Database size, advanced settings, squad assessment, staff delegation, scouting focuses and pre-season strategy — everything you need to nail your FM26 start from minute one.
Starting a new career in Football Manager is always the most exciting part of the game, but getting your initial setup right is crucial for a smooth and immersive long-term save. Here is my step-by-step guide on how I configure my game before hitting 'Start'.
The Set-Up
Before we even look at tactics or transfers, we need to build the world we are going to manage in. Getting the right balance of playable leagues and loaded players will define your entire FM26 experience.
Database Selection
I personally always prefer playing with a highly comprehensive database. Having a massive pool of players makes scouting incredibly rewarding and ensures that wonderkids and hidden gems generate properly all over the globe. To start, make sure you select the Large database option.
By following the exact custom setup steps below, you will end up with a database size of exactly 151,300 players.
Note: Football Manager is a CPU-intensive game. If you are playing on an older laptop or a lower-end PC, feel free to reduce these settings or remove a few leagues to ensure your game runs smoothly.
Customising Continents
To get this massive player pool without loading every single league in the world, we need to use the "Advanced Setup" for Continents.
Go into the Custom Setup for the continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, North America, etc.). For every single continent, you should apply this exact rule: tick every single option (Current international players, Players from top division clubs, Players from top clubs, Players with continental reputation, Players with national reputation). Leave exactly two options unchecked — do not tick "Players based in nation" and "Players of nationality".
This specific combination loads all the high-potential and reputable players from around the world without clogging up your database with irrelevant amateur players from unplayable countries.
Selecting Nations
When it comes to picking the actual playable nations, I generally go for a mix of the elite European top flights, strong European developmental leagues, and the biggest South American talent factories. For a standard career, these are the nations I always select. If you are still deciding where to manage, our FM26 Transfer Budgets guide covers 65 leagues and gives you a clear picture of the financial power each club wields before you commit.
Disabling Women's Leagues
A major new feature in FM26 is the inclusion of playable women's leagues. However, for this specific career playthrough, I am not going to be managing in the women's game. To save processing power and keep the game running fast, go to the top right of the Setup screen, click on the "Women's Leagues" tab, and ensure that the League Selector dropdown is set to "None" for every single nation. This completely turns off the women's leagues for this save.
Other Options: Game Modes and Advanced Settings
Once your database size and active nations are locked in, it is time to fine-tune the specific rules of your universe. These settings dictate how transfers, scouting, and fixtures will work in your save.
Transfer Mode
Football Manager now offers different ways to handle real-life transfers. For this save, I highly recommend selecting the Original mode. This is the traditional FM experience — all the latest real-life transfers and squad updates are already applied to your team from day one, regardless of the date they actually happened in reality. It is the best way to jump straight into the action with the most up-to-date squads possible.
Advanced Settings: The Toggles
Use Real Fixtures (ON): Turning this on ensures your team's first-season schedule matches their real-life calendar (if it exists). It adds a great layer of immersion to see if you can navigate the same busy winter periods or tough consecutive fixtures as your real-life counterpart.
Allow First Transfer Window Activity (ON): This is essential unless you want a massive challenge. Leaving this checked allows you to buy and sell players immediately. If you turn it off, you are locked into your starting squad until the January window.
Allow Player Attribute Masking (OFF): This is a huge decision. In this setup, we are leaving it off. When disabled, you can see the exact attributes (1–20) of every player in the world without having to send a scout to watch them first. While leaving it on provides a more realistic, hardcore scouting experience, turning it off is fantastic if you want to save precious time.
Allow control of teams with managers in place (ON): Simply ensures you aren't restricted from taking over your favourite club just because they recently hired someone in real life.
Use Fake Players / Add Key Staff / Add Players to Playable Teams / In-Game Editor (OFF): Keep all of these disabled. We want a realistic world with real names, our massive database already handles the player counts, and keeping the in-game editor off removes the temptation to magically heal injuries or give yourself infinite money!
Game Start Date
Always opt for the earliest possible pre-season date. This gives you roughly 6 to 8 weeks before your first competitive league match — you will desperately need this full window to assess your squad depth, hire and fire backroom staff, finalise your transfer business, and most importantly, allow your team to build tactical familiarity through a full schedule of friendly matches.
Team Selection: Choosing Your Path
With your database loaded and rules set, you have arrived at the final — and most important — decision before creating your manager profile: who will you actually manage? Looking at the selection screen, there are generally three main paths you can take.
