The new Football Manager game is upon us once again, and as always it’s time for us football nerds to sit down and have a think about who we’re going to take to glory this year. Alex Woodward was kind enough to ask me to put together some of my recommendations for who to start with, so of course I happily obliged, and wrote down some of the thoughts I would have been having anyway.
My favourite starting point is a team in a smaller European league, maybe one that was one of the dominant teams in that league in the past, that for whatever reason has fallen off in recent years. I like to reinstate them as the powerhouse in their league before going on to either win the Champions League with them or, if an interesting job in a larger league shows up, jump over. In the past, I’ve done this with Cercle Brügge of Belgium, FC Zürich of Switzerland and Kaiserslautern of Germany (not a small country I know, but sometimes you need a change of pace), and had a great time and made some amazing stories with each. And isn’t that what Football Manager is all about?
I’ve picked three teams that I think would make a great starting point in FM21: two of which very much meet my personal criteria, and one is a bit left-field, but they’re all great potential options to kick off this Football Manager cycle.
Rapid Vienna – Austria
Rapid Vienna are the most successful team in the history of the Austrian Bundesliga with 32 title wins, and are arguably the easiest of the options I’m going to present – even though they haven’t won a title since 2007/08. They finished second in the Championship Group last season, three points ahead of Wolfsberger AC, and in the regular season finished a whopping 15 points ahead of local rivals Austria Vienna, who didn’t even make the champions group cut. The challenge comes, then, from toppling the team that have had a stranglehold on the A. Bundesliga since 2014: the financial behemoth that is RB Salzburg. The Bulls have a vast web of scouts bringing in a constant stream of top-quality talent, with players such as Sadio Mane, Kevin Kampl and Erling Haaland having passed through on their way to the top table of European football. Combine that with the innovative and exciting coaching from Jesse Marsch and the Red Bulls are a domestic force that won’t be stopped easily.
Rapid aren’t without assets though; their academy is one of the best in Austria, and some of the current crop could have the makings of a golden generation. Dejan Ljubicic (DM, 23), Kelvin Arase (AMR, 21) and Leo Grieml (DC, 19) are just some of the younger players currently in and around the first team and, looking down into the reserves, 17-year-old Yusuf Demir (ST) looks like he could be very special indeed. If you can strike the right balance between smart sales and shrewd spending, that spine of young talent combined with a good tactic could take you to the title sooner than you may think.
A harder ask will be European success; as your team improves, bringing in players that will improve you in turn gets more difficult, as your reputation will struggle to keep up with the quality of your squad. You’ll also be raided regularly by teams from the big 5 leagues (and Salzburg too at the beginning). On the plus side, if they’re particularly persistent you may be able to fleece them for a very large amount of money, and potentially a big sell-on clause too. That cash can then be used in turn to make signings you couldn’t dream of otherwise, or to boost your facilities and produce your own talent if you’re that way inclined. Selling to buy will probably be your best bet to give yourself the financial backbone needed to really establish Rapid as a European powerhouse, but getting to that level will take considerably more time than just winning the league.
You might be thinking “Alex, you seem to know an awful lot about this Rapid side and who to keep an eye out for”, and you’d be right! I actually chose them as my starting team in FM20. Within three years I’d won the A. Bundesliga, and was fending off £30 million offers for some of the players I just listed. So take that as a challenge! I took Rapid to the title in 3 seasons, but with the right tactic and transfers I think it can be done quicker. Give it a try, and let us know how it goes!
IFK Göteborg – Sweden
IFK Göteborg are the sleeping giants of Swedish football: the only Nordic team to have won a UEFA competition (two UEFA cups in 1982 and ‘87), the second most successful team in both the Allsvenskan (13 wins) and the Swedish Cup (8), and a member of the country’s Big Three alongside AIK and Malmö. But the Angels have dropped off in recent years, with their most recent league title coming in 2007, and have placed mid-table in each of the last three seasons (10th in 2017, 11th in ‘18, 7th in ‘19). Djurgårdens, Malmö, Hammarby and AIK are the current top 4, and muscling your way back up there will be no easy task, but Göteborg have the resources and fanbase to do it.
