So you've got a bit of time on your hands and you fancy taking on a Football Manager challenge. Whether you're looking for a fun project to undertake, or you're keen to sharpen your managerial nous in the game, there are plenty of different gauntlets thrown down by the Football Manager community.
Naturally, it will depend on just how much time you are willing to invest, but there is something for everyone and no shortage of clubs to play with.
Goal brings you 10 challenges that can be attempted on Football Manager 2020, 2019 or any one of the recent editions of the game.
Contents
- Non league to Premier League
- Homegrown player challenge
- Spend no money
- The 'Pentagon' Challenge
- Win the World Cup with San Marino
- Win the Champions League with Nottingham Forest
- Make Inter Miami kings of North America
- Win things with kids challenge
- Director of Football challenge
- Win things with veterans challenge
Non league to Premier League
The aim of the challenge is simple: take the reins of a non league club and propel them to the summit of the football pyramid.
So, for example: you could take over Dover Athletic or Halifax Town in England's National League and guide them through League Two, League One, the Championship and finally to Premier League glory.
Success along the way will inevitably make you hot property, but you must remain loyal to your chosen team in order to complete the challenge.
The challenge is also possible in other countries with various playable tiers in the game, such as France or Germany.
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Homegrown player challenge
Football nowadays is a global game and the top leagues are full of players from different parts of the world. Players of 13 different nationalities formed Manchester City's 2018-19 Premier League-winning squad, for example.
In the Homegrown Player Challenge, the idea is to cultivate a squad consisting solely of players from the country the club is based in and deliver success using those players. So, that means an all-English team if you are managing Manchester United, an all-Italian squad if you are in charge of Juventus or an all-Spanish squad if you're boss of Real Madrid.
If you want to add an extra dimension to the challenge, you can see how many of your players subsequently form the national team of the country you are managing in.
A variation of this challenge is the Basque challenge with Athletic Club, where a policy of signing only players with a connection to the region is in effect.
Spend no money
Spending no money in Football Manager may seem counterintuitive, but it makes for an extremely difficult challenge when you wish to challenge for trophies.
It means you will have to invest a lot of energy into your recruitment efforts, unearthing useful free agents and keeping an eye on players whose contracts are expiring so that you can get them on a Bosman.
The challenge is more difficult if you are in charge of a major club with a massive transfer budget, since the players available on free transfer may not be of sufficient quality, so you'll have to be extremely discerning.
Of course, it is more of a necessity for clubs with no cash reserves, but undertaking this challenge means that the club will save money and be able to invest elsewhere, into training facilities and so forth.
Check out our list of the best free agents to sign on Football Manager 2020, to get a head start.
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The 'Pentagon' Challenge
A popular challenge among Football Manager veterans, The Pentagon Challenge involves attempting to win the continental title on five different continents.
That means you'll have to win the UEFA Champions League (Europe), the CONCACAF Champions League (North America), the Copa Libertadores (South America), the AFC Champions League (Asia) and the CAF Champions League (Africa).
Alternatively, you can try it with international teams by attempting to win the European Championship, the Copa America, the Gold Cup, the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup.
Win the World Cup with San Marino
Football Manager aficionados have been partaking in a series of running challenges and one of those is leading football minnows San Marino to World Cup glory.
San Marino - population 33,000 - is completely surrounded by Italy and, in case you're not aware, they are not very strong in football, with their highest ever FIFA ranking being 121, which they reached back in 1993.
This particular challenge has very specific rules laid down by the SI Games community and will involve a little bit of tinkering with the game editor, so you need to be prepared to go through with that.
Tip: the challenge may be somewhat easier if you are able to manage a San Marino league team - which will require adding a custom database to the game.
Click here to find out more about The Great San Marino Challenge
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Win the Champions League with Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest were once heavyweights of English and European football under Brian Clough, but have been languishing beneath the top table for a number of decades now.
Clough led Forest to back-to-back European Cups in 1979 and 1980, so the challenge here is to clinch a third.
It's not as difficult as winning the World Cup with San Marino, but winning the Champions League with Forest will require getting promoted to the Premier League and then securing continental qualification.
Make Inter Miami kings of North America
David Beckham's Inter Miami are the new kids on the block in Major League Soccer, but much is expected of the franchise led by the former Real Madrid star.
The challenge here is to first dominate MLS and eventually win the CONCACAF Champions League - something that has only been done twice by American clubs (D.C. United in 1998 and LA Galaxy in 2000).
Mexican clubs are the kings of North America when it comes to football and the aim in this challenge is to create a team Beckham and the United States can be proud of by establishing hegemony in Florida.
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Win things with kids challenge
Alan Hansen infamously warned that "you can't win anything with kids" when assessing Alex Ferguson's Manchester United team of the mid-1990s and he couldn't have been more wrong on that occasion.
Generally speaking, it is very difficult to win trophies with inexperienced teams, but it can be done and it can be extremely rewarding when you achieve it. Basically, in this challenge you do not sign or use players who are over the age of 21.
As well as relying on products from your club's own youth academy, in order to succeed here you'll probably need to scout for potential wonderkids, like Erling Braut Haaland, for instance. To help you get started, we've got a handy list of Football Manager wonderkids for you to sign.
Director of Football challenge
Fancy getting a taste of how frustrating life as a modern-day football manager can be? Try the Director of Football challenge for a glimpse into Jose Mourinho's time at Manchester United.
Essentially, this means you have little-to-no control over transfers, so you won't have much of a say over which players get bought and sold, regardless of your perceived needs as a coach.
Some administrators might make excellent signings to help you on your way, but don't be surprised if you find a successful team totally gutted at the end of a season, leaving you to pick up the pieces.
Win things with veterans challenge
This one is the inverse of the 'win things with kids' challenge in that you must only sign or use players who are 30 years of age and older.
The good thing about signing players in this age bracket is that they will have plenty of experience and may be established stars, which can be a welcome morale boost or help with shirt sales, not to mention the fact that you know what you're getting.
As well as that, older players can often be available on free transfer, so you'll potentially save plenty of money along the way.
However, there are drawbacks as well; older players at the end stage of their career do not have the same physicality, so may be slower, weaker and more injury prone.
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