Football Manager 2026

[Beliall]

25 minutes ago, Lineker's Lugs said:

I started a pentagon a few days ago and it’s going well.

 

I’ll admit I gave myself a bit of a head-start by beginning with only Australia, Japan, South Korea, Egypt and South Africa playable, avoiding the likes of Indonesia and Malaysia where I would normally begin.  But it was the usual idea of starting unemployed with no qualifications or experience.

 

ASIA

I didn’t take the first three jobs offered as I was holding out for a coaching course.  Just when I gave up on that idea as it was taking too long, I was offered an interview by J3 side Vanraure Hachinohe.  And in whatever the opposite of sod’s law is, they agreed to send me on a course.

 

By the time I left, I’d taken them to J2 and I was doing my Continental B.  Tokyo Verdy were my next stop, and I took them up to J1 but they had refused multiple requests for my next course so I was keeping an eye on other opportunities.  A juicy one arose quite soon – Yokohama F. Marinos, so off I went.  There no loyalty in football anymore.  Not from me anyway.

 

I felt I was finally at a club that could get the first leg of the pentagon done, and so it proved.  I won a league title as well, but consistently bombed in the domestic cups, as I had throughout the save so far.  The AFC Champions League was won in a finals tournament in Taiwan.  The QF was a complete smash and grab despite being a 4-0 win over Al-Hilal, then we edged past fellow J1 side Machida Zelvia in the SF.  The final looked tough, but we finally had a game where it all clicked and we beat Al-Nassr easily and deservedly.

 

AFRICA

I hoped Africa would mean Egypt as I still haven’t managed there, but I ended up at Mamelodi Sundowns.  Their budgeting is clearly up to Leicester City standards as despite the fact that I was working well within them we were losing money hand over fist.  We were cleaning up domestically and thankfully got the CAF Champions League done before the club totally imploded.  The group stage had been a bit iffy with two draws and a defeat, but the knockout stages were little more than a procession.  I had a star centre forward called George Mokoena who was an absolute cheat code.

 

NORTH AMERICA

CONCACAF means Mexico because no-one in their right mind would go to USA.  The job screen told me Atlas Guadalajara were rich and that was good enough for me.  It’s just as well they were because the squad was rubbish and it was clear why they were in 17^th of 18 in the Clausura with games running out.  We finished 15^th but some good transfer business turned thing around very quickly to the extent that we actually qualified for the next Champions Cup through both the Leagues Cup and the Apertura Torneo.  We only had to play seven matches to become CONCACAF Champions, and since we were now the best side in Mexico, and therefore North America, we were able to get it done.  My stay in Mexico was relatively short and very sweet.

 

EUROPE

I hit the job market again.  Leicester was available, but I never play the Premier League (where Leicester were, remarkably - presumably they’d had a takeover) so I left that well alone.  I took my time waiting for an appealing job and Bayern Munich was the first I went for.  I was interviewed but didn’t get it.  Then Barcelona approached me without me having applied.  It turned out it was their former manager that had pipped me for the Bayern job.  Normally I’d have expected another rejection but because they approached me I was hopeful, and sure enough I was offered the gig.

 

I’m nearly at the end of the summer transfer window and I’ve revamped the squad at a cost of £500m.  The outgoings brought in £224m so I’ve stayed within my £310m wage budget.  I’ve kept the wage bill the same, lowered the average age of the squad and made it stronger.  I have a four year contract, but the end of year three has a World Club Cup and I fancy a crack at that – we qualified for it last season before I joined.  That’s been part of my recruitment strategy too – signing players in their mid-20s who will be at their peak then.

 

It does feel like I’ve broken the back of the pentagon.  I’d normally have done South America before Europe but nothing decent came up in Argentina, Brazil or Uruguay.

 

I’m thinking I might make it a heptagon by doing Asia and Europe in the women’s game too.  In theory there’s North America too but only the USA is in the game so that’s out.

