Here are 5 teams that could prove an interesting challenge for most managers in Football Manager 2020. The expectations from these teams are completely different from each other, be it avoiding relegation, or reinstating the clubs to their former glory in FM20.
Here are 5 teams that could prove an interesting challenge for most managers in Football Manager 2020. The expectations from these teams are completely different from each other, be it avoiding relegation, or reinstating the clubs to their former glory, the challenges are different and from different leagues around Europe.
1. AC Milan
AC Milan are a professional football club that ply their trade in the Serie A. They are a legendary club that spent only 2 seasons outside of top-flight football since their inception. A.C. Milan’s 18 FIFA and UEFA trophies is the fourth highest out of any club and the most out of any Italian club. Milan has won a joint-record three Intercontinental Cups and one FIFA Club World Cup, seven European Cup/Champions League titles (Italian record), the UEFA Super Cup a joint-record five times and the Cup Winners' Cup twice. With 18 league titles, Milan is also the joint-second most successful club in Serie A, behind Juventus. They have also won the Coppa Italia five times, and the Supercoppa Italiana seven times. Milan’s home games are played at San Siro. The stadium, which is shared with city rivals Internazionale, is the largest in Italian football. Inter are considered their biggest rivals, and matches between the two teams is one of the most followed derbies in football. Milan are also one of the wealthiest clubs in the world.
Reading the bio of AC Milan looks like they are one of the biggest clubs in the world, so what exactly is the challenge?
For starters, AC Milan are without a league title since 2011. The club also has run into Financial Fair Play issues and have been forced to forfeit European football. For any manager taking over, you may be forced to sell some players to balance the books and some others may force your hand to move on due to their ambitions. It will indeed be a daunting challenge to reinstate this giant to its former glory days. However, these are the things that make this challenge exciting and with a lot of young good players in the squad, it will definitely be a fun one to try out.
These are the board requirements once you take over the club,
2. Monaco
Monaco are a professional football club that ply their trade in Ligue 1. The club was founded in 1924 and play their home games at Stade Louis II. Though they’re based out of Monaco they play in the French League and have achieved relatively good success. They have won 8 League titles, 5 Coupe De France (French Cup) & 1 Coupe De La League (French League cup). They have also finished as runners up in the UEFA Champion’s League, Europa League and the UEFA Cup winner’s cup. Monaco most recently won the league title in 2016-2017 with an amazing emergence of youngsters who were eventually sold for a lot of profit. Monaco had a dismal 2018-2019 season with several managerial changes and barely avoided relegation. They finished 17th and avoided the relegation play-off by a mere 2 points.
So, what’s exactly the challenge with Monaco, the board expectations are pretty lofty for a club that just survived relegation and has a lot of ageing players in their roster. Despite the budget being there and the club having a sugar daddy owner, fulfilling the fans and boards ambitions at Monaco is certainly a daunting task to achieve; especially with the gulf in quality between PSG are the other Ligue 1 clubs.
3. Brescia
Brescia Calcio are a club based out of Lombardy, Italy and ply their trade in the Serie A. The club holds the record for a total number of seasons and consecutive seasons in Serie B, which they have won four times. Their best finish in Serie A came in the 2000–01 season when they placed eighth. They are the champions of Serie B and have achieved promotion to the top tier of Italian Football in the 2019-2020 season.
So what exactly is the interesting challenge in managing a newly promoted team? Brescia are playing in the top flight for the first time in 10 years. They boast of one of the most exciting talents in Italian Football, Sandro Tonali, dubbed as the next Pirlo. The bad boy of the footballing world, Mario Balotelli also plays for Brescia and the interesting linkup between the 2 players could be interesting to manage.
As you can see, the board’s ambitions are fairly underwhelming and all they want you to do is fight for survival in the top flight. However, establishing Brescia are a Serie A regular and holding on to the club’s exciting young talent poses an interesting challenge for FM Managers.
4. Norwich
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or City) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, that competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their home games at Carrow Road. Norwich are a club rich in history having won the Championship 4 times, most recently in 2018-2019. Their best finish was finishing 3rd in the Premier League in the 1992-93 season.
As you can see, the board’s ambitions are not too great and all they expect from you in the first season is to fight against relegation. Newly promoted Norwich may be struggling in real life but their squad has some of the best young players in the league. The prospect of managing the exciting English quarter of Max Aarons, Ben Godfrey, Jamal Lewis & Todd Cantwell is certainly an enticing challenge and will interest many FM Managers.
5. Union Berlin
Since the club’s inception in 1966 they have never reached the Bundesliga but, earlier this year, the Iron Ones became the first-ever club from the former East Berlin region to reach German football’s Promised Land. You will have the chance to be part of history should you take the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei hot seat and guide Union through their first Bundesliga campaign. Their highest achievement as a club is probably finishing runners up in the DFB Pokal in 2001.
As you can see, the board just wants you to avoid relegation should you take over. Managing a side who is playing in the top flight for the first time ever is an interesting challenge in itself but Union Berlin do boast of a few decent young players in their squad. It will be interesting to see if you can quash the media prediction of the club finishing the last in the league.
