Football Manager 26: My Save Plans

It feels like a long old time since I wrote one of these articles but, now that we know that Football Manager 26 is very much a thing and will be with us in less than a month, it’s time to start thinking about save plans for the next 12 months.

FM26 Beta Save: Tardini Tales

It’s become an FM Addict tradition to begin each new iteration of Football Manager with a Beta save in Italy. I considered bucking that trend, but decided to stick with Italy for my first FM26 save. Having previously kicked off FM versions with Milan, Sampdoria, Roma and Empoli, I initially fancied taking on Fiorentina. However, I’m not over-enamoured with their recent transfer business and, honestly, it felt a bit boring, so I shifted my attention to another club that’s never won Serie A.

Fellow football fans of a certain vintage will have fond memories of watching an all-star Parma Calcio side packed with world-class talents like Lilian Thuram, Gianluigi Buffon, Hernán Crespo, Fabio Cannavaro and Juan Sebastián Verón in the 1990s. Indeed, that rich talent pool led Parma to four European trophies (two UEFA Cups, a Cup Winners’ Cup and a UEFA Super Cup) and three Coppa Italia successes. However, the big one of Serie A remains elusive, with an all-time high of 2nd place in 1996/97.

It’s safe to say the club has had its struggles in recent years. In fact, that’s very much putting it lightly, given Parma was declared bankrupt in March 2015 and a phoenix club was incorporated to introduce a fan ownership scheme. As a result, Parma dropped down to Italy’s fourth-tier Serie D in 2015 but climbed back through the leagues, including promotions from Serie B in 2018 and as champions in 2024. And they survived in Serie A last season, finishing 16th with 36 points.

This summer, the club brought in around £70m selling the likes of defender Giovanni Leoni to Liverpool, striker Ange-Yoan Bonny to Inter Milan and midfielder Simon Sohm to Fiorentina. And they’ve brought in some interesting replacements in Vélez midfielder Christian Ordonez, who was one of my favourite young players to sign on FM24, Troyes defender Abdoulaye Ndiaye and striker Matija Frigan from Westerlo. We’ll be stepping into the hotseat at Stadio Ennio Tardini to, initially, take on the challenge of keeping Parma in Serie A, then build a side capable of competing with Italy’s big boys and, potentially, win Parma’s first Scudetto.

Tardini Tales will begin on the day the FM26 Early Access period begins.

FM26 Main Save: Aventuras Américas II

I had previously planned to launch a second version of Aventuras Américas as my main save of FM24, heading back to the Americas to revive the adventures of Robinho Lazaró. On FM22, we embarked on an epic adventure across North and South America, then into Europe and back again, which saw us managing well into our manager’s 100s. 

However, in the second iteration of the challenge, I want to expand the limits of the base game, which will depend on how customisable FM26 is via the pre-game editor. Ideally, the aim would be to open up the entirety of North and South America as playable nations, using the FM Editor to unlock every country across the two continents. According to Wikipedia, that would expand Aventuras Américas from the base 9 countries to a massive 60: with 47 in North America and 13 in South America. But how many of those countries actually have football leagues to activate remains to be seen.

Our mission would be to win every top-tier title across North and South America and attempt to become champions of both continents. However, I do have major reservations about this plan, as 1) it may be difficult to create the database in the Editor, and 2) modded databases are a massive risk in FM. Based on the need to use the FM Editor, Aventuras Américas will likely have to wait until at least one month after the full launch of FM26.

The Journeywoman

The launch of women’s football in this year’s game gives us all a brand new database to get stuck into. Having heavily researched the women’s game for our Guide to Women’s Football in FM26, I’m keen to dive into the new database to find out more and discover new players.

This save concept isn’t overly imaginatively named yet, but I’m tempted to start a new save with a completely blank canvas to explore the women’s game. We’ll begin as an unemployed rookie female manager, add all the available leagues and see where we end up.

The Journeywoman may be one of our first saves of FM26, potentially kicking off when the full game launches in early November.

More Potential Save Ideas in the FM26 Game Cycle

Wonderkid Factory Brazil: Palmeiras

One of my favourite save concepts is the Wonderkid Factory, whereby we focus on a club’s youth production and only sign players aged 19 or under to become homegrown at the club (where such rules exist). We launched the concept on FM23 with the Wonderkid Factory of all Wonderkid Factories, a highly enjoyable 20-year reign at Colombia’s Envigado. That was followed by two more in FM24, firstly with Wonderkid Factory II at AZ Alkmaar, which was marred by the Dutch league’s financial issues, before Wonderkid Factory III began at Valencia before moving to Mainz. 

