Top Teams to Manage on Football Manager 2024

I'll make an effort to be updating this list for a few weeks until after the final version of FM 2024 is released. So make sure you check back for new team entries often.

Last updated on July 5th.

FC Nuremberg

A German team in the second division of Germany. Currently in real life they ended up being safe, even though they flirted with the chance of potentially being relegated into the third tier. However, even the second tier is a far cry away from where this team was many years ago. They were dominating the German divisions with nine title wins.

If you take over Nuremberg your job will obviously be to stop them from getting relegated into the third division, but also try and take this club into the first Division and eventually lead them to their tenth Bundesliga title. It's going to be hard work, as the last time they were in the Bundesliga was in the 2018-19 season, but before that era they were kind of a staple of the first division for a long while.

They're predicted to finish fourth in the league so hopefully it won't be too bad of a job to keep them up unlike in real life where they struggled quite a lot. It's a historic club with a nice mix of talent within their first 11. Their squad isn't too old, having plenty of young players in it, including a lot of German players as well, so you're going to try and build up from that core of players you've got, take them to the first division, keep them there, and eventually try and topple Bayern Munich's dominance at the top of the Bundesliga.

Malaga

Malaga is a team that a lot of people have been rebuilding over the last few years on Football Manager, but things have got a lot worse for them recently. Their relegation to the third division of Spain has been confirmed in real life and this team that only a decade or so ago was playing European football has now found themselves in the Primera Federación.

Not only were they a regular staple of the top division in Spain, they had finished fourth back in 2011. Since then, every season was getting worse and worse and worse and now they found themselves relegated out of the Spanish second division. They've got a 30,000 capacity stadium though. Your job is to try and change the fortunes of Malaga around when you take over as their manager, slowly leading them back to La Liga.

Reading

In real life they've been relegated to the third division of England after points deductions and financial issues. The club is in a bad state and it needs fixing and that is going to be your job. Obviously the aim is to take Reading into the Premier League, but also go further than that and eventually win it and become the best side in England.

Since the Millennium they have been a Premier League side on a few occasions finishing eighth one year then the next year getting relegated in 18th and then about a decade or so ago they got to the Premier League they finished 19th. They haven't been back since despite a third place finish in the Championship in 2016.

I'm sure a lot of Reading fans will be hoping this side can come straight back up into the Championship. We've seen it on many occasions where these clubs continue to plummet, so your job will be to sort the financial issues out and take that club back to the Premier League as soon as possible.

Leeds United

We're staying in England going to the Championship for a team that most people will know. It's Leeds United who got relegated last season. It's been a very mixed year for them, having changed three managers (Javi Garcia, big Sam, Jesse Marsh).

Their recruitment since they've came into the Premier League doesn't seem like it's been amazing obviously. They looked really good when they first came up, but then things haven't gone as well for them since then. They've got some players on high wages, some players who will think they are better than the
Championship, but the squad isn't the world's best overall.

It's going to be a challenge to try and win the Premier League with them like they did back in 1992 and to finally win that Champions League where they were runners-up years ago. That'll be your aim with Leeds, but based on their real life situation I think they'd be a great team to try and rebuild. They've got some good young talent coming through as well we've done a Wonderkid to Superstar on Archie Gray before and he can become a world-class player, but the team is going to need a revamp.

S.P.A.L.

You might recognize them from being in the Serie A a few years ago. They had a meteoric rise winning the third division in Italy, then straight away winning the second division, and going into Serie A and managing to survive for a few seasons, even getting a 13th place finish. But it's been a bit of a fall off the same way that they rose so quickly into that first division.

They are now relegated to the third division of Italy, even though they were predicted to come mid-table in the second division. They've got some decent players on their books. You might recognize Radja Nainggolan, if anyone played like FIFA 13 14 15, this man was one of the best midfielders that you could get when he was playing for Roma. It was very surprising to see them dropping in the third division.

They're a club that'd be great fun to rebuild. The Italian division for years was dominated by Juventus, but things have changed over the last few seasons with AC Milan and now Napoli winning the Serie A, so your job will be to take S.P.A.L. back to that top division and this time you're going all the way for the scudetto.

Rochdale

They've been relegated out of the fourth division of England into the Vanarama National League and if you don't keep up with Rochdale you might think why is this a big deal. You might even think that they are the kind of team that float between League one, League two and the Vanarama National, but this is actually the first time Rochdale have been relegated from the EFL for 103 years. Now that's a crazy stat to have.

