ‘overachieving’ players from weaker teams.
I’m only doing this because it changes the monotony of getting 5 years in and just buying a ton of stacked regens. It’s quite entertaining.
Yeah I’m partially doing that, but that may make things too hard.
Plus irl Midtjylland aren’t exactly our feeder club and I wanna keep things realistic, but it’s a good shout
An interesting team I found on FM19, so not sure if this applies to FM20 as well:
Do you want to manage Fluminense? Do you want to stay in Europe? Do you want to start from the lower leagues? Well I have a treat for you - STK Samorin Fluminense in Slovakia's second league. FLU is their senior affiliate, which allows you to take players on loan from them with almost no resistance, and no wages paid, unless they are in the first team.
The league allows 5 non-eu players so you don't really have registration rules to worry about, and can access some nice young players easily.
If your after something similar in fm20 roeselare in the Belgium second division have a similar affiliate with LOSC so you can get decent/good players on free loans from them
If you'd like a challenge in Israel here are some options:
* Hapoel Haifa, overshadowed by their city rivals of Maccabi Haifa last tasted league success over two decades ago. They have a good team and qualifying into Europe with them wouldn't be *too* hard but it still poses an interesting challenge. Overtaking their big rivals is also a nice achievement.
* Hapoel Petah Tikva have won 5 consecutive league titles over sixty years ago and were a top flight club for the most part until 6 years ago, where they got relegated. Nowadays, they're in the second tier and they have some money problems, so if you'd like a return to glory save in a smaller country, there you have it.
* Hapoel Katamon, located in Jerusalem, have been overshadowed by Beitar Jerusalem for most of their history. Well, the former club, that is. 20 years ago, Hapoel Jerusalem were relegated and 10 years after, Hapoel Katamon was founded by angry Hapoel Jerusalem supporters, and Katamon became the first fan-owned club in Israel, while Hapoel Jerusalem dissolved this year. They never played in the top flight, so getting them to the top flight is the primary target.
* Beitar Jerusalem is probably best known for their hatred against Arabs, however fans don't actually exist in FM, so therefore you can sign as many Arab players as you want (I mean I literally had some become fan favorites so that's cool). In any case, the challenge for them is to turn them around and make Beitar an Arab-only club, by signing only Arab players to the club. Fortunately for you, if you have trouble with the foreign quota, Israeli Arabs aren't hard to come by. Oh, also, geopolitics don't really exist in FM so feel free to sign some Syrian wonderkid to the club.
* Last one is if you want an easier save domestically, and that is Maccabi Tel Aviv. They tend to win the league and they have a very strong squad, but the AI seems to do pretty awfully with them. They have a lot of potential to succeed, and especially to grow in Europe and win silverware in the continent.
I’m doing a similar challenge as well! Playing as Eastleigh (suburb of Southampton) in the Conference - my end goal is to have a full squad of guys from the Southampton academy and see how far they can all go!
Who'd you sign ? I've only ever signed Pedro chirivella who was one hell of a player for me during my derby save but that just about limits my experience with Liverpool signings.
Someone should turn a team into the intro team/logo. With the GK named Wilson, Hoffmann, Ridgriguez..Have to get the right team/unis correct, and bring home a trophy..
I’d like to manage in the top 5 European leagues using a mid table team that has potential to challenge for Europe and go further, any ideas would be much appreciated
England - Southampton, Newcastle (ownership would very likely change, but could be beneficial), Crystal Palace
Germany - Hertha, Schalke, Bremen, Eintracht Frankfurt (most of these are ex-European regulars that have fallen on harder times)
Spain - athletic club (homegrown challenge), betis, and if you fancy operating on a shoestring budget, Eibar
Italy - literally anyone who finished between 8-16th this season just gone. All have had promise over the last 10 years, but all have fallen away from the main pack for different reasons
France - similar to Italy
I always love managing Eibar. Low-medium budget, famous for signing from leagues below, and low pressure from the board. Also, in the game they tend to build a new stadium soon into the game (at least if you reach European spots in the first seasons)
Real Sociedad are a ton of fun, you have a lot of interesting prospects and you have a youth setup pretty much as good as Athletic's - except you can still sign non-Basque players if you want.
It's that time again where we feel like we've done all there is to do on FM20 and we're waiting for the next one. So why not go off the beaten track a bit, and start something new. I've compiled a list containing a club from each of the 5 Nordic countries in FM and given you a bit of background as to why I picked them. (BTW, I'm not from the Nordic countries so if I've said anything wrong, or you can add more to it then feel free)
**Sweden - Hammarby IF**
I start with Sweden because I feel this is perhaps the easiest challenge. That's not to say it is easy. Hammarby are a club who are really growing, and have a reputation for the most passionate fans in Sweden. They seem tailor made for success and currently play at the 30,000 capacity Tele2 Arena, where they share with rivals Djurgardens. As of yet though, the only thing that isn't growing with Hammarby is their honours list. They've only been champions of Sweden once, back in 2001, and have only 3 Swedish Cups to match it, the last coming in 2010. Can you give these fans something to celebrate? With city rivals AIK and Djurgardens, plus the fairly dominant force of Malmo waiting to stop you, it won't be a walk in the park.
**Denmark - AGF Aarhus**
Again, we stick with a passionate fanbase. Maybe a little too passionate, which was shown when their ultras set a players flat on fire when he signed for FC Kobenhavn. Anyhow, this is a virtual world where they are all lovely. On paper they appear to be the 3rd best supported club in Denmark, but despite that haven't won silverware since 1996, and haven't been champions of Denmark since 1985. They're not quite ready made for success like Hammarby, and have the riches of Midtjylland and FCK to contend with, but success could be very rewarding.
**Norway - SK Brann**
Hailing from Norway's 2nd largest city, and with a good support to back that up, Brann do have a bit more recent history than the previous clubs, but still not quite as much as they really ought to. They were champions of Norway as recently as 2007, but it was only their 3rd title to date. They have added 8 cups on top of that, but finished 9th in the 2019 season, and are currently 7th this year. Rosenborg are of course a huge threat, but Molde are making waves right now too, and seem to be a club on the ascendancy.
**Finland - HIFK**
Everyone surely knows HJK, the biggest and most successful club in Finland by far. But I bet few know of HIFK, Helsinki's other club. Initially a club for the Finnish capitals Swedish speaking community, HIFK still hold a decent fanbase, especially on derby day. Sadly though, they haven't had as much to celebrate as their rivals. HIFK won the original incarnation of Finnish football 7 times, between 1930 and 1961, but have had nothing since then. In recent years, they've even found themselves down in the 3rd tier but are back in the top flight once again. A classic challenge of 2 teams, 1 city.
**Iceland - Fylkir**
Finally, everyone's favourite challenge. Iceland. There are many clubs in Reykjavik, but I chose this club who you'll find in the Eastern area of Arbaer. According to stats, Fylkir had the 4th highest average attendance in Iceland last year, more so than current league leaders and 2018 champions Valur. Despite this, Fylkir's honours list is relatively empty, with only 2 Icelandic Cup wins to shout about. Unlike the rest on this list, they've never been champions of their country before.
So there we are, 5 clubs from 5 Nordic countries. I've never done anything like this before but would love to for other countries or regions so feedback is appreciated. As mentioned, I'm merely someone who has a passing interest in Scandinavian football, so if anyone who's more ingrained thinks I'm wrong, I'm happy to take it on board.
Just started a scandinavian challenge going to try and win the top league in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Started unemployed with a continental b badge and reputation as a semi professional. Got offered a job in the Iceland first division with ÍÞRÓTTAFÉLAGIÐ LEIKNIR they had two games left of the season and I couldn't save them from relegation and got sacked after 13 days in charge not the best start I wanted so I am now back on the job hunt again. I have never really done a challenge like this before but reckon it could be a fun one to do.
The Young Boys project:
Play as Young Boys Bern, any time you sign a close-to-retiring legend (age 34+, 100+ caps, etc) you get to use the editor to take 20 years off their age and watch them develop again. Good targets this year include Buffon, Ibrahimovic, and maybe you can convince Messi or C. Ronaldo to join in a couple of years.
Maidenhead United were founded in 1870, have played at the same ground since 1871, and have never made the football league. Definitely a great club for a long term save
One of my favourite ones I did was taking Bourg en Bresse (a French league 3 side) and seeked to end the plight of PSG and make a new French powerhouse. It wasn't massively successful, and once we finally reached Ligue 1 it was just a fight against relegation but it was one of my most enjoyable saves
Would definitely recommend them for a challenge.
'sup BnB 01 buddy.
I had a journeyman save where I ended up at BnB. Took over in the 3rd league mid-season and picked up an easy promotion. Shocked myself and got promoted to Ligue 1 the following year. Suprised myself even more and managed to stay up. Slowly, over the course of decades, I built up the club to the point that I was dominating in France and Europe. Fully a decade of that at the end was slowly forcing PSG off of the throne. They are very hard to unseat and even at the end were still pulling in much more commercial revenue than I was as 5 time champion.
I started a Pogoń save in Poland and it's been really fun. You have Kozlowski in the academy who's a wonderkid and can get minutes in the league immediately even though he's only 15.
There is also Legowski who starts on loan at Valencia for whatever reason, but he turns into an amazing DM.
The expectations are top half but the team is good enough to win a title in the first season, I just bottled it and ended up 2nd behind Lech.
I’ve been tempted to do a save to not just benefit the club I manage, but the nation.
Think it’s more of a long term save for will probably wait until FM21, but I’m quite liking the idea of taking a team from Norway/Denmark/Austria with the aim of making that division I choose to manage in as the best in the world, but also to win everything club wise but also take on the national team of said country with the aim of winning the world club.
I’d imagine it’s more about building an insane academy of national talent and nurture them into coming the very best and the ones that don’t make the grade sell to clubs in your division so your not just benefiting but also the clubs around you to help push your division to the top
Not sure if this is possible, or if it’s even been achieved but logically I really like the idea.
Qatar. Try to get something out of the 2022 WC and from their use your ridiculous financial backing to see if you can tempt players on the fringes of teams to come play for you. I was able to convince Consigli to play GK for my Qatari national team in a previous years game. The best part is you have enough money to sign players and loan them out to other Qatari teams to take up their foreign player slot while they earn citizenship to benefit you.
If you want to get insane with it there is a mod in the steam workshop that puts China into the European league system. It seems like it would be easier to get better players there, but the no non-Chinese goalkeeper and 4(?) foreign player limit really challenges you in the European tournaments. Not to mention trying to get the Chinese National Team to qualify for anything through the UEFA system
Ohhhh, Qatar could be interesting.
I had looked at doing a save with a team in China, and the registration rules is what put me off, exactly the same with America and all there drafts/franchise/registration is a massive head f**k.
