Football Manager 2024 is a game with endless possibilities where players can play hundreds of years into the future and write their names into the history books alongside the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola.
However, to do that, those players will need some great achievements. For that reason, we at bo3.gg have put together a list of the hardest teams to manage in FM24 so that players can find a team to impress their friends with when they achieve eternal glory.
In this article, we’ll tell you ten of the most difficult football clubs in FM24, give you some strategy for hard teams in FM2024, as well as tips for managing underdog teams FM2024.
Let’s start with those tips then, shall we?
Tips for managing underdog teams in FM2024
- Don’t be afraid to sell players: We know it seems counter-intuitive to sell your best players if you’re trying to grow as a team, but it can actually be the best thing to do. Teams will often overpay for your stars, and with that money, you can replace them, improve your squad, and bring more money into the club.
- Find bargains: There will be bargains everywhere. Big clubs will often sell high-potential players that are struggling to get game time, or even let them go for free. You can also search for players whose contracts will expire in six months time and sign them for free.
- Scout smaller nations: Our top tip for how to succeed with hard teams in FM24 is scouting smaller nations. Countries like Peru, South Africa, and Nigeria are all capable of getting strong regens come through and will all be available for very cheap. A great way of finding these players is through looking through the youth setups of national teams.
The hardest teams to manage in FM24
Athletic Club
If you’re looking for challenge teams in football manager 2024 then look no further than Spain’s Athletic Club.
A historic team that has never been relegated from La Liga, they come with one of the hardest rule sets of any team in the world in that you can only sign players from the Basque region.
Given that the Basque Country is a small province in the north of Spain, this means the player pool you can sign from is incredibly small. To make matters worse, half of those players already play for Athletic Club’s fiercest rivals, Real Sociedad.
Athletic Club do have some very talented players, however, and the Williams brothers, Dani Vivian, and Oihan Sancet will provide you with a solid base to build upon as you go through your save.
Yeovil Town
If you’re looking to play FM24 in the English lower leagues, Yeovil Town is the team for you.
Yeovil Town used to be a team that would frequently bounce between the Championship and League One, but financial issues put that to an end and they now find themselves in the National League North — the lowest league in Football Manager 2024 without having to install any extra databases.
On paper, the challenge is easy: fight your way back to the Football League, then onto the Premier League, and then the Champions League.
That doesn’t sound too hard, does it?
Everton
Let's go from the lowest level of the English footballing pyramid to the highest level and take a look at Everton.
Known as the Grand Old Club, Everton have a rich history in football but have almost constantly been overshadowed by their Liverpudlian rivals, Liverpool. The gap now is probably as big as it has ever been.
To make matters worse, Everton come into the 23/24 season with a ten-point deduction, making them one of the top challenging FM24 teams. Oh, and did we mention their squad is rubbish too?
FC Vaduz
Moving back out to Europe, you may have never heard of FC Vaduz, but after you’ve read this you’ll be clamouring to play as them.
FC Vaduz is a team from Liechtenstein who play in Switzerland’s football leagues. There’s nothing too strange about that, of course, the same is true for Cardiff and Swansea playing in the English football leagues.
However, here’s the kicker: in order to appear in the Champions League with FC Vaduz, you would have to win the Europa Conference League and the Europa League back-to-back. Winning either of those competitions with a team this small would be an incredible feat, two might just be impossible.
FC Vaduz is without a doubt one of the most difficult clubs in FM2024.
Chelsea
How can one of the best teams in the world also be one of the hardest teams to manage in FM24? Well, let’s take a look at the last couple of years of Chelsea.
In the last couple of years since the departure of Roman Abramovich, Chelsea Football Club has spent an outrageous amount of money and a lot of the money has been spent on bang-average players on exorbitant wages.
Because of this, Chelsea’s finances aren’t what they once were, and you’ll have to sell a lot of them in order to buy more. Oh, and because of those wages, everyone you buy will want ridiculous wages too.
The challenge here is getting the finances in order while returning Chelsea back to their Champions League-winning glory days and stopping them from being one of the most underperforming football clubs in Football Manager 2024.
Ceuta
If FC Vaduz sounded like a step too far, then Ceuta might be the club for you. Similarly to FC Vaduz, they play in a different nation’s league to the nation they are from, this time being a Moroccan team playing in the Spanish leagues.
Currently playing in the third tier of Spanish football, it won’t be an easy road to get to La Liga. The finances are low, and a lot of the teams are surprisingly strong.
To make matters worse, you also have to abide by Spanish salary cap rules, which are tied to the income of your club. This means that even when you get to La Liga, you’re going to have a long build if you hope to match the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Luton Town
The third Premier League club on our list of challenge teams for Football Manager 2024, Luton Town have a special story.
A string of promotions have seen them make it all the way to the Premier League, but their squad and their stadium aren’t exactly suited for Premier League football.
It’s rare you get a team this poor in the Premier League, so just staying in there will be your biggest challenge. After that, build up the club and take them to eternal glory.
Paris FC
One of the easiest teams to manage in Football Manager 2024 is Paris Saint Germain. They have an unlimited budget, some of the best wonderkids in FM24, and are already by far the best team in France, so it’s only fitting that one of the most difficult football clubs to manage in FM24 is their local rivals, Paris FC.
Paris FC currently play in the second tier of French football. It’s not an easy league to escape, but it’s also not an impossible task, especially with a couple of smart signings to spur you on.
Ligue 1 is where it gets much harder. It will take you a while to match the finances of half of the teams in there, and surpassing PSG will be an exceedingly hard task.
1860 Munich
The penultimate team in our list of the top challenging teams in FM2024 is 1860, a very similar team to Paris FC.
Like Paris FC, 1860 Munich are the far smaller local rivals of the most dominant team in their nation, Bayern Munich. However, unlike Paris FC, they play in the third division of German football, not the second.
It’s a similar story. Money is tight, and climbing will be hard, although it is made slightly easier by Germany’s relaxed non-EU rules which means you’ll be able to sign a lot of cheap players from other continents.
Climb the leagues and knock Bayern Munich off their perch.
Arminia Bielefeld
Closing out our list of the hardest teams to manage in FM24 is another team from Germany’s third division, Arminia Bielefeld.
In the last two seasons, financial difficulties have meant that Arminia Bielefeld have dropped all the way from the Bundesliga to the 3. Liga and a squad that is entirely new to the club.
The challenge is to repair their financial woes, build a squad capable of progressing back to the Bundesliga, and, eventually, win it.
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