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If you’re looking for a really difficult challenge on Football Manager 26, then put yourself immediately on the back foot by taking control of a club that goes into the new season with a points deficit. In other words, you’ll need to win at least two matches - and as many as 12! - to even escape the relegation zone.
A host of clubs across Europe have been docked points due to a variety of administrative and financial challenges. This collection of teams going into the season with a negative points tally ranges from a couple of manageable challenges in Scotland and stiffer ones in Italy to genuinely impossible tasks in Turkey and Romania.
10 Teams to Manage with Points Deductions in FM26
FM26 features a host of clubs coming into the 2025/26 campaign with points deductions. Below we’ve compiled a list of 10 clubs that begin FM26 on minus points, from the lowest to highest deductions.
Dumbarton FC (🏴 William Hill League 2)
-5 Points
Scottish League Two side Dumbarton boasts potentially the most picturesque football stadium in the UK (see below). The Sons, one of the oldest Scottish football clubs having been founded in 1872, also won the first two editions of the Scottish Football League way back in 1891 and 1892.
However, things certainly haven’t been going so well on or off the pitch in recent years. Dumbarton went into administration in November 2024, which saw it handed a 15-point deduction that resulted in relegation from League One last season. The original club was then dissolved and replaced by a new company, Dumbarton Football Club 1872 Ltd, before being taken over by Canadian businessman Mario Lapointe in June.
Dumbarton now carries an additional 5-point deduction for this season, as a result of going into administration last season. So your task is to overhaul that deficit and build a team that can restore those glory years of former generations.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (🏴 William Hill League 1)
-5 Points
There’s a similar tale surrounding Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the Scottish Cup winners in 2015 and runners-up in 2023, who were in the Scottish Premiership as recently as 2017. The club was handed a 15-point deduction when it went into administration in October 2024. However, the club avoided relegation to stay in League One, finishing in an impressive 7th place last season.
The club came out of administration in the summer after former chairman Alan Savage’s bid to purchase the club for £800k was approved. But, like Dumbarton, it also carries an additional 5-point deduction heading into this season, so you’ll face a real challenge to survive then push for a return back to the Scottish Premiership.
Lechia Gdańsk (🇵🇱 PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa)
-5 Points
Two-time Polish cup winners Lechia, who lifted the cup in 1984 and 2019, also carry a 5-point penalty into FM26. The club was given a points deduction after it failed to meet financial requirements and failed to provide the necessary documents for a 2020 fine from UEFA.
However, potentially more problematic, it also faces a transfer ban that is, admittedly, unlikely to be active in FM26. So that makes your task slightly less challenging as you bid to restore the good times at Lechia, and push for the club’s maiden Polish title.
Rimini FC 1912 (🇮🇹 Serie C)
-11 Points
Rimini won Coppa Serie C (the cup competition for sides in Italy’s Serie C) last season, but any elation from that success was short-lived. The Italian FA slapped the Emilia-Romagna club with an 11-point deduction and a €5,000 fine due to administrative violations that the club tried and failed to contest in the summer. As a result, Rimini lost a mass of key players and replaced them with inexperienced youngsters, creating a serious challenge to lead them to survival in Serie C Group B.
That gives you a sizeable task in FM26, needing at least four wins just to get out of negative points and push for survival in Serie C.
Vitesse Arnhem (🇳🇱 Keuken Kampioen Divisie)
-12 Points
Vitesse Arnhem is one of the oldest clubs in Dutch football, having been founded on 14 May 1892. It was the runner-up five times in the early days of the league between 1898 and 1915, and finished 3rd in 1998 before winning its first and only major trophy by lifting the KNVB Cup in 2017.
However, the club has been through the ringer since the departure of Roman Abramovich, who used it as a Chelsea feeder club during his time in west London. In 2023, Vitesse was handed an 18-point deduction, then the biggest penalty in Dutch history, for repeatedly breaching licensing regulations and providing incorrect information to the authorities. And the points deduction saw Vitesse relegated from Eredivisie.
However, that punishment was made to look minuscule by a huge 39-point deduction imposed last season, after the club again breached licensing terms. And Vitesse finished the Eerste Divisie campaign with just five points. But the Dutch second tier doesn’t have relegation and, after running the risk of not competing at all this season, Vitesse has survived for another year. However, they do so with yet another deduction of 12 points for the 25/26 campaign for failing to comply with the Dutch FA’s licensing terms and filing paperwork late.
The lack of relegation in Eerst Divisie gives you a comfort barrier, depending on the Vitesse board’s expectations. So your task is to overcome that 12-point deficit and push into mid-table before taking Vitesse back into the top tier.