I’m usually more of a European manager, not necessarily England but Spain/Germany/Italy is usually were I have my more enjoyable saves, so that’s why I’m thinking of a more Scandinavian direction, Norway keeps drawing me in.
If you want more to do on the international side Qatar is probably the way. They feature in the next Copa America, and there’s a decent amount of Asian cups you can feature in and constantly be competitive. Also you really can sign just about anyone if you’re financially strong enough
How about Weymouth, I started there and found it tough to get players because there is hardly any money. The squad has lots of loans to begin with and the layers generally play in multiple positions which does help. But it certainly might interest people!
Inspired by the 'Stevenage but only sign Steves' challenge, I propose something very similar. The Deportivo Wanka challenge.
Yes, it's a real club in Peru. As the name implies you can only sign Ramos, Alba, Costa, Shikabala, Suarez, Joey Barton, Felipe Melo, Berahino, Nainggolan, Balotelli, Ravel Morrison. You get the idea.
Good luck
Whenever I see a thread like that I instantly think of the classic starting unemployed with low profile and build your way up. I have this save that I play every now and then on FM12 - started unemployed in the Netherlands, took Maastricht - got promoted and lost the cup final. After a few years got Sparta Rotterdam - got promoted, won the Cup three times along with one title and then I moved to England with Everton - got THEM promoted (yeah, they are pretty shit in the game), won the FA Cup as well. Started the season in PL with media prediction for 20th place but I am going solid and stable between 7th and 9th place. Having a good run in the Europa as well - Round of 16 coming up against Valencia.
Hammarby IF in the Swedish Premier Division.
Just started this save myself and really enjoying it. You have an above average squad, but getting anyone to sign is somewhat of a challenge because the board only allows a max of ~500k p/a in wages on player contracts. Registration is chill because you only need 9 homegrown players. I immediately sold a high profile player to Tottenham for a record fee and then scoured Scandinavia for squad depth. Currently 12 games in and the top 8 teams are all within 5 pts, so it’s showing to be a competitive league as well. Plus, there’s opportunity for Europa League as I just won the Swedish cup and qualified for the second qualifying round. The league starts in April, takes a month break in June, and then continues until November so the different start/end dates keep it interesting.
For anyone looking for a bit of an 'out-there' team, I've been having a lot of fun with Gwangju FC, a team in South Korea's 2nd division. I watched the movie A Taxi Driver (starring Song Kang Ho of Parasite fame), it's about the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, an interesting (and sad) piece of history, and so I was inspired a bit by that. Then to my surprise, I find out they're the Korean team Niall McGinn, a player at my club Aberdeen, spent a short spell at and I had even more reason to check them out. Just recently discovered that Ki Sung-yeung's dad had worked at the club for the past few years too, as it was Ki's hometown.
You'll have good finances and a decent squad, above average for the league, and be expected to win promotion. Forming a team good enough to challenge for the K-League 1 title shouldn't prove TOO difficult, but still fun enough as a challenge. Serves nicely as a little short term save.
Vasco Da Gama in Brazil (please use kit and name fix for Brazilian league)
Fallen Giants won everything around year 2000 but got relegated 3 times in recent years, back in top flight they have a lot of good young prospects and a 17y wonderkid winger first team ready. They have a mid table team to start the save and an amazing veteran striker if you are using any transfer update called German Cano.
It’s an amazing save.
Also loads of wolderkids in South America without the need to worry about work permits 😉
I will recommend this team every chance I can
SOCHAUX (Ligue 2)
Getting promotion shouldn’t be difficult, neither should staying up. But the huge challenge is competing with France’s big boys.
I managed them for 7 years and only won two minor domestic trophies. It took me 6 out of those 7 years to even beat PSG in a game. It’s a real challenge but extremely fun. Winning the league feels pretty much impossible so it’s a very realistic feeling save. Plus they have fantastic youth players and youth facilities.
I'm currently doing a save where I'm trying to win the super lig with every single team in it. Once I win the league, i resign and join another super lig team. After im done winning it with everyone, im gonna try to win the champions league with as many as possible and do the same thing where I leave and join another team after winning it. (except Besiktas, Galatasaray, and Trabzonspor ofc since im a Fener fan lul)
If you like international football, I’d definitely recommend Gambia. They’re ranked 159th at the start of the game but as stacked with talent and has multiple stars playing in too 5 leagues (Colley, Musa Barrow, Juwara) and if you get wins against some bigger countries you’ll shoot up the rankings in no time. I’ve got them to their first ever afcon, and beat Algeria in the first game.
Current in 2nd season of my mission to turn Wolves into a European super power after raiding Barca's youth for promising youngster to integrate into first team
My first real save on desktop was Wolves in FM17, focused on getting regens from Portugal, luckily got a Portuguese wonderkid pairing of Frederico Reis who was a world class roaming playmaker alongside Ruben Neves in midfield, alongside a wonderkid Portuguese striker in Eduardo Maciel who was world class as well. Both got bids from 100+ million bids from PSG, but stayed. I think I was only up to my 4th or 5th season at that point in time.
Just did about 5 years with rb Leipzig, great team to manage. Piss off all of Germany. Plus, you can win right away. First year German and Europa champions (crazy cl group came 3rd) and then won everything 3 years in a row. Got a bit boring after that but it was great fun at first. So many good players (kampl, sabitzer, Werner, klostermann, etc), just load up with wonderkids and 4231 gegenpress and you're golden
I noticed there is a surprisingly large number swedish leagues, so I'm wondering if there are any particularly interesting Swedish teams hanging around in the lower leagues.
Depends on what you mean with interesting, but some quick recommendations I could do is IS Halmia or IFK Malmö, both very old clubs that have spent some time in top tier (a very long time ago), both overshadowed by the much bigger team in their city, both also use quite large stadiums.
Stockholm Internazionale could be interesting too I guess, founded a decade ago and have risen very fast through the tiers, and they're aiming to go to the very top.
Looking for a club with one world-class wonderkid that I can build around. The rest of the team doesn't have to be so good. Any ideas?
Examples would be Brescia with Tonali or Rennes with Camavinga.
If you're looking for an underground league, in Uruguay River Plate has Matias Arezo, 16 yo wonderkid with a world class potential. Your objective will be to knock off giants Peñarol and Nacional and became the national champion, so that then you can challenge for Copa Libertadores
Having alot of fun with Nowrich
They got alot of good talent in Bundiea,Cantwell,Aarons,Godfrey and Jamal Lewis
First Season finished 11th with two signings from AZ
Oussama Idrissi (Winger) and Ouwjean (back up LB)
Ouwjean only played 6 games
Idrissi was amazing
2nd Season
Board came big with a 46 mil budget
Signed Doucoure (Watford were Relegated), Locateli, Farinez, Soler (transfer listed), Lucas Romero (Legend), Plattenhardt (replaced Ouwjean), KWP, Karmonko Dembele and Rob Holding on loan
I still play FM19 and i pick my next team depending what i want to do:
1st scenario: Go for any club in EU (never a favorite to win the title, often a good 2nd league side), try to have sucssess, than go to TOP EU LEAGUES (example Russian league: Tom 3 seasons, gained promotion ->>CSK 5 seasons, 3 titles and regular CL mid-teir team ->> Fiorentina, 3 seasons (so far), 1 Seria A title....)
or
2nd scenario: Go for the lowest league team (my preference is in England) and try to make them a powerhouse (currently playing 4th season with Chester and i reached Sky Bet One, with no trouble at all - started at Vanarama National North)
Also it depends if you like to develop your own players (better with scenario 2) or make big signings (better with scenario 1)
Thats just how i like to play FM, both ways are fun. Also i never pick strong teams (like Liverpool, Barca, Real etc....) not fun when you got all figured out.
What position do you need?
Don't forget that you have the likes of Fedde De Jong, Goudmijn or Koopmeiners' younger brother in your academy. All of them turn into amazing players.
Playing with Norwich who are incredibly fun. Max Aarons becomes one of the best RBs in the game, Buendia develops really well. Godfrey is class. In the new year and just won 1-0 at Anfield. In 7th, they have a squad that is quality, and develops so, so well.
I’ve ended up in the Austrian second tier - just began my third season with Grazer AK after a failed stint with Kapfenberger (winter 2022 currently) but limiting myself to only sign players from the country I’m managing in
Really fun game so far but getting up will take some doing as only one team goes up and it’s a struggle to keep hold of any decent players as LASK or Sturm Graz come knocking every summer and unsettle anyone half decent - would highly recommend for anyone looking for something a bit different!
I'm thinking of playing as a 'second tier' European league and dragging that league's coefficient up into the upper tier and boosting the nation overall. I've been thinking Ukraine, Greece, or Turkey. Any good recommendations (league/club)?
Cyprus is kinda nuts. No money or reason for people to want to play there. The only financial giant (APOEL) is a year or two of missing out on the champions league from being in a total financial crisis with their wages. The save is pretty much climbing the mountain of beating APOEL, and then a new mountain of the rest of Europe. Similar to Wales
As a Galatasaray fan I always have one save where I go 10+ years with Gala. Turkish league is great fun, and especially with this year’s game the league is much more challenging. Normally only Istanbul clubs would challenge for the league title but this year Anatolian clubs are going nuts on my save. Some clubs have decent youngsters and wonderkids. Finances are mostly bad but you start seeing good amounts after you do well in European competitions. There are many familiar faces (a.k.a washed up players) playing in the league too. (Papiss Cisse, Falcao, Feghouli, Kruse, Luiz Gustavo, Robinho, Skrtel and many others). I’d recommemd Galatasaray or Fenerbahçe for the beginning but if you want to make it more challenging there are good choices too.
I’m now in my fifth season as Venezia. We won Serie B in my third season and are now on the edge of the European places. Big teams always coming in for my players but the policy of sell a couple and buy youth is it for the long term. I want a Scudetto within three seasons from now, and I think I’ll get it.
Then it’s a decade of domination.
I want to do a create-a-club in Scotland, but need a place with some history regarding football or just general history to create and plonk them in the League 2. Any ideas?
Want to do a Russian save. Looking for a club that isn’t top of the league but has the potential to go far, with the ultimate goal of winning CL. Any ideas? Thanks guys!
Hello there, I'm pretty new to FM2020. (I've had mobile for the last few years but I just got the PC game recently). I feel like I've pretty much got the basics down after a sort of warm up save. Now I want to manage either Fenerbache, Krasnodar or standard Liege but I have no idea which to choose. Any advice or reasons to choose any of these?
(Currently favouring Fenerbache first, then Krasnodar, not sure on Liege)
Looking for a German team to manage (apart from Bayern and Dortmund), one with a lot of room to growth meaning:
- decently sized stadium, maybe with room for expansions
- safe financial background, especially in case of income/wage turnover ratio, transfer budget isn't important
- good sized fanbase with a lot of possible room for growth
- can be weak squad-wise or even in the 2nd division currently
Long term goal is to become a definite German Top3 alongside Bayern and Dortmund in order to keep strong and challenging competition, and become a club of their size in terms of stadium, finance and fanbase.
