Football Manager 26: Challenge saves you should try to complete

BLAST.tv

January 01, 1970

12:00 AM

Football Manager 26 can be a breeze, or it can be one of the most challenging games in existence. It really depends on what you set yourself up for.

Of course, you could be boring and play with someone who is contending for a title right away, or, you could be fun and give yourself a challenge.

If you're finding the game too easy and looking for a challenge, then we've got you covered. Here are some of the hardest challenge saves in Football Manager 26.

The hardest challenges in Football Manager 26

Pentagon challenge

Kicking us off we have the classic, the pentagon challenge.

The rules of the pentagon challenge are simple: start as an unemployed manager with zero experience and zero coaching badges, and work your way up from the bottom. On the road, you must win the Champions League in each of the five continents.

A challenge that will take you across the entire globe, it sounds easy to begin with, but it's one that can take you decades to complete in game. Even finding your first club can be a challenge.

Ever heard of Lerumo Lions? No? Well they're the team predicted to finish bottom of South Africa's second division, and they very well could be the starting point of your Pentagon challenge.

Lerumo Lions look like a nice starting point. Photo: Sports Interactive

The Sir Alex Ferguson challenge

Ever fancied yourself as a better leader than one of the greatest managers in the history of the game? Well then the Sir Alex Ferguson challenge might the the FM26 challenge save for you.

It's another challenge with a simple and easy sounding premise, but remember, the Premier League is ridiculously strong now. You basically have to pray for someone loaded with cash to come in and buy your club in order to stand a chance.

The rules are as follows:

Simulate the game until November 6th and take over the team in 19th in the Premier League.
Stay there for 26 years, in which time you have to match SAF's trophy haul for Man United:
- Premier League - 13
- FA Cup - 5
- Carabao Cup - 4
- Community Shield - 10
- Champions League - 2
- Europa League - 1
- Super Cup - 1
- Club World Cup - 1
There's also some time limits for some of these achievements, meaning that you fail if you don't:
- Win domestic trophy within four seasons.
- Win the league within seven seasons.
- Pull of a league and domestic cup double in eight seasons.
- Win a treble in 13 seasons (league, cup, and continental cup)
Focus on youth players - you must have at least one academy graduate in every single match day squad.
Never sign from your rivals, and also never sign more than 11 players in one season.
You can only sign eight players to play in your squad per year, any extras have to go out on loan or in your u21s.

If you did this challenge based on the current Premier League, you'd probably end up managing West Ham. Photo: Sports Interactive

The Basque-only challenge

Everyone knows about Athletic Club's rule of only signing players from the Basque region, but have you ever tried to do it in Football Manager? It's really difficult.

Fortunately, you do get a nice bonus by starting with names like Nico Williams, Unai Simon, Dani Vivian, and Oihan Sancet - but keeping those players at the club will be the first part of this FM26 challenge.

From there, you have to prevent your dreaded rivals Real Sociedad from snapping up the Basque players, as well as turn your youth academy into a talent factory. Otherwise, you might never pry Barcelona and Real Madrid away from your goal of the La Liga title.

Nico Williams can be your salvation as Bilbao, but only if you can keep hold of him. Photo: Sports Interactive

Director of Football challenge

The Director of Football challenge is one of the most frustrating challenges in all of Football Manager. As a manager, it's really easy to see where the holes lie in your squad, but will your Director of Football agree?

In this FM26 challenge, the only thing you are allowed to do as a manager is select your team and train your players. When it comes to incomings and outgoings, the responsibility lies solely with your Director of Football. So you better hope he's good at his job.

Need a striker? Good luck. Goalkeeper can't catch a cold? Don't expect to get a new one anytime soon.

Getting a Director of Football as good as this still might not save you. Photo: Sports Interactive

The Brexit challenge

For this surprising difficult FM26 save, you need to pick a proper English club, like Burnley, or Millwall. From there, you have to place some restrictions on yourself.

The first restriction is that you can only play 4-4-2 - none of that fancy stuff. The second? Every player you sign must have a minimum of 14 for their Aggression attribute.

Tackle hard, cross the ball to the big man. Go on to win the Premier League and Champions League. Sounds simple, right? If only...

Proper football club. Photo: Sports Interactive

The unemployed challenge

A Pentagon challenge for those obsessed with the English football pyramid, the unemployed challenge sees you start with similar restrictions placed upon yourself.

Start out unemployed, with zero badges and no experience. From there, find yourself a club and begin to work your way up. The goal is to win every trophy available to an English club.

There's no restriction saying that you can't move teams, but you get bonus points if you do it all with your very first team.

Kidderminster are a classic team for this challenge. Photo: Sports Interactive

The big brother challenge

The next challenge on our list of the hardest challenges in Football Manager 26 is for you bitter folk out there, the ones that are scarred by never being the favourite child, or by always being in the shadow of their elder sibling. You know who you are.

It's a simple challenge, really. You just need to start as 1860 Munchen and then take them to the top of the Bundesliga. Knock Bayern well and truly off their perch and assert dominance over Germany by winning the league five times in a row.

Germany won't be a one club league by the time you're done with it.

Now just imagine this said 1860 instead. Photo: Sports Interactive

The top to bottom challenge

The final challenge on our list of Football Manager 26 challenges is so hard that we're honestly not sure it's even possible.

For this challenge you need to take over Manchester City, and instead of continuing their dominance over English football, you need to bring it to a staggering halt.

Without getting sacked, you need to relegate City all the way down to the sixth tier of English football. Slowly chip away at their squad and their reputation until they are the worst team in English football.