The hardest saves you can only do in Football Manager

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We’ve all got to admit it – Football Manager is far easier than real-life football management. There’s a reason why it’s incredibly rare for someone to take a team from League Two to the Premier League in real life, but most people have done it in-game at some point. The game being easier than real life, combined with people eventually figuring out the tactics that work, can make it feel too easy to be truly enjoyable. If you don’t have to try hard to win, the sense of accomplishment fades. If you can relate to this, you might be looking for a save that actually challenges you—a save that not only takes ages to complete but might actually leave you questioning if it’s even possible. Without further ado, here are a few saves that seem IMPOSSIBLE on Football Manager.

  1. Chertanovo Moscow
Chertanovo Moscow team – official club website.

This team is like Athletic Bilbao but on steroids. As manager, you’re not allowed to sign anyone. This forces you to rely solely on the youth academy, investing heavily in facility upgrades to generate good youth intakes. One Reddit maverick managed to win the Champions League with this team—a feat that took them 20 years, which is already impressive, and most players would likely need even longer. So, if you have the patience of a saint, tons of free time, and a passion for developing young players, this could be the impossible save for you.

There are a few variations of this save that might be slightly easier. For example, Altinordu in Turkey only allows you to buy Turkish players. Still hard, but more manageable.

2. USV Eschen Mauren

Most Football Manager fans have heard of the FC Vaduz challenge. If you haven’t, let’s refresh: Liechtenstein is so small that it doesn’t have its own league, so it plays as a guest in Switzerland’s leagues. Because they’re guests, Liechtenstein clubs don’t qualify for the Champions League through typical Swiss routes. The only way they qualify for Europe is by winning the only exclusively Liechtenstein competition, the Liechtenstein Football Cup. The winner of this tournament qualifies for the Europa Conference League qualifying round. So, to win the Champions League as a Liechtenstein team, you must first win the Europa Conference League and the Europa League back-to-back, then win the Champions League on your first attempt.

This challenge is incredibly tough even if you play as FC Vaduz. But to make it even harder, you could download a custom Switzerland database and start as a lower-level Liechtenstein team. For example, USV Eschen/Mauren currently play in the 1. Liga Classic (the fourth tier of Swiss football). If you can find a database that goes even lower, four Liechtenstein teams currently compete in the SEVENTH tier of Swiss football!

Custom Swiss databases in the Steam workshop – captured by VideoGamer.com

3. Club Franciscain

Club Franciscain is based in Martinique, a small island in the Caribbean. Although they’re on the other side of the world, they get the chance to compete in the Coupe de France, as Martinique is a French territory. Competing in this tournament is incredibly challenging, with an endless number of obstacles to overcome. There’s a reason why the best attempt by Club Franciscain saw them reach the Round of 16 in 2005–06, where they lost 5-0 to SCO Angers. Few reputable players want to play in this league, the away games are brutal due to the distance, and you’ll have almost no money compared to French teams. PSG probably spends more on one backup left-back than Club Franciscain spends on its entire team!

Map with Martinique – captured by VideoGamer.com

To play as a team from a French overseas territory, you’ll need to download additional databases from the Steam Workshop. If you ever manage to win the Coupe de France and topple PSG, you’d arguably be the greatest Football Manager player ever.

So, there you have it: three of the hardest challenges in Football Manager. Would you attempt any of these?

About the Author

William Reid

Will is the admin of Out of Context Football Manager, an X account that focuses on FM news. He's worked for LADbible Group and is VG's resident FM expert.