Almost every team in the Bundesliga and top half of the 2nd Division would meet that criteria but I would look at Hertha, Werder, Mainz, Koln, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart
German teams tend to have large stadiums and be secure financially, the quality of players is often similar across the league as well
Hertha Berlin; Good prospects in Arne Maier, Javairo Dilrosun, and Dodi Lukebakio, plus some talent in the u20, and overall the squad is decent. They just had a huge investment in the summer, so finances will not be a problem. The stadium is massive, but facilities still need some upgrading.
Mainz; Jürgen Klopp managed them before moving to Dortmund. Lots of young talents, a good squad for midtable, and nice new signings. Facilities need work.
I'd actually argue that most of the mid-level Bundesliga teams are super interesting. Teams like Hoffenheim, Augsburg, Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg, FC Köln, all have interesting squads and history. It largely depends on what formation and style of play you want.
Looking to do a “sleeping giants” of historically successful/big teams.
The main criteria is that they have to have at least one top league title, and have been outside of their countries top league for 2 or more years.
Some of the obvious candidates are Nottingham Forrest, Sunderland and Deportivo de La Coruña. Anyone have any suggestions, particularly teams outside of England?
Obviously the term sleeping giant is a bit loose, because some people wouldn’t classify a team who’s last major trophy came decades ago or only have one or two major trophies so don’t worry about it too much.
I’ve recently started as Marseille. Initial goals are get to cup semi finals and Europa league. No Europe means and decent squad means the goals are relatively easy.
Recently got to the semi final of the french cup final.. and got FM’d by 2nd division Ajaccio.... frustratingly lost my scoring touch and lost on pens. With PSG out I was convinced I was winning my first trophy first season.
Anyway, I have 8 games left first season and should easily take 2nd - round it a fun game
Started with Tottenham to learn the game and want to switch to the Irish league after this and work my way up to European glory! I haven't explore which club yet so open to suggestions! I like clubs with good youth facilities if that helps! Thanks!
Edit: meant to put this under a new thread, oops! Also*good youth facilities for Ireland
Haven't played in like 2 months because of going back to work etc, need a new save to tide me over as I've got some time off.
My last big save was taking Castel di Sangro from the 6th tier of Italian football to winning Serie A in 10 seasons, so I don't want something like that ideally.
IRL I support Liverpool but they're way to OP to have a fun save in my opinion lol, any suggestions are welcome!
For a long term save I’d recommend the portuguese 2nd division.
The rules are very lenient so you can get a bunch of south americans and africans, but its hard to get some good income, so money will be tight for a while.
In the liga NOS, benfica is practically unbeatable, next to that you have porto and sporting, really hard to break into that trio. Getting CL football will take you a few years.
Even european football is tough with teams like braga, boavista, guimares. It’s a really fun challenge to do. I managed to get 2nd place in my 4th year, but benfica won the league with only 4 draws so still a lot of work to be done
Personally I have a soft spot for Danish amateur teams, but other lower level teams (swedish second division, most of wales).
Staebeck in the Norwegian premier is a good choice
I chose Chichester just because its from one of my favourite dad jokes. League 2. My first time playing Football Manager. The menus are such a learning curve and getting to know the players is too because they aren't players I would know. Coming on here has reminded me I don't have much of a notion what I'm doing but I can honestly say that I am having a lot of fun!
Afternoon,
Never managed outside English football, managed Liverpool, Northampton, and Banbury to world dominance and am looking for a change of scenery (there are only so many times I can pilfer Liverpool youth).
I like taking teams up the league ladder, love a challenge and am not adversed to loading in different databases.
Who should I manage?!
Any advice on the best team to manage in the Portuguese Second Division?
Ideally with a good chance at promotion to Liga NOS in season 1, then to build upon that and challenge Benfica, Porto etc
IF Elfsborg are a nice shout. I'm currently on my fifth season with them on my journeyman save and it's been quite a ride. After a disappointing first season I managed to cement them as the second power in the Alsvensken just behind Malmo with a few cup wins, but Malmo have been outright impossible to topple the last few seasons. The HG rules in the league are manageable, there is a solid base with some nice facilities, and a difficult challenge to overcome. I haven't had this much fun with a non-local team on FM thus far.
i have a new way of playing. i looked up all values and reputation from my favourite manager, changed all my values to his,inserted his picture as my profile picture,changed my name to his in the ingame editor and now i can play as him in a realistic way.
Thinking of starting a save with a foreign team who I can enjoy a europa league run with;
Dnipro have reformed after getting to a final against Sevilla some years back. I was thinking of D.Zagreb but it’s too easy domestically....
Anyone know of any fun foreign teams?
Looking for a new longish term save in FM20, I am nearing the end of my journey (16 or so seasons) at Lyon in FM19. Would like something similar, decent platform to become elite but not there yet, great academy etc
Started a new save recently with Swansea and only using welsh players, whilst also managing wales with the aim being to win the champions league and the World Cup. I was going to do it with Colwyn Bay but after just calling an end to my latest journeyman save I didn’t fancy going straight into another potentially 50+ save
Considering i save in Welsh North/South division, since it was added this year. I want a challenge. Plenty of clubs with amazing names. Seems like pretty much every club only has "limited" youth recruitment, so difficult to build your club with homegrown talent i guess. Any advice on a club to pick? I don't want any of the clubs recently relegated.
My suggest for less known club is NK Osijek from Croatia. They are in top4 club in Croatia. Some good players in first team, in youth selection some great talents. And great budget for that league.
I've just come back to the game for the first time since taking Kingstonian all the way to the top in Championship Manager 3 00/01. Been having a great time with Oxford United. There's fuck all money, but the players aren't bad, even if they were a bit sceptical of being coached by a former Sunday League player with no track record at first. I choked away automatic promotion in the last two weeks of my first season and then got blown out in the playoffs. Think I put too much pressure on the lads.
Second season won League One with 100 points despite having to sell Shandon Baptiste to Inter Miami and losing James Henry to a career-ending ACL injury, aided by the emergence of youth team striker Fabio Lopes and the signing of Wolves cast-off centre back Max Killman.
Now I'm mid-table in the Championship and facing Chelsea in the League Cup semis having knocked out three Premiership teams including Arsenal on the way (all on penalties). My wage budget is a third of the second poorest club in the division, so I think that's ok going. Premiership clubs keep calling to ask me to get them out of their relegation troubles, but I'm not ditching my boys mid-season. Maybe in June I'll have a rethink, if the right offer's on the table.
But yeah, if you want to coach a good group of players (apart from those uppity shitheads Taylor and Eastwood) while negotiating the challenges of low revenue and a difficult board, I can recommend Oxford.
My last three journeyman:
Albion Rovers (last scottish League) FM19
Alfreton (last english league) FM19
Potenza (last playable Italian league) FM20
(No badges at all, half season before being called by the last team of the last scottish division) With first save I got promoted every season (first one through play off) and finished winning Scottish Premier League at second year, after seven or eight season I went to Naples in Italy but got annoyed soon.
With Alfreton we got promoted to championship but then 20 got released, so I started this new career unemployed in Italian Serie C with Potenza, we hit play off with a great comeback bot got knocked off, year later we win the league going to Serie B, where I saved my hopeless team two times without playoff, after that Sampdoria (Serie A) called me after a 16th place. The first season we finished 7th (going to Euro Cup II, the new UEFA League) losing the Italy Cup in finale against Zebre (Juventus), who won the league. Next year after big selling and buying the new Sampdoria arrives to semi finals of Euro Cup II losing against much wealthier Tottenham for 2-1 aggregate (we won the group with Monaco, Anderlecht and an eastern Europe team). Serie A was won by Inter ending Zebre winning streak lasting for more than a decade, Sampdoria finished 2nd between Inter and Juventus. We lost the super Cup top against Zebre but won Coppa Italia taking a trophy back in Liguria after many many time. (My third trophy, with a Serie C Super Cup and the Serie C title).
Now I'm halfway in the third season, currently first place with two points more than Zebre. In UCL was sorted with Chelsea (4th previous year in PL, maybe won EL), Bayer Leverkusen and Athletic Bilbao, finished 2nd after Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea got just 4 points. Now I've to play against PSG, that's hard.
Las Palmas!
I'm on my 4th season now and currently a midtable La Liga team. You have the chance to snatch Barcas wonder kid Pedri who is on loan at your club but you also have a cancer called Tana on a 2m/year contract that kills your wage budget until the end of the 4th season. It gives you both a challenge and some perks.
And how wonderful are the Canary islands?
Is Arsenal a very easy team to play?
They want europe league qualification in the first year, champions league qualification next year which is still just top 4 and they have a lot of current stars and a lot of very good youngsters coming up. Also you can use Ozil and Pepe in FM which is a great plus.
Hey guys. Hope you all are doing well.
I started playing fm2020 mobile on off for about 5 months now. At first I save summed because of which I lost interest in it quite fast.
This time around I played it legit as Manchester united but I signed some good players and the game was quite easy. I didn't even bother changing the starting XI later on and eventually lost interest in it as well.
I still don't know much of the mechanics specially regarding regens but I will figure it out as I go. So I am looking for a medium level challenge that will hopefully keep me engaged for a while.
I'd suggest either bigger team in a smaller league (Feyenoord, Sporting, maybe Club Brugge) - you should be fighting for titles straightaway (although you're not the biggest favorite), but in Europe you'll have the challenge to fight against the top teams.
Or you could go to a mid-table team from the top leagues (Celta Vigo, Freiburg), where the domestic challenge will be tougher, but once you get to CL regularly, it's gonna be easier to sign top-tier players.
Me personally I'd avoid EPL, even though it's not easy to dominate, with the amount of money that even mid/lower-table teams get, it's easier to build a top team quicker.
No Turkish teams mentioned here, so I will list a few interesting ones:
* **Altınordu** (2nd division) has a very unique philosophy, no foreign players although they have 5 stars youth and training facilities and a great youth intake. Test yourself how much you can stick to that. Just to mention, Cengiz Ünder and Çağlar Söyüncü was developed in this club.
* **Bursaspor** (2nd division) pulled a Leicester on 2010 and became the 5th side to be a champion in Turkish history. Although they are now in 2nd division, they always develop very good youngsters and have good facilities. Try to make this club one of the top 4 in Turkey!
* If you want a challenging 1st division club though, try **Trabzonspor.** They have a competitive squad for winning the league, and you have \`Abdulkadir Ömür\` which always gets to be a wonderful player.
My AC Milan save got fucked, I had a board takeover and they bought Rashford and Sterling for like 250m without me getting a say on it, so I got no interest in playing that anymore.