This is a club that has been a staple of League One and League Two over recent seasons. They were in League One only a couple of years ago, then dropped down into League Two, and now they've found themselves in the fifth division of England into the Vanarama National league. Your job will be to bring them back up as soon as possible, stay up in the EFL but there's work to be done at this club.

Their facilities aren't amazing, the stadium isn't the biggest in the world, but you're not going to expect huge facilities or great stadiums when you're all the way down in the fourth or fifth division. Most of their players are likely to be gone by the start of next season, so it's going to be a complete rebuild for the club. It could be great fun to try and get them back into the EFL for sure.

FC Groningen

It's going to be worth doing such a save if you haven't managed in the Netherlands before. It's great fun, a lot of focus on using young players. Groningen have gone from a pretty steady team in the first division of the Netherlands to getting relegated after over 20 years of top flight football. Apparently they've been really poorly run in recent years, but they've produced so many great players such as Virgil van Dijk.

What I love about Groningen - as I do about a lot of teams in the area - is the focus on the production of youth talent in their team to eventually sell on for profit. You're going to be trying to produce the next set of youngsters that can match some of the legends of the club. They've got great facilities, so when it comes to that, you have a very good chance of producing some good youngsters. To build around those youth intakes is going to be really important.

Maybe you could even do a youth intake only save, but either way this is a story that's worth trying; to rebuild Groningen in the second division, drag them back into the first division and push them further than they've gone before. They had finished third place only in 2006 and were competing for European positions. It's your job to change their fortunes. This one could be a really good story to tell.

Nîmes Olympique

If you like managing in the French leagues and you want a job of getting a team up a few divisions and a real-life David versus Goliath story, Nimes could be the club for you. Their nickname is the crocodiles and they are a team that's had some recent success getting all the way into Ligue 1 (their best finish was the ninth place). Now they're falling into the third division of French football, even though they were a steady team in the second division since the millennium.

If you go back to the 50s, the 60s and the 70s, they were runners-up in the French division four times in a row never getting that title but being so close to it. This side's been on the brink of glory on so many occasions and your job is to change their fortunes as it is with all of these clubs. Drag them from the third division into the second, from the second into the first, and then it's David versus Goliath.

PSG will likely be up there in your league by then with the best players in the world, so your job is to overthrow them and finally be the club that topples the giant and go down as a legend in their history. I think it'd be a phenomenal save to do now that they're all the way in the third division.

Yeovil

Yeovil have a very interesting story as they've had meteoric rise from the Vanarama National league getting into League Two pretty quickly. Make it into League one, got stuck there for a while, but only about 10 years ago in the 2013-14 season they actually made it all the way into the Championship against all odds. They weren't really expected to stay up there and they did get relegated, but that was followed by an instant relegation from League One into League Two. They then spent a few seasons in League Two before being relegated to the Vanarama National league and now they've been relegated again going into the sixth tier of English football.

Only 10 years ago they were in the Championship. You've got to drag them all the way back up until that point. It's a new era at Yeovil, you don't want to see them going down even more divisions. Now it's time to get them back afloat, try and get them back into the fifth tier, then the fourth, then the third, and this time try and get out of the Championship and take this team to the Premier League.

It's not going to be easy at all obviously; more like one of the harder saves in this list as it's going to take ages. It will be a 10-year save I imagine to get into the Prem, and to actually win the Prem it will definitely be more than that. Can you somehow do it quicker? Yeovil here needs some help I think it'd be a great save to do even though their facilities need some work.

The next 10 save ideas are taken from our video below, so you can choose to either watch that or keep reading.

Newcastle United

If you want to do a short term save, Newcastle United is a good option. As of FM 24 they will be a Champions League club as they had a great year last time out under Eddie Howe. They've built a nice squad with Tonali joining the club as well.

Your job will be to improve from where they are a team that got into a UCL spot in the Premier League and become a regular mainstay in the Champions League and hopefully push further and actually win the Champions League itself. It's not going to be easy, but it's certainly not the most difficult save in the world. You've already got some great players, you've got a good budget and a really good starting point being a Champions League side in the Premier League.

Maybe for the first few years you'll want to just keep hitting those Champions League spots and after that, really push for the title and hopefully some Champions League Glory as well. Newcastle have no European honors, so your job will be to win a European competition. It could be great fun and hopefully not the hardest save ever.

Chelsea

Chelsea had a torrid time last year; a very poor season, but as far as Football Manager saves go they could be great fun because they are kind of playing real life football like it's Football Manager.

A lot of their older players will be going and Chelsea have really focused in on bringing through what might be the next generation of top level footballers like Enzo Fernandez, Mudryk or Fofana, but also players like Madueke, Andre Santos and Cesare Casadei have come through the club and Nkunku has been added to the ranks.

