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I always start a new Football Manager save with good intentions. This time I’ll do something different. Then a few seasons later I’m buying the same sort of players, arguing with the same sort of agents and wondering why it feels familiar.

These five FM27 save challenges are designed to stop that happening. There’s a Manchester City rebuild with a 100-point deduction or a forced sale of your 10 most valuable players, a journeyman career with an expiry date on every job and three squad-building challenges you can take to your preferred club.

Most work wherever you want to manage. You don’t need to win the Champions League in all of them, either. There is football outside Europe, and some of us would quite like to see it before retiring.

These are self-imposed rules. All five have a version you can play without a custom database. Check your chosen league’s registration rules before committing, particularly for the nationality and homegrown challenges. Those still apply.

1. Manchester City: The Bill Has Arrived

The premise

You’ve inherited Manchester City. Unfortunately, your first task is finding out whether the league table can display three digits after a minus sign.

For this fictional punishment save, City begin with a 100-point deduction, an empty bank account and a five-year transfer ban. Whatever your views on the real-world case, the punishment here is one we’ve invented to make your life difficult.

The initial squad might still be very good. That isn’t going to help much when the players start asking why they’re spending their best years trying to get back to zero.

The setup and restrictions

With the editor:

• Start with Manchester City and apply a 100-point league deduction in the first season only.
• Set the club’s starting bank balance and transfer budget to £0.

Without the editor: sell your 10 most valuable players

If you’re playing the free Launch Preview or any version where you can’t apply the deduction, sell your 10 most valuable permanently owned players instead. In this version of the story, they’re covering the cost of your fine.

Identify the 10 at the start of the save, using the midpoint of any value range and the higher wage to break ties. Keep the opening transfer window enabled and sell all 10 before it closes. You can’t replace someone on the list with a less important player because the offers are disappointing.

You won’t be able to remove the money from the bank without an editor. Treat the starting balance and sale proceeds as committed to the fine and unavailable for transfers. The five-year ban still applies, so that lovely transfer budget is there purely to annoy you.

The rules for both versions:

• Make no signings for five years from your start date. That includes loans, free agents and buying youngsters for the academy.
• You can sell players, renew contracts, promote your own academy players and use returning loanees already owned by the club.
• Money earned during the save can accumulate. You just can’t spend it on players until the ban ends. In the version without the editor, keep the starting balance and proceeds from those 10 sales ring-fenced even after the ban expires.

The youth intake suddenly becomes rather more important when you can’t solve every problem by opening the player search.

The end goal

Win the Premier League again. Count the seasons it takes. Surviving the first year with the deduction would be impressive, but it doesn’t complete the challenge.

You’ll need to decide who is worth keeping, who you can afford to lose and whether the youngster you normally wouldn’t look at can do a job on a wet Tuesday in the Championship.

Editor availability: The exact 100-point deduction and financial setup have not yet been tested in FM27. If you can’t make those changes, use the player-sale version. Both versions use a self-imposed transfer ban.

2. The One-Season Wonder: A Journeyman Save With No Time to Settle

The premise

Start unemployed, get yourself a job and work towards winning a continental trophy. The catch is that you can never spend more than one season at the same club.

Normally, a good season earns you the chance to build something. Here, it earns you another afternoon looking at the jobs page.

You might finally get the squad playing your way, persuade the board to improve the training ground and find a striker who can finish. Lovely. Time to leave.

The setup and restrictions

• Start unemployed with no coaching badges and the lowest playing reputation available.
• Load the playable leagues you want to explore. You can build a career in one region or move between continents.
• Leave each club at the end of the domestic season in which you arrive. A part-season counts, so choose those late-season rescue jobs carefully.
• You can leave earlier or be sacked, but you cannot return to a previous club.
• Coaching courses are allowed. You’ll need to give the next board something to like about your CV.

For competitions that run beyond the domestic league season, set your departure date as the end of the club’s last competitive fixture that season. You can finish the campaign you joined, but you cannot stay for the next one.

The end goal

Win any continental club title. It doesn’t have to be the UEFA Champions League or even the highest-tier competition in your region. A second-tier continental trophy counts. A continental Super Cup does not.

That leaves you free to chase opportunities around the world. The difficult part is earning a job at a club capable of winning one, then getting it done before you have to hand the keys back.

There’s no five-year plan. There’s barely time to learn everyone’s name.

3. Everyone Has a Price: The Brighton Challenge

The premise

Brighton are the inspiration, but you can take this one to any club.