1. Top Leagues: This is the choice for immediate action. You take over an established club in a top division. You will have a decent budget, high-quality players, and immediate pressure.
2. Lower Leagues: The classic "Road to Glory" experience. You take control of a team in the lower divisions with minimal resources. It requires patience, relying heavily on free transfers and loans, and slowly building the club's infrastructure as you fight for promotion year after year.
3. Unemployed: If you want the ultimate journeyman challenge, tick the "Unemployed" box at the top left of the screen. Instead of picking a club, you will start the game jobless — browsing available jobs and attending interviews hoping a board gives you your first break based on your starting managerial reputation.
Not sure which club to pick? Our FM26 Fallen Giants to Rebuild guide gives you 12 compelling save ideas with real historical context and a clear pitch for each club. Choose the path that fits the type of story you want to create!
Manager Creation: Defining Your Style and Personality
One of the biggest and most exciting changes in Football Manager 2026 is the revamped Manager Creation system. Gone are the days of manually tweaking attribute sliders point-by-point. Now, FM26 asks you to define your overarching footballing philosophy and character, which the game then uses to automatically generate your managerial attributes and tendencies.
Setting Up an Attacking, Possession-Based Manager
For this specific career, my goal is to dominate games. I want my team to control the ball, press high, and play attractive, offensive football. To achieve this profile, I made the following choices in the Coaching Style menu:
Attacking: To ensure my fundamental approach focuses on creating chances. Entertainer: Because winning isn't enough — the football must be watchable and exciting. Systems Builder: This is crucial. As the description notes, this leans heavily into possession-based play and being strong from set-pieces.
In the Personality tab, I chose Driven and Convincing. This combination ensures my manager has a clear focus on success while maintaining the strong persuasive skills needed to keep the dressing room motivated and bought into my complex tactical system. As a result of these choices, my 'Tactical' and 'Possession' coaching attributes jump straight to "Very Good," while my 'Attacking' and 'Set Pieces' are rated as "Good."
The Defensive Alternative
Of course, you don't have to play expansive football. If your preferred tactical style is parking the bus, hitting teams on the counter, and grinding out 1-0 victories, you would choose a very different setup. Look at selecting styles like Defensive, combined with Pragmatist or Tactician. This approach would lower your attacking stats but massively boost your 'Defending' and 'Fitness' coaching attributes.
Reviewing Your Profile Summary
Once you have selected your Coaching Styles and Personality traits, you can view the final results of your choices. The game translates your selected philosophies into a concrete list of Coaching and Mental Attributes, graded from 'Average' up to 'Very Good.'
More importantly, it generates your specific manager Tendencies. Because of the choices made above, my profile is officially tagged with tendencies like Plays Attacking Football, Plays Entertaining Football, and Makes The Most of Set Pieces. These traits will define your reputation in the game world, influencing how fans view you and what kind of football the board expects you to deliver.
After Starting: Your First Days at the Club
You have finally clicked 'Start Game', the loading screen has finished, and you are officially sitting in your new managerial office. Before you even look at your squad or tactics, you have to deal with the people who pay your salary: the board.
Board Vision
Your very first interaction will be reviewing the Board Visions and the 5-Year Plan. Do not just blindly click past this screen, as it dictates exactly how you will be evaluated and whether you keep your job. The board's expectations are split into two categories:
Actionable Objectives: These are your main KPIs. Failing a required objective is a fast track to getting sacked. Informational Objectives: These focus on club culture and transfer policies — for instance, the board might "Favour" giving only one-year contracts to players over 34, or "Prefer" minimum 3-year deals for first-team stars.
Take a moment to review these rules. If you strongly disagree with a policy, you can use the Suggest button to negotiate. Otherwise, hit Confirm to accept their terms and officially begin your tenure.
Assessing Your Squad and Maximising Youth Potential
With the board's expectations locked in, it is time to meet your players. Your first stop should be the main Squad screen. Take your time to thoroughly review your senior players — look at your star men, identify where your squad lacks depth, and keep an eye on contract expiration dates and wages. Knowing exactly what you have is essential before you even think about tactical setups or entering the transfer market. You can cross-reference your targets against our FM26 Best Players Shortlist — 300 elite picks by position with live search and value filters.
Once you know your senior team, immediately switch over to your U19s (or Youth/Reserve team) screen. Look for the standout youngsters with high potential — the 4 or 5-star potential players. Here is one of the most important developmental hacks in Football Manager: promote your best high-potential youngsters to the senior squad immediately, even if you have zero intention of playing them in the first team this season. Our FM26 Wonderkids Shortlist is a great reference point for benchmarking your youth players against the best young talent in the game.