 

pretty impressive work for a few days play. good luck on the 5th. meanwhile im still in africa in 2030. im also planning to flip to the womens side again at some point, it was fun the couple of saves i did

[Lineker's Lugs]

18 minutes ago, Beliall said:

pretty impressive work for a few days play. good luck on the 5th. meanwhile im still in africa in 2030. im also planning to flip to the womens side again at some point, it was fun the couple of saves i did

I can (and do) spend most hours of every day on the save and I instant result the vast majority of games so I'm getting through it quite quickly.  I think I get better results that way as it seems my strength is building squads rather than managing games!

 

The one player I named, George Mokoena, has just joined Leicester in game oddly.

 

The women's game is what I watch almost exclusively IRL so I'd like to do more saves there, but there's not enough leagues for a good journeyman save.  Tacking them on to this seems like a better idea.

 

You seem to be heading in the right direction in SA now.

 

[Beliall]

9 hours ago, Lineker's Lugs said:

I can (and do) spend most hours of every day on the save and I instant result the vast majority of games so I'm getting through it quite quickly.  I think I get better results that way as it seems my strength is building squads rather than managing games!

 

The one player I named, George Mokoena, has just joined Leicester in game oddly.

 

The women's game is what I watch almost exclusively IRL so I'd like to do more saves there, but there's not enough leagues for a good journeyman save.  Tacking them on to this seems like a better idea.

 

You seem to be heading in the right direction in SA now.

 

i have all the womens leagues loaded and the best of the mens too. would love to win every euro cup i can, if i stick it that long. i enjoy watching the games, though it takes longer it helps me pace myself. each to their own, no wrong way to play, except save scumming   with international football too now if i win everything else, might as well do that too

[shen]

If you can complete the Pentagon challenge within a few days ... It would take me years at my pace and available time 

[Dan]

Instant result is defo better on 26 than previous as you get a bit more control on it. Though I do think I dropped off a little doing it as often as I did. I instant resulted probably 80% of my last year and a half in the league with Vrsac.

[Lineker's Lugs]

It turns out managing Barcelona is not very satisfying.

 

Real Madrid had a poor first half of the season. They and most other teams were taking points off each other so we reached the end of the year with a significant advantage in the league.  That meant I could put out a second string in most of the remaining games and save the best XI for the biggest league games and the Champions League.  Some of the fringe players had been getting a bit unsettled so it was a win-win.  Well, not entirely because we did drop a few points in the league that wouldn’t have happened with less rotation.  But we still clinched the title with four games to spare having already won the Supercopa and the Copa del Rey.

 

The challenge came in the Champions League.  We finished third in the group stage to get straight through to the round of 16.  Marseille were easily beaten but Real Madrid in the QF pushed us close.  We won 4-3 at home and drew 2-2 away, but it needed a 93rd minute equaliser to get us through.  In the semi we faced PSG and both games finished 1-1 but we triumphed on penalties.

 

The final was against Lille and since they had only finished 5th in France it felt like a formality.  I was confident enough to play the game rather than instant result it – the prospect of watching a trophy lift drew me in.  We started well but fell behind after 15 minutes.  It was only when he picked up a bit of an injury that I realised I’d started with my back-up striker by mistake.  In fairness there wasn’t much to choose between them but the first choice, Diakité got the equaliser on the stroke of half-time, ten minutes after coming on.  With no second half goals it went to extra time and we fell behind again before Omar Nduwimana smashed in an equaliser from 25 yards.  Our left-back Lamine Dramé gave us the lead in the 108th minute and that proved to be the winner.

 

The other notable event of the season was Diego Simeone getting sacked by Atlético after 400 years in charge.  Leicester finished one place above relegation.  Not very realistic this game.

 

I think I’m going to abandon my plan to stick around for another couple of years as it’s been too easy, and with only 5 or 6 players to gradually replace over the next few windows it feels like it will stay that way.  So either South America, the WE League in Japan or a women's European league next.  I haven't checked the job market yet, but I don't intend to cherry pick as I did in Europe.  Any team with finances that are ok or stable is a possibility.  It's also a women's world cup year meaning there should be a few jobs available after that so I might try a little international management on the side.