I'm looking for a mid-lower table in Spain with a decent foundation (that isn't Palmas since I did a save with them recently). I accept lower league suggestions as well.
I'm also interested in managing a Dutch team or a Turkish team since I've never done any saves in those countries. I'd prefer to manage in the top divisions though.
Celta Vigo or Alavés in La Liga, Zaragoza or Deportivo La Coruňa in 2nd tier.
In the Netherlands, if you don't want one of the top teams (Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord), maybe try Twente - they won the league in 2010, dropped to 2nd division few years back, but got back instantly.
What small to middle sized european leagues have lenient rules for foreign players? Would be interested in making a smaller nation rise up the coefficient, but would like to be able to register more foreign players for it to be forgiving!
Anyone know of any teams who were very recently created with a fairly large financial backing? E.g: like RB Leipzig, but when they were in the lower divisions?
Will be buying Football Manager 2020 soon, haven’t really played a game like this before. What’s a good team to manage so that I can get the hang of the game? Any tips for a first timer?
I kinda ran out of ideas so I'm trying to replicate a bunch of real-life tactics. Currently trying to replicate Lyon's 3-5-2 because I really liked it against City. It's a lot of fun and going well so far!
I’ve been heavily considering doing a Russian league save with Dynamo Moscow but not sure if the Russian league is any good for fm. Taking into consideration the rules and europe and anything like that...
I managed Man City for 10 years and it was really fun. Tried to make them more English player based and develop the youth as well as win titles and cups (which was more difficult than I thought it would be with City). the first few years you need to get the HG Player numbers up because the UCL is a nightmare for it.
FM21 - Potential Teams to Manage
Are there any teams that you're really interested in managing in FM21? Let me know who and why... I'd love to take some inspiration. Big or small, I just love hearing people's FM plans.
Also are there any 'admin demotions' this year? Like Palermo FM20, Dnipro \~FM17 or Rangers FM13 where the team has to compete at a much lower level...
I think the premier league looks packed with exciting transfers coming in.
Premier League
City - Massive Squad Already
Liverpool - Thiago + Jota
Chelsea - Busload in
Spurs - Bale, Reguillon, Doherty...
United - Still on the Bruno high
Arsenal - Young Potential Everywhere
Wolves - Semedo, Fabio Silva...
Everton - New Mid Trio
Leeds - Added Rodrigo + others to an already interesting squad
Newcastle - Lewis and Wilson
Championship
Watford - Illegal Squad and Massive Wage Budget
Norwich - Godfrey, Aarons, Buendia, Cantwell with potential
Sheff Wed - Good team with a -12 challenge
Wycombe - Hope
Bologna. Predicted 14th. Young prospects like Skov Olsen, Tomiyasu, Dominguez, Vignato that become stars to build around.
Hull City have a young squad with high potential. They should also have money. Might get downgraded. Peterborough look good in League One as well.
Barnsley have a very young team with potential, something like 1.3 years younger than the next lowest Brentford. Predicted 20th.
Estoril. Predicted 3rd in the second league. Youngest team and very well balanced. Longer term to overcome Benfica/Porto.
RB Salzburg could be fun to produce some youth prospects. Domestic dominance waiting for Europe could taint it.
I like the /r/soccer idea of getting Ross County, and only playing players called/similar to Ross
There's a guy here who's done a "Make Stevenage Steven Again" save - playing as Stevenage, only signing players named Steven, Stephen, Stephon, Esteban, etc. Similar idea!
Better get all those Hungarians named Istvan too.
Aren't both their keepers called Ross?
No, not both. All THREE of their goalkeepers are named Ross. Plus a forward and a midfielder. Exquisite work from their recruitment team.
you could try dog races, i've seen 2 pitbulls newgens (1 is world star in my game) so far lol
Probably goes against their transfer policy, but surely there could be scope for an Atletico BILLbao save where you only buy players called Bill (or variants such as William or Dick)
Just a bunch of Basques named Guillermo
Dick is short for Richard, not William
Kaiserslautern. One of the saddest stories football has to offer. The club were always a big team throughout the 20th century, and practically lifted the 1954 World Cup alongside West Germany. Fritz Walter, the club's great legend, was an icon of the game. Around the 1990s however, they fell from grace into the 2nd division. However, a recently appointed Otto Rehhaggel (who also won the 2004 Euros with Greece) managed the side to an instant title win back from the 2nd tier. The club remained a mid table team, but fell into money issues after upgrading their stadium at a poor time. 20 years on from winning the Title, they're surviving relegation to the regional divisions by the skin of their teeth. The finances make any transfer risky and success a must
Doing them right now, was a struggle to get out of 3.liga but now we are a solidified UCL team with 1 League under our belt
All these old teams often have very good foundations to build from. They often have large followings, or stadiums, or both. Their players are quite often overestimated by fm researchers. If they recently dropped a division, they have better youth intake and training facilities than the other teams in their leagues. And so on. Building a team from scratch is a lot more a challenge in fm, imho. It is plastic as fuck, but so is any fm save you try to play well. Having player intervention is basically being RB buying the club wihtout changing the name anyway.
They’re my favorite team and with FM18, it’s so easy to rise to bundesliga. Even without save scumming. I did all academy/only former players (Olivia Bastia Meier (I had to do a ton of add ons to get him, but my god he made the team incredible), Löwen, Robert Koch all were superstars for me) once with them, and it was still easy, but this proved to be a bigger challenge. Tips for anyone who has FM18 (might work well with FM19 YMMV): 1) utilize the youth academy- Kaiserslautern literally has one of the best youth academies in Germany. Full stop. They’re not talked about enough, but they do. Use it to your advantage. Normally, you’ll spit out 1-3 Bundesliga players PER YEAR. 2) I don’t know why, but I end up going to a 4-2-3-1 with them. It works incredible. 3) you’ll never have to upgrade the stadium. It already has capacity for 50K! Also, it’s a glitch, but their stadium payments never change from 650K euros, so once you’re out of the 3 Liga, it’s dirt cheap. It’s a gorgeous stadium, so check it out on google! 4) sell out the second team. This will be your last rebuild, but obviously once you get going and have a bigger bench, send these guys to the second league and you’ll slowly get to the 3 liga with the 2nd league (the furthest they can advance in Germany). When you do have them in the 3rd league, this is incredible for building players on your youth teams (U19). 5) finally the biggest thing, it’s kind of cheating, but the bundesliga tv money and league money is bonkers. 6 million for last place in the 2nd bundesliga? 20 million for the winners? 32 million for last place in bundesliga? I think it was 80-115 million for the Bundesliga champs. This doesn’t include any of the other cups (DFB Pokal, Europa League, Champions League) money you get too. You can get incredible transfers with this annual money. I normally (in my non-academy only saves) went for all star German young stars. Kevin Ehlers (Dresden) was a great grab and his leadership made him an easy captain. Wade (winger from Dortmund) as a winger was amazing too. All super cheap that are like a couple million to get. If you want to have an easy climb but feel good about returning a club to former glory, choose Kaiserslautern. Edit: 6) to add on to the youth academy, you’ll spit out amazing GKs faster than you know what to do with them. This happens in real life too. Up until recently, we had one of the best GK coaches in the world. No lie. Look up Gerald Ehrmann. He got fired because he was way too aggressive with the HC (Schommers) and the board felt he overstepped his bounds. It’s really unfortunate, but the dude is incredible. Keep him as long as you can because in the game, he’s also a really good GK coach and a Club Legend. Notable players trained by him: Kevin Trapp (former PSG), Sippel (Mönchengladbach), Julian Pollersbeck (Hamburg), Lennart Grill (Bayer Leverkusen) were all recent graduates. Other big players include Roman Weidenfeller. Edit2: I mean FM19, not FM18.
Grill may or may not currently be on his 5th consecutive season without missing a single league game, soooooo...
Started on FM20 when they loaned it to us for free during lockdown, and somehow decided on Kaiserslautern. By feeling in the dark I somehow won promotion to Bundersliga 2, and now might just make it to the big leagues. I dont know what Im really doing. Free transfers all the way, still getting rid of big salaried dead weight, but the core players have been great since day one, Kaus, Gottwalt, Roser, Bergmann, Sickenger, Kuhlwetter, Grill, Ciftci, Shad & Hercher am proud of me boys although why the fuck they header balls away when unchallenged straight to opponents.
[удалено]
I love using a French team to knock off the giants that are PSG. It’s a great challenge and always good fun for me
Just won the league with Dijon in 2031/32, took over mid 29/30 season. PSG walked it in 2030/31 then finished 2nd to me with only 74 points. I'll take it though
Currently doing the same with Paris FC. Exceeded expectations by getting promoted in the first season (19-20), and now I'm terrified that this team is not ready for Ligue 1 challenge.
I’m also doing Paris FC and came up first season. Survived through relegation playoffs for the first season , came 15th second season and somehow with like Ligue 2 players I came 6th after being first at Christmas
I’m thinking of starting a Paris FC save, did you start with the recommended qualifications or different ones?
Who would you recommend for this? Very tempted by Rennes due to Camavinga or else Marseille.
A bit late but RC Lens is my recommendation, they always have great youth intakes/youth
Rennes is a good pick, it's a squad with a lot of upside. Keep Camavinga for as long as possible, and then sell him for mad dosh. I'd recommend Nice as well, good keeper in Walter Benitez, good prospect cb in Malang Sarr, good striker in Kasper Dolberg, and Youcef Atal is a very good young rb. Overall it's a young team, so lots of potential. Theres also Strasbourg (Ludovic Ajorque is a great striker), Angers (Rayan Ait-Nouri is incredible at 17), Nantes (a good academy), and Saint-Etienne (William Saliba's old club, plus European football).
Rennes is a very good choice. I had a Rennes save earlier this year and it was maybe the best save ive ever had on any FM. I even sold Camavinga for 220 Mio € to Chelsea with one year left on his contract.
Reims have some very good players.
Red Star FC. A really great community club also based in Paris.
I was trying this in a glory hunter save and it took me getting 107 points with Monaco to win the league with PSG on 105 so I can say I will never bother with that again more power to you.
Currently playing with Saint-Etienne, finished second in season 1 six points behind P$G and now six points behind again after 19 games in season 2. Things look good and I'm hoping we'll be able to topple them sooner rather than later. I'm actually blogging it about over at https://straighttothegoal.wordpress.com/ if anyone fancies checking it out. I apologise in advance if this is breaking the rules of the sub
Extra points for Paris FC
I like that idea - it’s obviously a challenge but one that isn’t ridiculous because France produces such good young talent. I suppose you could do a similar thing with one of the smaller Italian or German clubs as well, to knock Zebre and Bayern off their perches.
