FM Guide | 25 More Teams To Manage On FM24 (While Still Pretending It’s FM25)

Oh Football Manager 2024, will your time never end? In light of yesterday’s unsurprising cancellation of Football Manager 2025, we’ll have had two years (if not more) of the FM24 cycle if/when Football Manager 2026 is upon us. However, rather than crying into our cereal that some blokes didn’t release a computer game, let’s look at some positives and explore some options to pretend we’re playing FM25 on FM24.

To do just that, head to the likes of the clever chappies at FM Scout, Sort It Out SI and FM Inside to download an update that builds all the latest transfers from the January window into FM24.

With no further ado, here are our 25 teams to manage on FM24 while still pretending you’re playing FM25:

Clubs To Manage From Major European Nations

Bradford City FC, England

Fellow FM Library Discord server dweller The Last Throw will like this – someone other than him is recommending to manage Bradford City. But this selection is well-founded. This time 25 years ago, Bradford were in the Premier League. But, after two seasons in the top tier, their first since a nine-season stint in 1922, the Bantams were relegated in 20th place with just 26 points in 2001. And they’ve not been back since. In fact, just six years later, Bradford found themselves down in England’s fourth tier, League Two, after two relegations in three seasons. Despite promotion in 2014, Bradford were relegated in 2019 and remains in League Two. Your challenge is initially to gain a couple of promotions, surpass local rivals Leeds, and lead them back to the Premier League. Beyond that, aim to lead Bradford to their first English title – and add to their solitary major honour of an FA Cup victory back in 1911.

Aston Villa FC, England

Football Club de Metz, France

In my formative years of playing Championship Manager, Metz was one of the stronger clubs in France, regularly competing in European football in the late 1990s. It’s also had a hand in producing the likes of Franck Ribéry, Sadio Mané, Kalidou Koulibaly, Pape Matar Sarr and Miralem Pjanic in recent years. However, the club now sits in Ligue 2 and is pushing for promotion in real life, and in-game has £47m in the bank and solid facilities. So your mission is to continue that resurgence and develop a youth setup that can help you generate the next batch of Metz superstars and take the fight to PSG.

Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., Germany

Germany has a few interesting options if you fancy a tough Bundesliga challenge. Newly promoted Holstein Kiel and struggling Bochum may be top of that list, along with hipsters’ and football kit lovers’ favourites St. Pauli. The Hamburg side, which famously plays in an all-brown home strip, shot to “Kult” status in the 1980s as it established an ethos around left-leaning politics and social activism, specifically being staunchly anti-racist, anti-fascist, anti-homophobic and anti-sexist. Football-wise, the club was promoted to Bundesliga last season for the first time since 2012 – and, amusingly, it’s won 2. Bundesliga in 2024 and 2024 in the game. Your challenge is to lead them to survival and, if you can, the Bundesliga finances can help you quickly establish St. Pauli as a force to be reckoned with in German football. But can you win the club’s first-ever major honour?

Unione Calcio Sampdoria, Italy

If a rebuild job is at the top of your list, then Genoa may be the place for you. Sampdoria won their sole Serie A title back in 1991 and lost the European Cup Final to Barcelona a year later. But they suffered a third relegation in 24 years in 2023, and were only saved from bankruptcy when former Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani purchased the club. Things have not gone well for Il Doria since, as they finished 7th last season and flirted with relegation this season, but they do start the game with £18m in the bank and solid facilities. So your mission is to go into Sampdoria, shake things up, bring them back into the top flight and claim the club’s second Scudetto.

Sparta Rotterdam, Netherlands

The Dutch league tends to be a tough nut to crack given you’re up against the mighty big three of Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, the youth development prowess at AZ Alkmaar, and FM24’s very dodgy Dutch finances (which, frankly, make the league almost unplayable). But if you’re still keen, Sparta Rotterdam was a force to be reckoned with in the early days of Eredivisie, winning 5 titles between 1909 and 1915. In fact, only the big three – Ajax (36), PSV (25), Feyenoord (16) – and the now amateur side HVV Den Haag (10) have won more than Sparta’s six Dutch titles. However, it’s been 66 years since Sparta were last Dutch champions. So your mission is to usurp city rivals Feyenoord, break the big three and win Sparta’s first Eredivisie since 1959. Additionally, if you get bored of Sparta, you could go on a Spartan mission of managing teams with Sparta in their name – including Sparta Praha, The Spartans, Spartak Moskow, Spartak (Serbia), Progresul Spartac (Romania) and Isparta 32 Spor (Turkey).

Penafiel Football Club, Portugal

Like the Netherlands, Portugal is a really tough league to crack due to the dominance of Benfica, Porto and Sporting. The big three have won every Portuguese title since Campeonato da Liga da Primeira Divisão was founded in 1934, with the exception of Belenenses in 1946 and Boavista in 2001. With that in mind, there’s a wealth of options available to try and take on Portugal’s big three with an unfancied club. But I’ll throw Penafiel into the hat as the club has been absent from Portugal’s top tier for 10 years and has absolutely no honours to its name, giving you a clean slate to bring unprecedented glory to the club based in a small town in the north of Portugal.

