Football Manager fans, the wait is almost over. The franchise has confirmed that the FM26 Advanced Access Beta arrives on Thursday 23rd October, ahead of the game’s official release on November 4th.
After last year’s game was controversially cancelled as creators Sports Interactive sought to make the best-ever version of the popular phenomenon, the anticipation is huge for the release.
As ever, choosing your save is one of the toughest tasks for any budding managerial mastermind. Here are five clubs that we think would be fun to manage in FM26.
Five of the best clubs to manage on Football Manager 26
Sunderland
Back in the Premier League after almost a decade away, with a squad strengthened during an impressive summer window.
Granit Xhaka, Omar Alderete and Lutsharel Geertruida are signings that should make survival achievable, before beginning a venture to turn The Black Cats into a Premier League powerhouse.
Newly-promoted Sunderland have four PL wins already, which is as many as Ipswich managed in the whole of last season and twice as many as Southampton had 😳
If they carry on at this rate of 1.75 points per game, they’ll end up with 66 points 🤯📈 pic.twitter.com/9kH4BqRWKY
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 21, 2025
Arch-rivals Newcastle have qualified for the Champions League twice in the past three seasons, so overhauling the Magpies will be firmly on the to-do list. The infrastructure is there to turn Sunderland into a force.
Paris FC
Paris Saint-Germain have been the dominant force in French football but there’s a new capital club on the rise. Neighbours Paris FC earned promotion into Ligue 1 last season, returning to the top division for the first time in 46 years.
Their stadium is incredibly located across the road from PSG’s Parc des Princes, with this a rivalry with proximity and needle. Going toe-to-toe with the reigning European champions will be no easy task but it’s a challenge FM players should relish.
Paris FC have been promoted to Ligue 1.
This is how close their stadium is to future Ligue 1 rival PSG 🤏 pic.twitter.com/VNHj9iBP2I
— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 2, 2025
Now funded by billionaire Bernard Arnault and Red Bull, there’s money to spend.
Deportivo La Coruna
A fallen giant, the days when ‘Super Depor’ unsettled Europe’s top teams is becoming a distant memory. Deportivo La Coruna finished in the top three of La Liga for five consecutive campaigns between 2000 and 2004, the first of which saw the club crowned champions in Spain. They also reached the Champions League’s latter stages three times, including a run to the 2003/04 semi-finals.
Things have got rather tougher for the Spaniards of late. They dropped as low as the third tier in 2020/21, before earning promotion back to the Segunda Division in 2023/24. A 15th-place finish in the second tier last season shows the work needed to revive a side that boasts plenty of history.
Como
Como have grand ambitions of challenging the elite in Serie A.
A 10th-place finish was a fine return to the top flight in 2024/25, before a summer recruitment drive that brought in Alvaro Morata and FM favourites Nicolas Kuhn and Martin Baturina, among others.
The jewell in the crown, however, is Nico Paz, who has started the season in electric form. Can Como keep hold of the Argentine gem and build around him? I Biancoblù want to challenge the traditional northern powerhouses.
Vitesse Arnhem
One of Dutch football’s oldest clubs in in the midst of crisis. Relegated from the Eredivisie, Vitesse lost and regained their professional licence but have been stripped of almost all their assets.
A challenge not for the faint hearted, you’ll take over the team in the second tier with little-to-no finances and a 12-point deduction. Ouch.
#FM26 HARDEST SAVES
Meet @MijnVitesse 🟡🇳🇱
Start with a -12 POINT DEDUCTION in the 2nd tier. You need 4 extra wins just to climb to 0! 📉📈
Master the crisis, bring financial stability & restore Vitesse to the top flight. 💪
Dare to take on the challenge?#FootballManager26 pic.twitter.com/fAw6n75L9n
— FM Scout (@fmscout) October 13, 2025
It might be worth seeing if an old alliance with Chelsea can be struck up again. Mason Mount and Dominic Solanke were among the many Chelsea youngsters to spend time developing at Vitesse.
Read – Five talking points ahead of the Champions League action
See more – The longest losing runs by reigning Premier League champions