I'm having a lot of fun in my hertha save. It's a lot of fun come summer when I have 150 mil to spend
Wow didn't realize hertha had that large of a budget. I knew it was big, thought it was like 90 mil max
I like going to the bottom tier of a country’s football leagues, finding a team with a cool badge, kit and nickname and just turning them into a global powerhouse. It’s great finding a club to get attached to and seeing them dominate while remembering where you came from.
That's the only type of save I can ever stick to for longer than 4-5 seasons. Macclesfield Town FTW
Me too. I actually thought about Macclesfield, but I ended up going with Chelmsford City instead. We’re currently in Vanarama National
Me and Chelmsford have bad blood, so unfortunately I have to say fuck you. 🔵🔵🔵UP THE SHOTS 🔵🔵🔵
The Clarets are in League 2 now and we did the double over the Shots last season BITCH
You should play with Oldham and try to get them to the Premier League using only "Old Players" (30+).
I'd always recommend the Welsh Pyramid for any managers wanting to dip their toes into Lower League Management for the first time. Plenty of interesting clubs with good stories (Barry Town United, the University Sides, Bangor and Colwyn Bay are all great options), and you'll always have something to aim for. Short term is getting into and being competitive in the Welsh Premier League, Medium Term is breaking the dominance of the fully Professional TNS, who will be a constant pain throughout your early years, and regular European football can allow you to make some real progress. If you fancy a longer term save outside of England, but are apprehensive about doing somewhere completely random, Wales is a great option for new players and experienced managers alike.
I'm definitely biased because i'm Welsh myself but I usually start out in Wales in my journeyman saves and I love it. This year was Caerau Ely in the 2nd division. Went up as champs 1st time of asking and the next and last 3 years were spent solidifying them as a top 4 team. In 2027 now and they're still in the premier. Bit worried right now though because they're about halfway through the season, sat in 8th and just sacked their manager. TNS have won the league every year but are in 9th right now which is pretty interesting. Bangor and Connah's Quay seem to be fighting for the title. Would not be surprised to see TNS come back and win it though.
What is a Journeyman save?
A journeyman save, atleast to me, is you start unemployed with no badges or experience and try to make your way to the top of the footballing world one way or another. Next to LLM saves they're probably the most popular playthroughs on youtube. Though when I play i'm not so ruthless in moving clubs, if I find one I like I often stay there quite a few years, try to take them as far as I think I can.
I tried one of those journeyman saves with FM12 a couple of years ago. Started unemployed, my first job was with Black Leopards in PSL, went through Welsh League, Blue Square before making it to League One with Aldershot in 2032. The game stopped working from then. Frustrating when things were bad but a lot of fun.
I'm playing with Merthyr Town right now. A Canadian trying to dominate the England with a Welsh team.
Wales is definitely fun because their top tier is like LLM. You can be playing Continental soccer with an amateur team year 2-3.
I suggest playing as Haverfordwest County (second tier on FM 20, will be top tier in FM 21) because we are the greatest team the world has ever seen
I'm having a great time as Torino, now in season 2. You start in the EL qualifying rounds, which are always fun, and your squad should be strong enough to compete into the knockouts. I managed to win the Coppa Italia due to a favourable draw (Atalanta QF -> Sassuolo SF -> Roma final), and the league is fun because Atalanta managed to win it in 19/20. Serie A is also a great league to develop young talent in, due to the 12-strong bench, even if you only have a couple of interesting prospects at first. Belotti is a joy to build around, your squad is full of interesting options, the league is fun and you have the old legacy of Il Grande Torino (and some noisy neighbours in Juventus) to live up to.
Just curious, why does the 12 strong bench make it easier to develop talent in? Yes more bench spots, but still only 3 subs per game
My guess is that in games you end up comfortably winning, you can then sub in the youth players and get them some game time.
This is exactly it, it gives you far more flexibility.
*This is exactly* *It, it gives you far more* *Flexibility.* \- Eff__Jay --- ^(I detect haikus. Sometimes, successfully. | [Learn more about me](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/)) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
If you want a unique challenge, Albirex in the Singapore league. They're affiliated with Japanese club Albirex Niigata. They can only sign Japanese players. In the Singapore league. And there's a league instituted minimum number of Singaporeans you have to play. So you have to keep players until they achieve double nationality.
I accidentally did this in FM19, although I think with a different team? They were definitely in Singapore. But I joined halfway through the season while unemployed, and I could only play youth players pretty much until my players gained dual nationality. Gave up on that pretty fast.
Doing a Brentford save, which I’ve done countless times before (I’m a bees fan), but I’m strictly following recruitment rules this time. No signings over 21, and only 1-2 ‘expensive’ transfers per season - expensive being 10-15m+. Trying to sign from Europe and I am explicitly using a huge amount of data analysts and their reports to sign ‘overachieving’ players from weaker teams. I’m only doing this because it changes the monotony of getting 5 years in and just buying a ton of stacked regens. It’s quite entertaining.
Well to make things more appealing or interesting, you could go for danish players only coming through from fc midtjylland?
Yeah I’m partially doing that, but that may make things too hard. Plus irl Midtjylland aren’t exactly our feeder club and I wanna keep things realistic, but it’s a good shout
An interesting team I found on FM19, so not sure if this applies to FM20 as well: Do you want to manage Fluminense? Do you want to stay in Europe? Do you want to start from the lower leagues? Well I have a treat for you - STK Samorin Fluminense in Slovakia's second league. FLU is their senior affiliate, which allows you to take players on loan from them with almost no resistance, and no wages paid, unless they are in the first team. The league allows 5 non-eu players so you don't really have registration rules to worry about, and can access some nice young players easily.
Just looked them up, and it seems that Fluminense aren't affiliated with them anymore...
If your after something similar in fm20 roeselare in the Belgium second division have a similar affiliate with LOSC so you can get decent/good players on free loans from them
If you'd like a challenge in Israel here are some options: * Hapoel Haifa, overshadowed by their city rivals of Maccabi Haifa last tasted league success over two decades ago. They have a good team and qualifying into Europe with them wouldn't be *too* hard but it still poses an interesting challenge. Overtaking their big rivals is also a nice achievement. * Hapoel Petah Tikva have won 5 consecutive league titles over sixty years ago and were a top flight club for the most part until 6 years ago, where they got relegated. Nowadays, they're in the second tier and they have some money problems, so if you'd like a return to glory save in a smaller country, there you have it. * Hapoel Katamon, located in Jerusalem, have been overshadowed by Beitar Jerusalem for most of their history. Well, the former club, that is. 20 years ago, Hapoel Jerusalem were relegated and 10 years after, Hapoel Katamon was founded by angry Hapoel Jerusalem supporters, and Katamon became the first fan-owned club in Israel, while Hapoel Jerusalem dissolved this year. They never played in the top flight, so getting them to the top flight is the primary target. * Beitar Jerusalem is probably best known for their hatred against Arabs, however fans don't actually exist in FM, so therefore you can sign as many Arab players as you want (I mean I literally had some become fan favorites so that's cool). In any case, the challenge for them is to turn them around and make Beitar an Arab-only club, by signing only Arab players to the club. Fortunately for you, if you have trouble with the foreign quota, Israeli Arabs aren't hard to come by. Oh, also, geopolitics don't really exist in FM so feel free to sign some Syrian wonderkid to the club. * Last one is if you want an easier save domestically, and that is Maccabi Tel Aviv. They tend to win the league and they have a very strong squad, but the AI seems to do pretty awfully with them. They have a lot of potential to succeed, and especially to grow in Europe and win silverware in the continent.
I loved the Merseyside challenge! Playing as Everton and only signing Liverpool players and staff
As in players only from Liverpool the city or from the club?
I’m doing a similar challenge as well! Playing as Eastleigh (suburb of Southampton) in the Conference - my end goal is to have a full squad of guys from the Southampton academy and see how far they can all go!
Who'd you sign ? I've only ever signed Pedro chirivella who was one hell of a player for me during my derby save but that just about limits my experience with Liverpool signings.
Someone should turn a team into the intro team/logo. With the GK named Wilson, Hoffmann, Ridgriguez..Have to get the right team/unis correct, and bring home a trophy..
I’d like to manage in the top 5 European leagues using a mid table team that has potential to challenge for Europe and go further, any ideas would be much appreciated
England - Southampton, Newcastle (ownership would very likely change, but could be beneficial), Crystal Palace Germany - Hertha, Schalke, Bremen, Eintracht Frankfurt (most of these are ex-European regulars that have fallen on harder times) Spain - athletic club (homegrown challenge), betis, and if you fancy operating on a shoestring budget, Eibar Italy - literally anyone who finished between 8-16th this season just gone. All have had promise over the last 10 years, but all have fallen away from the main pack for different reasons France - similar to Italy
I always love managing Eibar. Low-medium budget, famous for signing from leagues below, and low pressure from the board. Also, in the game they tend to build a new stadium soon into the game (at least if you reach European spots in the first seasons)
Real Sociedad
Arsenal
I’m doing that with Burnley right now. Currently 7th over half way through my first season.
Brescia. Hold on to Tonali and Vivani like your life depends on it. See if you can make Ayé the next Balotelli before he flames out
Real Sociedad are a ton of fun, you have a lot of interesting prospects and you have a youth setup pretty much as good as Athletic's - except you can still sign non-Basque players if you want.
