Football Manager is a franchise that has grown and expanded over the last two decades, beginning with 2004’s Football Manager 2005, when Sports Interactive split from publisher Eidos Interactive whilst making the Championship Manager series. With each year, the player base has grown, with Football Manager 2024 having the largest player count of all time for the series with over 7 million players.

Fans eagerly anticipated the arrival of Football Manager 2025, initially scheduled for late November 2024, with an all-new engine and UI to complement the in-depth football analysis of the series. However, due to the monumental task at hand, designing the game with a brand-new engine for the series, Football Manager 25, was delayed until March 2025, leaving many players devastated. With fans still waiting to get their hands on the new game, it’s resulted in players looking for different ways to extend the life span of Football Manager 2024. In this case, what are seven new saves to try in Football Manager before Football Manager 25?

6

Retro Database Save

The Mad Scientist Has Created Different Databases Allowing Players To Go Back In Time To Change History

• Alter history inside a retro database
• Become the greatest manager of the chosen era

With over a year of playing Football Manager 2024, many players have uncovered tons of wonderkids and go to signings for every save when they first start. One way to freshen up Football Manager 2024 during the last few months of release is to take on a retro database.

A perfect nostalgia hit from creator The Mad Scientist, retro databases allow players to go back in time and change history. What if Cristiano Ronaldo never joined Real Madrid? What if Steven Gerrard left Liverpool? The possibilities are endless and let players rewrite football history. If players are looking for a way to freshen up, Football Manager 2024, trying out a save in a retro database is a great save to try before Football Manager 25.

5

Building A Nation

Take A Nation Outside The Top Ranks And Build It Using A Native Club

• Take over a team outside the top ten leagues based on European Coefficients
• Take the league to number one in the world

A challenge many Football Manager veterans will already be familiar with, the challenge of building a nation from relative minnows to a global superpower is a challenge for the ages. One way to make this challenge even harder is to begin with a team in a lower division and build them to be the best team in the country, and then the world, further increasing the difficulty and longevity of the save.

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Players will be forced to put all their skills to the test when it comes to recruitment and tactics to continually make improvements whilst challenged by the size of the clubs relative to them around the world. Beginning this save, the challenge is huge, but when completed there is no greater sense of accomplishment in Football Manager 2024, and is a great save to try before the release of Football Manager 25.

4

The Pentagon Challenge

Become The First Ever Manager To Win All Major Continental Club Competitions

• Start unemployed with no coaching badges
• Win every continent’s most prestigious trophy

Another all-time Football Manager classic challenge, the Pentagon challenge, tasks players with winning every continent’s top club honor despite beginning unemployed with no coaching badges. This save requires players to use all of their Football Manager skills to win it all.

When players begin unemployed and without coaching badges, the top European clubs feel a million miles away, building the manager’s reputation is crucial and allows them to explore various leagues they may never have used before to complete the challenge. With a variety of different rules in each league, new players to be discovered, and a huge challenge to complete, the Pentagon challenge is a great save to try before Football Manager 25.

3

Youth To Gold Challenge

Only Signing Players Under 19 And Selling Anyone Over 30

• Win the Champions League by only signing players under 19
• Sell all players over the age of 30

Popularized by OmegaLuke on YouTube, but a widely known challenge in the Football Manager community, the Youth To Gold challenge sees players trying to disprove the famous quote “You can’t win anything with kids.” The rules are simple, anyone over the age of 30 must be sold and players can only be signed if they’re under 19.

The challenge of the save comes in trying to compete with the superpowers of world football. You have to scout diligently and find the wonderkids before any bigger clubs can get their hands on them, and trying to keep them at the club is even harder. However, with the difficulty of the challenge comes the reward when it’s completed, having won the biggest competitions in world football due to your superior scouting and coaching to help these young guns hit their potential. If players need a new challenge to try before Football Manager 25, Youth To Gold is a great one to try.

2

The Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge

Taking Over A Team Near The Bottom With The Aim Of Guiding Them To Glory

• Vacation to the 9th of November and take over the club 19th place in the Premier League
• Aim to win every club competition available and bring through a team of wonderkids like the “Class of 92”

Another well-known challenge in the Football Manager community, the Sir Alex Ferguson challenge, sees players vacationing up to the 9th of November and taking over the club in 19th place in the Premier League. Emulating the career of the legendary Scottish Manchester United and Aberdeen manager, the task is to then win every trophy available over the course of 26 years.

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Additional challenges included in this are to bring through a new “Class of 92”, win a domestic trophy within four years, and win two trebles. It’s a challenge not for the faint-hearted, but if players are up for the challenge it’s a great save to try before Football Manager 25.

1

Glory Hunter

Become The Greatest Of All Time

• Win Europe’s top five leagues and domestic cups, continental competitions, and international trophies
• Complete the challenge within 20 years

The Glory Hunter challenge concerns winning the top five European leagues and their domestic cups, as well as the Europa League, Champions League, Euros, and the World Cup, all within twenty years. It’s a hell of a challenge for players to face, needing at least one trophy every two years to complete it. Thrown into the mix are the international competitions, making the challenge even harder as only five competitions are held in the twenty-year span of the challenge.

This save is for players who like to manage big clubs from the get-go and try to win everything in sight. Whether you try to knock PSG and Bayern off their perches or embrace the dark side and join them, the possibilities are endless in the quest to win every trophy. If players haven’t already, the Glory Hunter challenge is the most intense challenge to try before Football Manager 25 releases.

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Released

2025-03

Developer(s)

Sports Interactive