There are more teams to manage than ever before in Football Manager 2026.
Women’s football has become part of the game, adding a whole world of scenarios. The two-year break since FM24 has also built excitement, as players look forward to managing teams with vastly different squads.
With so many options to choose from, we have picked the best challenges for you to tackle.
For each team, you will find their starting transfer and weekly wage budgets, a tip to get you started and a difficulty rating, with one being the easiest and five the hardest.
Manchester City
Transfer budget: £47.5million
Wage budget: £855,000
Difficulty rating: 1/5
Any team with Erling Haaland in it should be considered a title contender. Pairing the prolific striker with the Premier League’s fourth-highest transfer budget and highest wage budget will likely lead to a straightforward save.
Manchester City also have two young players with five-star potential — Rayan Cherki and Claudio Echeverri — while Phil Foden, Savinho and Abdukodir Khusanov could become four-and-a-half-star players if they reach their peaks.
Top tip: James Trafford is not likely to take Gianluigi Donnarumma’s starting spot in goal any time soon, and Stefan Ortega is also on the books. Consider loaning out Trafford, who is 22 at the start of the game, to raise his transfer value and help him reach his potential.
Galatasaray
Transfer budget: £47million
Wage budget: £0
Difficulty rating: 1/5
The easy part is winning a fourth consecutive Turkish league title. Building a team that can challenge for silverware at European level is a little bit more complicated.
Led by last season’s Super Lig top scorer, Victor Osimhen, who is backed up by Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan and Lucas Torreira, a Galatasaray save is a nice way to rack up a few trophies — especially when you have a transfer budget of nearly £50million to play with.
Top tip: Sane, Gundogan, Torreira, Davinson Sanchez and Mauro Icardi are all aged 29 or older. This is a good squad, but it will soon need refreshing. If you want to open up your negligible wage bill, consider selling 32-year-old Icardi, who earns £125,000 a week.
Brighton & Hove Albion
Transfer budget: £100million
Wage budget: £283,000
Difficulty rating: 1/5
Silverware might not arrive straight away, but a save with Brighton ticks all the boxes you would want.
They have the largest transfer budget in the game, four players with five-star potential (Carlos Baleba, Jack Hinshelwood, Evan Ferguson, Yasin Ayari), four youngsters with four-and-a-half-star potential (Ibrahim Osman, Yankuba Minteh, Brajan Gruda, Diego Coppola) and plenty of others who could fetch sizeable transfer fees elsewhere in the squad.
Top tip: Osman begins the game on loan at France’s Auxerre, but could eventually replace Kaoru Mitoma on the left. If you are sold on Osman’s potential, consider selling Mitoma in January, before his transfer fee dips as he enters the final 18 months of his contract.
Chelsea Women
Transfer budget: £500,000
Wage budget: £9,600
Difficulty rating: 1/5
Chelsea Women are one of the most dominant sides anywhere in football. They have won the last six Women’s Super League titles, and their squad is packed with elite talent, including record signing Alyssa Thompson, Lauren James, Naomi Girma, Hannah Hampton, Millie Bright, Erin Cuthbert, Catarina Macario, Lucy Bronze and Sam Kerr.
One of the challenges here is winning the Champions League. Chelsea have reached its semi-finals in each of the past three seasons, and were runners-up in 2021, but have never won Europe’s No 1 club competition.
Top tip: Chelsea have four highly talented players who could play up front — Macario, Kerr, Aggie Beever-Jones and Mayra Ramirez. Because they have more depth at striker than they do in attacking midfield, it may be wise to prioritise a formation with two forwards.
Roma
Transfer budget: £19million
Wage budget: £0
Difficulty rating: 2/5
Roma’s squad is good enough to be in the conversation for Champions League qualification, but they are a little way off title-contending status.
Turning them into Italy’s best team will require some work, but you will not be starting from scratch. Niccolo Pisilli, 20 at the start of the game, is one of their rising stars, the club have a strong youth system and you get to play in the Europa League in your first season.
Top tip: Paulo Dybala is 31 years old, earns more than £200,000 a week and could fetch at least £20million in the transfer market. His stats are very good, but the longer you keep him, the more his transfer value will decline. Consider selling if you want to raise funds to build a more youthful side.
Chelsea
Transfer budget: £16.5million
Wage budget: £250,000
Difficulty rating: 2/5
Estevao, Jamie Gittens, Romeo Lavia, Dario Essugo, Mike Penders, Aaron Anselmino, Shumaira Mheuka and Reggie Walsh all have big potential. Few clubs in FM26 have that many highly-rated youngsters.