The Training Facility Hack
Why do this? If you look at the club's Facilities screen, you will often notice a gap — the senior team might have "Good training facilities," while the youth team only has "Average youth facilities." By moving a prospect into the senior squad, they instantly get access to your superior first-team training facilities and your higher-quality senior coaching staff, significantly boosting their attribute growth.
To ensure they still get crucial match experience, simply select the player, go to their squad options, and check the box to make them "Available for U19s" matches. They will train like professionals during the week and play with the kids on the weekend.
The Perfect Loan Strategy
If a youngster has completely outgrown youth football but still isn't good enough to break into your senior starting XI, you should look to loan them out. However, you must be incredibly strict with your loan terms.
When configuring a Loan Offer, go straight to the Loan Clauses section. You must set and lock the "Agreed Playing Time" to an absolute minimum of Regular Starter (or Important Player). If a club is only offering them a "Squad Player" role, reject it immediately — sitting on the bench in the lower leagues is worse for their development than staying at your club.
Final Golden Rule for Loans: Always check the borrowing club's profile before accepting the deal. Ensure they have good training facilities. Sending a wonderkid to be a Regular Starter at a club with terrible, rundown facilities will severely stunt their growth!
Pro Tip: Beware of Loan Clauses
Before finalising your plans for the season, always carefully check the individual contract clauses of your loan players. Many loan deals contain "hidden" obligations, such as mandatory purchase fees that trigger after a certain number of appearances. For instance, a loan player might have an €18M purchase clause that triggers after 25 matches. If you aren't careful, you might accidentally spend your entire transfer budget on a player you didn't intend to sign permanently. Always track your loan players' appearance counts — and if you don't plan on triggering that fee, make sure you manage their minutes accordingly!
Staff & Responsibilities: The Art of Delegation
One of the biggest traps new Football Manager players fall into is trying to micromanage every single aspect of the club. Do not try to control everything. If you try to handle every press conference, every youth team contract, and every training schedule, a single season will take you months to complete, and you will quickly burn out.
However, before you start handing out jobs, there is one crucial first step: you must revamp your entire backroom staff.
1. Revamping Your Team
Before you delegate tasks to your Assistant Manager or Director of Football, you need to make sure they are actually good at their jobs! Head to the Staff Overview screen. Here, you can see your allowed capacity for Coaching, Recruitment, and Medical staff. Your goal on day one is to fill any vacancies and upgrade weak links. Our FM26 Best Coaches guide breaks down every coaching attribute in detail and gives you a shortlist of the best staff available — essential reading before you start hiring.
Check your Coach Assignments screen — you want to aim for the highest star rating possible in every training category (Attacking, Defending, Possession, etc.) while keeping the "Coach Workload" at 'Average' or 'Light'. If your attacking coaching is only 2 stars, go to the staff search and hire a dedicated attacking coach immediately. Ensure you also have the maximum allowed number of Physios and Scouts.
2. Delegating Responsibilities
Once you have hired a top-tier backroom staff, put them to work. Go to the Staff Responsibilities menu. This is where you save yourself hours of real-life time. Here is how I recommend setting up your delegations:
Coach Assignments
Code of Conduct: Laying Down the Law
Setting your club's disciplinary rules early on is a small but vital step in establishing your authority in the dressing room. If your squad is filled with highly professional players with good personalities, you generally won't have to worry about them missing training sessions or going AWOL. However, it is still highly beneficial to establish a strict Code of Conduct from day one just in case.
A no-nonsense approach works best here: instant two-week wage fines for missing training or picking up a straight red card, escalating all the way to squad demotions for repeat offenders. Implementing these strict rules automatically maintains discipline, boosts your managerial authority, and ensures players know there are severe consequences for unprofessional behaviour on and off the pitch.
League Rules & Season Preview: Know Your Limits
Before you spend a single penny in the transfer market, you must check your league's Competition Rules. You can also use our FM SquadRules companion — a fast, mobile-friendly tool that lets you check foreign player limits, home-grown quotas, and U21 eligibility for every league in FM26 in seconds.
Squad registration and matchday rules can be restrictive. You might be limited by a maximum number of foreign players, or forced to register a minimum number of domestic Under-23 players. If you ignore these rules, you will end up wasting your budget on star signings that you physically cannot register to play in your matches. Always build your squad with these limits in mind!
