FM26: How to Arrange Friendlies

Friendly matches are a key part of Football Manager 26, giving you the chance to fine-tune tactics, build team morale, improve fitness, raise tactical familiarity, and even boost your club’s finances. Whether you’re gearing up for a new season, settling in after promotion, or using a mid-season break to keep your squad sharp, the right friendly schedule can have a big impact on your success. 

This guide breaks down everything you need to know about arranging friendlies effectively:

How to Organise a Friendly

• From Portal head to Fixture Schedule
• Click on Arrange Friendly

Define friendly fixture details:

• Date
• Use For Testimonial (if an important player is retiring)
• Venue:
  • Home: generate more profit, especially if you play against popular or high-profile teams.
  • Away: probably no profit due to travel costs but good for building relationships with other clubs.
• Match Rules: choose what happens if the final result in a draw (eg. Extra + Pens or just Pens)
  • Avoiding choosing Extra Time, this will just exhaust your players who are still trying to build mach fitness.
  • You may as well choose penalties for some extra practice and excitement though.
• Opponent: you can choose to make a friendly against any club in the world, but some useful suggestions are given to you
  • Similar Reputation Teams
  • Smaller Reputation Teams
  • Very Small Reputation Teams
  • Larger Reputation Teams
  • Larger Reputation Teams (Foreign)
  • Similar Reputation Teams (Foreign)
  • Smaller Reputation Teams (Foreign)
  • Very Small Reputation Teams (Foreign)
  • Nearby Teams
  • Affiliated Clubs
  • Own Club's Youth Teams

What does the amount mean next to the team name when arranging a friendly?

When you open the dropdown menu you’ll see an amount next to each team’s name. This is the Fee you will pay, i.e. how much it will cost you to arrange this friendly. After selecting the team you can see what is the Income from the match and calculate by yourself the Profit.

• Higher or Lower Reputation Teams for Friendlies

The game organises these by reputation although you may as well think of it in terms of strength. Smaller reputation teams are likely to be weaker and easier, while larger reputation teams will be stronger and more difficult. Opting for an easier team gives you the chance to get some confidence building wins and build match fitness, while more difficult teams will give you a good chance to figure out your tactics.

• Benefits and Drawbacks of friendlies with Foreign Teams

Larger reputation teams can also help increase your clubs revenue by attracting big crowds, especially if you opt for an away match against a bigger side. Choosing a foreign team can increase your team’s international exposure, and therefore it’s own reputation and future revenue, however you have to factor in travel costs as well. While not an issue for big teams, smaller lower league teams may find international friendlies noticeably affects the clubs finances, in these cases it’s best to opt for Nearby Teams instead.

• Friendlies against Affiliate Clubs

There’s also a handy option to quickly see your Affiliated Clubs, in lots of cases the affiliation agreement requires you to arrange friendlies with your affiliates and you can quickly check these here.

Making Money Playing Friendlies

After you’ve confirmed the details of your proposed friendly the game will instantly show you an estimate for how much money you will make from this friendly. The Fee is the amount it will cost you and the Income is the money you can expect to make. In this example we’ll be making a Profit of €370k. If you toggle between home and away after picking a club you can easily see the difference in revenue, it’s usually best to pick the one that will get you the most profit.

Remember that it’s not guaranteed. The other club still needs to accept the terms, such as the date, location, and any financial arrangements. Until they do, the match won’t be added to your schedule. So, keep an eye on their response and be ready to adjust your plans if necessary!

How to turn on/off backroom staff organising friendlies

• From Club head to Responsibilities
• Under Delegation head to Match Day
• Scroll down until you find Friendly Matches and turn off  Backroom staff arrange friendly matches for the first-team squad

When to Schedule Friendlies

Best Preseason Friendlies Strategy

• Plan Your Friendlies Early: start arranging friendlies as soon as the preseason begins. This ensures you get the dates and opponents you want without overloading your schedule. Avoid more than 2 games in the same week, and at least 3 days between fixtures.
• Progressive Difficulty: begin your preseason with matches against smaller or very small reputation teams. These games are great for building fitness and morale as your team gets back to match sharpness. As your preseason progresses, schedule matches against similar or stronger reputation teams to test your tactics under more realistic conditions.
• Final Test: play the last friendly exactly 1 week before the 1st official match, choose a similar / small reputation team to boost moral just before competition.

Midseason Friendlies

Is it a good idea to arrange friendlies midseason? Usually I would not recommend this, it’s just extra workload that will tire your players out and risk more injuries.

However there are a couple of times it can be worthwhile.

• International Break: for clubs with many players not on international duty, friendlies keep the rest of the squad sharp.
• During Winter Breaks (or any other gap): friendlies during the winter break help maintain fitness and morale, especially for leagues with long pauses because of winter. Avoid more than 2 weeks without a match, preferably keep 1 per week.
• In need to Recover Confidence: if your team is struggling in competitive games, a friendly against a weaker opponent can restore morale. Although the extra workload probably isn't worth it.
• Testing Youth Players: promote youth players integration smoothly
• Making Money: If you’re a lower league team a quick “cheat” is to use friendlies to bring in extra cash, even during the season.
• Injuring Opponents: Another “cheat” is to setup friendlies against your upcoming opponents or league rivals to reduce their players condition. Use “Get Stuck In” to really give it to them!

Tips for midseason friendlies

• If everyone needs fitness play a match against your own youth sides
• If only a few first team players need fitness play a friendly against a Nearby Team to avoid travel and then fill the team with mostly your youth.

How to Cancel Friendlies

• From Portal head to Fixture Schedule
• Select the match you want to cancel
• Click on Cancel Friendly