The job of a soccer coach is to turn coincidence into necessity. Through daily practice, he develops strategies and steadily becomes stronger, and during matches, where unpredictable events occur, he uses flexible judgment to secure victory. You can enjoy the real pleasure of being a soccer manager as a simulation game.Football Manager 26” release is approaching. This is a realistic soccer game that faithfully reproduces real-world soccer. Players fight as full-power managers who are in charge of everything about the club.
When you hear that it’s a realistic simulation game, you may feel that it’s a bit difficult to get into. Even if you are interested in the “Football Manager” series, some people may have a hard time starting to play. Therefore, in this article, I would like to introduce knowledge that will be useful when playing “Football Manager 26” from now on. Our magazine was blessed with the opportunity to play this work in advance. I will introduce the strategy I practiced after playing for about 100 hours, focusing on 5 points. Please note that since I played using a version under development, some of the content may differ from the final version.
Point 1: “How to choose a club to take up the position”
Point 2: “How to find a strategy that balances ideals and reality”
Point 3: Check player evaluations depending on the season.
Point 4: “When you are short on funds, aim for players who can be transferred for free”
Point 5: Smooth club management by using assistants
Point 1: “How to choose a club to take up the position”
At the start of the game, you can choose which club you will be inducted into. If you have a favorite club, we recommend that you become the manager of that club, but if you don’t have a favorite club, then it would be a good idea to choose an English club. Because,This game is fully licensed by the Premier League, England’s highest league.Because I do. Player photos and uniforms are faithfully reproduced, and the pre-game production is also very realistic.
Japanese leagues are also equipped with licenses from J1 to J3.Therefore, if you have a favorite club, it may be a good idea to play there. One thing to note is that this is a realistic soccer game. The J.League is gaining more and more attention every year, but the financial aspects of its clubs are far from the best in the world. There are definitely players who are difficult to call to the J League due to transfer fees and annual salaries, so if you want to play without such restrictions, you should choose a major club in Europe.
The clubs a player can join are determined by the settings at the start of the game. We recommend that you start the game from “Detailed Settings” where you can select the league of each country in which you can be appointed. The larger the database size, the harder it will be to progress through the game, so choose according to the playing environment.
If you are leading a club in Europe, we recommend that you make the leagues in that country “playable” starting from a certain level of the lower leagues, and then make the other major leagues “display only”.. For example, if you are playing in England, you might want to make the Enterprise National League North/South, which corresponds to England’s 6th division, “playable,” and add leagues such as Spain, Italy, Germany, and France even if they are “display only.” By doing this, a certain amount of famous players will appear in the game while maintaining a high progression speed.
I would like to be very conscious of being involved in the club as a manager from the moment I am appointed. It is the manager’s job to implement the wishes of the club’s board and supporters.Will they play possession soccer with long periods of time in which they control the ball?The tactics required differ depending on the club, such as whether to focus on a counter attack that takes advantage of the player’s speed, or a counter attack that takes advantage of the player’s speed. Although it may be forgiven if they achieve good results, there is also an aspect of the club’s culture that has been passed down through its history, so I want to respect it as much as possible.
For this play, I chose Luton Town FC (hereinafter referred to as “Luton”) from Sky Bet League 1, which is equivalent to England’s third tier. The reason for this is that Luton is a club that pursues attacking football. Luton are a club that has had many ups and downs in recent years. Although they were promoted to the Premier League, which is equivalent to England’s first division, in the 2023-24 season, they were relegated that season.
The following season, 2024-25, they were also demoted to the Sky Bet Championship, which is equivalent to England’s second division, and have dropped their category for the first time in a row. He was impressed by the club’s culture of playing aggressive football even in such adversity, and wanted to make that a reality. This time, his goal is to manage Luton and return to the top category, and ultimately challenge to win the Premier League.
Point 2: “How to find a strategy that balances ideals and reality”
The dilemma of whether to decide which players to use based on tactics, or which tactics to use depending on the players to use, is similar to the philosophical question of “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” I believe that as a soccer manager, you should maximize the way the club wants to play, so this time I will first decide on tactics. In Luton’s case, the basic strategy is to possess the ball for a longer period of time than the opponent, and they are required to act aggressively.
Once you have decided on the tactics to adopt, you can set the formation and specific fighting methods accordingly. This game has preset tactics such as “Possession Control” and “Gegen Press,” so we recommend choosing one that is close to the ideal for your club. Each preset strategy is quite excellent, so if you choose the players to use based on them, you can see the basic fighting style.
A new feature of this game is that you can now set separate formations for “in possession”, which means when you are in control of the ball, and “non-possession”, which means when you do not have the ball.This reflects the reality of soccer in recent years and is a reproduction of the so-called “variable formation.” For example, you can use a formation with four defenders when attacking, but use a formation with five defenders when defending.
