Which Team To Manage In Football Manager 2021? Groups

[David76]

One of the hardest decisions you make is also one of the first, which teams to manage in our first save in FM21? Here's a list of 10 teams that you should try to consider starting a save with.

1. Everton FC
Everton could really be an interesting team to manage as they signed the likes of Allan, Abdoulaye Doucouré and James Rodríguez this summer to Strengthen the side. In addition, Everton haven't won a trophy since 1995 when they had their last FA Cup glory. The challenge will be to push for the top six and finally win a trophy for The Toffees.

2. A.F.C. Bournemouth

Following A.F.C. Bournemouth's relegation from the Premier League and the departure of key players, Callum Wilson, Aaron Ramsdale and Nathan Aké, the way back to the Premier League will not be easy and definitely will be a challenging save.

3. AS Monaco

AS Monaco finished last season in 9th place in League 1 as they could not find fine form throughout the season. AS Monaco enjoyed their Champions League glory back in 15/16 season but now, AS Monaco want to push again for Champions League qualification and try to conquer the League 1 like they did in the 16\17 season.

4. FC Toulouse

FC Toulouse got relegated to the League 2 last season. FC Toulouse are a very young team and have lot of great prospects to look out for. The challenge for the French side in Football Manager 2021 will be to get promoted back to League 1 and try to retain as League 1 team.

5. Borussia Mönchengladbach

With a strong season last year and qualifying for the Champions League, the young German side are a great save for someone who would like to train a young and talented team that will play in the Champions League next season. With 5 Bundesliga titles in their trophy cabinet, Bor. M'gladbach will aim to win the title yet again in the near future.

6. VfB Stuttgart

The German giants are back in the Bundesliga and the challenge is very clear, stay in the Bundesliga. VfB Stuttgart was once one of the best teams in Germany, but have fallen through the years. VfB Stuttgart are known for their superb academy and producing some of the elite players in the world right now (Joshua Kimmich, Serge Gnabry and Timo Werner). The team is mixed with young and experienced players so it will be a very fun save trying to get VfB Stuttgart back on top.

7. SSC Napoli

With no European football next season and with a recorded singing, Victor Osimhen, the side from south Italy will aim to get back to winning ways and Champions League football. SSC Napoli is a great save for new players who are looking for a team to learn to game and to challenge themself.

8. Torino FC

A struggling team in the Serie A that are looking to push for European football, can you make it happen in Football Manager 2021? With some key players what are still at the club (Andrea Belotti, Nicolas N'Koulou and Salvatore Sirigu), a qualification for European football does not seem to be too far to achieve. Torino FC were 7 times champions of Italy, and the challenge now is definitely to get back to dominate the city of Torino and Italy yet again.

9. Sporting CP

The Portuguese side has one of the greatest academies in the world and a save with Sporting CP is a must, with domestic rivalry against Benfica and FC Porto, the league is very challenging and tight. Sporting CP will have no Champions League football but the Europa League is a trophy to try and win.

10. Dynamo Kyiv

Dynamo Kyiv haven't won the Premier Liga since the 15/16 season. Their domestic rival, Shakhtar Donetsk, making the league really competitive between the two sides for the title. The club from the capital, have a great academy and will be playing in the Champions League Qualifying rounds.

 

[Tom]

You want a club with a good youth academy

 

[David76]

Some youth development challenges

Brescia - Serie B

Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Great
Junior Coaching: Adequate
Youth Recruitment: Adequate

Le Havre - Ligue 2

Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Great
Junior Coaching: Adequate
Youth Recruitment: Adequate

FC Groningen - Eredivise

Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Great
Junior Coaching: Good
Youth Recruitment: Adequate

Royal Antwerp F.C. – Jupiler Pro League

Training Facilities: Adequate
Youth Facilities: Adequate
Junior Coaching: Exceptional
Youth Recruitment: Average

Hamburger SV – 2. Bundesliga

Training Facilities: Superb
Youth Facilities: Great
Junior Coaching: Adequate
Youth Recruitment: Average

And some clubs to lead back to their former glories.

Deportivo de La Coruña – Segunda División B Gr.1
Nottingham Forest – Sky Bet Championship
Portsmouth – Sky Bet League One
AC Milan – Serie A
Vejle Boldklub – Superligaen

 

[David76]

If you've not tied yourself down to a club yet here's some more picks of who to manage this time around.

Barcelona

Taking over a sleeping giant is one of the most exciting challenges in Football Manager - and though you could hardly describe a team of Barcelona's ambitions as "sleeping", they're in a transition period that will take some navigating. Big names have left, there's a world-class academy at your fingertips and starlets like Ansu Fati, Pedri and Trincao to utilise, while Ilaix Moriba and Nico wait patiently, too.

