Football Manager 2026

[shen]

9 hours ago, moore_94 said:

What skins would you recommend? Not tried any out yet

Either MrTini23  or CTRL 26

[Dan]

15 hours ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Update on Monday apparently 

Perfect timing. I've won it all in Greece now and just been knocked out of the CL by Lyon in the last 24.

[shen]

2 hours ago, Dan said:

Perfect timing. I've won it all in Greece now and just been knocked out of the CL by Lyon in the last 24.

No major changes from a UI or gameplay perspective IMO. When reading some of the corrections/updates, it really raises an eyebrow. It's still such an unfinished, unpolished product it beggars belief.

[Dan]

Just now, shen said:

No major changes from a UI or gameplay perspective IMO. When reading some of the corrections/updates, it really raises an eyebrow. It's still such an unfinished, unpolished product it beggars belief.

It's piss poor in many ways. As ever the ME I thought was OK and fresh at first but it's gotten a bit repetitive and predictable. Some of the bugs are just so unacceptable - how they've still not sorted the jumbled subs is beyond me.

 

I've given up on it from a neatness perspective. It's a shambles.

 

But I'm done with this save. Mentally checked out. Nothing more I can really do with Kallithea and I'm due a new one, but I'll wait for the new squad update. God sod all on over the weekend so will probably finish this season.

[Tommy Fresh]

2 hours ago, Dan said:

Perfect timing. I've won it all in Greece now and just been knocked out of the CL by Lyon in the last 24.

Yeah I'm in that period now of finding it pointless to start anything new, especially when I prefer to do South American saves and I'll be able to start in 2026 in a few days with updated promotion, relegation etc

[Dan]

18 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Yeah I'm in that period now of finding it pointless to start anything new, especially when I prefer to do South American saves and I'll be able to start in 2026 in a few days with updated promotion, relegation etc

I've lucked it on timing really - can justify playing on the rest of this season but there really is nothing more to do with these. Have had good runs in all three European comps, won one league, two cups, won the super cup (finally). I'm going to win the league again this season and have basically made the cup final too. Got a cracking team and a tonne of money now but it's beyond being rewarding. Mountain climbed.

 

The only thing I haven't done is won at flipping PAOK. I just cannot win at that ground.

[shen]

Halfway stage of the season, W16 D2 L0. I don't understand just how little of a challenge it is. Haven't even really had to try.

Hardest part is keeping players happy cause I signed too many players, but luckily I can just release them before they become an issue.

[Dan]

13 hours ago, shen said:

Halfway stage of the season, W16 D2 L0. I don't understand just how little of a challenge it is. Haven't even really had to try.

Hardest part is keeping players happy cause I signed too many players, but luckily I can just release them before they become an issue.

It's definitely too easy I agree.

 

It's different now I have an actual good team but my first season up in this league was stupid, we were dominating most teams.

[Tommy Fresh]

Some great teams went down in South America and now I'm stuck between who to start with

[Dan]

It's a wrap for Greece. We win the league but lose the cup final to PAOK.

 

 

New destination has been decided, and my god, this is going to be an absolute pig of a save on the face of it, but I like a challenge.

[Dan]

 

Welcome to the future. I nearly ended up being these on 24 but went for someone else, so them coming up again is the world (the wheel) telling me that I'm meant to manage these, and I quite liked the idea of it before but just fancied Croatia more.

 

OFK Vrsac of the Serbian 2nd tier. Now I've done a bit of digging into Serbia and this could be another level of difficulty altogether.

 

Pretty much every league in Europe, largely thanks to the Champions League money, is dominated by a couple of teams who secured the bag and monopolised the league. This is very much true of Serbia, where Crvena Zvezda absolutely walk the league year in, year out. But Serbia feels uniquely tricky for two main reasons on top of this. The first is there is absolutely no money in the league. I did a bit of digging and found that in Croatia's top tier, 9 of the 10 teams pay £1mil a year or more in wages (Vukovar the exception) while in Serbia, only 4 out of 16 do. So Vukovar, expected to go down with a whimper in Croatia, would be pushing for Europe in Serbia. Similar sorts of situations in Hungary and Romania as well which are other leagues I have active. The other is that they have a very strict domestic player policy where as it is now, you can only name 4 foreign players in your squad. So the league has absolutely no money, and with what little money you have, you have a very limited pool of players you can bring in.

 

It's similar to Portugal but with a lower standard, less freedom in who comes in and a fraction of the money. What I expect is that I will actually get up to the top tier pretty quickly (despite a prediction of 11th) and establish. But actually getting above the big teams is going to be a mission and a half even for somebody who has pissed as much time on the game as I have. So the trick is to get to a European league phase as quickly as possible (which will be very hard in itself) and use that money to upgrade youth intakes and whatnot. What Serbia does have in its favour is it does produce decent players for its size. But having seen this league system, it's not hard to see why it lags quite a way behind a comparable neighbour.

 

This could be a real slog but looking forward to chucking many hours away trying to crack it.

