16,325
20
224
Challenge #1 - Sunderland 'til I die
It's finally December, Sunderland are finally back in the Premier League after back-to-back promotions. They have been lighting up the Premier League this season, and my question is how far you can take them?
Your job is to take charge of Sunderland AFC, from their real life position at December 1st, until the end of the season, with a few goals in mind. You are currently sitting 6th, 13 games in, where can you end up at the end of the season.
You also have some extra money to bring in someone extra when the transfer window opens in 1 month. Can you bring in a few players to even go for the trophy?
How it works
We are going to regularly release new Football Manager Challenges that is designed to be quick to play. Usually half a season or less (might do something extra fun for the holidays).
Complete the challenge to score points and be in with a chance to win prizes.
You do not have to complete the challenge that month. But, after one month the manager with the most points in that challenge will win free access to one of the subscriptions from our shop .
The overall winner will also win a copy of FM27, with each challenge remaining open until FM27 Pre Orders are available.
All you have to do is play FM for a few hours and then submit a few screenshots of how you got on. Easy right?
Point Scoring
The scoring system works the same as the Olympics. You have the chance to win Gold, Silver or Bronze. Fail to make it to Europe? You won't get a medal and will score 0 points.
Gold š„ - 5 points - Win the Premier League
Silverš„ - 3 points - Qualify for at least the Europa League (FA Cup counts)
Bronze š„ - 2 points - Qualify for the Conference League
These points will take you on to the Overall Leaderboard.
Each Challenge has its own leaderboard. Since lots of people will inevitably win gold there are a series of tie breakers to decide your position.
Tie Breakers
- Total Points won (including FA Cup 3 for win, 1 draw, 0 for loss)
- Distance in FA Cup
- Total Games Won
- Total Goal Difference
- Total Goals Scored
- Total Chances Created
- Total Average Possession
Prizes
Overall Winner = A copy of Football Manager 2027
Monthly Challenge Winner = Premium Membership
Rules
- You must use the manager already in the save file. You cannot create a new manager. This so that all managers have the same attributes and experience.
- You cannot use the in game editor.
- You cannot create any new managers.
- You cannot save before a match and then reload (save scum)
- You cannot use any form of third party editor like Genie Scout or FMRTE.
- You can not take control over any other teams.
How to install
The download is a .fm file which is an FM Save Game.
Move the file to your default saved game folder, it should then appear when clicking āLoad Gameā. The location is:
Windows: Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2026/games
Mac: /Users/<yourname>/Library/Application Support/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2026/games
On Mac you may find it easier to: Open Finder > Click Go in the toolbar > Go to folder > Paste this ā~/Library/Application Support/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2026/gamesā
Youtube / Twitch Creators
If you run a YouTube or a Twitch feel free to drop a comment letting us know what time you're streaming or linking to your video. We'll give a shout out on Twitter as well. Also feel free to send me a PM on here or DM on here with any other queries.
Changing the Manager?
The manager is called āSort It Out SI Challengeā. You can not retire and create a new manager. Haven't found a nickname version either so unless they add it, you are stuck with the already picked manager.
How to submit results
You must submit the following screenshots as a comment on this thread.
Do not take a photo on your phone. āScreenshotsā taken with phones or anything else will be dismissed.
- The Competitions page that shows the status of the League, FA Cup and League Cup (Click āCompetitions" in sidebar)
- The Full League Table including Goals For/Against (Match Day > League Table)
- Manager Attributes (Career> My Profile > Attributes tab)
- Manager Stats Overview (Career > Managerial Stats)
How to submit results
You must submit the following information. Where screenshots are required you must upload an image.
Do not take a photo on your phone. You can take screenshots in FM by clicking FM > Print Screen or by following instructions for Windows or Mac.
Competitions Page
The Competitions page that shows the status of the League, FA Cup (and League Cup.)