They are trying to buy pretty much every single wonderkid under the sun it seems. They are trying to build a squad for the future which could be great fun in a FM save to try and take this young squad, mold them into title winners and then again push for Chelsea's third Champions League title.

Benfica

This is still what I would call an easy save because it's not as hard as some of the others, but it's certainly not the easiest in the world. It will be a challenge that will take you a few years, and that is to win a European title with Benfica, particularly the Champions League. Now you might think why is that so special. Well, there's a very good story behind it. Firstly though, your job in the league will be to become the dominant force in Portugal. You're predicted to come second; you're up there with Porto, Braga and Sporting CP among the Portugal's four biggest clubs. However, the Champions League is especially important for Benfica and European silverware in general.

In the 60s Benfica were doing very well with back-to-back Champions League wins in 61 and 62, but after this success their manager Bella Goodman was let go from the club. Now the story is much more intricate than this, but to sum it up he basically said Benfica won't win a European trophy or the Champions League or something like that in the next 100 years. Now it hasn't been 100 years since the 60s of course, but since then you can see Benfica were in the Champions League final and the Europa League final on a few occasions and lost. You might not believe in curses, but that is eight European finals that Benfica have been in with without winning, but thankfully you might have a good chance of breaking that curse with the right recruitment but also with some of the players already in Benfica's side.

Particularly the likes of Joao Veloso who is one of the most promising wonderkids in FM, Andreas Schjelderup who they've signed recently and
Antonio Silva as the gem in your defense. And that's not even talking about the players in their under 23s and under 19s who have great potential as well. This is a side that could go on to achieve great things. They often sell their biggest talents, but if you can get your recruitment right and hang on to your best players you could really push for some European silverware.

RB Salzburg

RB Salzburg is a team known for producing wonderkid after wonderkid out in Austria. Haaland's pass through their ranks recently Benjamin Šeško came through and the majority of their team are youngsters with plenty of potential. They've got a new batch coming through now; the likes of Karim Konate is also a very promising talent.

They are a team that keep producing these great young players and often sell them on for profit. Your job though, like at Benfica, is to actually keep that core of players there whilst also selling the ones you need to and try to take this team to Champions League Glory. With the youth recruitment you've got, picking up wonderkids from around the world and developing them into superstars making some cash and reinvesting it into your team that's the plan.

Winning the UCL with Salzburg doesn't sound particularly easy and it might take a few years.

Athletic Bilbao

The interesting thing about Bilbao of course is that they can only sign players from the Basque region. That makes the pool of players that they can sign for
their team very slim, yet this is a team that still manages every single year to do fairly decently in the top division of Spain. They are predicted to finish at seventh place.

You'll going to want to produce some great youngsters at the club, but also sign the players that you're allowed to under the rules at Bilbao. It's also one of the reasons why some of their players are valued so highly. Since Bilbao can't sign many players, they value the players they have at a very high level. The likes of Unai Vencedor who is valued at about 160 million; as good as he is, he isn't worth that much. The same goes for Inaki Williams, so you can see the restraints you're going to be under. You've got some good young players like Nico Williams who looks very talented. Sancet is another player that's being linked with a move away in real life and is wanted by Arsenal.

You're likely going to have to sell some of your key assets at some point, but hopefully you can keep producing these young players to be a dominant club. Your job could be one of two things. Firstly to win the top division title, as they last did that in 1984. It's going to be a hard job but very rewarding if you do so or try and win some European silverware with only players from the Basque Country, whether that's the Europa League, Conference League or Champions League it's up to you. It won't be an easy save, but it's still easier than some of the others that we're going to come up to in the hard category later on.

Inter Miami

if you're looking for a challenge and a save that might be out of your comfort zone for FM24, then Inter Miami could be a lot of fun. This is a side that find themselves currently at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, but of course as we all know they have signed some half decent players. Players you might have heard of before; a guy called Lionel Messi and also Sergio Busquets.

Hopefully they can help the team a little bit, but all jokes aside, the aim with this Inter Miami side is to take them from the bottom of the division to elevate your platform and hopefully carry you up the league. And then you might be able to sign some more great players. The club is owned by David Beckham who is going to likely have some more legends to follow.

MLS saves in general are good fun if you haven't tried one before, but yes you want to create a new era so go ahead to the MLS and create your own American Dynasty and see how you get on with Inter Miami.