[Tommy Fresh]

On 11/03/2026 at 01:58, Dan said:

 

Welcome to the future. I nearly ended up being these on 24 but went for someone else, so them coming up again is the world (the wheel) telling me that I'm meant to manage these, and I quite liked the idea of it before but just fancied Croatia more.

 

OFK Vrsac of the Serbian 2nd tier. Now I've done a bit of digging into Serbia and this could be another level of difficulty altogether.

 

Pretty much every league in Europe, largely thanks to the Champions League money, is dominated by a couple of teams who secured the bag and monopolised the league. This is very much true of Serbia, where Crvena Zvezda absolutely walk the league year in, year out. But Serbia feels uniquely tricky for two main reasons on top of this. The first is there is absolutely no money in the league. I did a bit of digging and found that in Croatia's top tier, 9 of the 10 teams pay £1mil a year or more in wages (Vukovar the exception) while in Serbia, only 4 out of 16 do. So Vukovar, expected to go down with a whimper in Croatia, would be pushing for Europe in Serbia. Similar sorts of situations in Hungary and Romania as well which are other leagues I have active. The other is that they have a very strict domestic player policy where as it is now, you can only name 4 foreign players in your squad. So the league has absolutely no money, and with what little money you have, you have a very limited pool of players you can bring in.

 

It's similar to Portugal but with a lower standard, less freedom in who comes in and a fraction of the money. What I expect is that I will actually get up to the top tier pretty quickly (despite a prediction of 11th) and establish. But actually getting above the big teams is going to be a mission and a half even for somebody who has pissed as much time on the game as I have. So the trick is to get to a European league phase as quickly as possible (which will be very hard in itself) and use that money to upgrade youth intakes and whatnot. What Serbia does have in its favour is it does produce decent players for its size. But having seen this league system, it's not hard to see why it lags quite a way behind a comparable neighbour.

 

This could be a real slog but looking forward to chucking many hours away trying to crack it.

I've always found Serbia very easy without being either of the big two, think it's due to the standard of the youth intakes

[Dan]

1 hour ago, Tommy Fresh said:

I've always found Serbia very easy without being either of the big two, think it's due to the standard of the youth intakes

I read the total opposite. I suppose the caveat is that all of these other clubs with no money are in the same boat and outsmarting the AI is like out-negotiating Jon Rudkin. It's getting above Zvezda I worry about. The fact Serbia pays so little in wages makes it very hard to even get any decent foreign players anyway. I mean there's barely even any point in scouting like Scandinavia this time around.

 

Obviously it's dependant on Zvezda themselves. Croatia was easy with Varazdin but Dinamo went to pot pretty quickly and Hajduk were in relegation danger at one point. On the flip side the Prague teams stayed good throughout the whole of my save there and PAOK were a serious team for most of the Greece save - kept it interesting tbh.

Edited 12 March by Dan

[Tommy Fresh]

8 hours ago, Dan said:

I read the total opposite. I suppose the caveat is that all of these other clubs with no money are in the same boat and outsmarting the AI is like out-negotiating Jon Rudkin. It's getting above Zvezda I worry about. The fact Serbia pays so little in wages makes it very hard to even get any decent foreign players anyway. I mean there's barely even any point in scouting like Scandinavia this time around.

 

Obviously it's dependant on Zvezda themselves. Croatia was easy with Varazdin but Dinamo went to pot pretty quickly and Hajduk were in relegation danger at one point. On the flip side the Prague teams stayed good throughout the whole of my save there and PAOK were a serious team for most of the Greece save - kept it interesting tbh.

I think because it's not massively competitive, after a year or two and especially as soon as you get any kind of European football, the money generated makes it more or less impossible not to over take Zvezda with the AI running them. 

 

I'm still struggling to pick a South American side to start with, Envigado who probably have one of the best youth set ups are tempting and got relegated but Colombia is such a slog in terms of games. Couple of other good sides went down in Uruguay and Chile but I've done long term saves with both clubs before so not sure if I want to do those again.

[shen]

Ended up getting comfortably promoted with Diegem, although I couldn't stay unbeaten. Probably stuck with the same tactics without tweaking for too long, but still won all but three of the remaining games. Sporting Hasselt kept it interesting up until 3 games to go by having a 12-game winning streak, but the gap never went below 6 points.

Immediately after securing the title, the club announced it turned professional with a wage budget of £42k. Intensive pre-season coming up as I have to decide whether or not to keep on any of the amateur players or if I need an entirely new team.
It means I have no clue how next season will go at this point.
Have focused on getting new staff, specifically new fitness coach, ass.man., physio and head of youth. The rest are probably not worth the outlay at this point.

I will blame the new layout and hopeless nested infos however as I just now found out Club Brugge is a senior affiliate club  hope to secure a loan or two for next season.

[shen]

2 hours ago, Tommy Fresh said:

I think because it's not massively competitive, after a year or two and especially as soon as you get any kind of European football, the money generated makes it more or less impossible not to over take Zvezda with the AI running them. 

 

I'm still struggling to pick a South American side to start with, Envigado who probably have one of the best youth set ups are tempting and got relegated but Colombia is such a slog in terms of games. Couple of other good sides went down in Uruguay and Chile but I've done long term saves with both clubs before so not sure if I want to do those again.

