The most popular Football Manager leagues in FM24

Almost every year, Sports Interactive gives gamers the ability to become closer than ever to the beautiful game, allowing us to recreate Premier League tactics, nab some of the most underrated strikers in history and become an expert Football Manager.

While we’re always looking forward to the addition of more countries and leagues in the future, no newcomer is going to take away from the most popular leagues in the game. From the Premier League to the Swiss Super League, players all have their favourites to manage, but what’s the most popular? Well, that’s what I’ve set out to find out.

How to determine the most popular Football Manager league

I’ll admit, my methodology here is a bit basic. I’m estimating the popularity of leagues in Football Manager by looking at how many people have managed at least one season in any given league. This is based on the number of leaderboard pages for each league in the game. While it’s not a perfect calculation, it’s the best I can do with the resources I have.

Even if the results aren’t exact, they should give us a rough idea of which leagues are more popular among players. For this analysis, I’m only including leagues that are playable in the base game, so modded leagues obviously won’t be part of the comparison.

I’ll also calculate what percentage of the total each league represents, to see if any leagues are significantly more popular than others. Since there are 20 managers per page on the leaderboard, I’ll multiply that by the number of pages to estimate the total number of players for each league.

One final note: edited databases aren’t reflected in the leaderboard, so this method gives us a rough indication of league popularity rather than a definitive ranking.

The Most Popular Leagues Ranked

Without further ado, these are the most popular leagues in Football Manager 2024 at the time of writing. Will this ranking change when Football Manager 25 finally releases? Who knows.