The abilities required of players during attack and defense are easier to understand than in previous games. It seems like the value of players who can play multiple positions has increased as the possibility of changing formations has increased. The ratings for players in each position are up to 5 stars, and are displayed on a scale of 10 in 0.5 increments, making it easy to understand. Player evaluations vary depending on tactics and roles, so try to use players with higher ratings.
They will try out the preset tactics in friendly games before the league starts and adjust each item for attack and defense. Luton aimed to develop possession-based football, but suffered three consecutive defeats in friendly matches. It can be said that the quality of Luton’s players is excellent for a club in the third division. The team includes players who have played in the Premier League, and some players earn an annual salary of over 100 million yen, which is unprecedented for a third division team. However, the players they had were not suited for possession. Ideals and reality are two different things, and after three consecutive defeats, Luton were forced to reconsider their tactics.
This time, the team has changed its direction by emphasizing quick attacks with fewer moves when attacking, and using a gegen press that prioritizes stealing the ball by continuing to press from the front when defending. It’s not strange to call it a drastic change, but just knowing that the team is not suited for possession before the start of the league game can be considered a positive outcome.
Gegenpress is a perfect fit for Luton. It is interesting to note that although the team has gone far from the possession-based soccer that they had originally aimed for, they were able to outperform their opponents in ball possession in many games thanks to their successful Gegenpress, which involves actively attacking and defending. Since the team had been on a winning streak since the start of the season, the club’s board of directors and supporters had a good reputation. It may be said that one of the truths of soccer is that the results we achieve exceed our ideals.
Point 3: Check player evaluations depending on the season.
Understanding the team’s strength is one of the things that should be done from the first day of taking office, but it is also a section that needs to be reconfirmed as the season progresses. A player’s position evaluation is like a market value.While young players grow and become more highly rated, as veterans age their abilities deteriorate and they become less rated.Although it is a sad thing, changing players is one of the important duties of a coach as it is the order of nature.
As mentioned earlier, a player’s ability is classified on a 10-point scale depending on the role required for each position. There are two types of ability: current ability and potential ability, so it’s fun to develop players with high potential and see how strong they become. If both of his abilities are around 2 stars, he doesn’t have the potential to play an active role at his current club. Even though he probably won’t make it big, he should be moved to another club. This means that if you can place 3-star or higher players in each position, you can demonstrate solid fighting power in league matches.
The reason a player’s evaluation is based on market value is that there are fluctuations when a player is promoted and advances to a higher league, or when an outstanding new player joins. As a result, players who were highly rated the previous year often end up being rated low. The English league is a hell of a place, and just because the league level goes up one level doesn’t necessarily mean that players who did well in the previous season will be able to pass. A player who scores 15 goals in a season in the second division may have no success in the Premier League.
To determine if a player is worthy of being promoted, pay attention to performance evaluations by training coaches. At that time, we should pay close attention to the evaluation of potential ability. It will tell you roughly which league and what level you are likely to reach. This time, we were aiming to move up from a league equivalent to the third tier to the top tier, the Premier League, so we actively used players who had the potential to play in the Premier League in games, even if their current abilities were low. Keeping your eyes on the goal will determine the selection of players, so it is important to be aware of where the goal is from the beginning.
The final decision on whether a player can play an active role in the league should be made in a pre-season friendly match. The easiest way to understand this is to watch the game for as long as possible. If you only use the key, it’s almost like a highlight, so it’s better to watch it full time so you can clearly see how you’re failing, but it’s so time-consuming that you don’t need to do it often. However, if you do this at least in one of the friendly games, you will be less unsure about what to do in the transfer market, which will be discussed later. Passion is one of the things a coach needs, but it’s safe to say that being able to calmly assess the team’s strengths is even more important.
Point 4: “When you are short on funds, aim for players who can be transferred for free”
Selling players who no longer have a place in the team and acquiring players who are likely to be useful to the team in the future are important tasks for the manager. The transfer budget and wage budget are linked. No matter how many great players you try to persuade to join the team, if you can’t pay their salaries, they won’t be allowed to join the team.
When playing for a weaker club, the biggest difficulty is how to adhere to this salary budget. In particular, Luton’s continued growth is in doubt after they restarted in the third division, and as players, they cannot afford to waste this precious time in their lives. As a result, the salaries demanded by players become high, and if a transfer offer of more than a certain amount is received from a top club, the transfer may be completed without the club’s decision. In order to prevent this, the only option is to frequently renew the contract with the player in question, and make efforts to remove the contract termination clause that would allow him to move to a higher-ranked club if his club eventually rises in rank.
