With around 6 months until Football Manager 2025 release there is still time for that one last long-term FM24 save. To help all of you who never managed to settle on a save or quickly loose the motivation to play, as you find Football Manager too easy, we unveil seven impossible Football Manager Challenges to complete before FM25.
At a time when success is measured by the number of titles and trophies, there’s never been more pressure on the top football managers. On the same side, winning titles and establishing a winning philosophy isn’t easy. Just ask Erik ten Hag who made AFC Ajax into a dominant force in the Dutch league before taking on the streneous role of Manchester United manager.
Even though rebuilding a fallen giant like Man Utd can be a great short-term adventure, there’s nothing more rewarding than building a dynasty with a minor club and push for promotions and entering the club’s hall of fame as a managerial legend.
In this case, we have put together seven impossible feats destined to test the very limits of your managerial prowess. These challenges enables you to bring out the very best of your tactical abilities, your abilities in squad management and recruiting players as you will need to advance 10 years or more into the game to complete any of these Football Manager 2024-2025 challenges.
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To help you to find a club to manage for some of the hardest Football Manager challenges, we have earlier put together a list of save ideas for zero to hero challenges and restore the glory saves. However, with the world your’s oyster, you can pick whichever club you fancy and embark on embark on a journey filled with trials and triumphs.
So, lace up your virtual boots, adjust your tactics, and prepare to defy the odds before the release of FM25 by taking on some of the hardest challenges and scenarios you can think of in Football Manager.
Let the quest for managerial greatness begin, and get one step closer to call yourself the greatest manager of all time in the virtual game of Football Manager.
7 Football Manager 2024-2025 Challenges You Need to Try
The Domestic Legend
Building a team that can compete for the domestic title year in and year out is probably any manager’s dream. Compared to the other Football Manager challenges on this list, it’s probably one of the easiest.
Between 1992 and 2004, Rosenborg won 13 consecutive national league titles and were completely dominating the Norwegian top flight – something that made them qualify for the Champions League 10 years in a row. Even though it’s far from a record, it was a magnificent achievement at that time.
One of the biggest influencers to Rosenborg’s success was Nils Arne Eggen, who earns the title of being the most successful manager in Norway. Throughout six periods managing RBK, he guided the team to a total of 15 national titles, as well as six NM-Cup trophies.
Famed for his 4-3-3 formation that adopted some of the philosophies behind Ajax’s Total Football, his attacking football philosophy and taking advantage of each player’s best skills, and putting it into a system, made Rosenborg a force to be reckoned with.
In 1996, the team managed to win 2-1 against Arrigo Sacchi’s AC Milan on away soil – one of the best teams in Europe at the time. The miracle at San Siro stands today as one of the best pivotal moments in Rosenborg’s club history as the club reached the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League where they met the tournaments previous winner, Juventus.
The quest for you in Football Manager is to try to win as many consecutive league titles as possible in a row. Even though we have highlighted Rosenborg’s success, the record for most consecutive domestic league titles is held by the now dissolved Latvian club, Skonto, who became Champions 14 times in a row – between 1991 and 2004.
Are you able to become Champion of your nation 15 times in a row? If so, you can call yourself a domestic legend.
Side Missons: Beating the Records for Longest Winning Streak
A side mission to the Domestic Legend challenge could be that you try to beat the current world record of most consecutive wins which is currently held by Al-Hilal who managed to record the longest winning streak in world football by winning 34 matches in a row. It was completed in the 2023-24 season, and came to an end April 17th, 2024.
In Europe, the longest winning streak is held by Stefan Kovacs’ Ajax, who recorded 26 wins in a row in the 1971-72 season. That season, in the heights of Total Football, Ajax Amsterdam led by Johan Cruyff secured the club’s first ever treble – and the second treble made by an European club after Celtic 1966-67.
At the same time you could try to create a club icon by getting one of your players coming through at your youth intake to hold the records of most appearances for the club.
At Rosenborg, it’s currently Roar Strand who holds the record for most appearances, but the all-time record is held by Ryan Giggs with 963 appearances for one club stretching over 24 seasons. This reveals how long such a quest make take. It’s definitely not an impossible challenge but one that requires dedication and mastering the art of squad building.
The Carletto Trophy Hunt
On the subject of the greatest manager all time, I’m sure most of you will be quick to mention Alex Ferguson or Josep Guardiola. However, in terms of trophies won, current Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is the GOAT.
No other manager has never won more Champions League trophies than Don Carlo Ancelotti. In fact, it makes him into the most decorated manager in the CL history.
After 30 years in the business, his tactical intelligence has resulted in four Champions League trophies: two with AC Milan (2002-03 & 2006-07) and two with Real Madrid (2013-14 & 2021-22), as well as winning the European Cup in two consecutive years with AC Milan between 1988 & 1990.
In total, Carlo Ancelotti has won a total of 39 league titles and Cup trophies in five different nations incl. Real Madrid being Champions of 2023-24 season.