• 127. Colombian Second Division (second tier) – 17 – 340 managers
• 126. Finnish First Division Championship (second tier) – 18 – 360 managers
• 125. Greek Super League 2 (second tier)/Mexican Expansion League (second tier) – 26 – 520 managers
• 124. Israeli National League (second tier) – 30 – 600 managers
• 123. Indonesian League Two (second tier) – 33 – 660 managers
• 122. Peruvian First Division (top tier)/Singaporean Premier League (top tier)/Russian First Division (second tier)/Slovenian Second League (second tier) – 39 – 780 managers
• 121. Indian National Football League (top tier) – 41 – 820 managers
• 120. Portugal Championship (fourth tier) – 42 – 840 managers
• 119. Chilean First Division B (second tier) – 44 – 880 managers
• 118. Colombian First Division (top tier) – 45 – 900 managers
• 117. Swedish Second Division North Gotaland (fourth tier) – 46 – 920 managers
• 116. Serbian First League (second tier) – 49 – 980 managers
• 115. Hong Kong Premier League (top tier)/Belarusian First League (second tier) – 50 – 1000 managers
• 114. Swedish Second Division West Gotaland (fourth tier) – 51 – 1020 managers
• 113. Swedish Second Division South Svealand (fourth tier) – 52 – 1040 managers
• 112. Uruguayan Second Professional Division (second tier) – 53 – 1060 managers
• 111. Bulgarian Second League (second tier) – 56 – 1120 managers
• 110. Belarusian Highest Division (top tier) – 57 – 1140 managers
• 109. Swedish Second Division North Svealand (fourth division) – 58 – 1160 managers
• 108. Spanish Federation Second Group 2 (fourth tier) – 61 – 1220 managers
• 107. Slovak Second Division (second tier) – 63 – 1260 managers
• 106. Ukrainian First League (second tier) – 66 – 1320 managers
• 105. Swedish Second Division South Gotaland (fourth tier) – 70 – 1400 managers
• 105. Icelandic First Division (second tier)/Malaysian Super League (top tier) – 70 – 1400 managers
• 104. Swedish Second Division Norrland (fourth tier) – 75 – 1500 managers
• 103. Canadian Premier League (top tier) – 77 – 1540 managers
• 102. Malaysian Division Three League (second tier)/Northern Ireland Playr-Fit Championship (second tier) – 78 – 1560 managers
• 101. Northern Ireland Playr-Fit Premier Intermediate League (third tier)/Indonesian League One (top tier)/Czech Second Division (second tier)/Norwegian Second Division Group 2 (third tier) – 79 – 1580 managers
• 100. Chilean First Division (top tier) – 79 – 1580 managers
• 99. Slovenian First League (top tier) – 80 – 1600 managers
• 98. Norwegian Second Division Group 1 (third tier) – 81 – 1620 managers
• 97. Spanish Federation Second Group 1 (fourth tier) – 84 – 1680 managers
• 96. Argentine Second Division (second tier) – 92 – 1840 managers
• 95. Uruguayan First Division (first tier) – 93 – 1860 managers
• 94. Spanish Federation Second Group 4 (fourth tier) – 95 – 1900 managers
• 93. Finnish First Division (third tier) – 96 – 1920 managers
• 92. Icelandic Premier Division (top tier)/Slovak First Division (top tier) – 99 – 1980 managers
• 91. Romanian Second League (second tier) – 102 – 2040 managers
• 90. Hungarian Division II (second tier)/Russian Premier League (top tier) – 104 – 2080 managers
• 89. Swedish First Division South (third tier) – 114 – 2280 managers
• 88. Brazil Serie C (third tier) – 116 – 2320 managers
• 87. Latvian Optibet Virsliga (top tier) – 121 – 2420 managers
• 86. Swedish First Division North (third tier) – 122 – 2440 managers
• 85. Bulgarian First League (first tier) – 125 – 2500 managers
• 84. Israeli Premier League (top tier) – 128 – 2560 managers
• 83. Spanish Federation Group 5 (fourth tier) – 130 – 2600 managers
• 82. Wales JD Cymru North (second tier) – 134 – 2680 managers
• 81. Brazil Serie B (second tier) – 136 – 2720 managers
• 80. Austrian First Division (second tier)/Spanish Federation Second Group 3 (fourth tier) – 137 – 2740 managers
• 79. Northern Ireland Sports Direct Premiership (top tier) – 140 – 2800 managers
• 78. Mexico Liga BBVA MX (top tier) – 142 – 2840 managers
• 77. Finnish Premier League (top tier) – 145 – 2900 managers
• 76. Hungarian Division I (top tier) – 155 – 3100 managers
• 75. Ukrainian Premier League (top tier) – 159 – 3180 managers
• 74. Swiss Challenge League (second tier) – 162 – 3240 managers
• 73. South African Premier Soccer League (top tier) – 168 – 3360 managers
• 72. Denmark 3. Division (fourth tier) – 181 – 3620 managers
• 71. South Korea Hana 1Q K League 2 (second tier) – 184 – 3680 managers
• 70. Australia A-League (top tier) – 187 – 3740 managers
• 69. Wales JD Cymru South (second tier) – 197 – 3940 managers
• 68. Denmark 2. Division (third tier) – 209 – 4180 managers
• 67. Portuguese third division (third tier) – 211 – 4220 managers
• 66. Irish First Division (second tier) – 214 – 4280 managers