Chelsea’s modest transfer budget means winning the Premier League and/or Champions League may be tough in season one, but within a few years, they have the building blocks in place to be one of the best teams in FM26.
Top tip: Tyrique George begins each save with a transfer valuation of at least £11million, which seems a little too low for a young player as talented as he is. If you do not plan to use him in your first team, consider extending his contract and loaning him out for a year, rather than selling him outright on day one.
Atletico Madrid
Transfer budget: £13million
Wage budget: £15,000
Difficulty rating: 2/5
The gap in Spain between Atletico and the two Clasico teams, Real Madrid and Barcelona, continues to grow. Diego Simeone’s lads have not finished in the top two since winning La Liga’s 2020-21 title.
They don’t have many notable youngsters with sky-high potential, and the only two first-team players rated four-star or above are Jan Oblak and Julian Alvarez. There is talent to work with here, but winning silverware is going to be tricky.
Top tip: Consider cashing in on Marcos Llorente. His contract expires in 2027 and, at 30 years old, it is usually better to sell a player one year too early rather than a season too late. He is a prime candidate to transfer list to generate funds.
Arsenal Women
Transfer budget: £750,000
Wage budget: £16,890
Difficulty rating: 2/5
Three-time champions Arsenal have not won the WSL since the 2018-19 season. Standing in their way have been a Chelsea side whose dominance does not look set to end anytime soon.
Strength in depth means they are well-placed to challenge on all fronts. Who knows, perhaps you could make a push for back-to-back Champions League titles?
Top tip: Stina Blackstenius will be 30 by the time season two rolls around. Michelle Agyemang, who begins the season back out on loan at Brighton, will return to your squad at the end of your first year. Aim to prioritise Agyemang’s long-term growth and cash in on Blackstenius while her transfer value remains high.
Eintracht Frankfurt
Transfer budget: £13million
Wage budget: £84,000
Difficulty rating: 3/5
Frankfurt have famously made around £300million in six years from selling strikers alone. They are one of the best clubs at generating a profit, so how do you build a title contender when the team is set up to shift its best players?
Even after selling Hugo Ekitike to Liverpool this summer, three of their squad with five-star potential — Nnamdi Collins, Can Uzun and Oscar Hojlund — could become long-term building blocks.
Top tip: Mario Gotze is one of the club’s highest earners and his contract expires at the end of the season. Selling Germany’s 2014 World Cup final matchwinner, now 33, would free up £58,000 a week in wages.
Strasbourg
Transfer budget: £5.75million
Wage budget: £0
Difficulty rating: 3/5
Chelsea’s influence on Strasbourg is a blessing and a curse in FM26. The French side have three players on loan from their Premier League sister club — Penders, Kendry Paez and Mamadou Sarr. But at the end of your first season they are all going to leave, as will last season’s top scorer, Emanuel Emegha, who is set to join Chelsea in 2026.
There is a sense of urgency to do well while you have these players on your books in year one to put you in a strong position heading into year two. With a limited transfer budget, that will not be easy.
Top tip: Ismael Doukoure is a talented centre-back but his contract expires within a year. Sign him to a new deal or sell him in the first transfer window to avoid losing him on a free.
Porto
Transfer budget: £3.9million
Wage budget: £46,000
Difficulty rating: 3/5
Winning the Portuguese league should not be too difficult, but building a team capable of going deep in the Champions League will be a challenge.
Working in your favour are the club’s crop of talented young players. Rodrigo Mora, William Gomes, Martim Fernandes, Victor Froholdt, Alberto Costa and Samu Aghehowa have five-star potential. But keeping those guys on the books, especially when big clubs come knocking, will be a tough test.
Top tip: Fernandes and Costa are strong prospects, but both play right-back. If you need to raise funds, consider selling one of them for a high fee.
Paris Saint-Germain Women
Transfer budget: £0
Wage budget: £0
Difficulty rating: 3/5
Lyon has won 17 of the past 18 Division 1 Feminine titles, stretching back to 2007. PSG interrupted that streak in 2021, but Lyon’s dominance does not appear to be ending anytime soon.
Mary Earps is PSG’s starting goalkeeper and they have talent elsewhere, especially in striker Romee Leuchter and centre-back Griedge Mbock. But they are a little way off dethroning the league’s best team, which is where you come in.
Top tip: Earps is 32 at the start of a new save and one of the club’s higher earners. Her contract will expire within a year, so you will either need to offer her a new one or cash in to avoid losing her for nothing.
