If you want to manage a smaller, obscure team in Football Manager 2022 and build something entirely of your own making, check the following clubs out.
BRESCIA
While some might be insulted at the idea of a club that used to have Andrea Pirlo and Roberto Baggio play for them, Brescia are a small name within the Italian game. Building them up is going to be tough, and you are going to be up against it just to survive in the top two flights of the Italian game. It will take time, effort, and a bit of luck with regens.
Money is tight at Brescia, as is ambition. You will need to contend with a board that is happy to sell off talent, and you will have precious little pulling power. Players you have heard of will likely have better options, and you might need to do a lot of convincing just to keep even your rotational players.
However, Brescia is a beautiful place and thus can be a fun football club to manage. It will be a challenge for you, yes, but you should have no problem at all in slowly growing your team. Pressure is thankfully quite minimal, so you should be able to grow organically.
With strong enough local support, this is an obscure club you could fall in love with within Football Manager 2022.
SPARTA ROTTERDAM
While most are aware of football in Rotterdam thanks to Feyenoord, the local side Sparta Rotterdam is a very intriguing little club. They were first formed in 1888, and in that time, have become a relatively consistent presence within the top-flight of the Dutch game. However, you are very much the small fish to Feyenoord, never mind national giants like Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.
Building something here is tough; your top talent wants to leave ASAP, and you have precious few funds to build anything. Much of the local city support backs Feyenoord, too, so you are often unlikely to really become even a local powerhouse. Still, this is a club with a strong developmental history and a good academy; you could build something quite strong if you put in the effort.
Currently in the top-flight, staying up in the Dutch league can be tough work thanks to the numerous challenges in building a playing staff. Your best bet is to turn Sparta into a creche of sorts, building up the confidence and belief in your team through youth signings mixed with the odd veteran.
This is an interesting club, albeit one with many difficulties to overcome.
ROYAL ANTWERP
Though growing in stature at the moment thanks to a team made up of biggish Belgian names from across recent years, Royal Antwerp exists within the shadow of the bigger Belgian clubs. As such, you can find it tough to really build anything here; your stars might want out ASAP, while your academy will be a target for the bigger names domestically and internationally.
What you do have here, though, is a relatively historical club with a strong academy background. Add in a little bit of money relative to the league, and you can see why so many people tend to see Antwerp as an obscure club in Football Manager 2022 with some potential. Much like other names, though, this will be a slow-burn effort that needs you to try and generate a bit of luck and momentum.
This is a club that has potential, though, and you could really have yourself competing with the likes of Anderlecht after a few years. It is not going to be easy, but there is nothing to stop you from progressing beyond the realms of mid-tier obscurity within the Belgian top-flight. You just need a bit of luck to get the ball rolling here.
ST JOHNSTONE
Fancy a trip to the UK? Then take a look at Perthshire club St. Johnstone. They are perhaps stretching the idea of 'obscure' in that they won the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup in 2020-21. They are, though, a small community-based club with nothing like the funds to compete with the likes of Heart of Midlothian or Hibernian, never mind the Glasgow duo.
So, you should be prepared for some challenges if you decide to come to Perthshire. Much of the double-winning team are gone, so you might need to box clever and buy from the lower down clubs in Scotland and England. This is, though, the kind of obscure club that you could build a strong, tight-knit little squad.
It is going to be tough, with no shortage of difficulties when it comes to extending contracts and keeping players happy. Your stars will want out at first opportunity, and the players you keep are hanging around here for a reason. This makes this the ideal challenge for anyone looking to really test out their knowledge of obscure markets.
You are limited to what you can really achieve with this club, but success is possible if you are patient enough.
BRESCIA
While some might be insulted at the idea of a club that used to have Andrea Pirlo and Roberto Baggio play for them, Brescia are a small name within the Italian game. Building them up is going to be tough, and you are going to be up against it just to survive in the top two flights of the Italian game. It will take time, effort, and a bit of luck with regens.
Money is tight at Brescia, as is ambition. You will need to contend with a board that is happy to sell off talent, and you will have precious little pulling power. Players you have heard of will likely have better options, and you might need to do a lot of convincing just to keep even your rotational players.
However, Brescia is a beautiful place and thus can be a fun football club to manage. It will be a challenge for you, yes, but you should have no problem at all in slowly growing your team. Pressure is thankfully quite minimal, so you should be able to grow organically.
With strong enough local support, this is an obscure club you could fall in love with within Football Manager 2022.
SPARTA ROTTERDAM
While most are aware of football in Rotterdam thanks to Feyenoord, the local side Sparta Rotterdam is a very intriguing little club. They were first formed in 1888, and in that time, have become a relatively consistent presence within the top-flight of the Dutch game. However, you are very much the small fish to Feyenoord, never mind national giants like Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.
Building something here is tough; your top talent wants to leave ASAP, and you have precious few funds to build anything. Much of the local city support backs Feyenoord, too, so you are often unlikely to really become even a local powerhouse. Still, this is a club with a strong developmental history and a good academy; you could build something quite strong if you put in the effort.
Currently in the top-flight, staying up in the Dutch league can be tough work thanks to the numerous challenges in building a playing staff. Your best bet is to turn Sparta into a creche of sorts, building up the confidence and belief in your team through youth signings mixed with the odd veteran.
This is an interesting club, albeit one with many difficulties to overcome.
ROYAL ANTWERP
Though growing in stature at the moment thanks to a team made up of biggish Belgian names from across recent years, Royal Antwerp exists within the shadow of the bigger Belgian clubs. As such, you can find it tough to really build anything here; your stars might want out ASAP, while your academy will be a target for the bigger names domestically and internationally.
What you do have here, though, is a relatively historical club with a strong academy background. Add in a little bit of money relative to the league, and you can see why so many people tend to see Antwerp as an obscure club in Football Manager 2022 with some potential. Much like other names, though, this will be a slow-burn effort that needs you to try and generate a bit of luck and momentum.
This is a club that has potential, though, and you could really have yourself competing with the likes of Anderlecht after a few years. It is not going to be easy, but there is nothing to stop you from progressing beyond the realms of mid-tier obscurity within the Belgian top-flight. You just need a bit of luck to get the ball rolling here.
ST JOHNSTONE
Fancy a trip to the UK? Then take a look at Perthshire club St. Johnstone. They are perhaps stretching the idea of 'obscure' in that they won the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup in 2020-21. They are, though, a small community-based club with nothing like the funds to compete with the likes of Heart of Midlothian or Hibernian, never mind the Glasgow duo.
So, you should be prepared for some challenges if you decide to come to Perthshire. Much of the double-winning team are gone, so you might need to box clever and buy from the lower down clubs in Scotland and England. This is, though, the kind of obscure club that you could build a strong, tight-knit little squad.
It is going to be tough, with no shortage of difficulties when it comes to extending contracts and keeping players happy. Your stars will want out at first opportunity, and the players you keep are hanging around here for a reason. This makes this the ideal challenge for anyone looking to really test out their knowledge of obscure markets.
You are limited to what you can really achieve with this club, but success is possible if you are patient enough.