What's especially appealing about the SA leagues? Anything they offer which the European leagues don't?

[Dan]

3 hours ago, Tommy Fresh said:

I think because it's not massively competitive, after a year or two and especially as soon as you get any kind of European football, the money generated makes it more or less impossible not to over take Zvezda with the AI running them. 

 

I'm still struggling to pick a South American side to start with, Envigado who probably have one of the best youth set ups are tempting and got relegated but Colombia is such a slog in terms of games. Couple of other good sides went down in Uruguay and Chile but I've done long term saves with both clubs before so not sure if I want to do those again.

To be honest with the rate I go on these I'd not be surprised if I got promoted and then into Europe in two years. Because as you say the others aren't good. I'd imagine actually cracking a European league phase is pretty tricky though with someone like these.

[Tommy Fresh]

46 minutes ago, shen said:

What's especially appealing about the SA leagues? Anything they offer which the European leagues don't?

Tend to enjoy them more, and it's always where I've had my longest saves. Also think playing in Uruguay, Chile or Peru are bigger challenges continentally then becoming big in Europe and the cash generated isn't ridiculous either, you also tend to have a less knowledge and bias towards clubs and players as well. 

[Tommy Fresh]

31 minutes ago, Dan said:

To be honest with the rate I go on these I'd not be surprised if I got promoted and then into Europe in two years. Because as you say the others aren't good. I'd imagine actually cracking a European league phase is pretty tricky though with someone like these.

Vojvodina and Cukaricki tend to produce pretty good kids as well, so you should be able to hoover up their youth once you overtake them

[shen]

23 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Tend to enjoy them more, and it's always where I've had my longest saves. Also think playing in Uruguay, Chile or Peru are bigger challenges continentally then becoming big in Europe and the cash generated isn't ridiculous either, you also tend to have a less knowledge and bias towards clubs and players as well. 

I can understand the lower knowledge is appealing as it makes it harder to cheese from the get go. I've considered doing a fake players save once I complete this Belgian adventure as I won't be able to automatically fall back on known names.

However, I imagine building reputation in Chile, Peru et al is probably easier as even the biggest SA clubs will not be near the reputation of the major clubs in Europe, making it easier to compete for top tier players in SA, no?

 

Has anyone tried playing in the US or Canada yet?

[Tommy Fresh]

27 minutes ago, shen said:

I can understand the lower knowledge is appealing as it makes it harder to cheese from the get go. I've considered doing a fake players save once I complete this Belgian adventure as I won't be able to automatically fall back on known names.

However, I imagine building reputation in Chile, Peru et al is probably easier as even the biggest SA clubs will not be near the reputation of the major clubs in Europe, making it easier to compete for top tier players in SA, no?

 

Has anyone tried playing in the US or Canada yet?

Have a play around in South America, the gap between Brazil and Argentina to the rest is massive, Colombia are also well above the others in terms of wages etc. Continental comps are always stacked with Brazilian sides as well. Foreign player rules aren't particularly great either really, but it's good fun. 

I'd say if you haven't done it before, start one in Chile as it's a straight forward league, no opening or closing stage and no average points etc.

 

Never done the US, as I can't be bothered to figure out the transfer/draft system 

[Tommy Fresh]

Having said all this, I'm also quite tempted by doing an updated summer league in Europe.

[Dan]

I think you make a list of all countries in Europe you've never managed in, spin the wheel at random to get a country, then again on a team in the lowest ranked league in that country, and play on. Lots of fun!

[Dan]

 

About two thirds of the way into my season and it's gone well. We'll go up - I don't think we've been amazing but the leagues very balanced and nobody else is much good, there's not a lot between most teams. We've generally been winning at home and drawing away, which is working.

 

My best centre half has ended up retiring mid season due to getting an ACL. Spasojevic, leagues top scorer, is only on loan. I've also lost Petronijevic on a free, had my own Rudkin moment - I find the vast majority of the time in these sorts of leagues that virtually everyone is given a 12 month contract at a time, but virtually my entire squad are on two years which is actually a bit of a problem if we do go up because a lot of them probably won't be good enough and we're stuck with a lot of them. However Petronijevic only had one year and a top tier side have taken him off us.

[Tommy Fresh]

On 17/03/2026 at 18:21, Dan said:

 

About two thirds of the way into my season and it's gone well. We'll go up - I don't think we've been amazing but the leagues very balanced and nobody else is much good, there's not a lot between most teams. We've generally been winning at home and drawing away, which is working.

 

My best centre half has ended up retiring mid season due to getting an ACL. Spasojevic, leagues top scorer, is only on loan. I've also lost Petronijevic on a free, had my own Rudkin moment - I find the vast majority of the time in these sorts of leagues that virtually everyone is given a 12 month contract at a time, but virtually my entire squad are on two years which is actually a bit of a problem if we do go up because a lot of them probably won't be good enough and we're stuck with a lot of them. However Petronijevic only had one year and a top tier side have taken him off us.

Vozdovac doing shit is a surprise as they're probably the biggest club, also got a pretty nice stadium although its on top of a shopping centre