Wrexham
Transfer budget: £1million
Wage budget: £19,000
Difficulty rating: 4/5
Ipswich Town and Southampton both have at least £20million to spend. Birmingham City have a pretty decent squad and £5m at their disposal. Sheffield United are well-placed for a Premier League promotion push and have a £13m transfer budget. Coventry City are another strong top-six candidate in the Championship.
Plenty of hurdles stand in the way of Wrexham, who do not have a budget matching their fellow promotion hopefuls. Getting the Welsh side to the Premier League is one thing, but becoming one of the top teams in it is where the real challenge lies.
Top tip: Miralem Pjanic is available on a free transfer and is often willing to join most Championship teams. Sergio Reguilon is also unattached, but his wage demands mean you will have to raise money before signing him.
Schalke
Transfer budget: £425,000
Wage budget: £26,000
Difficulty rating: 4/5
Few second-division teams have a stadium that can hold 60,000 fans. But in the 2.Bundesliga, Schalke and Hertha Berlin, two fallen giants, need a rebuild.
Schalke’s superior youth setup gets them the nod in our list. Returning them to the German top flight and challenging for league titles will take a few seasons, but it is not an insurmountable task.
Top tip: Dylan Leonard is a good prospect but Schalke have two other young centre-backs — Mertcan Ayhan and Felipe Sanchez — who are more first-team ready than he is and also have five-star potential. Consider loaning out Leonard in the first season to help him develop.
Mallbackens
Transfer budget: £0
Wage budget: £437
Difficulty rating: 4/5
Mallbackens are a women’s team in the Swedish second division, predicted to finish near the bottom of the table, without any high transfer-value players. In short, few things are working in your favour with this save. Winning major trophies will be no walk in the park.
Top tip: Charlene Nowotny is good enough to build a team around, but plays best as a No 10. Don’t be tempted to shift her out wide — your formation should be tailored to her strengths in the middle.
Bodo/Glimt
Transfer budget: £11million
Wage budget: £10,500
Difficulty rating: 4/5
The Norwegian side reached the Europa League semi-finals last year, and you only have to navigate a two-leg qualification play-off to reach the league phase of the Champions League.
They are clearly talented, but are you the boss who could help them win a European trophy? Their moderate transfer budget and aim to sign players no older than 20 is tailored towards managers who live for sourcing cheap wonderkids.
Top tip: Nikita Haikin’s contract is set to expire within a year. He could fetch at least £2million. Either way, a decision will need to be made as soon as you take over to avoid losing him on a free transfer.
Luton Town
Transfer budget: £5million
Wage budget: £25,000
Difficulty rating: 5/5
Two years ago, Luton were in the Premier League. Now they are in League One. They are expected to bounce back immediately to the Championship. A further promotion returning them to the top flight may even seem doable.
But turning this squad from a big fish in the third tier to a Premier League contender will not be straightforward.
Top tip: Patrick Bamford, Nathan Redmond and Joel Ward are available as free agents and could do a solid job in your first season.
Vitesse
Transfer budget: £72,000
Wage budget: £0
Difficulty rating: 5/5
Vitesse were docked 18 points and relegated from the Eredivisie in 2024, and they now find themselves with a further 12-point deduction heading into the 2025-26 second-tier season. The Arnhem-based club have no money to spend and are predicted to finish rock bottom. Taking them to the top of Dutch football and winning trophies will be tough.
Top tip: Former Manchester United defender Alexander Buttner, now 36, still has a year left on his deal. He is decent at set pieces, so pay attention to free kicks and corners — and get him taking all of them.
CE Europa
Transfer budget: £0
Wage budget: £1,000
Difficulty rating: 5/5
Barcelona are the dominant women’s team in Spanish football. Neighbours Europa are predicted to finish last in the division below them.
The majority of their squad will see their contracts expire at the end of year one, too, making for a chaotic, if not always fun, first season.
Top tip: Julia Gomez is the Catalan club’s starting right-winger, with Nuria Benet the first-choice right-back behind her. It would be wise to create a tactic that focuses attacks down that flank, making the most of your best players.
RFC Meux
Transfer budget: £0
Wage budget: £0
Difficulty rating: 5/5
Heard about the amateur team from Belgium who turned professional and ended up winning the Champions League? Me neither.
Meux are two promotions away from the Belgian Pro League, have a tiny stadium, a limited scouting budget and no wonderkids on their books. It does not get much harder than this.
Top tip: This club only have two people tied down to contracts in FM26. The rest could leave at any moment. You will need to decide who to keep and who to replace as soon as you start the save.