The rule is simple: every year, you must sell your most valuable player. It doesn’t matter if they’re your captain, your top scorer or the only person in the squad who understands what you’re trying to do.

I like this because it stops a save becoming comfortable. You can build a good team, but you can’t keep the best version of it together indefinitely. The replacement you bought last year might be the player you have to sell this year.

The setup and restrictions

• Choose Brighton or any club you want to manage.
• At the opening of your main pre-season transfer window, identify your most valuable permanently owned player.
• Use the midpoint if the game displays a value range. If players are tied, sell the one on the higher wage.
• That player must leave permanently before the window closes. Offering them out at a ridiculous price and getting no bids doesn’t count.
• You can reinvest the money however you like, but you cannot buy the player back while attempting the challenge.

Use the main pre-season window rather than insisting on a European summer. This should work just as well in a calendar-year league.

Your first mandatory sale comes in the first main pre-season window available after you take over. If you disable the opening transfer window, it starts with the next one.

The end goal

Win your country’s top-flight league title while completing every required sale. Start further down the pyramid if you want a longer save.

The temptation will be to make an exception when you’re close. One more season with your star striker and you could win it.

That’s exactly when you have to sell him.

4. The United Nations Challenge: One Player From Each Country

The premise

Every player in your matchday squad must have a different nationality.

Not just the starting XI. The bench too.

You might find the perfect Brazilian striker, but if your best goalkeeper is Brazilian, you have a decision to make. Signing good players is only half the job. You need to be able to put them on the same teamsheet.

The setup and restrictions

• Choose any club in a league where the registration rules allow a workable squad.
• Select no more than one player representing each nation across your entire matchday squad.
• You can own multiple players from the same nation, but you cannot select them together, even if one is only on the bench.
• For dual nationals, use their senior international nation if they have represented one. Otherwise, use the primary nationality shown in the game. Don’t switch between passports to make the teamsheet work.
• Apply the restriction in every competitive match, including cups.

Domestic-player requirements can make this especially awkward in some countries. Check them first. Being unable to register a legal squad is a fairly dull way to lose a challenge.

The end goal

Win the top-flight league and the main domestic cup in the same season. Pick a country with both competitions.

Squad depth becomes a puzzle. Your backup right-back might also rule out your left-winger, and an injury to your goalkeeper could force a change somewhere completely unrelated.

You’ll eventually find yourself turning down an excellent player because you’ve already got a Belgian. That’s when you know the save has taken over.

5. The Homegrown Challenge: Build a Winner From Players Trained in Your Country

The premise

Every player you use must already be homegrown in the nation where you’re managing.

They don’t have to come through your academy. You can buy them from other clubs, bring back players who went abroad or build around your own youth system. But there are zero places for players who don’t meet the requirement.

This gives you more freedom than an academy-only save without letting you fill every gap with a cheap youngster from the other side of the world.

The setup and restrictions

• Choose your club and use the game’s trained-in-nation homegrown status as the eligibility test.
• Every player in your first-team squad and every competitive matchday squad must qualify.
• Nationality alone does not make a player eligible. Check their homegrown status.
• Players must qualify before you sign them for this challenge. Buying someone who could become homegrown later is not allowed.
• Existing ineligible players must be kept out of the first team while you arrange their departures. There is no first-season exemption.
• Your own academy prospects can develop in the youth teams, but cannot be promoted into the first-team squad until they meet the requirement.

Pick a league where that status can be checked clearly. The point is to build with players developed in that football system, rather than argue with yourself about whether someone counts.

The end goal

Win a continental club title with an entirely eligible squad. Choose a club with access to a continental competition, wherever in the world you want to manage. A second-tier competition counts; a Super Cup does not.

The domestic market becomes your entire recruitment plan. An average homegrown backup might suddenly be worth keeping, while a brilliant player at a bargain price is no use to you at all.

You can still build a great team. You’ll just have to stop your scouts sending you reports on players you’re not allowed to sign.

Which FM27 challenge should you choose?

If you want a career that takes you around the world, try the One-Season Wonder. If you want to stay with your own club, Everyone Has a Price gives you one clear rule that will keep causing problems for years.

The United Nations and Homegrown challenges suit anyone who enjoys building a squad as much as managing matches. City is the one for people who think Football Manager would be more relaxing with a financial crisis.

And if you’d rather start with a smaller club before adding restrictions, our Scandinavian FM27 save ideas featuring AB and Bryne offer another place to begin.

My advice is to pick the rule you’ll most resent following when things are going well. That’s probably the save you’ll remember.