This is where you can create a managerial profile, choose which leagues you'd like to run and select a team to manage before embarking on your managerial career.

New Game Wizard
The wizard tool is designed to walk new players through the set-up, by following the simple instructions you can easily set-up a new game from start to finish. However you will be limited as to what you can select; you'll only have the option to select three playable nations and certain other options displayed below will be set to default. therefore, it's advised that you use the advanced options (when comfortable with the screen) in order to get the best out of your Football Manager experience.

Select Nations
Use the tick boxes to select which nations you'd like to run.

Select Leagues
Once you've done this, you can then select the lowest playable division within each country from the drop-down lists. The 'View-Only' option loads the league into your saved game but you will only be able to view the competition as an interested observer, not manage in it. Once you've started your game, you can go into the options drop-down bar and adjust the level of detail for each nation/competition you have selected.

It's worth noting that you can adjust the difficulty of your own task by selecting more or less competitive leagues. While you can expect to face an easier task guiding a team to glory in the top Dutch division compared to the Spanish Primera Division, you should remember that your resources, in terms of finances and reputation will limit your power in the transfer market.

Options
Alter the start date and choose the size of the player and staff database. The larger the database, the richer the Football Manager universe and the more demands are placed on your PC. Use the star icons to configure your setup as best suited to the speed of your PC.

You can also configure whether teams lacking in playing and backroom staff members will have their squads filled out with sufficient numbers, whether to use real players and/or real fixtures should they be available, and whether to allow transfer budgets for the first transfer window or not.

Football Manager typically starts a new game in the same pre-season as has just been passed in the real world. Therefore the database reflects this in squad lists and team transfer budgets. By disallowing transfer budgets in the first transfer window of a saved game, the saved game will reflect the real world more accurately than if the save allows teams to spend money it didn�t spend in real life. Simply put, this is another option to add to the realism of your saved game.

The research that goes into Football Manager means that there are thousands of players in far-flung leagues that you will never cross paths with. Don't, therefore, assume that running a smaller database will alter your enjoyment of playing significantly. Many managers will never look beyond a small database of players, even when dishing out more adventurous scouting assignments.

As time passes in real football, players are likely to change clubs. To keep up-to-date with the latest toings and froings of personnel you should use the Check For Updates option and visit the sites listed in the Community section, where you'll find player data downloads.

Recommended setup
Click here to ask Football Manager to automatically select leagues and detail levels according to your PC's speed. You don't have to retain this setup, but adding leagues and greater depth of detail may affect the smoothness of your Football Manager experience.