To celebrate what can only be described as the greatest manager of all time, embark on the Carletto Trophy Hunt challenge.
Your challenge on Football Manager is to try to replicate Ancelotti’s manager career and try to win as many Champions League trophies as possible and win a minimum of one title within the top 5 footballing nations; Italy, Spain, France, England and Germany.
For the most authenticity, you kick off your manager career in the Italian Serie B (or lower). Same as Ancelotti started out with Reggiana in Serie B 30 years ago.
However, you can also start managing a team in the First Division or lower in any of the playable leagues but throughout your career you need to have managed a club in the top division of the big-5 nations.
Then, the quest starts to win the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Scudetto, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and other national cups.
The challenge won’t be completed until you win more than 4 Champions League trophies as well as being awarded the Manager of the year in at least three nations.
A side ‘mission’ could be that you need to apply the 4-4-2 formation for at least one manager tenure, just like Ancelotti’s tactical preference at AC Milan in the early years of his career.
The New Invincibles – The Xabi Alonso Challenge
Under the leadership of Xabi Alonso, Bayer 04 Leverkusen is currently having a sensational season. Apart from winning the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history, Die Schwarzroten has pushed away all competitions coming their way and have not lost a game the entire season!
In fact, this historic team has set a new German record for the longest unbeaten run in all competitions by stretching the records of 49 matches without losing, at the time of writing. This beats Benfica’s 59 year old unbeaten record of 48 matches which they achieved between 1963 and 1965 when they won the European Cup on two occasions.
At the same time, Xabi Alonso’s Bayer 04 Leverkusen are on course to win an historic treble, if they managed to win the final of the DFB-Pokal and win the UEFA Europa League 2023/24 final.
In the matter of The Invincibles, it’s a term often linked to Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal 2003-2004 side. No other team has managed to go an entire Premier League season without a defeat and managed to stretch the unbeaten run into 49 matches until it was ended at Old Trafford.
In the matter of the longest unbeaten runs in European football, 48 or 49 matches without a defeat is far from the best.
As far as I know, Celtic managed to stretch their unbeaten run into 69 domestic matches which ended in 2017. That season, they completed a sensational domestic treble. And, three years later, Porto started on an unbeaten run that would last for 58 matches and ended in 2022.
Challenging for a historic longest unbeaten run in European top-flight might be one of the toughest challenges there is. Especially on Football Manager where a winning streak of more than 9 matches is one of the hardest things you can do.
Your challenge is to compete for a historic treble and try to go unbeaten for more than one season. Which team you choose might have a major influence on the level of challenge as top sides in minor leagues will probably be one of the easiest things you can do. Instead, trying something similar with a mid-table club or a club with the financial powers but lacks the winning formula like Brighton, Tottenham or Bochum will be more challenging.
The La Masia Youth Academy Challenge
The La Masia Youth Academy challenge is the ultimate choice for anyone who enjoys youth development and wish to focus their time on developing their own talents.
The objective is to field an entire team of only homegrown players, like what FC Barcelona did in a league match against Levante in 2015 when the entire team was made up of only La Masia graduates. This was the first time in the modern era of football any sides would field a complete line-up of players from their own Academy.
Now, I don’t know if it has happened again, but in an era where signing players from all over the world, I doubt any professional team has completed a similar feat. However, in Football Manager anything is possible.
When embarking on a Football Manager youth academy challenge, the focus shifts from signing wonderkids to constantly trying to improve the quality of the club’s youth intake in Football Manager and prioritize your efforts and financial resources on youth development to get one step closer to get a golden generation that could provide an ever-lasting impact on the club’s history.
Like RB Salzburg or Ajax, your financial resources will go to improving the club’s training facilities and acquire a state of the art training facilities to develop your youngsters into wonderkids with the backing of a 5-star coaching team and an excellent head of youth development who can help to increase the quality of the club’s future youth intakes.
In a La Masia youth academy challenge, the greatest reward will be if you manage to win one of the European competitions or become Champions without signing any players. In fact, one of the rules within this youth development challenge is to achieve success in a save where no transfers are allowed and you need to solely rely on the quality of the newgens arriving at the club. This means that this achievement won’t be able to be completed in a few seasons as you need to slowly build a team of wonderkids newgens from your own club’s academy.
Read more about the different difficulty levels and rules you can choose from by going for the La Masia youth academy challenge.
Which teams you select for such a youth development challenge can determine how quickly you are able to complete the scenario. Picking a team with great training facilities and a reputation for being a world leading Youth Academy club will make it easier than if you select a team where you need to build the club from the ground up – constantly improving the club’s training facilities and youth recruitment.
The San Marino Challenge
The San Marino challenge stands as one of the most impossible challenges on Football Manager. Ranked on 210th place on the FIFA ranking behind smaller nations like British Virgin Islands or Mongolia, two nations famed for their football, your objective in the San Marino Challenge is to win the FIFA World Cup with one of the smallest nations in the world, and turn the small nation of San Marino into a world football powerhouse.