Once you understand the rules, take a quick glance at the Season Preview tab. This screen gives you a perfect overview of the landscape — you can see the media's predicted league table (which sets the baseline for your board's expectations), analyse the key players of your biggest rivals, and see how much the other teams are spending. It is the best way to gauge the exact level of competition you are up against.
Scouting & Recruitment: Building a Wonderkid Factory
We have finally arrived at what is arguably the most crucial aspect of Football Manager: Scouting. If you want sustainable, long-term success, you cannot just rely on agents offering you players. You need to proactively build a pipeline of talent. For a complete deep-dive into every scouting method available, read our dedicated FM26 Scouting Guide — it covers Global Youth Intakes, TransferRoom, the 'Match' condition, and more. Below is the exact Recruitment Focus blueprint I use on day one.
1. The "General" Catch-All Focus
First, set up a broad "General" focus. Set the age range wide (15 to 50), the area to "Any," and demand a decent minimum Potential Ability (usually around 4 stars). Keep the priority on Ongoing. This acts as your safety net — it ensures that your scouting team is always doing something in the background, keeping an eye on the global market and finding solid players you might not have specifically asked for.
2. Hunting Wonderkids
This is where the real fun begins. I always set up dedicated, highly specific focuses targeting my two favourite regions for unearthing hidden gems: South America and Northern Europe. South America is the premier talent factory of the world, while Northern Europe (Scandinavia) is phenomenal for finding cheap, highly professional young players.
Set the specific region, keep the age limit low (between 15 and 21), crank the Minimum Potential Ability up to 4 stars or higher, and set the priority to Ongoing. By strictly limiting the age and demanding high potential, you are explicitly telling your scouts: do not waste time looking at 28-year-old journeymen — only bring me the superstars of tomorrow. You can cross-reference any prospects your scouts find against our Top 30 FM26 Wonderkids after the January Update.
3. Targeting Immediate Squad Needs
Finally, your scouting network needs to address the present. Remember when you assessed your squad earlier? You likely found a few weak spots. Alongside your wonderkid hunting, set up specific focuses for any positions you need to strengthen. For these focuses, tailor the Current Ability to be higher, look for players in their prime (e.g., ages 23–29), and increase the Focus Priority to 'Top' so your scouts aggressively search for these players before the transfer window closes.
By running this combination of targeted squad fixes and long-term wonderkid hunting, your club's future is completely secured.
Pre-Season: Building Fitness and Tactical Identity
Now that your squad is assessed, your scouts are working, and your staff are in place, it is time for the final stage of your day-one checklist: Pre-Season. If you are still hunting for the right tactical system to drill in pre-season, our tactical breakdown guides — including Bodø/Glimt's giant-killing 4-3-3 and the FM26 4-3-3 False Nine system — are a great place to start.
I schedule friendly matches in groups, often just two days apart. This isn't a mistake — it is a deliberate, strategic approach to pre-season.
The "90-Minute Split" Strategy
I aim to play two games in quick succession. In the first match, I field my ideal starting XI for the full 90 minutes. In the second match, just 48 hours later, I field my entire reserve squad and youth prospects for 90 minutes. The goal of these early games is not to win — results are almost completely irrelevant. Your objectives during these weeks are three-fold:
1. Physical Conditioning: Getting your players' match sharpness up to a level where they can survive 90 minutes of competitive football without picking up injuries.
2. Tactical Familiarity: The more your players play in your chosen system, the faster the "Tactical Familiarity" bar fills up. This makes your team play significantly better once the real league matches start.
3. Refining the System: Use these games to identify holes. Is your striker too isolated? Is your defensive line too high? If you see a recurring problem in these friendlies, you have the time to tweak your instructions before the competitive season kicks off.
A Financial Tip for Lower Leagues
If you are managing a club with a small budget, don't just play local, low-reputation teams in pre-season. Schedule friendlies against massive, high-reputation clubs. Even if you lose 5-0, the gate receipts from the stadium being packed out for a big-name opponent can provide a vital financial injection that might just fund your entire transfer budget for the year.
Once the final whistle blows on your last friendly match, your squad will be fit, your tactics will be understood, and you will be ready to take the league by storm.
Individual Development: Training and Mentoring
We've covered the "big picture" — staff, scouting, fixtures — but how do you actually turn a 2-star wonderkid into a world-beater? It comes down to two final systems: Training Intensity and Mentoring.