[Lineker's Lugs]

7 hours ago, shen said:

If you can complete the Pentagon challenge within a few days ... It would take me years at my pace and available time 

I've just checked and I started on 20th May.  I packed in my job a couple of years ago and have very few responsibilities so my time is largely my own.  I'm not sure 1,667 hours of FM26 counts as making the best use of it though!

 

[Dan]

Done with Serbia after all. The main takeaway I have from it is that everything is underpinned by their wage situation. What I mean is that Serbian players accept an absolute pittance in wages. Nobody in Serbia other than two clubs really have any money so they in theory should absolutely clean up, but with the way the game AI is they just don't. I do think you probably have to strike a balance because overhauling Zvezda if they acted effectively would be basically impossible, but they should never have been as poor as they were. Partizan weren't much better either, although their wage spend to begin with was miles off Zvezda, it did grow pretty substantially and wasn't far off theirs in the end either, I'm assuming courtesy of European money and a couple of big sales.

 

This situation does mean that if you come into money at any point, you will fly up the pyramid. I pretty much took every chance I got at the first time of asking which ended up making things quite easy in the end. But I can imagine if I'd lost to Copenhagen in that play-off game that the save would look very different. Every aim in a league like this should be to get into a European league phase because it absolutely dwarves anything you'll get domestically.

 

All in all it's a pretty broken league system. It could actually be pretty good with the level of intakes they get, extremely disproportionate to the wages that their players receive. I had a fun save in the league but I think it could very easily have been a bit different. As ever, and is often the case in a lot of European leagues, it's totally skewed and killed off as a competition by the Champions League and the reward for being in it.

 

It wasn't the hardest league I managed in in the end even though I thought it would be.

[Lineker's Lugs]

My new club was in Argentina: San Lorenzo.  My initial assessment of the squad involved a lot of use of the letters c, r, a and p.  The game agreed:

 

 

I took over after two games of the second stage of the season, the Clausura.  San Lorenzo had lost both 2-1.  They had finished 13th of 15 in their group in the Apertura stage and the board’s objective was to avoid relegation.  As San Lorenzo had done pretty well in the previous couple of years and relegation was decided on a three year average, I didn’t think there was too much danger.

 

Closer inspection revealed a pretty reasonable XI, and with only one match a week that could be enough in the short term.  The transfer window was open and I brought in a left back, left winger and central defender whilst selling a high earning 30-year-old back up central defender.  I didn’t know what a good player looked like in this league so I decided to leave my business at that and not waste the somewhat limited available funds.

 

The XI, with the defensive reinforcements, turned out to be good enough and the remaining games brought six wins, six draws and two defeats as we finished 7th in our group and qualified for the playoffs.  We beat Atlanta 3-2 in the first round but lost 1-0 to Rosario Central in the QF to end our season.

 

We finished 22nd of 30 in the combined table for the Apertura and Clausura.  A finish of 11th or better (or winning the Copa Argentina) is required to be certain of qualification for one of the continental competitions.  We had ended up 8 points behind 11th, which I felt was a gap we could bridge, so that became my target for the new year.

 

Time for a transfer window.  There is lots to do.

 

[Beliall]

I have been in SA for nearly 5 years now, and i still havent been allowed a coaching course. i started with no experience and no traits, so everything here is what i earned by playing the game. no matter how this season goes for us, im keeping an eye open for a job vacancy at a better club. i want my badges and i want to potentially skip another 4 seasons of squad building my way into the SA champions league

[Lineker's Lugs]

7 hours ago, Beliall said:

I have been in SA for nearly 5 years now, and i still havent been allowed a coaching course. i started with no experience and no traits, so everything here is what i earned by playing the game. no matter how this season goes for us, im keeping an eye open for a job vacancy at a better club. i want my badges and i want to potentially skip another 4 seasons of squad building my way into the SA champions league

 

I had the same situation in the Swedish lower divisions on my last save.  I got one promotion but it made no noticeable difference to my reputation and after three years with no coaching course I resigned.  The only job offers I got were in the league I'd been promoted from and none came with a coaching course so I ended up quitting the save.