It is human nature to want to accept a request for a contract renewal from a player, but one must be careful about the contract details. Be careful not only of the new annual salary and contract termination clause, but also of clauses that promise the club’s highest salary. This is a contract in which if a player with a higher annual salary than the player in question joins the club, that player’s annual salary will automatically increase. If a large number of players were signed to contracts that promised the club’s highest salaries, the club’s annual salary budget could collapse just by the addition of one extremely high-paid player. If the salary budget is exceeded, it will be difficult to acquire new players, and senior players will be difficult to sell, resulting in a downward spiral, so please be extremely careful.
It depends on the club’s financial situation, but if you’re managing a team like Luton with less financial resources.Let’s aim to acquire independent players who are not affiliated with a club and increase the number of players in a way that does not require transfer fees.European clubs’ contracts expire on June 30th every year, so players who do not renew their contracts after that will become unaffiliated players and will not be charged a transfer fee when joining a new club.
Every year, there are so many talented players who become unaffiliated.Every year on July 1st, I would like to check out potential players by using the quick filter in the “Player Database” under “Recruitment” and filtering by “contract expiry”.Former Arsenal player Takehiro Tomiyasu was a hit as a player whose contract expired in the first year. Although Tomiyasu is not in the league due to injury, he is a player who can play in the Premier League if he recovers. I decided to place Tomiyasu at the center of the team as a symbol of Luton’s return to the Premier League. I waited for Tomiyasu’s wounds to heal before I made him an offer, and I was really happy when he decided to join. Tomiyasu, who had worked his way up the elite path, suffered a setback and was able to make a comeback at Luton. As the director, I decided to build a team with Tomiyasu at the center.
In addition to players whose contracts have expired, there is a system called “near-to-contract expiration” that allows players whose contracts expire six months before their contracts to join without a transfer fee, but if the club they belong to and the club they wish to acquire are both in England, there is also a rule that says they can only negotiate from one month before their contracts expire. This makes it somewhat difficult for English clubs to acquire players from their country without a transfer fee. Even so, it would be better if they could avoid using the transfer fee. In the case of Luton, whose financial strength is significantly different from England’s top clubs, free transfers with no transfer fees were the focus.
Even if they are not free transfers, there are players who can shine if they improve, even among players who are listed on the transfer list by their clubs as unnecessary players. In order to find such players, the team repeatedly asks scouts to scout the players they are interested in and determines whether they have the necessary abilities. If we think it is worth paying the transfer fee, we will actively acquire him.
Recently, Japanese players have been active in Europe, so we sent scouts to many players from the beginning of the game. We were able to acquire Daizen Maeda and Kiyo Ueda, who are hoping to step up, for a lower transfer fee than expected, and we are satisfied with their performances that exceeded the transfer fee. As I watched Japanese players perform without any bias, I was reminded of the history of Japanese soccer in real life, like a flashback. “Football Manager 26” is also a title that shows us the true progress that Japanese soccer has made.
Point 5: Smooth club management by using assistants
Once the club’s tactics and players have been determined, it can be said that preparations are almost complete. The reason I say “almost” is because there is still room to customize your tactics depending on your opponent. It may sound a bit difficult, but here the assistant manager will analyze the opposing team in advance and suggest elements that should be customized. Things like saying you should man-mark the opponent’s central players, and things like saying which side you should attack mainly. If the player thinks it’s the right decision, they can accept the offer. During the match, the assistant manager will suggest corrections based on developments, so you can use those suggestions to move the club closer to victory.
Some of the manager’s duties, such as directing friendly matches and creating training menus, can be delegated to assistant managers.In extreme settings, players can progress through the game even if they only play the interesting parts, such as managing matches or acting in the transfer market. Of course, everything can be managed by the player, but one of the reasons the series is loved is that it takes the time to make the game more comfortable and convenient.
However, it must be remembered that the final decision is the responsibility of the director. The manager has the decision-making power and must carefully consider the assistant manager’s suggestions. If you just mechanically accept the assistant manager’s opinion, there is no need for a supervisor. It is the coach’s job as a motivator to directly talk to players if they are dissatisfied and lead to a solution. Players frequently complain about negotiating increases in their annual salaries and securing playing opportunities, but these are also issues that managers should directly address. However, it is difficult to instantly decide how to respond. Although it’s a little unscrupulous, I recommend that you create separate save data until you get used to it. Before the start of the summer and winter transfer markets, of course, but if you have the time, it’s a good idea to keep at least one manual save data each month. This is because if a player ends up falling out with a player due to unintended consequences, or if the player even transfers to another club, the player will lose the desire to continue playing the game.