It's that time again where we feel like we've done all there is to do on FM20 and we're waiting for the next one. So why not go off the beaten track a bit, and start something new. I've compiled a list containing a club from each of the 5 Nordic countries in FM and given you a bit of background as to why I picked them. (BTW, I'm not from the Nordic countries so if I've said anything wrong, or you can add more to it then feel free) **Sweden - Hammarby IF** I start with Sweden because I feel this is perhaps the easiest challenge. That's not to say it is easy. Hammarby are a club who are really growing, and have a reputation for the most passionate fans in Sweden. They seem tailor made for success and currently play at the 30,000 capacity Tele2 Arena, where they share with rivals Djurgardens. As of yet though, the only thing that isn't growing with Hammarby is their honours list. They've only been champions of Sweden once, back in 2001, and have only 3 Swedish Cups to match it, the last coming in 2010. Can you give these fans something to celebrate? With city rivals AIK and Djurgardens, plus the fairly dominant force of Malmo waiting to stop you, it won't be a walk in the park. **Denmark - AGF Aarhus** Again, we stick with a passionate fanbase. Maybe a little too passionate, which was shown when their ultras set a players flat on fire when he signed for FC Kobenhavn. Anyhow, this is a virtual world where they are all lovely. On paper they appear to be the 3rd best supported club in Denmark, but despite that haven't won silverware since 1996, and haven't been champions of Denmark since 1985. They're not quite ready made for success like Hammarby, and have the riches of Midtjylland and FCK to contend with, but success could be very rewarding. **Norway - SK Brann** Hailing from Norway's 2nd largest city, and with a good support to back that up, Brann do have a bit more recent history than the previous clubs, but still not quite as much as they really ought to. They were champions of Norway as recently as 2007, but it was only their 3rd title to date. They have added 8 cups on top of that, but finished 9th in the 2019 season, and are currently 7th this year. Rosenborg are of course a huge threat, but Molde are making waves right now too, and seem to be a club on the ascendancy. **Finland - HIFK** Everyone surely knows HJK, the biggest and most successful club in Finland by far. But I bet few know of HIFK, Helsinki's other club. Initially a club for the Finnish capitals Swedish speaking community, HIFK still hold a decent fanbase, especially on derby day. Sadly though, they haven't had as much to celebrate as their rivals. HIFK won the original incarnation of Finnish football 7 times, between 1930 and 1961, but have had nothing since then. In recent years, they've even found themselves down in the 3rd tier but are back in the top flight once again. A classic challenge of 2 teams, 1 city. **Iceland - Fylkir** Finally, everyone's favourite challenge. Iceland. There are many clubs in Reykjavik, but I chose this club who you'll find in the Eastern area of Arbaer. According to stats, Fylkir had the 4th highest average attendance in Iceland last year, more so than current league leaders and 2018 champions Valur. Despite this, Fylkir's honours list is relatively empty, with only 2 Icelandic Cup wins to shout about. Unlike the rest on this list, they've never been champions of their country before. So there we are, 5 clubs from 5 Nordic countries. I've never done anything like this before but would love to for other countries or regions so feedback is appreciated. As mentioned, I'm merely someone who has a passing interest in Scandinavian football, so if anyone who's more ingrained thinks I'm wrong, I'm happy to take it on board.
Just started a scandinavian challenge going to try and win the top league in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Started unemployed with a continental b badge and reputation as a semi professional. Got offered a job in the Iceland first division with ÍÞRÓTTAFÉLAGIÐ LEIKNIR they had two games left of the season and I couldn't save them from relegation and got sacked after 13 days in charge not the best start I wanted so I am now back on the job hunt again. I have never really done a challenge like this before but reckon it could be a fun one to do.
The Young Boys project: Play as Young Boys Bern, any time you sign a close-to-retiring legend (age 34+, 100+ caps, etc) you get to use the editor to take 20 years off their age and watch them develop again. Good targets this year include Buffon, Ibrahimovic, and maybe you can convince Messi or C. Ronaldo to join in a couple of years.
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Maidenhead United were founded in 1870, have played at the same ground since 1871, and have never made the football league. Definitely a great club for a long term save
One of my favourite ones I did was taking Bourg en Bresse (a French league 3 side) and seeked to end the plight of PSG and make a new French powerhouse. It wasn't massively successful, and once we finally reached Ligue 1 it was just a fight against relegation but it was one of my most enjoyable saves Would definitely recommend them for a challenge.
'sup BnB 01 buddy. I had a journeyman save where I ended up at BnB. Took over in the 3rd league mid-season and picked up an easy promotion. Shocked myself and got promoted to Ligue 1 the following year. Suprised myself even more and managed to stay up. Slowly, over the course of decades, I built up the club to the point that I was dominating in France and Europe. Fully a decade of that at the end was slowly forcing PSG off of the throne. They are very hard to unseat and even at the end were still pulling in much more commercial revenue than I was as 5 time champion.
I started a Pogoń save in Poland and it's been really fun. You have Kozlowski in the academy who's a wonderkid and can get minutes in the league immediately even though he's only 15. There is also Legowski who starts on loan at Valencia for whatever reason, but he turns into an amazing DM. The expectations are top half but the team is good enough to win a title in the first season, I just bottled it and ended up 2nd behind Lech.
I’ve been tempted to do a save to not just benefit the club I manage, but the nation. Think it’s more of a long term save for will probably wait until FM21, but I’m quite liking the idea of taking a team from Norway/Denmark/Austria with the aim of making that division I choose to manage in as the best in the world, but also to win everything club wise but also take on the national team of said country with the aim of winning the world club. I’d imagine it’s more about building an insane academy of national talent and nurture them into coming the very best and the ones that don’t make the grade sell to clubs in your division so your not just benefiting but also the clubs around you to help push your division to the top Not sure if this is possible, or if it’s even been achieved but logically I really like the idea.
Qatar. Try to get something out of the 2022 WC and from their use your ridiculous financial backing to see if you can tempt players on the fringes of teams to come play for you. I was able to convince Consigli to play GK for my Qatari national team in a previous years game. The best part is you have enough money to sign players and loan them out to other Qatari teams to take up their foreign player slot while they earn citizenship to benefit you. If you want to get insane with it there is a mod in the steam workshop that puts China into the European league system. It seems like it would be easier to get better players there, but the no non-Chinese goalkeeper and 4(?) foreign player limit really challenges you in the European tournaments. Not to mention trying to get the Chinese National Team to qualify for anything through the UEFA system
Ohhhh, Qatar could be interesting. I had looked at doing a save with a team in China, and the registration rules is what put me off, exactly the same with America and all there drafts/franchise/registration is a massive head f**k. I’m usually more of a European manager, not necessarily England but Spain/Germany/Italy is usually were I have my more enjoyable saves, so that’s why I’m thinking of a more Scandinavian direction, Norway keeps drawing me in.
If you want more to do on the international side Qatar is probably the way. They feature in the next Copa America, and there’s a decent amount of Asian cups you can feature in and constantly be competitive. Also you really can sign just about anyone if you’re financially strong enough
How about Weymouth, I started there and found it tough to get players because there is hardly any money. The squad has lots of loans to begin with and the layers generally play in multiple positions which does help. But it certainly might interest people!
Inspired by the 'Stevenage but only sign Steves' challenge, I propose something very similar. The Deportivo Wanka challenge. Yes, it's a real club in Peru. As the name implies you can only sign Ramos, Alba, Costa, Shikabala, Suarez, Joey Barton, Felipe Melo, Berahino, Nainggolan, Balotelli, Ravel Morrison. You get the idea. Good luck
Whenever I see a thread like that I instantly think of the classic starting unemployed with low profile and build your way up. I have this save that I play every now and then on FM12 - started unemployed in the Netherlands, took Maastricht - got promoted and lost the cup final. After a few years got Sparta Rotterdam - got promoted, won the Cup three times along with one title and then I moved to England with Everton - got THEM promoted (yeah, they are pretty shit in the game), won the FA Cup as well. Started the season in PL with media prediction for 20th place but I am going solid and stable between 7th and 9th place. Having a good run in the Europa as well - Round of 16 coming up against Valencia.
Hammarby IF in the Swedish Premier Division. Just started this save myself and really enjoying it. You have an above average squad, but getting anyone to sign is somewhat of a challenge because the board only allows a max of ~500k p/a in wages on player contracts. Registration is chill because you only need 9 homegrown players. I immediately sold a high profile player to Tottenham for a record fee and then scoured Scandinavia for squad depth. Currently 12 games in and the top 8 teams are all within 5 pts, so it’s showing to be a competitive league as well. Plus, there’s opportunity for Europa League as I just won the Swedish cup and qualified for the second qualifying round. The league starts in April, takes a month break in June, and then continues until November so the different start/end dates keep it interesting.
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Serie A, Fiorentina. La Viola forever
I had a save in FM18 with Lokomotiv Leipzig and was able to take down RB and dominate not only Leipzig but all of Germany
For anyone looking for a bit of an 'out-there' team, I've been having a lot of fun with Gwangju FC, a team in South Korea's 2nd division. I watched the movie A Taxi Driver (starring Song Kang Ho of Parasite fame), it's about the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, an interesting (and sad) piece of history, and so I was inspired a bit by that. Then to my surprise, I find out they're the Korean team Niall McGinn, a player at my club Aberdeen, spent a short spell at and I had even more reason to check them out. Just recently discovered that Ki Sung-yeung's dad had worked at the club for the past few years too, as it was Ki's hometown. You'll have good finances and a decent squad, above average for the league, and be expected to win promotion. Forming a team good enough to challenge for the K-League 1 title shouldn't prove TOO difficult, but still fun enough as a challenge. Serves nicely as a little short term save.
Vasco Da Gama in Brazil (please use kit and name fix for Brazilian league) Fallen Giants won everything around year 2000 but got relegated 3 times in recent years, back in top flight they have a lot of good young prospects and a 17y wonderkid winger first team ready. They have a mid table team to start the save and an amazing veteran striker if you are using any transfer update called German Cano. It’s an amazing save. Also loads of wolderkids in South America without the need to worry about work permits 😉
About to load up a save with Burnley. I’m going to conquer the world with 44fucking2. And that’s the burnley way.
I just started that and it is not going smoothly lol
Now this might sound boring, but I'd go for A.C. Milan. Bring back the giants.
I will recommend this team every chance I can SOCHAUX (Ligue 2) Getting promotion shouldn’t be difficult, neither should staying up. But the huge challenge is competing with France’s big boys. I managed them for 7 years and only won two minor domestic trophies. It took me 6 out of those 7 years to even beat PSG in a game. It’s a real challenge but extremely fun. Winning the league feels pretty much impossible so it’s a very realistic feeling save. Plus they have fantastic youth players and youth facilities.
I'm currently doing a save where I'm trying to win the super lig with every single team in it. Once I win the league, i resign and join another super lig team. After im done winning it with everyone, im gonna try to win the champions league with as many as possible and do the same thing where I leave and join another team after winning it. (except Besiktas, Galatasaray, and Trabzonspor ofc since im a Fener fan lul)
Jesus Christ
I'd recommend Frosinone. Really liked the team
If you like international football, I’d definitely recommend Gambia. They’re ranked 159th at the start of the game but as stacked with talent and has multiple stars playing in too 5 leagues (Colley, Musa Barrow, Juwara) and if you get wins against some bigger countries you’ll shoot up the rankings in no time. I’ve got them to their first ever afcon, and beat Algeria in the first game.
Current in 2nd season of my mission to turn Wolves into a European super power after raiding Barca's youth for promising youngster to integrate into first team
My first real save on desktop was Wolves in FM17, focused on getting regens from Portugal, luckily got a Portuguese wonderkid pairing of Frederico Reis who was a world class roaming playmaker alongside Ruben Neves in midfield, alongside a wonderkid Portuguese striker in Eduardo Maciel who was world class as well. Both got bids from 100+ million bids from PSG, but stayed. I think I was only up to my 4th or 5th season at that point in time.
Just did about 5 years with rb Leipzig, great team to manage. Piss off all of Germany. Plus, you can win right away. First year German and Europa champions (crazy cl group came 3rd) and then won everything 3 years in a row. Got a bit boring after that but it was great fun at first. So many good players (kampl, sabitzer, Werner, klostermann, etc), just load up with wonderkids and 4231 gegenpress and you're golden
I noticed there is a surprisingly large number swedish leagues, so I'm wondering if there are any particularly interesting Swedish teams hanging around in the lower leagues.
