FM24 Guide: How to Make FM Harder

Since Football Manager 2024 dropped back in November 2023, most of us have sunk hundreds—maybe even thousands—of hours into it. Maybe you’ve taken a fallen giant back to the top, or discovered some obscure wonderkid your assistant can’t even pronounce. At some point though, once you’ve cracked the match engine and become a master of the transfer market, things can start to feel… a bit too easy.

Ever asked yourself how you could make Football Manager harder?

Inspired by the FM community — YouTube challenges, and seasoned veterans — we’ve pulled together a guide to turn your next save into a true test of your footballing brain. No shortcuts. No exploits. Just pure, unforgiving management.

So, what kind of challenge are you up for? Will you embrace a more realistic approach—or throw logic out the window and dive headfirst into some truly ridiculous restrictions?

How to Setup a Hard Mode Save?

Active Leagues

• Load Countries with Deep Lower Leagues:
  • England goes down to 6th tier
  • Portugal, Denmark, France, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Turkey go down to 4th tier
  • For a really lower league experience or a completely out of the box experience look for custom League Expansions on our Downloads Section

Advanced Options

• Enable Attribute Masking: this one is a must. With attribute masking turned on, you won’t see players’ full stats unless you scout them properly.
• Disable the 1st Transfer Window: starting with no transfers forces you to work with what you have. No quick fixes, no wonderkid bargains — just your squad, your staff, and a whole lot of squad management.
• Use Fake Players and Staff: if you choose to activate this option you’ll be navigating an entirely new football world, full of unknown names, hidden gems, and absolute flops in disguise. With no prior knowledge to lean on, scouting becomes everything, and each season feels like uncharted territory.

Adding Your Manager

• Start Unemployed: let the opportunities come when they come (get that deep lower league role).
• Choose No Coaching Badges and Sunday League Footballer as Past Experience:  very few job offers. You’re invisible. A true “from the bottom” challenge.

Skin

• Use an attributeless skin like Mustermann Iconic which replaces numeric attributes

Tactics

• Build your tactic from scratch: you’re not allowed to import tactics made by other players. Every shape, role, duty, and instruction must be your own. Trial. Error. Tweaks. Repeat.
• For Fun (or Suffering): try using a simple flat 4-4-2 to challenge yourself tactically—or, better yet, go wild with absurd and unconventional formations. To make things even harder, avoid high defensive lines and aggressive pressing, no matter the shape.
• Go historical: take inspiration from the past and relive the tactical revolutions of football history. Recreate systems from Jonathan Wilson’s legendary book Inverting the Pyramid

Scouting and Transfers

If you want a real challenge, forget the player search screen ever existed. You’re not allowed to type names, filter by attributes, or browse by position. Instead, rely entirely on your Director of Football, scouts, and analysts:

• No Player Search: no more sorting by Potential Ability or cherry-picking bargains from obscure leagues. You only know about a player if your staff finds them.
• Use Your Scouting Network: send scouts on assignments. Read their reports. Watch your targets play. If they recommend a player, then you can consider a bid. If they don’t? You’re flying blind.
• Trust the Director of Football: give your DoF responsibility for transfer targets or shortlists. Even better: let them handle contract negotiations or make signings (with some parameters). You’ll quickly find out how good—or bad—they really are.
• For extra layer of difficulty: limit scouting range to domestic leagues or nearby regions or scout only players under a specific condition

Other Restrictions for Additional Difficulty

• One Match Day per Real-Life Day: limit yourself to just one in-game match per real-life day with full match details. This forces you to take every decision seriously and adds real weight to each 90 minute fixture. One mistake? You’re living with it for 24 hours.
• No Hiring 5-Star Staff: especially in the lower leagues, it’s unrealistic to have top-tier coaches.
• No Unrealistic Transfers: don’t sign players your club wouldn’t have a chance of landing in real life. That Premier League benchwarmer probably isn’t joining your 3rd division side for £700 a week.
• Regional or National Transfer Limits: restrict your signings to players from a specific region, country, or—if you’re really brave—only your academy. Total identity, total struggle.
• Strict Wage Cap: create a hard wage limit and stick to it. Whether it’s based on league average or your board’s budget, don’t break it—even if the perfect player is available.

The only real limit? Your imagination.

Leave a comment below with your most creative, realistic, or downright insane challenge rules—because the FM community always finds new ways to suffer.