Since this work is a simulation game, it is not necessary to be a perfect director from the beginning. You should ask for as much help as possible from assistant managers and other elements who can help you progress through the game comfortably. The tutorial is also comprehensive, so I think there is no problem at all even if you start playing this game. Players are free to choose how they want to play this game. You can enjoy it as a realistic manager’s life simulator, or you can enjoy casual play where you focus on gathering strong players and building the strongest club. The appeal of Football Manager 26 is that you can enjoy such a wide range of play.
Four seasons with Luton in the third division of the league
This time, while playing for Luton, I focused on managing the match and navigating the transfer market. It is safe to say that he and his assistant manager have been working together, and it can be said that they have been competing in their respective roles. In terms of creating tactics and dealing with the transfer market, we put into practice the five strategies mentioned above. That strategy has been a success and Luton are entering a new era of glory. At the end of this article, let’s take a quick look back at Luton’s four glorious seasons in this preliminary play.
In their first year, they won Sky Bet League 1, which is equivalent to England’s third tier, and were promoted without question. Although the team had a solid roster of players from the beginning, there were many seriously injured players, and even when they tried to sell the team, they failed the opposing team’s medical checks, making it difficult to make progress in reducing personnel. The only one they were able to acquire was Tomiyasu, who was an independent. It may have taken courage for a former Premier League fighter to join a club in the third tier, but the fact that he immediately offered to sign him after his injury and offered him an annual salary of 250 million yen, which was unprecedented considering the club’s financial situation at the time, is what led to the conclusion of the contract. Tomiyasu is an excellent player who stands out from other players in the third division. It was a truly heroic performance.
Since they were able to quickly decide on promotion to the second division, they used free transfers that did not require transfer fees to acquire new talent. Although Luton’s scouting scope is basically restricted to their own country, they were able to secure several players who could play in the second-division championship, which is a pure improvement in their strength. A few players may even be viable in the Premier League. They won the second division championship by a landslide, winning the championship for the second year in a row and gaining promotion to the first division Premier League.
It is unusual for the category to move up two years in a row, and there is a need to rapidly increase the number of players. It was decided that players with only championship-level potential would be sold in the transfer market, and a large number of Premier League-level players would be replaced. There was certainly some pain in letting go of players who came with us from the lower leagues, but it’s better than letting them rot on the bench. I felt it was my responsibility as a manager to put the players I told him were not available on the transfer list and do everything I could to ensure they could move to other clubs as quickly as possible. The transfer fee for the defensive midfielder, who came with us from the third division and has grown robustly, amounted to 9.6 billion yen, which greatly helped the club’s finances, for which we are grateful.
In his place, he acquired Liverpool’s Wataru Endo. Although he has become a great veteran, his power has not diminished by Premier standards. Since I was able to acquire him on a free transfer, I am thankful that I can follow him to a certain extent even though his annual salary is high. Once you get promoted to the Premier League, the range of players who join your club widens considerably. A major factor is that young, talented players looking for opportunities to play are now able to come to Luton even on modest annual salaries. For a team in their first year of promotion, they were able to field a pretty impressive lineup of players.
Even in the Premier League, he maintains an aggressive and bold fighting style centered on Gegen Press. Although they often conceded goals to the monster-class forwards of powerful teams, they were able to steal the ball and score goals in a way that was interesting with their fast attacks thanks to the combination of a front line that continued to press. It was always fun to watch the games, as the scores were always exciting.
The results are also excellent. They are sure to rack up wins at home, and when away from home, unless it’s against a particularly high-ranking opponent, they try to get at least a draw or better. As they steadily racked up points and their rivals squeezed in wins, they now have a chance to win. He took advantage of that opportunity and ran comfortably in the lead, and managed to take the victory. Winning in a different category for three years in a row is an amazing feat, and even I, who has experience in the series, never thought something like this would be possible. In the end, the championship was determined by the defeat of the rival team, so I decided to play a little bit in my fourth year. The story of Luton’s miracle comes to a close as we watch the players celebrate their victory in the Community Shield.
Just as training wheels are used to help you ride a bicycle, there are various assistive functions that help you become a great manager in Football Manager 26. If you have even the slightest interest in becoming a soccer manager, don’t worry and play Football Manager 26. All of the methods mentioned in this article have been put into practice, so we hope you find them useful in your own play.
『Football Manager 26” is a PC (Steam/Epic Games Store/Microsoft Store) Scheduled to be released on November 5, 2025. The download version of “Football Manager 26 Console” for PS5/Xbox Series X|S will be released on November 5th, and the PS5 package version will be released on December 4th. “Football Manager 26 Touch” for Nintendo Switch is also scheduled to be released on December 4th. “Football Manager 26 Mobile”, which will be distributed exclusively to Netflix subscribers, will be released on November 5th.
