A Better Fake Players Database
If you’ve ever tried starting a fresh, fictional save in Football Manager 2024, you may have encountered the “Use Fake Players and Staff” checkbox — a setting that promises an “entirely generated” footballing world. At first glance, it sounds like exactly what fantasy or realism-averse players are looking for: a clean break from real-world knowledge, biases, and reputations.
But as explored in this article, the feature doesn’t actually deliver what it claims. Instead of generating brand-new players and staff, it merely renames existing ones — keeping their stats, positions, and underlying data intact. This leads to a frustrating mismatch between expectation and reality for those hoping to build a completely original universe.
But don’t worry, we have a database that really does generate fake players for you.
Instead of manually deleting tens of thousands of people yourself (a process that can take hours or even days depending on your computer), we will save you the time and effort by providing a ready-to-use .fmf file. This file removes all real players and staff from the Football Manager 2024 database, giving you full control to build your own world, your way.
How to Start a Game With Empty DB
- Paste the .fmf file on:
- Windows: /Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2024/editor data
- Mac: USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2024/editor data
- Launch Game
- Start a New Game with the .fmf selected
- Don’t forget to untick Do not Add Key Staff and tick Add Players to Playable Teams
Initial CA/PA Cap in Empty Databases and How It Evolves Over Time
When you start a new game with all real players and staff deleted, the game’s engine generates entirely new fictional players — but with a hard cap: both Current Ability (CA) and Potential Ability (PA) are limited to a maximum of 130. No player will exceed this threshold at the start of the game, regardless of club, nation, or position. This strict limitation occurs because, in the absence of any existing data or world-class benchmarks, the game’s regeneration system defaults to a conservative talent scale. As a result, the entire football world starts in a flattened, low-quality state, with most teams made up of similarly average players — whether it’s a Premier League giant or a lower-division side — and no inherent disparities between clubs.
Clubs also begin the game without any managers, and the AI-generated managers that eventually take over typically have less than 100 CA, often far below the standards expected at professional levels. This contributes to a noticeably underdeveloped football environment in the early seasons. Interestingly, while player CA and PA are capped, non-playing staff are not subject to the same hard limit — so occasionally, the game may produce decent coaches or directors even in the early stages. As the seasons progress, the initial cap on players is lifted through youth intakes, allowing newgens to be generated without the 130 ceiling, and gradually restoring a more realistic and competitive talent landscape.
- Date Created
- 16 May 2025 14:07:37
- Date Updated
- 16 May 2025 14:07:39
- Last Comment
- 08 Jan 2026 17:49:11
Comments
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.TAD.
Do we have to check Fake Players and Staffs too or not?
edgardavids8
No, just add players to playable team and let the game add key staff
Hovis Dexter
This is very interesting. If you want to start with a more realistic spread of attributes do you have any idea for how many seasons we should holiday before starting to play the game?
bosco8179
It seems like George Weah isn't deleted in this DB
edgardavids8
Minimum 5
USA_FootyFan
Just what I've been looking for - Thank you
Selspam
Leagues that aren't loaded have players above the 130 CA and PA threshold. So like if I'm barca and playing against feyenoord in the ucl I lose 6-0 because their players are better .Please how do you solve this ?
Salbaekinho
Seems that there will be no agents in game? A mess since I like to negotiate with agents about possible transfer targets?
Every generated player at start don't have any agent…
Any way to solve this?