 

It's a shame you can't opt to pay for your own early courses since the lower levels are meant to be pretty cheap in reality, but I suppose that changes the nature of a career save.  Looking for a course as part of taking my first job did feel like a bit of a cheat in my current save but I didn't want to repeat that experience.  It has had the knock-on effect of making it easier than a pentagon is supposed to be, but at the same time this is only a game and games should be fun.

 

 

 

[Lineker's Lugs]

We began the transfer window with 30 players in the first team squad and by the time the new season began we had 24.  Four had left at the end of their contracts and twelve had been sold.  Those moves boosted the transfer and wage budgets nicely and I was able to add ten and have money left over.  We were vastly better.

 

One of my signings was this guy.  The name is genuine, adding the picture was something that just had to be done.   He’s good too, and a bargain at £65k, even if he can only play at night.

 

 

The media prediction was 11th in the combined table at the end of the year.  That was exactly what I was targeting but I was hopeful we could do better.

 

And we did.  We finished second in our Apertura group but missed the first chance to qualify for the Copa Libertadores when Talleres beat us 1-0 in the playoff final.

 

I added a new keeper in the summer, but otherwise stuck with the same players and the Clausura went even better, possibly because all the winter signings had settled in and those that needed to had learnt the language.  We reached the final round of games in third but then beat the team in second.  River Plate also lost so we leapfrogged them too and finished top of the group.

 

That all meant we had finished third in the combined table so had secured a place in the Copa Libertadores through that route.  It also meant the Clausura playoffs didn’t matter to us at all, so inevitably we won them.

 

Just as I was sorting out my plans for the transfer window I was approached by Palmeiras.  I’d had no thought of leaving, and had never managed a Brazilian side as the season seems such a slog.  However one look at the squad revealed it was clearly a big step up and potentially an opportunity to get the pentagon finished in a year or two. and it also made it clear that it would be a big ask with San Lorenzo.  The first thing I did was confirm they were in the Copa Libertadores and then I took the job.  It feels a little cheaty to make this move, but as I didn’t seek it I’ve decided it’s ok.

 

 

 

[Beliall]

11 minutes ago, Lineker's Lugs said:

We began the transfer window with 30 players in the first team squad and by the time the new season began we had 24.  Four had left at the end of their contracts and twelve had been sold.  Those moves boosted the transfer and wage budgets nicely and I was able to add ten and have money left over.  We were vastly better.

 

One of my signings was this guy.  The name is genuine, adding the picture was something that just had to be done.   He’s good too, and a bargain at £65k, even if he can only play at night.

 

 

The media prediction was 11th in the combined table at the end of the year.  That was exactly what I was targeting but I was hopeful we could do better.

 

And we did.  We finished second in our Apertura group but missed the first chance to qualify for the Copa Libertadores when Talleres beat us 1-0 in the playoff final.

 

I added a new keeper in the summer, but otherwise stuck with the same players and the Clausura went even better, possibly because all the winter signings had settled in and those that needed to had learnt the language.  We reached the final round of games in third but then beat the team in second.  River Plate also lost so we leapfrogged them too and finished top of the group.

 

That all meant we had finished third in the combined table so had secured a place in the Copa Libertadores through that route.  It also meant the Clausura playoffs didn’t matter to us at all, so inevitably we won them.

 

Just as I was sorting out my plans for the transfer window I was approached by Palmeiras.  I’d had no thought of leaving, and had never managed a Brazilian side as the season seems such a slog.  However one look at the squad revealed it was clearly a big step up and potentially an opportunity to get the pentagon finished in a year or two. and it also made it clear that it would be a big ask with San Lorenzo.  The first thing I did was confirm they were in the Copa Libertadores and then I took the job.  It feels a little cheaty to make this move, but as I didn’t seek it I’ve decided it’s ok.

 

 

 

dunno man,  heard that guy sucks

[Tommy Fresh]

2 hours ago, Lineker's Lugs said:

We began the transfer window with 30 players in the first team squad and by the time the new season began we had 24.  Four had left at the end of their contracts and twelve had been sold.  Those moves boosted the transfer and wage budgets nicely and I was able to add ten and have money left over.  We were vastly better.

