What does “Use Fake Players and Staff” mean in Football Manager?

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When setting up a new save in Football Manager 2024, you might notice a checkbox labeled “Use Fake Players and Staff” with the description:

At first glance, this sounds like a gateway to an alternate footballing universe — a fully fictional world of fresh talent and unknown managers. However, the reality behind this option is a bit more complicated — and not quite what it claims.

Why Do People Want To Use Fake Players?

One of the most compelling reasons players choose to enable fake names is to eliminate the influence of real-world knowledge. Football Manager is deeply connected to the real footballing world — and for experienced fans, that knowledge often affects how the game is played.

With real names, you might:

Immediately sign known wonderkids because you saw them in real life or read about them online.
Trust a player’s reputation even if their in-game stats don’t fully back it up.
Avoid certain players because of past biases, club rivalries, or real-world controversies.

When those familiar names are stripped away and replaced with fictional ones — especially when combined with Player Attribute Masking — the sense of familiarity disappears completely. You’re looking at a squad of total unknowns.

You don’t know who the next superstar is just by glancing at a name — you have to uncover it through:

Scouting reports
Visible attributes (once scouted)
Match performances
Tactical compatibility

What does Use Fake Players and Staff Actually do?

Despite the promise of a fully generated database, enabling “Use Fake Players and Staff” doesn’t create an entirely new set of fictional people. Instead, here’s what actually happens:

Real players and staff are still in the game — but their names are replaced with fictional ones.
Nationalities and dates of birth may be randomly adjusted in some cases.
Attributes, positions, contracts, and reputations remain exactly the same.
Career histories are often removed — though in some cases, parts of their real-life history may still be visible.

The tooltip promises “entirely generated players and staff,” but the actual game behavior doesn’t match that claim. Without any official explanation from Sports Interactive, players are left guessing about what’s happening under the hood — and what factors trigger things like nationality changes or the retention of a player’s real-life career history.