League table
The Full League Table including Goals For/Against (Match Day > League Table)
Manager attributes
Manager Attributes (Career> My Profile > Attributes tab)
Manager Stats Overview (Career > Managerial Stats)
Manager stats
| # | Manager | Medal | Points | GD | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | š„ | 113 | 57 |
|
|
| 2 | š„ | 109 | 56 |
|
|
| 3 | š„ | 105 | 55 |
|
|
| 4 | š„ | 85 | 63 |
|
|
| 5 | š„ | 99 | 46 |
|
|
| 6 | š„ | 82 | 41 |
|
|
| 7 | š„ | 72 | 29 |
|
|
| 8 | š„ | 70 | 23 |
|
|
| 9 | 61 | 8 |
|
- Date Created
- 03 Dec 2025 23:24:21
- Date Updated
- 03 Dec 2025 23:24:21
- Last Comment
- 11 May 2026 17:42:37
Comments
You'll need to Login to comment
Ax3sss
If there are any issues, please message me here or on DC. Considering this is the first Challenge of FM26 as well!
arjanweiden
I am a content creator on twitch.
and this save will be my content on twitch.
http://www.twitch.tv/arjanweiden
Ax3sss
Good luck man, at what times are you live?
arjanweiden
Every evening
Sam Goldney
can i play this on FM24 and will its work the same
DragonDarts88
Richley2122
It does not load on fm 24, an error box pops up. I am sad :/
Joe Boy
Finding all of the right screens was a nightmare!
Ax3sss
Yeah, thought I had to make everyone search for everything. Tried to explain as short (but precise) as I could ofc š
Ax3sss
This is only for FM26 unfortunately. If you are interested in challenges for FM24 you could always check the previous challenges posted!
Richley2122
I see. I got this invite through email. How can I see the fm 24 challenges?
Ax3sss
https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-2024-challenges FM 24 Challenges
https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-2026-challenges FM 26 Challenges
Amiyx Alyahya
Farkas PongrƔcz
Finally forked up the cash to buy the game yesterday and what better way to jump from FM23 for 3 years to FM26, than doing a small challenge?
I don't think I have ever had a goalkeeper get better than a 7.5 in a match in any FM game, but boy Anthony Patterson saved my back with a 9.8 rating first match against Liverpool. After a thorough assessment, I realized, that I have so many pain points in the squad that I can't deal with it with the 15 million provided only, so I sold Mayenda (10M) and Patterson (8.5M). I also sold Chris RIgg (18M), but could't turn that money into a new player as it happened at the very end of the deadline day. I bought Josh Doig (10M, Sassuolo) for LB and Oscar (10.5M, Slavia) for DM/M(C) positions, while I also got Marco Reus (1.7M, LA Galaxy) as an AM(C) and I managed to loan Raheem Sterling from Chelsea on the attacking wings (it was a bit too expensive so probably could have done better there). The start of the save went well after the 2 hard away games and then I started to get the injuries towards the end of the season and that startled me a bit and eventually cost me some points here and there against some teams. But it is what it is. It was a good save to discover the game a little bit and the features that I haven't seen yet. Eagerly waiting for the next challenges and I would be happy to read your stories on how you tackled this one.
kroos6
the challenge stills active?
Gerard010
gespot
Kaushik Goswami
Do penalty and extra time wins in the FA Cup count as a draw or a win? On the match calendar, it shows up as a win but unsure regarding the rules here as it's my first time attempting an challenge.
Kaushik Goswami
Matches against Liverpool (1 loss), Man City (2 losses) and Arsenal really cost me big time. A win in two of those games and could've been champion. Hurts even more when I won my other prem game against Liverpool and beat them in the FA Cup Final too.
Could've done better with transfers, maybe I'll try this challenge out on my own again and see if I can get a better attempt, hopefully I'm allowed to put it on the portal here. Have to check out and learn some of the transfer tricks in FM26 on how to sell players for big money.
Sylvain Soniko
hey how many season we have to do this challenge ?
edgardavids8
Only until the end of 1st season