 

One of my signings was this guy.  The name is genuine, adding the picture was something that just had to be done.   He’s good too, and a bargain at £65k, even if he can only play at night.

 

 

The media prediction was 11th in the combined table at the end of the year.  That was exactly what I was targeting but I was hopeful we could do better.

 

And we did.  We finished second in our Apertura group but missed the first chance to qualify for the Copa Libertadores when Talleres beat us 1-0 in the playoff final.

 

I added a new keeper in the summer, but otherwise stuck with the same players and the Clausura went even better, possibly because all the winter signings had settled in and those that needed to had learnt the language.  We reached the final round of games in third but then beat the team in second.  River Plate also lost so we leapfrogged them too and finished top of the group.

 

That all meant we had finished third in the combined table so had secured a place in the Copa Libertadores through that route.  It also meant the Clausura playoffs didn’t matter to us at all, so inevitably we won them.

 

Just as I was sorting out my plans for the transfer window I was approached by Palmeiras.  I’d had no thought of leaving, and had never managed a Brazilian side as the season seems such a slog.  However one look at the squad revealed it was clearly a big step up and potentially an opportunity to get the pentagon finished in a year or two. and it also made it clear that it would be a big ask with San Lorenzo.  The first thing I did was confirm they were in the Copa Libertadores and then I took the job.  It feels a little cheaty to make this move, but as I didn’t seek it I’ve decided it’s ok.

 

 

 

Seasons in Brazil and Colombia drag on massively though, which is annoying as both would be class saves.

[Beliall]

after a decent start my season has turned into matches like this. no idea what to do honestly. apart from break the bank in january to bring in some players who know where the ****ing net is  

[shen]

30 minutes ago, Beliall said:

after a decent start my season has turned into matches like this. no idea what to do honestly. apart from break the bank in january to bring in some players who know where the ****ing net is  

Not much you can do when the opposing goalkeeper plays well. Seven times out of ten, you likely win that match.

I wouldn't actually look too much at the failing attack here, it's an anomaly.

 

Instead I would look at the defense here. How and why did you concede two goals despite your dominance? How can you prevent such goals?

Then I would also be disappointed to not score from eight corners - as usual in FM, set pieces/corners can be manipulated to your benefit.

[Beliall]

2 minutes ago, shen said:

Not much you can do when the opposing goalkeeper plays well. Seven times out of ten, you likely win that match.

I wouldn't actually look too much at the failing attack here, it's an anomaly.

 

Instead I would look at the defense here. How and why did you concede two goals despite your dominance? How can you prevent such goals?

Then I would also be disappointed to not score from eight corners - as usual in FM, set pieces/corners can be manipulated to your benefit.

i never spend much time tinkering with set pieces, i never get them working. maybe ill take a look though because you raise a good point that i overlooked. i dropped  some players and changed one role in the midfield, took the game to Kaiser Chiefs in the next match and thumped them 5-1

[shen]

3 minutes ago, Beliall said:

i never spend much time tinkering with set pieces, i never get them working. maybe ill take a look though because you raise a good point that i overlooked. i dropped  some players and changed one role in the midfield, took the game to Kaiser Chiefs in the next match and thumped them 5-1

Nice, that's more like it! Objectively, this result is probably another anomaly, but the performance trend is the important bit. A 10-rated performance is pretty rare outside of friendlies. Give that man a raise!

[Beliall]

Just now, shen said:

Nice, that's more like it! Objectively, this result is probably another anomaly, but the performance trend is the important bit. A 10-rated performance is pretty rare outside of friendlies. Give that man a raise!

yeah he reacted well to his new role. 

[Officer Doofy]

Are any of the old FMs updated with new league data? 

 

I just haven't got the time to be putting into the new ones that seem very deep. 

 

 

My best time on FM Was 2007 i think. At Uni, building an unreal career in Serie C2C and ending up at Atletico signing Mexican bandits and Brazilian game generated wonderkids. Fabulous time 

Edited Tuesday at 10:08 by Officer Doofy

[Lineker's Lugs]

The Palmeiras board’s expectations were not in sync with my own.  They wanted to win the league and reach the semi-final of the Copa Libertadores.  I just wanted to go all out at the Copa Libertadores but do well enough in the league to qualify for it again next season just in case.  It’s like the board don’t know I’m doing a pentagon.  They haven’t done their due-diligence.