You’ll start off with a pretty great first team squad, especially considering your board only ask for a mid-table finish in your first season, though a lot of your best players are in the 29-34 age bracket so you’ll need to start thinking about replacing them pretty quick. You won’t want to look far from home though, as your poor reputation and small budget will make bringing in players from outside Sweden a challenge. However, with great youth facilities and a lot of high-quality youngsters from the off, you may not need to worry about that too much – the pick of the bunch is Alhassan Yusuf, a 20-year-old box-to-box midfielder who’s already at 4-star current ability and looks to be a natural heir to the 34-year-old Pontus Wernbloom. Oscar Vilhelmsson (ST, 16), Melvin Berg (AMR, 16) and Noah Alexandersson (AML, 18) are the real stars of the youth academy, but the real problem you’ll have with any players you bring through is exemplified by Jesper Tolinsson. He’s 17, has 4.5 star potential and as you start your save will already be on his way out of the club. Keeping hold of your young stars may prove to be a real issue, again due to Göteborg’s low reputation and budget; the board may intervene and sell players for a lot less than they’re worth to keep the club in the black. That’s by no means a bad business model, though, and if you can make the most of the kids before they make their big European moves (and spend the money they bring in wisely, of course), you could take Göteborg to the top very quickly indeed.
Despite finishing the 2019 season in 7th, IFK are in a great place to push forward in the immediate future. However, getting your hands on the league title may be a struggle, as after the first season or two you’ll have to regenerate about half of the first team squad. But if you can keep hold of the youth prospects and spend your funds well, restoring Göteborg to the heights of the ‘80s may not be out of your reach. But before you can be the best team in Europe, you’ll have to be the best in Sweden – are you up to the challenge?
Valencia – Spain
Valencia are a very different option to the other teams I’m recommending you start at in FM21, as they’re the only one where you’ll be starting in a top 5 league. But while all teams have had to cope with the pandemic, and some have done better than others, Valencia are unique in the on-field destruction that has been wrought by the ownership in the name of off-field stability. Coquelin, Kondogbia, Rodrigo, Ferran Torres and even Dani Parejo have been moved on this summer, none for more than £30 million. You’ll be inheriting a squad that has been gutted, with barely any money to replace them and an owner who will be actively looking to sell when you start the game. The heady days of the turn of the century, when Los Che won a UEFA Cup, two La Ligas and were the third big side in Spain, are certainly a long way away.
But it’s not all doom and gloom – the youth team the Mestalla is still going strong, and you’ll be churning out high-quality youth players right from the off. There’s been a lot of noise in the real world for Yusuf Musah, a 17-year-old American winger who’s been starting regularly at the start of this season, but in-game the main talent currently around the first team is Lee Kang-In, who’s at 3 star current ability at just 19. In the academy itself, there’s three standout prospects: Hugo Montañana (ML, 17), Fran Perez (AMR, 17) and Koba Lein (MC, 18) all look pretty special, and there’s many more behind them, so develop them well and your money issues may not be much of a problem. Also, let’s not forget that Maxi Gomez, Carlos Soler, Goncalo Guedes and Jose Gaya are all still at the club, so your first team isn’t exactly devoid of quality. You’ll probably have to sell to buy, but the strength of the academy products coupled with a couple remaining star players mean that shouldn’t be hard, and you’d be very justified in building a tactic around what you’ve already got and waiting for the youngsters to come good.
Valencia is still a huge club. The fanbase is massive, and the history behind them will endure whatever current mess is. But returning them to former glories, especially from their current precarious position, is going to be one hell of a challenge. I’ll give you three goals, to prove that you’ve got them back to where they were under Rafa Benitez: Win their first La Liga since 2004, win a European Trophy (Champions League or Europa League, either or) and finally finish the new Mestalla, the stadium which has been in the works since 2006 but has sat half-finished since 2013. Get all of those done, and you can truly claim you’ve made Valencia one of the top three teams in Spain again. Good luck.
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