Best Save Ideas for Football Manager 26

Football Manager 26 is here after a two-year hiatus, and it’s better than ever! A completely new game engine, redesigned interface, and tons of new features make this the most immersive football management experience yet.

With the addition of women’s football and more teams than ever before, Football Manager 2026 can feel a bit daunting. It can be hard to know where to begin! So, here are a few save ideas to get you started.

Start Unemployed

A really immersive way to play FM 26 is to begin as an unemployed manager and look for a job as one becomes available. Most teams start the season with a manager already in place, but it usually doesn’t take long – often just five losses in a row – for a struggling team to fire their manager, creating an opportunity.

If you’re feeling lost with so many teams to pick from, this method can lead you to discover a club you might not have considered – and quickly grow to love! You’ll also need to earn coaching qualifications and might have to accept less-than-ideal jobs at first to get started. Don’t forget that even when unemployed, dealing with the press is part of the experience.

Journeyman Career

There are two popular ways to play football management games. You can build a dynasty with one club over many years, carefully developing every part of it. Or, you can become a ‘journeyman’ manager, moving between different teams – even across countries or continents. Journeyman saves are all about the manager’s growth and how their strategies attract interest from larger and more prestigious clubs.

Because players don’t stay at clubs for very long, they need to focus on improving what they have and making fast changes to see results quickly. It’s also interesting to sign a few familiar players when you join a new team, just like in real soccer. In fact, this style of career – moving between clubs frequently – feels more true to life, since most managers today don’t spend their entire careers with a single team.

Manage A Women’s Side Before Possibly Making A Historic Switch

For the first time ever in Football Manager, you can take charge of a women’s football team in several different leagues. This offers a completely new experience, with realistic animations and playing styles that might require you to rethink your usual tactics.

This career path can be combined with other Football Manager 2026 ideas, like building a team from scratch, developing young players, or taking on multiple jobs. Players can achieve success in women’s football, either with a club or a national team, and compete against renowned managers like Emma Hayes and Sarina Wiegman. They could also start by managing in women’s leagues and then move on to coach men’s teams. For players choosing a female manager, this could be a significant moment, mirroring the real-world experiences of pioneers like Hannah Dingley, who briefly managed Forest Green as caretaker.

Focus On The Youth Academy

A common and enjoyable way to play previous Football Manager games, and now FM 26, is to build a team around young players and a strong academy. There are several ways to do this – one approach is to only use players developed through your own academy, which can feel like playing with a transfer ban.

Instead of a complete overhaul, teams could focus on developing young players by prioritizing academy graduates and signings under the age of 23. Many successful clubs, like Ajax, blend promising youth with experienced players they’ve bought – both to stay competitive and to provide guidance. Another approach could be to build a team entirely from a specific region, similar to how Athletic Bilbao only recruits players from the Basque Country.

Avoid Relegation With A Weaker Team

A lot of Football Manager saves focus on achieving total domination – like winning every trophy or guiding a small, local team all the way to the Premier League and Champions League glory. But these ambitious goals aren’t always realistic, and constantly climbing the ranks can become repetitive after a while.

Players could start with a newly promoted, underdog team – one that barely made it into the league. With limited funds, they could then focus on keeping that club from being relegated for several seasons, potentially becoming known for consistently avoiding the drop, like Sam Allardyce. Alternatively, players could aim to improve their team over time and climb the league table, or become a ‘firefighter’ – a player who joins struggling teams mid-season to help them avoid relegation.

Recreate The Tony Pulis Days At Stoke With Any Club

The saying ‘but can they do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke?’ became famous in football during Tony Pulis’ time managing the club. Pulis’ Stoke team was known for making games incredibly difficult for opponents. They did this by having a tough, physical style of play – a long, bumpy pitch, aggressive tackling, a very tall and strong team, and lots of long passes and throw-ins into the penalty area, especially from Rory Delap.

Look at what Jose Bordalas is doing with Getafe as another example. His teams embrace physicality and disruption – players are known for being tough, and they intentionally frustrate opponents by constantly interrupting play. Like with the previous example, the focus is purely on winning, even if it means sacrificing style. You can recreate this approach in FM 26 with any team, but it works best with underdogs who don’t have the money to buy top players.

Director Of Football

You can play Football Manager by taking on the role of a Director of Football. This means you focus on things like player transfers and the overall club management, instead of directly coaching the team. It’s a fast-paced way to play because you delegate most of the on-field decisions to your assistant manager, who effectively becomes the head coach.

The assistant manager could be fired and a new one brought in to change the team’s strategy, and the Director could then sign players who fit that new approach. Teams could also use a data-driven approach like ‘Moneyball,’ focusing on players who excel in specific areas – even if their goal or assist numbers aren’t high – to find hidden talent. Furthermore, by adding more teams to a group, individuals could take on the role of Director of Football for several teams within that group, like those owned by Red Bull or City Football Group.

Road To Glory

One of the most fun ways to play Football Manager is starting way down low – in FM 26, that’s the 6th tier of English football – and trying to work your way up to the very top. Some people like to take over a team that suddenly gets a ton of money, like what happened with Salford or Wrexham, but honestly, I prefer picking a completely random, struggling team and building them up from nothing. It’s just way more satisfying!

The ultimate goal is to reach the Premier League and eventually win the Champions League. However, since this will take a long time and be very difficult, most players won’t want to add extra challenges to their game unless they’re long-time fans of the series.

2025-10-24 14:35