 

Since I thought the squad looked strong, I just pressed on with the Campeonato Paulista.  If we didn’t get the job finished this year there would be work to do as a few of the best players were at the veteran stage but for now I just went with what I had.  There were 52 players in the squad and I mainly used third and fourth string players in the state championship to give the better lot a break before the more important stuff started.  Either the other teams did the same or they just weren’t very good because we breezed through the tournament.

 

By the time the national league, the Copa do Brasil and the Copa Libertadores began I had picked and saved first and second XIs.  I alternated between them throughout the rest of the year based on the importance of the game or standard of the opposition.  It became auto-pilot: select team 1 or 2, remove anyone who was injured or suspended then click Quick Pick to replace those players.  With players only occasionally playing more than once a week there weren’t many injuries, and those we had were mostly of the 1-3 days variety so they didn’t miss a game anyway due to the rotation.  Injuries did pick up a little from October but still weren’t significant.

 

My method of team selection and instant resulting every game meant the season rolled by reasonably quickly until we got to the start of June and transfer windows opened around the world.  With so many players I had 15 weeks of being flooded with messages and bids.  Luckily our good form meant morale and team spirit were high so hardly anyone expressed an interest in leaving and I was able to keep almost everyone, but that period was a real slog.  Once all the transfers windows were closed, the pace picked up again.

 

I didn’t sign a single player all year.  That, and the auto-pilot way I was playing, made the season unfulfilling.  We won everything but I didn’t feel that was in any way down to me - I was basically just clicking continue for a few hours until it was over.  Things were so comfortable that I even decided to watch the Copa Libertadores final which risked having to stay in Brazil for another year.  We scored two in the first seven minutes and that ended any jeopardy despite both teams hitting the woodwork a few times.  A 30-yard screamer five minutes from the end gave us a 3-0 win and completed the pentagon.

 

My previous club, San Lorenzo, were knocked out in the group stage and dropped into the Copa Sudamericana where they were promptly knocked out again in their first tie.  The Libertadores semi-finalist were all from Brazil, so the move to Palmeiras was correct in terms of the pentagon but not in terms of giving a feeling of achievement.

 

I enjoyed Mexico and Argentina the most due to the Apertura/Clausura system meaning there are effectively two seasons a year so you never feel bogged down.  South Africa has too many cup competitions though the 30 game league season helps.  I’ve played Japan a lot and I still like it but there’s very much a feeling of ‘done that’.  In Europe, I joined Barcelona at a time when they were dominant.  I did at least renew the squad so it wasn’t quite the free ride I had at the end.  And I’ve done Brazil now.  Never again!

 

I’m going to park this save for now.  Maybe I’ll continue it and go for the heptagon later, and in the meantime start something new that I haven’t thought of yet.  Ideas welcome!

 

Oh, and this is Gary Rowett’s biography from my save, complete with classic FM duplication...

 

 

 

 

[Beliall]

two things 

1. new FM update claims to have fixed the squad numbers crash among other things

FM26 (Update 26.3.2) Out Now - FM26 Updates - Sports Interactive Community

and 2, theres a curacao challenge just starting on fifa.gg. dont care much for the prize but i could use a break from my save so im giving it a go 

FIFAe Curaçao Challenge powered by Football Manager 26

[Tommy Fresh]

Got ND Slovan promoted in Slovenia after the board sold 2 first team players in January

[Dan]

I'm pretty lazy with set pieces. I just get the best set piece coach I can find and give them the keys. I don't really do too badly out of it. Feels like a delegation that's actually realistic as well.

[Beliall]

17 hours ago, Dan said:

I'm pretty lazy with set pieces. I just get the best set piece coach I can find and give them the keys. I don't really do too badly out of it. Feels like a delegation that's actually realistic as well.

i did the same but i just realised i spent most of the season in control myself, having neglected to give him the responsibility , dude had the easiest job in the world