Como 1907

Heading over to the Italian second division we are having a look at Como 1907. They're currently famous for a lake that runs through the area, but we're gonna try and put the club on the map when it comes to a footballing standpoint and that's something that's happening in real life. Also there is a big push to try and make this team a real force in Italian football. They're currently in the second division. Your job will be to take them into the first Division and eventually win the Italian league title.

Why are they interesting though? Well, they're currently ran by a few interesting players. I mean Dennis Wise formerly of Chelsea is a chairperson, we've got Thierry Henry as a director at the club, there's also someone that's involved behind the scenes who's playing for the club currently. Cesc Fabregas who's giving the team a season or so, but is also working behind the scenes at the club to try and make them a success. There are also players at the club like Patrick Cutrone; at one point he looked like he'd be the future of the Italian national team's forward line. That hasn't quite worked out and he's in the second division with Como.

Your job will be to use these players to drag Como up through the leagues. It could be great in any way for managing in Italy, but also you've got that behind the scenes element of these great players trying to take the club to glory.

FC Andorra

We're moving on to our hard saves now and our first team is FC Andorra. Their owner is Gerard Pique, famous Barcelona center-back but the interesting thing that you might have been able to tell by the name is that this team in the Spanish divisions is actually an Andorran side. That is the interesting part of this save. There's a crazy stat like the population of Andorra is smaller than the capacity of the Camp Nou.

Your job would be to take them into the first division of Spain and try to make them one of the best clubs in the country. Now that'll be great fun anyway as
a save idea with these good young players like Mika Marmol at the club, but there's an extra element that you could consider should you want to only use Andorran players. Now whether that's coming out of your academy or signing them it's up to you, but it could be a build a nation kind of save where you manage FC Andorra whilst also giving chances to young Andorran talent to develop them which will then help the national team which you can also maybe manage at some point as well.

I think it could be great fun for a save idea I know a lot of people will be suggesting it for FM 24. FC Andorra have been rising up the divisions recently and your job will be to keep that push going.

Envigado

We're heading over to South America for something a little bit different and we're going to Envigado. This is a team in Colombia not predicted to do amazingly well. They're not one of the biggest sides in the league but they have a lot of history and that is because they have produced so many good young talents from the club. They are a team focused on youth recruitment using players out of their academy. With the oldest player at the club being 26, the majority are 21 and under so that goes to show you how much of a focus there is on Youth Development.

Your job will be to try and take this side that's so focused on youth recruitment to keep that same thing up - so only using players that come out of your academy - and actually end up winning at the Libertadores out in South America. If you don't know already. that is the equivalent of the Champions League for South American clubs. I believe the last time a Colombian side won the Libertadores was back in 1989 with Atletico Nacional who are a very good team in their own right in the Colombian division, so there'll be a lot of competition. It won't be easy, it will be a long save but you'll be building up the nation of Colombia along the way.

They're a team that have actually produced a lot of great young players that you might have heard of, such as James Rodriguez who of course was at one point at Real Madrid. Recent wonderkids like Watford's Yaser Asprilla also came through the academy here and famous names like Freddy Guarin. Your job will be to continue that tradition and produce the next batch of great young players from Colombia. You'll get plenty of great prospects with 20 youth recruitment here at the club. Improve the junior coaching and the youth facilities and before you know it you'll have some wonderkids popping up left right and center to drag you to the Libertadores.

Clermont Foot 63

We're going for a very very interesting save; a David versus Goliath story one. Clermont Foot 63 is a team that you might not recognize but actually they are a side in the first division of France and they're predicted to come in a relegation spot, but actually in real life this year they finished top half of the table. Now that is extremely surprising because the facilities aren't great, their staff also aren't the best in the world but there's an interesting fact with this club and you are going to try and continue this when you manage them. This team does not spend money.

They've only brought in players on a free transfer or on loan. This year was the first one they actually spent any money, but that's because they made like 16m pounds in player sales, so they reinvested 2.1m of it which is absolutely nothing. Every other season other than this it's pretty much been free transfers and loans. Whilst doing that, this team has been rising up the divisions and from runners-up in the second division of France in 2021 they've now comfortably survived the first division getting some more money in. Maybe they will start to spend now in real life, but your job will be to keep bringing players on free transfers and loans and whilst doing that you'll be competing with none other than PSG who have all the best players in the world.

You're going to try and topple them with your Clermont Foot 63 team without signing any players for any kind of fee. It sounds difficult and it is. They're not even going to produce many good wonderkids with this kind of coaching and recruitment but that's the fun of the save. Work on it, survive in the first division for as long as you can, and eventually you might be able to produce one of the biggest fairytale stories in football.

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What team are you going to manage first on Football Manager 2024?
Let me know in the comment section down below.