Aberdeen Football Club, Scotland

At the start of the real-life season, hopes were high as Aberdeen kept pace with perennial winners Celtic. But it all fell apart with a rotten winless run from mid-November through to January. Only the Old Firm have won the Scottish title for the last 40 years, since The Dons won back-to-back titles in 1984 and 1985. Realistically, no one looks anywhere near stopping that trend anytime soon, so the mission is to rebuild Aberdeen to break the big two, win the club’s fifth Scottish title and win their first modern European trophy (in addition to the Cup Winners’ Cup success in 1983).

Real Betis Balompié, Spain

Unión Deportiva Melilla, Spain

UD Melilla offers a unique challenge to win a European league and continental trophies with a team based outside of Europe. The city of Melilla is considered an autonomous Spanish city despite being located on the northern coast of Morocco. As a result, the city’s football team plays in the Spanish system and currently competes in the fourth tier following relegation last season. Therefore, your mission is to lead UD Melilla to an immediate promotion and then become the first non-European team to win La Liga and a European trophy.

Other European Clubs To Manage

FC Zbrojovka Brno, Czechia

For some reason, the Czechia league is renowned for having great youth facilities in FM. To me, that screams the challenge of a Build A Nation save, in which you take control of a club in a lower-rated nation and aim to knock England off the top perch of FM’s national coefficients. For more information on how to go about a Build A Nation, read our guide to FM Challenges. This challenge typically begins in a lower tier of a nation, and Czechia’s second league is littered with B teams. So my recommendation would be to take control of Brno, who sit 3rd from bottom in real life and have decent facilities in-game, and attempt to rebuild their fortunes before strengthening Czechia as a whole.

Europa Point Football Club, Gibraltar

If, like us, you’ve pretty much exhausted the FM map after 16 months of playing this damn game, ticking off new leagues could be an interesting approach. Personally, I’ve never managed in Gibraltar and the league is home to, statistically, one of the worst teams in the world. After 17 games this season, Europa Point find themselves stranded to the bottom of the Gibraltar Football League with no wins, three draws and 3 points – trailing nearest challengers Lynx by 8 points. Interestingly, the club’s chairman was (and maybe still is, it’s not clear) Corey Woolfolk, who completed a takeover of Spartans in the early days of my For Sparta! FM24 series, which feels like a very, very long time ago. Your very tricky mission is to first help Europa Point win a match, then lead them to Gibraltarian glory with rank bad facilities and no money. Good luck!

Tromsdalen Ungdoms- og Idrettslag, Norway

If you’re after a real long-term FM battle, then how about heading to the fourth tier of Norwegian football? Tromsø IL holds the honour of being the most northern top-tier football team in the world, but Tromsdalen are only a few miles down the road and pose a much stiffer challenge. In-game, the club has decent facilities but average youth recruitment and, unsurprisingly, next to no money, so leading them through the Norwegian ranks is very much a long-term project.

Athlone Town Association Football Club, Republic of Ireland

I’m also fairly sure this is the first time we’ve recommended managing in the Republic of Ireland, but there’s a massive task awaiting you. Founded in 1887, Athlone Town is the oldest club in Ireland and won the first recognised current League of Ireland title (according to Wikipedia) back in 1982/83. Arguably, the club’s claim to fame is holding the great AC Milan to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Cup second-round tie at former stadium St. Mel’s Park in 1974. However, the club has been through some tough times of late, which began with relegation from the top tier in 1996 and includes a match-fixing scandal around their match against Longford Town in April 2017. So your pretty challenging mission is to lead this famous old club – which has no money – back to the top tier and claim its first title in (what will be) over 40 years.

Fudbalski klub Čukarički, Serbia

The big two of Red Star and Partizan have won every Serbian title since the league was founded in 2007 – with Vojvodina, Radnicki and TSC the only sides to claim runner-up spots. Cukaricki have decent facilities and 16 youth recruitment, and have finished 3rd in the Super League five times, including 2021, 2022 and 2023. So the mission here is to build a strong young team that can usurp their Belgrade rivals.

Grasshopper Club Zurich, Switzerland

Over in Switzerland, we have a real sleeping giant challenge in Grasshoppers, the record 27-time winners of the Swiss Super League. Those titles feel a long, long way away given Grasshoppers only avoided relegation through the playoffs last season. Furthermore, they only saw off FC Thun with two injury-time winners to retain their place in the top tier. So your challenge will be to bring the glory days back to Grasshoppers and help them become the first Swiss team to win 30 national titles. To do that, you have really solid facilities and youth recruitment and possibly not a huge amount of money – but you do have Bayern youngster Nestory Iranknunda on loan for the first season.

