10 challenges for your next Football Manager 2023 save

One of the best things about Football Manager is the amount of different ways to play that exist. You can take charge of a normal team and play a normal game, or you can inject a challenge to try and spice things up.

Over the years, we've seen countless twists to conventional FM saves which have offered a whole new way of playing, some of which are absolute must-plays for any die-hard fan.

Here's a closer look at ten of the best.

The Pentagon Challenge
Sleeping Giant
Rags to Riches
Director of Football
Youth Intake
Dethrone the King
“You Can't Win Anything With Kids”
Like Father, Like Son
FC Vaduz
Bermuda Hogges

1. The Pentagon Challenge

This one’s a classic, but it’s not easy.

The aim of the game is to win the Champions League in each of the five continents: Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia.

You must start off with no experience and the minimum managerial stats, and you can only move clubs by applying for jobs, so not only do you need to win trophies, but you need to grow your reputation enough to convince other clubs to take you on.

2. Sleeping Giant

Across Europe, you’ll find a number of former heavyweights who are just begging for your help to get back to the top of the mountain.

In England, you’ve got Sunderland. French football has both Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne. Kaiserslautern, Schalke and Dynamo Dresden need your help in Germany. Over in Spain, take a look at Deportivo La Coruna or Malaga. The list goes on and on and on.

These teams need stabilising, and not only do they need bringing back to the top tier, but your goal is to lead one to glory once again.

3. Rags to Riches

From one end of the football pyramid to the other.

Take a job from a side in the lowest division of a country and fly up to the top. In English football, you can start in the sixth tier, giving you a real long-term project to sink your teeth into.

For some added difficulty, try and accomplish this challenge without wasting any seasons. One promotion after another.

4. Director of Football

Hand over all your recruitment to your Director of Football and let them decide everything for you.

You can choose who you hire for the role, so perhaps look for someone who shares your vision, but after that, they’re the boss. They can choose who to sell and who to sign, and it’s up to you to make it work.

To make this even tougher, you can ask your owner to find a new Director of Football, so you don’t even get a say in who calls the shots. Don’t underestimate how tricky this can be.

5. Youth Intake

Ideal for a smaller side, the challenge here is to eventually boast a squad full of nothing but academy graduates. Depending on your starting point, there are a few different ways to approach this.

Investing in your youth facilities, recruitment and Head of Youth Development are key if you want to bring genuine stars through the academy.

You can also trust your scouts to find talented, homegrown youngsters to add to your academy at an early age. If they end up counting as a homegrown player in your squad registration, you’ve done your job.

6. Dethrone the King

Some leagues have grown accustomed to handing the title to one specific team year after year. The most notable here is Bayern Munich, who have won ten Bundesligas on the bounce, but there are plenty of others around.

Ludogorets have 11 straight in Bulgaria. Red Star are looking for their sixth consecutive triumph in Serbia. Dinamo Zagreb have won 16 of the last 17 Croatian campaigns. There are plenty of dominant forces just asking to be usurped.

Pick one of these leagues and stop the overwhelming favourite from winning. It’s simple, but it’s not easy at all.

7. “You Can't Win Anything With Kids”

As Alan Hansen famously claimed, a team of youngsters won’t get you anywhere.

Apart from on Football Manager. There, it’ll get you everywhere.

Set yourself an age limit - usually 21 - and build a squad of players under that. Once they get too old, sell them and reinvest until you build a squad capable of winning major honours while still navigating the perils of a bedtime.

8. Like Father, Like Son

Some of the most famous figures in football history have sons in FM23, and your challenge here is to build a successful squad full of nothing but relatives of football royalty.

It’ll take some research but there are plenty of young starlets out there, many of whom have sky-high potential and can genuinely form the backbone of a superteam.

Other players can be signed to ensure you meet any squad registration rules, but when it comes to matchday squads, you need to include as many sons as possible.

9. FC Vaduz

FC Vaduz are a team from Liechtenstein who play their football in Switzerland, and while that sounds intriguing on paper, the ramifications for a FM save are massive.

UEFA rules mean Vaduz, as a team from a different country, cannot qualify for European competition regardless of where they finish in the Swiss league. Their only route is to the Europa Conference League and that comes by winning the Liechtenstein Cup - a feat which shouldn’t be particularly hard.

You need to win the Conference League to get into the Europa League, and then win the Europa League to get into the Champions League. If you fail to win one, you end up all the way back at the start.

10. Bermuda Hogges

This one takes a little extra time but can lead to countless hours of fun over and over again.

To summarise, Bermuda Hogges are an extinct club from Bermuda who had a transfer policy restricting them to only signing players from Bermuda.

However, if you use the pre-game editor to bring the club back to life, you can put them in any league in the world, and their transfer policy will change to only permit signings from whichever nation you elect to put them in.

Navigating the editor takes a little while but you can put Bermuda Hogges in one league, conquer the challenge and then stick them in another for a whole new game. It’s the challenge that keeps on giving.

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