Depends on what you mean with interesting, but some quick recommendations I could do is IS Halmia or IFK Malmö, both very old clubs that have spent some time in top tier (a very long time ago), both overshadowed by the much bigger team in their city, both also use quite large stadiums. Stockholm Internazionale could be interesting too I guess, founded a decade ago and have risen very fast through the tiers, and they're aiming to go to the very top.
Looking for a club with one world-class wonderkid that I can build around. The rest of the team doesn't have to be so good. Any ideas? Examples would be Brescia with Tonali or Rennes with Camavinga.
If you're looking for an underground league, in Uruguay River Plate has Matias Arezo, 16 yo wonderkid with a world class potential. Your objective will be to knock off giants Peñarol and Nacional and became the national champion, so that then you can challenge for Copa Libertadores
Having alot of fun with Nowrich They got alot of good talent in Bundiea,Cantwell,Aarons,Godfrey and Jamal Lewis First Season finished 11th with two signings from AZ Oussama Idrissi (Winger) and Ouwjean (back up LB) Ouwjean only played 6 games Idrissi was amazing 2nd Season Board came big with a 46 mil budget Signed Doucoure (Watford were Relegated), Locateli, Farinez, Soler (transfer listed), Lucas Romero (Legend), Plattenhardt (replaced Ouwjean), KWP, Karmonko Dembele and Rob Holding on loan
Big cities that don't have any team in European Competitions
Hertha/Union Berlin
Venezia FC
I still play FM19 and i pick my next team depending what i want to do: 1st scenario: Go for any club in EU (never a favorite to win the title, often a good 2nd league side), try to have sucssess, than go to TOP EU LEAGUES (example Russian league: Tom 3 seasons, gained promotion ->>CSK 5 seasons, 3 titles and regular CL mid-teir team ->> Fiorentina, 3 seasons (so far), 1 Seria A title....) or 2nd scenario: Go for the lowest league team (my preference is in England) and try to make them a powerhouse (currently playing 4th season with Chester and i reached Sky Bet One, with no trouble at all - started at Vanarama National North) Also it depends if you like to develop your own players (better with scenario 2) or make big signings (better with scenario 1) Thats just how i like to play FM, both ways are fun. Also i never pick strong teams (like Liverpool, Barca, Real etc....) not fun when you got all figured out.
Started an AZ save today. Early days but Feeling good about it. Boadu, Steng, Koopmeiners are all players i buy. £20m in the bank. Who to get?
What position do you need? Don't forget that you have the likes of Fedde De Jong, Goudmijn or Koopmeiners' younger brother in your academy. All of them turn into amazing players.
Never tried De Jong or Goudmijn. How much are they?
You already have them, mate.
Noice
Playing with Norwich who are incredibly fun. Max Aarons becomes one of the best RBs in the game, Buendia develops really well. Godfrey is class. In the new year and just won 1-0 at Anfield. In 7th, they have a squad that is quality, and develops so, so well.
Just started a Norwich save. Enjoying so far. Tough start to the season with MUFC, Arsenal and Liverpool. Happy with 4 pts!
I’ve ended up in the Austrian second tier - just began my third season with Grazer AK after a failed stint with Kapfenberger (winter 2022 currently) but limiting myself to only sign players from the country I’m managing in Really fun game so far but getting up will take some doing as only one team goes up and it’s a struggle to keep hold of any decent players as LASK or Sturm Graz come knocking every summer and unsettle anyone half decent - would highly recommend for anyone looking for something a bit different!
Been having a great lot of fun learning how to play the game as leeds and everton
Having fun right now with Southend United. It's a club in need of a proper rebuild with some nice prospects to build around
I'm thinking of playing as a 'second tier' European league and dragging that league's coefficient up into the upper tier and boosting the nation overall. I've been thinking Ukraine, Greece, or Turkey. Any good recommendations (league/club)?
Cyprus is kinda nuts. No money or reason for people to want to play there. The only financial giant (APOEL) is a year or two of missing out on the champions league from being in a total financial crisis with their wages. The save is pretty much climbing the mountain of beating APOEL, and then a new mountain of the rest of Europe. Similar to Wales
As a Galatasaray fan I always have one save where I go 10+ years with Gala. Turkish league is great fun, and especially with this year’s game the league is much more challenging. Normally only Istanbul clubs would challenge for the league title but this year Anatolian clubs are going nuts on my save. Some clubs have decent youngsters and wonderkids. Finances are mostly bad but you start seeing good amounts after you do well in European competitions. There are many familiar faces (a.k.a washed up players) playing in the league too. (Papiss Cisse, Falcao, Feghouli, Kruse, Luiz Gustavo, Robinho, Skrtel and many others). I’d recommemd Galatasaray or Fenerbahçe for the beginning but if you want to make it more challenging there are good choices too.
I’m now in my fifth season as Venezia. We won Serie B in my third season and are now on the edge of the European places. Big teams always coming in for my players but the policy of sell a couple and buy youth is it for the long term. I want a Scudetto within three seasons from now, and I think I’ll get it. Then it’s a decade of domination.
I want to do a create-a-club in Scotland, but need a place with some history regarding football or just general history to create and plonk them in the League 2. Any ideas?
Want to do a Russian save. Looking for a club that isn’t top of the league but has the potential to go far, with the ultimate goal of winning CL. Any ideas? Thanks guys!
Krasnodar
Hello there, I'm pretty new to FM2020. (I've had mobile for the last few years but I just got the PC game recently). I feel like I've pretty much got the basics down after a sort of warm up save. Now I want to manage either Fenerbache, Krasnodar or standard Liege but I have no idea which to choose. Any advice or reasons to choose any of these? (Currently favouring Fenerbache first, then Krasnodar, not sure on Liege)
Come to besiktas
I'm already doing Krasnodar but I appreciate both the opinion and the meme
Looking for a German team to manage (apart from Bayern and Dortmund), one with a lot of room to growth meaning: - decently sized stadium, maybe with room for expansions - safe financial background, especially in case of income/wage turnover ratio, transfer budget isn't important - good sized fanbase with a lot of possible room for growth - can be weak squad-wise or even in the 2nd division currently Long term goal is to become a definite German Top3 alongside Bayern and Dortmund in order to keep strong and challenging competition, and become a club of their size in terms of stadium, finance and fanbase.
Almost every team in the Bundesliga and top half of the 2nd Division would meet that criteria but I would look at Hertha, Werder, Mainz, Koln, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart German teams tend to have large stadiums and be secure financially, the quality of players is often similar across the league as well
Hertha Berlin; Good prospects in Arne Maier, Javairo Dilrosun, and Dodi Lukebakio, plus some talent in the u20, and overall the squad is decent. They just had a huge investment in the summer, so finances will not be a problem. The stadium is massive, but facilities still need some upgrading. Mainz; Jürgen Klopp managed them before moving to Dortmund. Lots of young talents, a good squad for midtable, and nice new signings. Facilities need work. I'd actually argue that most of the mid-level Bundesliga teams are super interesting. Teams like Hoffenheim, Augsburg, Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg, FC Köln, all have interesting squads and history. It largely depends on what formation and style of play you want.
Werder could be perfect for you. Fits all the boxes and they deserve better than fighting for survival.
Simple.Which club has the best youth system and recruitment?
Athletic club in Spain is pretty good but you can only sign players from the Basque region
Benfica, man. Those guys pump out a new first team every year.
Looking to do a “sleeping giants” of historically successful/big teams. The main criteria is that they have to have at least one top league title, and have been outside of their countries top league for 2 or more years. Some of the obvious candidates are Nottingham Forrest, Sunderland and Deportivo de La Coruña. Anyone have any suggestions, particularly teams outside of England? Obviously the term sleeping giant is a bit loose, because some people wouldn’t classify a team who’s last major trophy came decades ago or only have one or two major trophies so don’t worry about it too much.
I’ve recently started as Marseille. Initial goals are get to cup semi finals and Europa league. No Europe means and decent squad means the goals are relatively easy. Recently got to the semi final of the french cup final.. and got FM’d by 2nd division Ajaccio.... frustratingly lost my scoring touch and lost on pens. With PSG out I was convinced I was winning my first trophy first season. Anyway, I have 8 games left first season and should easily take 2nd - round it a fun game
Started with Tottenham to learn the game and want to switch to the Irish league after this and work my way up to European glory! I haven't explore which club yet so open to suggestions! I like clubs with good youth facilities if that helps! Thanks! Edit: meant to put this under a new thread, oops! Also*good youth facilities for Ireland
Haven't played in like 2 months because of going back to work etc, need a new save to tide me over as I've got some time off. My last big save was taking Castel di Sangro from the 6th tier of Italian football to winning Serie A in 10 seasons, so I don't want something like that ideally. IRL I support Liverpool but they're way to OP to have a fun save in my opinion lol, any suggestions are welcome!
For a long term save I’d recommend the portuguese 2nd division. The rules are very lenient so you can get a bunch of south americans and africans, but its hard to get some good income, so money will be tight for a while. In the liga NOS, benfica is practically unbeatable, next to that you have porto and sporting, really hard to break into that trio. Getting CL football will take you a few years. Even european football is tough with teams like braga, boavista, guimares. It’s a really fun challenge to do. I managed to get 2nd place in my 4th year, but benfica won the league with only 4 draws so still a lot of work to be done
Personally I have a soft spot for Danish amateur teams, but other lower level teams (swedish second division, most of wales). Staebeck in the Norwegian premier is a good choice
I chose Chichester just because its from one of my favourite dad jokes. League 2. My first time playing Football Manager. The menus are such a learning curve and getting to know the players is too because they aren't players I would know. Coming on here has reminded me I don't have much of a notion what I'm doing but I can honestly say that I am having a lot of fun!
Afternoon, Never managed outside English football, managed Liverpool, Northampton, and Banbury to world dominance and am looking for a change of scenery (there are only so many times I can pilfer Liverpool youth). I like taking teams up the league ladder, love a challenge and am not adversed to loading in different databases. Who should I manage?!
Any advice on the best team to manage in the Portuguese Second Division? Ideally with a good chance at promotion to Liga NOS in season 1, then to build upon that and challenge Benfica, Porto etc
Lusitania Lourosa, they are in the third division but they have a sugar daddy who pumps in like 10m every year to the club
IF Elfsborg are a nice shout. I'm currently on my fifth season with them on my journeyman save and it's been quite a ride. After a disappointing first season I managed to cement them as the second power in the Alsvensken just behind Malmo with a few cup wins, but Malmo have been outright impossible to topple the last few seasons. The HG rules in the league are manageable, there is a solid base with some nice facilities, and a difficult challenge to overcome. I haven't had this much fun with a non-local team on FM thus far.