• 65. Croatian Second League (second tier) – 216 – 4320 managers
• 64. Serbian SuperLeague (top tier) – 221 – 4420 managers
• 63. Czech First Division (top tier) – 237 – 4740 managers
• 62. Romanian First League (top tier) – 255 – 5100 managers
• 61. Wales JD Cymru Premier (top tier) – 257 – 5140 managers
• 60. South African National First Division Championship (second tier) – 262 – 5240 managers
• 59. Gibraltar Football League (top tier) – 274 – 5480 managers
• 58. Italian Serie C/A (third tier) – 289 – 5780 managers
• 57. Turkish 2. League Red Group Red Group (third tier) – 297 – 5940 managers
• 56. Chinese National First Division – 298 – 5960 managers
• 55. Norwegian First Division (second tier) – 304 – 6080 managers
• 54. Irish Premier Division (top tier) – 311 – 6220 managers
• 53. Turkish 2. League White Group (third tier) – 313 – 6260 managers
• 52. Swedish First Division Elite (second tier) – 316 – 6320 managers
• 51. Italian Serie C/B (third tier) – 317 – 6340 managers
• 50. Denmark NordicBet Liga (second tier) – 320 – 6400 managers
• 49. Scottish cinch League 1 (third tier) – 349 – 6980 managers
• 48. Swiss Super League (top tier) – 359 – 7180 managers
• 47. Croatian First League (top tier) – 376 – 7520 managers
• 46. Italian Serie C/C (third tier) – 380 – 7600 managers
• 45. Argentine Primera Division (top tier) – 381 – 7620 managers
• 44. Belgian Challenger Pro League (second tier)/Scottish cinch League 2 (fourth tier) – 404 – 8080 managers
• 43. Polish First Division (second tier) – 409 – 8180 managers
• 42. Austria Admiral Bundesliga (top tier) – 448 – 8960 managers
• 41. South Korea Hana 1Q K League 1 (top tier) – 485 – 9700 managers
• 40. Belgian First National Amateur Division – 493 – 9860 managers
• 39. Chinese Super League (top tier) – 521 – 10420 managers
• 38. Scottish cinch Championship (second tier) – 548 – 10,960 managers
• 37. Spain Spanish Federation First Division A (third tier) – 579 – 11,580 managers
• 36. Swedish Premier Division (top tier) – 587 – 11,740 managers
• 35. Brazil Serie A (top tier) – 593 – 11860 managers
• 34. Spain Spanish Federation First Division B (third tier) – 610 – 12,200 managers
• 33. Netherlands Keuken Kampioen Divisie (second tier) – 647 – 12,940 managers
• 32. Turkish 1. League (second tier) – 648 – 12,960 managers
• 31. Norwegian Premier Division (top tier) – 664 – 13,280 managers
• 30. Portuguese Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG (second tier) – 665 – 13,300 managers
• 29. USA MLS (top tier) – 756 – 15,120 managers
• 28. Greek Super League 1 (top tier) – 760 – 15,200 managers
• 27. Poland Ekstraklasa (top tier) – 828 – 16,560 managers
• 26. Japanese Meiji Yasuda J2 League (second tier) – 869 – 17,380 managers
• 25. French National (third tier) – 1040 – 20,800 managers
• 24. Japanese J3 League (third tier) – 1055 – 21,100 managers
• 23. Japanese Meiji Tasuda J1 League (top tier) – 1106 – 22,120 managers
• 22. Denmark 3F Superliga (top tier) – 1111 – 22,220 managers
• 21. Belgian Jupiler Pro League – 1260 – 25,200 managers
• 20. Germany 3. Liga (third tier) – 1415 – 28,300 managers
• 19. Spanish Segunda Division (second tier) – 1472 – 29,440 managers
• 18. Italian Serie B (second tier) – 1853 – 37,060 managers
• 17. Scottish cinch Premiership (top tier) – 1935 – 38,700 managers
• 16. France Ligue 2 (second tier) – 2038 – 40,760 managers
• 15. Turkish Super League (top tier) – 2102 – 42,040 managers
• 14. English Vanarama National League North (sixth tier) – 2136 – 42,720 managers
• 13. English Vanarama National League South (sixth tier) – 2148 – 42,960 managers
• 12. Netherlands Eredivisie (top tier) – 2901 – 58,020 managers
• 11. Portuguese Liga Portugal Bwin (top tier) – 3034 – 60,680 managers
• 10. English Vanarama National League (fifth tier) – 3146 – 62,920 managers
• 9. Germany Bundesliga 2 (second tier) – 3584 – 71,680 managers
• 8. English Sky Bet League Two (fourth tier) – 5043 – 100,860 managers
• 7. English Sky Bet League One (third tier) – 5340 – 106,800 managers
• 6. French Ligue 1 (top tier) – 6482 – 129,640 managers
• 5. Italian Serie A (top tier) – 7648 – 152,960 managers
• 4. Germany Bundesliga (top tier) – 8451 – 169,020 managers
• 3. Spanish La Liga (top tier) – 8641 – 172,820 managers
• 2. English Sky Bet Championship (second tier) – 10769 – 215,380 managers
• 1. English Premier League (top tier) – 23900 – 478,000 managers

Obviously, the Premier League is the most popular league in Football Manager by a country mile, and that’s hardly a surprise. However, with such a vast array of leagues to choose from, there are a few surprises in the mix. What was your biggest surprise?

About the Author

William Reid

William 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.