This might seem like an impossible feat, especially when we know the national team has one of the smallest populations in any UEFA countries and the current national team is made up of only amateur players. On top of that, they could be labelled one of the worst international teams in world football.
To date, San Marino has only won one (1!) single match dating as far back as 1986! However, this won’t count as competitive match as it was only a friendly fixture – meaning they are still yet to win a competitive fixture.
Getting San Marino to qualify for the European Championship or the World Cup is one part of the picture, the other is to achieve domestic success with a Sammarise club in the Italian league.
So, whilst managing the national team of San Marino, you will also manage a Sammarise club. Currently there is only one professional Sammarise club allowed to play in the Italian football league system. Since the promotion from Eccellenza Emilia-Romagna to Serie D ahead of 2023-24 season, Victor San Marino has been the only represent from San Marino in the professional leagues of Italy. In fact, the team was founded by the San Marino Football Federation to represent the nation in the Italian league since the Sammarinese football league system is recognized as amateur-level.
With very few choices for clubs to manage in a San Marino challenge, your objective is to try to win the Serie A and hunt for success by winning the domestic title and cup trophies by making Victor San Marino a powerhouse in Italy. So far, their greatest achievement is to play in the third tier of Italian football as they promoted to Lega Pro Prima Divisione ahead of 2012-13 season.
It will be a tough journey that will require keen focus on building the nation of San Marino by managing both the national team and a local Sammarinese club.
Before emarking on the San Marino challenge on Football Manager 2024 you need to download the extensive Italian Serie D and data update by Cizzu of Fusion DB. It will make Serie D playable on FM24 and enable you to start off managing Victor San Marino on Football Manager.
The Zero to Hero Challenge – The Climbers
When managing in the lower leagues, the ultimate dream is to promote to the top-flight as quickly as possible and go from zero to hero with your lower league team. Achieving two consecutive promotions is not something we see too often, but recording three consecutive promotions is frankly rare!
Achieving a back-to-back promotions from level three to premier division like Ipswich managed, is something you don’t see too often. Their remarkable rise to Premier League after a 22 year absent might go into the history books as one of the greatest managerial achievements in the club’s history in the modern era despite winning both the FA Cup in 1978 and UEFA cup 1981.
Looking at the history, there are only a handful of clubs who have made more than three consecutive promotions and reached the (semi-)professional leagues. Os Belenenses went on a five consecutive promotion run between 2018 and 2023 – climbing the Portuguese pyramid from regional division AF Lisboa Third Division to Liga 3 (the third level in the pyramid).
Swedish lower division club, Dalkurd FF, has also managed to make five consecutive promotions from division 6 to division 2 on the fourth level of the Swedish pyramid.
When setting up a Zero to Hero challenge on Football Manager, the objective is to start off with no coaching badges and no reputation and go from hunting for a new job by starting unemployed to trying to win trophies and secure promotions with your lower league club.
At first, the challenge of getting a job offer is as hard as what will follow.
By working your way up the pyramid in a club with limited resources, you will be looking to become a club icon or legend by completely changing the history of your smaller side.
In the matter of a zero to hero challenge, the opportunity to download DanFMDatabases’ English Lower League Level 20 database represents a golden ticket to start off a save in the bottom of the English pyramid and work your way to the top. However, there are a number of league extension packs that focuses on unlocking new playable divisions in specific countries that can be downloaded to enable a zero to hero challenge started in another country outside UK.
Can you win a Cup trophy or a European trophy, or reach the top-flight within 20 years of managing? Then you can pride yourself as the ‘greatest’ manager of all time – at least within your managing club.
The Pentagon Challenge
In Football Manager, one of the most renown challenges there is, is the Pentagon challenge. Nothing is as classic as the Pentagon challenge on Football Manager, and nothing is as difficult as it.
By completing the Pentagon Challenge on Football Manager, you must win five continental club competitions in one save. That means, lifting the AFC Champions League with a club in Asia, replicate the success with an African team by winning the CAF Champions League, and then move through all the three other continents to lift some of the most honourable trophies in world football; the UEFA Champions League, the CONMEBOL Libertadores or the CONCACAF in North America, such as FM Youtuber, TomFM, has set out to do for FM24.
In TomFM’s case, he has really stepped up the challenge by starting off his save unemployed and without any coaching badges and experience – making the challenge of competing for any of the major continental trophies 100x harder as you’re coaching skills are abysmal.
In your case, you’ll be free to start off in any of the five continents and manage any sides you like since the quest of completing the Pentagon challenge will take tenths of in-game years to complete regardless of your choice of club.
You can increase the challenge by picking a club in the lower leagues or pick a club in one of the top divisions. Regardlessly, you need to download a league extension pack that unlocks new playable nations across the world and start off in any continent outside South America or Europe.
Then, the hunt for trophies can begin…if you are able to secure a job…
Credits: Image of trophy in the thumbnail is attributed to Trophy Vectors by Vecteezy