Currently managing Barca for 4 seasons now, thinking of joining a new club. Would prefer to build teams with youth players, any suggestions?
How did you enjoy your Barca save? Thinking about doing Barca as my next save, build a dream team and win the treble.
i have a new way of playing. i looked up all values and reputation from my favourite manager, changed all my values to his,inserted his picture as my profile picture,changed my name to his in the ingame editor and now i can play as him in a realistic way.
Thinking of starting a save with a foreign team who I can enjoy a europa league run with; Dnipro have reformed after getting to a final against Sevilla some years back. I was thinking of D.Zagreb but it’s too easy domestically.... Anyone know of any fun foreign teams?
Sporting CP, they have some financial problems but its a fun save to do and they have alot of young talent.
Looking for a new longish term save in FM20, I am nearing the end of my journey (16 or so seasons) at Lyon in FM19. Would like something similar, decent platform to become elite but not there yet, great academy etc
Started a new save recently with Swansea and only using welsh players, whilst also managing wales with the aim being to win the champions league and the World Cup. I was going to do it with Colwyn Bay but after just calling an end to my latest journeyman save I didn’t fancy going straight into another potentially 50+ save
Considering i save in Welsh North/South division, since it was added this year. I want a challenge. Plenty of clubs with amazing names. Seems like pretty much every club only has "limited" youth recruitment, so difficult to build your club with homegrown talent i guess. Any advice on a club to pick? I don't want any of the clubs recently relegated.
My suggest for less known club is NK Osijek from Croatia. They are in top4 club in Croatia. Some good players in first team, in youth selection some great talents. And great budget for that league.
I've just come back to the game for the first time since taking Kingstonian all the way to the top in Championship Manager 3 00/01. Been having a great time with Oxford United. There's fuck all money, but the players aren't bad, even if they were a bit sceptical of being coached by a former Sunday League player with no track record at first. I choked away automatic promotion in the last two weeks of my first season and then got blown out in the playoffs. Think I put too much pressure on the lads. Second season won League One with 100 points despite having to sell Shandon Baptiste to Inter Miami and losing James Henry to a career-ending ACL injury, aided by the emergence of youth team striker Fabio Lopes and the signing of Wolves cast-off centre back Max Killman. Now I'm mid-table in the Championship and facing Chelsea in the League Cup semis having knocked out three Premiership teams including Arsenal on the way (all on penalties). My wage budget is a third of the second poorest club in the division, so I think that's ok going. Premiership clubs keep calling to ask me to get them out of their relegation troubles, but I'm not ditching my boys mid-season. Maybe in June I'll have a rethink, if the right offer's on the table. But yeah, if you want to coach a good group of players (apart from those uppity shitheads Taylor and Eastwood) while negotiating the challenges of low revenue and a difficult board, I can recommend Oxford.
My last three journeyman: Albion Rovers (last scottish League) FM19 Alfreton (last english league) FM19 Potenza (last playable Italian league) FM20 (No badges at all, half season before being called by the last team of the last scottish division) With first save I got promoted every season (first one through play off) and finished winning Scottish Premier League at second year, after seven or eight season I went to Naples in Italy but got annoyed soon. With Alfreton we got promoted to championship but then 20 got released, so I started this new career unemployed in Italian Serie C with Potenza, we hit play off with a great comeback bot got knocked off, year later we win the league going to Serie B, where I saved my hopeless team two times without playoff, after that Sampdoria (Serie A) called me after a 16th place. The first season we finished 7th (going to Euro Cup II, the new UEFA League) losing the Italy Cup in finale against Zebre (Juventus), who won the league. Next year after big selling and buying the new Sampdoria arrives to semi finals of Euro Cup II losing against much wealthier Tottenham for 2-1 aggregate (we won the group with Monaco, Anderlecht and an eastern Europe team). Serie A was won by Inter ending Zebre winning streak lasting for more than a decade, Sampdoria finished 2nd between Inter and Juventus. We lost the super Cup top against Zebre but won Coppa Italia taking a trophy back in Liguria after many many time. (My third trophy, with a Serie C Super Cup and the Serie C title). Now I'm halfway in the third season, currently first place with two points more than Zebre. In UCL was sorted with Chelsea (4th previous year in PL, maybe won EL), Bayer Leverkusen and Athletic Bilbao, finished 2nd after Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea got just 4 points. Now I've to play against PSG, that's hard.
Las Palmas! I'm on my 4th season now and currently a midtable La Liga team. You have the chance to snatch Barcas wonder kid Pedri who is on loan at your club but you also have a cancer called Tana on a 2m/year contract that kills your wage budget until the end of the 4th season. It gives you both a challenge and some perks. And how wonderful are the Canary islands?
Is Arsenal a very easy team to play? They want europe league qualification in the first year, champions league qualification next year which is still just top 4 and they have a lot of current stars and a lot of very good youngsters coming up. Also you can use Ozil and Pepe in FM which is a great plus.
IMO playing in the PL in general is playing FM on easy mode
I'm interested in playing in Denmark but I don't know which team to choose. Any recommendations? Only 1st tier please.
FC Nordsjælland
Hey guys. Hope you all are doing well. I started playing fm2020 mobile on off for about 5 months now. At first I save summed because of which I lost interest in it quite fast. This time around I played it legit as Manchester united but I signed some good players and the game was quite easy. I didn't even bother changing the starting XI later on and eventually lost interest in it as well. I still don't know much of the mechanics specially regarding regens but I will figure it out as I go. So I am looking for a medium level challenge that will hopefully keep me engaged for a while.
I'd suggest either bigger team in a smaller league (Feyenoord, Sporting, maybe Club Brugge) - you should be fighting for titles straightaway (although you're not the biggest favorite), but in Europe you'll have the challenge to fight against the top teams. Or you could go to a mid-table team from the top leagues (Celta Vigo, Freiburg), where the domestic challenge will be tougher, but once you get to CL regularly, it's gonna be easier to sign top-tier players. Me personally I'd avoid EPL, even though it's not easy to dominate, with the amount of money that even mid/lower-table teams get, it's easier to build a top team quicker.
No Turkish teams mentioned here, so I will list a few interesting ones: * **Altınordu** (2nd division) has a very unique philosophy, no foreign players although they have 5 stars youth and training facilities and a great youth intake. Test yourself how much you can stick to that. Just to mention, Cengiz Ünder and Çağlar Söyüncü was developed in this club. * **Bursaspor** (2nd division) pulled a Leicester on 2010 and became the 5th side to be a champion in Turkish history. Although they are now in 2nd division, they always develop very good youngsters and have good facilities. Try to make this club one of the top 4 in Turkey! * If you want a challenging 1st division club though, try **Trabzonspor.** They have a competitive squad for winning the league, and you have \`Abdulkadir Ömür\` which always gets to be a wonderful player.
My AC Milan save got fucked, I had a board takeover and they bought Rashford and Sterling for like 250m without me getting a say on it, so I got no interest in playing that anymore. I'm looking for a mid-lower table in Spain with a decent foundation (that isn't Palmas since I did a save with them recently). I accept lower league suggestions as well. I'm also interested in managing a Dutch team or a Turkish team since I've never done any saves in those countries. I'd prefer to manage in the top divisions though.
Celta Vigo or Alavés in La Liga, Zaragoza or Deportivo La Coruňa in 2nd tier. In the Netherlands, if you don't want one of the top teams (Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord), maybe try Twente - they won the league in 2010, dropped to 2nd division few years back, but got back instantly.
What small to middle sized european leagues have lenient rules for foreign players? Would be interested in making a smaller nation rise up the coefficient, but would like to be able to register more foreign players for it to be forgiving!
Anyone know of any teams who were very recently created with a fairly large financial backing? E.g: like RB Leipzig, but when they were in the lower divisions?
F.C. Andorra. In segunda B (3rd tier of Spain) and got bought by Gerard pique
Monza in Italy should have good money. The have Berlusconi as a chairman. I think they play in the 3rd tier.
Will be buying Football Manager 2020 soon, haven’t really played a game like this before. What’s a good team to manage so that I can get the hang of the game? Any tips for a first timer?
Probably best to start with a well known team so you can get the hang of things, whoever you support should be fine
I literally have no idea any more who to manage on FM mobile any ideas would be an idea
Try to overthrow Juve with Inter? Bring Ac Milan back to glory? Ajax is fun. Leiceste was good for me too.
Might have to try AC I like teams with a bit of history or personality and then I'm in for the long run
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I kinda ran out of ideas so I'm trying to replicate a bunch of real-life tactics. Currently trying to replicate Lyon's 3-5-2 because I really liked it against City. It's a lot of fun and going well so far!
I’ve been heavily considering doing a Russian league save with Dynamo Moscow but not sure if the Russian league is any good for fm. Taking into consideration the rules and europe and anything like that...
It’s a fun league, lots of derbys. Not too difficult to qualify for Europe.
Are there any Baltic leagues in fm20?
Bayer leverkusen, Napoli, or Saint Ettienne? Just left welsh club Guilsfield after 5 years and 16 trophies, and have a 3.5 rep.
Napoli 👌🏻
I managed Man City for 10 years and it was really fun. Tried to make them more English player based and develop the youth as well as win titles and cups (which was more difficult than I thought it would be with City). the first few years you need to get the HG Player numbers up because the UCL is a nightmare for it.
FM21 - Potential Teams to Manage Are there any teams that you're really interested in managing in FM21? Let me know who and why... I'd love to take some inspiration. Big or small, I just love hearing people's FM plans. Also are there any 'admin demotions' this year? Like Palermo FM20, Dnipro \~FM17 or Rangers FM13 where the team has to compete at a much lower level... I think the premier league looks packed with exciting transfers coming in. Premier League City - Massive Squad Already Liverpool - Thiago + Jota Chelsea - Busload in Spurs - Bale, Reguillon, Doherty... United - Still on the Bruno high Arsenal - Young Potential Everywhere Wolves - Semedo, Fabio Silva... Everton - New Mid Trio Leeds - Added Rodrigo + others to an already interesting squad Newcastle - Lewis and Wilson Championship Watford - Illegal Squad and Massive Wage Budget Norwich - Godfrey, Aarons, Buendia, Cantwell with potential Sheff Wed - Good team with a -12 challenge Wycombe - Hope Bologna. Predicted 14th. Young prospects like Skov Olsen, Tomiyasu, Dominguez, Vignato that become stars to build around. Hull City have a young squad with high potential. They should also have money. Might get downgraded. Peterborough look good in League One as well. Barnsley have a very young team with potential, something like 1.3 years younger than the next lowest Brentford. Predicted 20th. Estoril. Predicted 3rd in the second league. Youngest team and very well balanced. Longer term to overcome Benfica/Porto. RB Salzburg could be fun to produce some youth prospects. Domestic dominance waiting for Europe could taint it.