1. Managing Training Intensity
You don't want your players burning out or, conversely, coasting through easy sessions. Go to your Training Intensity settings and set up an Automatic Intensity profile. This "set and forget" feature automatically scales a player's workload based on their current physical condition — if a player is fatigued or carrying a knock, the game will automatically switch them to "Half Intensity" or "No gym work" to prevent injuries. This keeps your star players on the pitch instead of the treatment table.
2. Mentoring Groups: The Hidden Gem of Growth
If you have young prospects with high potential, they shouldn't just be training with their peers — they need to learn from the veterans. Head to the Mentoring tab and create groups by mixing your experienced "Leader" status players with your younger "Prospects." The younger players will slowly adopt the personality traits (like Determination or Professionalism) of the senior players in the group.
Pro Tip: If you aren't sure how to pair them, use the "Ask Assistant to Assign" button. Your Assistant Manager will intelligently group players based on their influence and personality compatibility, ensuring your dressing room culture stays healthy.
3. The Assistant Manager Training Rule
I delegate First Team General Training to my Assistant Manager. Why? Because balancing the weekly calendar with physical, tactical, and technical sessions is a full-time job. Unless you want to spend hours analysing training reports, let your Assistant handle the schedule.
However, keep a close eye on your Individual Training Focus for your top wonderkids. If you feel they need to improve their "Agility and Balance" or "Passing," manually set that focus yourself — it's the one area where your personal touch as a manager will directly shape a player's technical development. I usually set the intensity to Double for players under 23.
Financial Management: Balancing the Books
Many managers get caught up in signing big names and offering huge contracts, only to find themselves in a debt spiral that limits their ability to build a world-class team. When managing clubs with significant historical debt, you have to be surgical with your spending. Before you enter the transfer market, always check the FM26 Transfer Budgets guide to know exactly what your ceiling is from day one.
My primary goal in any financially constrained save is to lower the total wage bill without sacrificing squad quality. I achieve this by replacing ageing stars with younger, hungrier players on lower initial wages; negotiating performance-based contracts with lower base salaries but higher incentives for league appearances or cup wins; and using the loan market to bring in top-tier talent without committing to massive long-term wage contracts.
The "Europe" Financial Strategy
In leagues where domestic TV and prize money are relatively low, you cannot survive on league success alone. European success is mandatory. Qualifying for the Champions League or Europa League provides a massive cash injection that allows you to pay down remaining debt. Every time you enter a transfer negotiation or offer a contract, ask yourself: does this player help us get to Europe? If the answer is no, save your money.
Remember, financial health is the difference between a club that stays relevant for one season and a club that becomes a dynasty. Keep your debts low, your wages controlled, and your eyes on those European competition payouts.
Selecting Your Captains: Leadership on the Pitch
Don't forget to set your Captaincy. Choosing the right leaders is about more than just picking your best player — it is about finding individuals who can influence the dressing room and maintain composure during high-pressure matches. When navigating to the Captains screen, look for three key indicators:
1. Leadership: Naturally, this is the most important attribute. Higher numbers indicate a player who can rally the team when you are trailing or under heavy pressure.
2. Teamwork: A captain must be selfless and focused on the team's success over their own.
3. Hierarchy Status: Players in the "Leaders" or "Highly Influential" tiers of your squad hierarchy are the best candidates — they already command the respect of their teammates, making their transition into the captaincy much smoother.
Don't be afraid to change the captaincy if you feel the current one doesn't have the personality traits to lead. Sometimes, appointing a dedicated, high-leadership centre-back or midfielder — even if they aren't your biggest star — is the best way to ensure you have a "voice" on the pitch when your team needs it most.
Dynamics and Happiness: The Dressing Room Pulse
Finally, before you dive into the season, check the Dynamics tab. This is the "pulse" of your squad, giving you a clear overview of Managerial Support, Team Cohesion, and overall Club Atmosphere.
In Football Manager, keeping your players happy is just as important as your tactical setup. A squad with high cohesion and a positive atmosphere will perform better on the pitch, recover faster from defeats, and be much more resilient during long, gruelling seasons. On day one, make it a habit to check the Happiness widget. If you see even one "Unhappy" player, address it immediately — whether through a private chat, promising them more playing time, or offloading them before they can spread negativity to the rest of the group. A toxic dressing room is the fastest way to get fired, so do everything in your power to keep those bars green and your players satisfied!
If you want to see more FM26 content, tactical analysis, and updates, please make sure to follow @fmbIog and @fmplaymaker.