There'll be an expectancy on attractive football but given that all Barca really need is someone to stretch play, this is a straightforward first job to play with. Plenty of talent worth offloading - you could pick one of Griezmann, Dembele and Coutinho to generate £60m plus, for example - and then there's the transition into post-Messi years. You might as well get him on your coaching staff, too.

Schalke 04

It never rains but it pours in Gelsenkirchen. They recently went 30 games without a Bundesliga win in the real world yet still boast a top academy, big stadium and a big name. Can you turn it around?

Schalke have four wonderkids: 20-year-old centre-back Ozan Kabak, 17-year-old utility man Arbnor Aliu, Welsh wing wizard Rabbi Matondo and fellow wide-man Sidi Sane - who could be fire if he's anything like the other great Sane to come out of Schalke. The goal is to return this faltering side to its former glory via derbies with Dortmund - there's plenty to build around to get you started.

Wigan Athletic

Recently relegated League One side Wigan Athletic are the biggest club that you can get a job with in England from the point of unemployment. The challenge is quite simple: get the Latics back to their late 2000s pomp.

Money is tight to begin with at the Lancastrian club, so you're going to have to use your wits, along with a few free transfers. But the expectations are strangely skewed. This was a team who were comfortably avoiding relegation before the points deduction - yet they're expected to be relegated to League Two with most of that same squad at the start of 2020/21 season.

Wigan is a straightforward job to take on. Good youth, good stadium and a nice kit with no sponsor. Give it a whirl.

Arsenal

Another underachieving A-lister in the European game, Arsenal don't give you too much backing in your first season - surprise, surprise. But the second season? That's where you can really have fun with the Gunners.

Mesut Ozil is leaving on a free next summer - and you can actually use him in your first season. As is David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and on-loan Dani Ceballos, freeing up half a million in wages every week. The likes of Hector Bellerin, Nicolas Pepe and Alexandre Lacazette will command big fees while Arsenal's famed Hale End academy is churning out some of the best - and most valuable - youngsters in the game. Give it three years, you should have won a Europa title at least.

Paris Saint-Germain

Unlimited pots of money? Check. The best young player on the game? Check. A squad packed full of top players ready to be sold for a revolution? Check.

It's easy to see why Mauricio Pochettino has taken the Paris Saint-Germain job: it's a stem cell of an opportunity. You could turn PSG into anything you like with the players and the facilities at your disposal - make them into the new Galacticos, bring through an entire squad of academy graduates or turn them into Europe's newest culture club only signing players with a 20 rating for flair. You have the tools to do it all.

Red Bull Salzburg

Just because RB Leipzig is a little too obvious why not take over Red Bull's second-biggest European enterprise?

RB Salzburg is bringing through some of the biggest talents in the game. With a top academy, decent players in the first team already and scope to build Austria more as a footballing powerhouse, there are considerable resources that you can use with a save here. Oh, and why not add another affiliate club while you're at it? Imagine you're making RB Swindon.

Kaiserslautern

Kaiserslautern are the 10th most successful German club ever and play in a stadium bigger than Chelsea's. Yet somehow, the 1999 Champions League semi-finalists are rotting in the third tier in Germany.

Rebuilding the Red Devils into a feared force again is one of the most satisfying jobs in FM. Like fellow sleeping giants 1860 Munich, Kaiserslautern fans bitterly hate Bayern Munich - but given that they exist in their own town, free of bigger rivals, they're a great club to turn into a franchise worth moving to.

Saint Etienne

Saint-Etienne are also from a big city in their country. They've also tasted big success in the past. But given recent struggles of narrowly avoiding relegation last season, they're due a big kick up the backside in FM21.

This is the club that produced Wesley Fofana and William Saliba. They're always going to manufacture talent - Adil Aouchiche is one to build your team around - and there's a fierce rivalry with Lyon to get excited about, too. Claude Puel is a groundwork-layer, after all - see Leicester City and Southampton. Now's your chance to jump in and create something special - though you'll have to wait till your second season to have any kind of transfer budget.

Auckland City

It's not just the big leagues that are worth checking out in Football Manager. Oceania has seen a lot of detail added this time around - and you'd be hard pressed to find a more dominant side than New Zealand's Auckland City in the game.

If you're just getting to grips with FM and want to go somewhere you'll have very little knowledge of, this could be the trick. There's scope too to build the nation too and turn New Zealand into a much higher-rated league in terms of reputation.

PSV Eindhoven

PSV Eindhoven has one of the nicest balances of squad in Europe, right now. Eran Zahavi, Philip Max and Mario Gotze are more established names ahead of wonderkids like Mohamed Ihattaren, Donyell Malen, Cody Gakpo.

The name of the game is in challenging Ajax for that one Champions League spot. This is a former European Cup winner too, don't forget. There's plenty of talent coming out of the Netherlands and it's fairly easy to sign talent in the Dutch league.