Trabzonspor Kulübü, Turkey

Look at the Turkish league title and you’ll immediately wonder “where are Trabzonspor?” That’s because the 2022 champions and 7-time Super Lig winners are currently 11th in the league, a huge 31 points behind leaders Galatasaray. Even more strangely, striker Simon Banza is the 2nd-top scorer in the league with 13 goals. Your mission is to reverse the fortunes at Trabzon, strengthen a squad that for some reason contains John Lundstram and take the fight back to Turkey’s big boys. However, finances could be a big problem.

Haverfordwest County Association Football Club, Wales

There are few leagues less competitive than Wales’ Cymru Premier, which has been won by TNS in 13 of the last 15 seasons. But this season, in real life, TNS are being pushed close by Penybont and, to a lesser extent, Haverfordwest County, who’ve never finished higher than the 3rd position achieved in 2004. Realistically, overcoming TNS with a semi-pro club with minimal facilities and finances is going to be ludicrously difficult but, if you have plenty of time and determination, then Haverfordwest could be the challenge for you. Your mission is to lead Haverfordwest to their highest-ever league position and claim the first major trophy in the club’s 126-year history.

Clubs To Manage From The Rest of the World

Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, Argentina

The Argentinian league was pretty bonkers last season, as an exciting title race played out between two of the previous season’s relegation battlers – and Vélez lifted the title ahead of Talleres, Racing Club and Huracán. Down the other end of the table, the likes of Newell’s Old Boys and San Lorenzo were among the strugglers – only for any prospect of a relegation battle being quashed by the Argentinian FA cancelling relegation! 15-time Argentinian champions San Lorenzo struggled to just 29 points from 27 games, despite signing former FM legend Iker Muniaín. So the challenge is to transform their fortunes and lead the club to a first domestic title since 2013.

Santos Futebol Club, Brazil

Huachipato FC, Chile

One of the more remarkable title defences saw Huachipato only avoid relegation by 3 points, courtesy of a win on the final day of Chile’s Primera División last season. The Talcahuano-based club won the third title in its 77-year history in 2023, mounting a surprise success against the big three of Colo-Colo, Universidad Católica and Universidad de Chile. But the challenge of competing in Copa Libertadores and in the league proved a step too far for Los Acereros, who got very lucky not to defend their title with a relegation. So can you fare any better and hold off the advances of Chile’s big three in what (I think, who even knows at this point) would be their title defence.

Envigado Fútbol Club, Colombia

I know I recommend Envigado in every FM guide, but this time it feels particularly suitable. If you understand the relegation rules in Colombia, then fair play to you. But in real life, Envigado, by the rules of any other league in the world, would have been relegated last season as they took a combined 29 points from 38 games in the Apertura and Clausura campaigns, 4 fewer than any other side. However, Colombia uses an average points system across the last three seasons, which saw Envigado survive by a ludicrous 0.02 points ahead of Jaguares. But, on last season’s performances, the club is currently only going in one direction. Therefore, your mission will be to use Envigado’s prodigious youth development to transform their fortunes.

JEF United Chiba, Japan

Our sole suggestion for Asia – mainly as I’ve not really managed in Asia other than Japan – is to head into Japan’s second tier, the J2 League. JEF United have never been Japanese champions but do have an AFC Champions League to their name, becoming Asian champions in 1987. The club now finds itself in J2 midtable, but has £9.5m available to help you revive their fortunes and target that elusive J League title. Also, they’re called JEF United and have amazing kits.

Club León, Mexico

If you’re after a rogue save, then how about trying to conquer México led by the prodigious talents of former World Cup Golden Boot and Puskás Award winner James Rodríguez? James has had a terrible time in domestic football, while somehow still being brilliant for Colombia, but can you change all that with a James-inspired Liga MX success? If Mexico appeals, then Sergio Ramos has also moved there with Monterrey.

Sport Boys, Peru

The Lima-based big three of Universitario, Alianza Lima and Sporting Cristal have won 63 titles, nearly twice as many as the rest of Peru’s clubs combined (35). Fourth on the country’s all-time list is Sport Boys, who not only have a great name but also have six Peruvian titles. However, they’ve not won a title since 1984, and not even finished 2nd since 1991. And last season, they finished 14th out of 18 teams in the Clausura league and 12th in Apertura. So your mission is to put an end to that 40 years of hurt and deliver Sport Boys’ seventh title.

Looking for more Football Manager club recommendations? Check out our previous guides:

25 Teams To Manage For The Rest Of FM24 (Pretending It’s FM25)
10 Challenges for FM24
24 Teams to Manage on FM24
23 Teams to Manage on FM23
22 Teams to Manage on FM22
28 More Teams to Manage on FM22
21 Teams to Manage on FM21
18 More Teams to Manage on FM21
Teams to Manage on FM19