Edinburgh City FC (🏴 William Hill League 2)
-15 Points
Edinburgh City only reached the SFL for the first time in 2016, but gained promotion to League One in 2022 before suffering relegation after two seasons. However, after finishing 3rd in League Two and losing out in the playoffs last season, the club fell foul of the same administration rules affecting Dumbarton and Inverness, but a season later.
The club was initially docked six points in December 2023, after it failed to pay players and debtors on time. It went on to breach league rules by appointing a provisional liquidator following a winding-up order in July. That appointment was terminated six days later, as the club claimed it was due to a misunderstanding. But the league upheld the punishment of a 15-point penalty for this season, plus an additional 5-point penalty next season.
Your challenge is to overcome that points penalty to, initially, prevent the club from dropping out of the playable leagues, then lead the club to promotion with a view to usurping the likes of Hearts and Hibs to become the biggest club in Edinburgh.
Adana Demirspor A.Ş. (🇹🇷 Turkish 1. League)
-18 Points
The points deductions really begin to ramp up now, starting with a trip over to Turkey. Adana was the first club outside the major Turkish cities of Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir to join the Turkish league in 1961. But the club, whose football team has lived in the shadow of its successful waterpolo team, has been through the ringer lately.
Recent seasons have seen various transfer bans, fielding teams of youth players, ownership issues and three points deductions last season alone, which saw the club relegated from Süper Lig with just two points. That misery has rolled over into this season, with Adana handed an additional 12-point deduction for further financial and licensing issues.
The club is left with a mass of young players and, so far this season, Adana has only managed one draw from 10 games, leaving it on -17 points with 28 games remaining. That record highlights the size of the task awaiting you in FM26, and you’ll need to master the art of youth development to get the results required to arrest Adana’s decline.
US Triestina Calcio 1918 (🇮🇹 Serie C)
-20 Points
Pipping Adana by two points is Serie C side Triestina. The Friuli-Venezia Giulia side was a founding member of Serie A in 1929 and remained in the top flight into the 1950s. However, it got relegated in 1956 and has been through various rebrands and financial issues since.
The latest instalment sees the club carry a 20-point deduction into this season. It was initially deducted 7 points for breaching financial rules before being hit with an additional 13 points for administrative violations, with failings including not paying players and staff.
Interestingly, those deductions shortly followed the club being taken over by American entrepreneur Ben Rosenzweig, who has links to the cryptocurrency firm Dogecoin Foundation. However, it’s unlikely those financial benefits will help you in FM26, and you’ll have a sizeable task to survive the first season and avoid dropping out of the playable leagues. If you can, your mission is to begin building a squad that can return to Serie A for the first time in 70 years.
Yeni Malatyaspor (🇹🇷 Turkish 2. League Red Group)
-42 Points
If any of the issues discussed so far sound difficult, then we step things up a notch with another Turkish side, Yeni Malatyaspor. The club was only founded in 1986, but rose through the leagues to reach the Süper Lig and finished in a record-high 5th in 2019. However, they suffered relegation in 2022, before disaster struck the Malatya region as an earthquake claimed thousands of lives, including the club’s goalkeeper Ahmet Eyüp Türkaslan.
The club has, unsurprisingly, struggled since, with financial issues and administrative violations seeing it relegated on -21 points last season after losing all 25 matches. But it was about to get a whole lot worse in the third tier. The Turkish FA slapped an additional 30-point deduction on the club ahead of this season, before imposing another six points in September.
Yeni is undoubtedly the most difficult challenge on FM26 that is vaguely possible. Realistically, you’ll probably need to win 24 of the 34-game season to give yourself a chance of survival on 30 points. However, we have one more FM26 challenge that will be absolutely impossible to survive.
BONUS CHALLENGE
FCU 1948 Craiova (🇷🇴 Liga 3)*
-94 Points
If you’re a true glutton for Football Manager punishment, then the epitome of “a difficult challenge” takes us to Romania, where it’s all but mathematically impossible for one club to achieve survival. Ongoing financial issues have seen Romanian third-tier side FC U Craiova slapped with a ludicrous 94-point penalty - and they may well have been excluded from the league altogether.
The club has failed to pay off outstanding debts owed to former coaches, players and staff, along with a debt to Dinamo Bucuresti relating to a Romanian Cup game. It was due to present proof of payment by early September and, as of the time of writing, had yet to play a league game this season, leaving it stranded on -94 points. In reality, it’s likely to be kicked out of the Romanian league, but there’s a slight chance it could be in FM26 when the game is released.
*Note: You will need a custom DB with Romanian 3rd tier playable.
Take on one of FM26’s Biggest Challenges
Those are our 10 teams with points deductions to manage on FM26. Several of them present an interesting and relatively manageable task that have the potential for future rebuilds, but the likes of Yeni and U Craiova represent nigh-on impossible Football Manager challenges.
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