 

[David76]

Inter Milan

If you're a manager who plays lone forwards and you'd like to spend time sculpting a team in the transfer market, here's an idea - take over Inter Milan and sell one of Lautaro Martinez or Romelu Lukaku, then use the funds to rebuild elsewhere.

Inter Milan expect you to be solid defensively. They have a history of signing top South American players and originally split from AC Milan because they wanted to be more international than the Rossoneri - hence the name - and incorporate foreigners into the set-up. That's enough of a back-drop for you to build an exciting new squad off the back of Antonio Conte's good work. Why not sell both your star strikers and put faith in wonderkids Sebastiano Esposito and Eddie Salcedo?

AC Milan

...or why not do the opposite?

AC Milan are well-funded with a big stadium, too (disclaimer: the same one). But instead of being defensive and open to foreign exports, they're traditionally reliant on local talent and more expansive tactics. This is not only a big chance to get Zlatan Ibrahimovic in your coaching staff, it's an opportunity to rebuild a Sacchi-esque or Ancelotti-inspired 4-4-2 team purely with homegrown talent.

Sheffield Wednesday

Deducted points at the start of the 2020/21 season, Sheffield Wednesday are living in the shadows of their local rivals. Why not take them back to where they belong?

Wednesday's starting XI is good enough to get you close to the play-offs but the back-ups leave a lot to be desired. Given that the club have been through two managers already this season, they're going to be quite the challenge - but tempt Jack Wilshere on a free transfer and you just might manage to work wonders with these mis-firing Owls.

Benfica

When legendary manager Bela Guttmann was refused a modest pay rise at Benfica back in the 1960s, he put a curse on the club to not win the European Cup for 100 years. Eight European finals later, the curse is still holding up.

Can you be the one to break it? Benfica, or SLB as they're known as on FM, have around a dozen wonderkids, a steady academy and a top hitman in Darwin Nunez. If you can keep a few of the talents around and invest the money you receive wisely, there's no reason you can't win at least a Europa League in your first couple of seasons.

Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers may be in League Two now but remember when they were the talk of the Premier League? Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff and Ivan Campo all balling in the same side - at one point, Bolton had an incredible number of players who were captains at international level.

Those days are worth reliving. Taking Bolton back up to the top is one thing - doing it with the same style is quite another. See how many legends you can tempt to the club on their way down - imagine the Trotters in 2025, lining up with the likes of Paul Pogba and Neymar in midfield, well into their 30s but leading Bolton to the Champions League campaign that Sam Allardyce never quite made.

Deportivo La Coruna

Deportivo La Coruna were the last winners of La Liga aside from the big three and Valencia. Now, they're languishing in the third tier. Someone needs to put that right.

There are great young Spanish players coming through and plenty of stiff competition in Spanish football right now. The top tier is due a shake-up though. With many teams playing similar styles in La Liga in 2021, what will you bring to the table when you arrive in 2023? It's a big challenge but restoring the glory to Depor has been a solid FM option for yonks, now.

Inter Miami

OK, who doesn't want David Beckham as their boss?

The Florida start-up already has the likes of Juventus has-beens Gonzalo Higuain and Blaise Matuidi on board. An MLS save requires plenty of reading the manual - signing players is a job in itself - but it might be fun to take a cool, new club and produce something brand new, all the while signing Europe's over-30s. Plus, those kits are just lovely.

Atletico Ottawa

Canada are hosting the World Cup with the USA and Mexico in six years' time. Getting started on Atletico Ottawa now - an affiliate of Atletico Madrid - gives you the opportunity to build Canada's footballing prowess now.

The club are newly founded - just like Inter Miami - and they're aiming to win the Canadian Cup against the three Canadian MLS teams, Toronto, Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact. Plus, there's the Mexican dominance in the CONMEBOL Champions League you could try and break. Why not take the Canada national job too, build the reputation of the country and see how far you can take everyone's favourite friendly North American nation?

Athletic Bilbao

You know the drill by now with Athletic Bilbao. Only Basque players allowed, a top academy and a fight for the La Liga Champions League spots with some of the big boys. But this year, it's more fun than usual.

Nico Serrano, Juan Artola and Nico Williams are a triad of wonderkids worth building on, too. These three can lead your attack for years to come - all you have to do is forge a platform behind them. Will you be as "out there" as Marcelo Bielsa was with his tactics, though? The choice is yours.

 

[Mouth]

I think I might give Wigan or Sheffield Wednesday a go. Anyone know what sort of points deduction Sheff Wed start with?

 

[Franco Pinion]

I did a Bolton save with FM20. Really tough with no money and points deductions because of falling into administration.

I might start a new Bolton save for FM21.

 

[David76]

Anyone know what sort of points deduction Sheff Wed start with?

It should have been 12 points but was reduced to 6 on appeal IIRC.

 

[Mouth]

Six points ins't too much of a burden. The financial restraints will be more telling. I'm up for the challenge