Next on the list is a Wonderkid Factory challenge I’ve been considering for some time, given the club in question’s recent transfer activity. Palmeiras won Brazil’s Série A 4 times between 2016 and 2023 and South America’s biggest crown Copa Libertadores in 2020 and 2021. However, they’ve lost a mass of prodigious young talent – including Endrick, Estêvão, Richard Rios, Vitor Reis, Luis Guilherme, Vitor, Kevin, Giovani, Danilo, Gabriel Veron – with total sales of around £260m over the last four seasons. Our challenge is to continue that focus on developing young talent and try to avoid selling it for big money to Europe, with the ultimate aim of winning Série A and Copa Libertadores with a fully homegrown team.

Wonderkid Factory Japan

FM24 saw the official launch of the Japanese leagues in Football Manager and, assisted by watching live games via the J-League’s YouTube page, I’ve fallen in love with Japanese football. Our stint at Gamba Osaka during the Alphabet Challenge was built around homegrown superstars, which inspired the desire to start a Wonderkid Factory save in Japan.

For now, I’m not 100% sure which team to begin the save with or even which league to begin in. But, having never started a Wonderkid Factory in the lower tiers, I’m considering picking a team from J3 League. The challenge will be to build a homegrown team that wins Japan’s biggest crown and goes on to challenge for the Asian Champions League.

Additional Wonderkid Factories

I also have a few ideas in mind for additional Wonderkid Factories. That includes Swedish side Brommapojkarna, the club that developed talents like Victor Gyokeres, Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Bergvall, Danish club FC Nordsjælland, which has strong links to Africa and, in particular, Ghana, and struggling Belgian side Anderlecht, which has 34 titles but none since 2017.

Sicilian Regionnaire

On FM24, we failed in a bid to lead Pompeii through the Italian leagues into Serie A and bottled plans to establish homegrown teams at Truro and Valencia. However, I am considering taking on a Regionnaire challenge with Sicilian side Siracusa Calcio, which was suggested in our 26 Teams to Manage on FM26 guide.

Italy’s Serie A has never been won by a club south of Naples on the mainland and Cagliari on the southern coast of Sardinia. Therefore, this challenge will be to take control of the southernmost club in Italy and lead them to glory using only Sicilian players. We’d take control of Siracusa, based in the town of Syracuse in the southeast corner of Sicily, and only use players born in Sicily to lead the club through the leagues and surpass Italy’s elite. Sicily has a potentially sizeable player base, given 4.8 million people live on the island, but this probably will be a challenge that’s too difficult for a blog save.

Battling Barcelona

Another save idea suggested in our 26 Teams to Manage guide was the small Barcelona-based club Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu. As locals become increasingly alienated by the wealth and tourism surrounding CF Barcelona and focus more on lower-league football, fourth-tier Sant Andreu – and, indeed, fellow local rivals Europa – have benefited from sold-out crowds week after week. In 2019, the club only had 700 season ticket holders; now it has around 6,000. Our challenge would be to put last season’s playoff final disappointment behind them and lead Sant Andreu’s rise, with the lofty ambition to usurp the mighty Barcelona.

Inspiring Alingsås IF

I’ve also got a few ideas in mind for women’s football, depending on where our Journeywoman adventure takes us. Top of that list is attempting to win the Swedish title with Alingsås IF, the newly promoted side that may well be one of the most challenging saves on FM26.

I’m also tempted by the challenge of taking control of one of the two new franchises entering the USA’s NWSL in 2026, Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC, if they’re playable in the game.

Build A Nation: Romania

Way into the future on my Alphabet Challenge save on FM24, all the top-flight Romanian sides had amassed youth recruitment ratings of at least 15. So I’m mulling over doing a Build a Nation save in Romania at some point during FM26. I’d probably look to begin with a team in the Romanian second tier with the aim of achieving promotion before dominating domestically and continentally. But, like the Siracusa idea, this will probably remain a pipedream of a save that’ll never see the light of day in a blog series.

Points Deduction Challenge

A very different type of challenge in FM26 is to start a save with a club that comes into the current season with a sizeable points deduction. There are several clubs available to do just that, including Scottish League Two side Edinburgh City (-15 points plus -5 points next season), Turkish second-tier sides Adana Demirspor (-18 points) and Yeni Malatyaspor (-36 points), Dutch second-tier side Vitesse (-12 points), Italian third-tier side Triestina (-29 points). This may be one we consider later down the line in the FM26 save cycle.

I can guarantee that more save ideas will come to me as the FM26 game cycle rolls on. But, for now, I think Parma, the Journeywoman, Aventuras Américas and various Wonderkid Factories will see us through at least the first few months, if we don’t get sacked!

Who are you looking forward to managing on FM26? And what do you think of our save plans for the game? Leave a comment below!