Football Manager 2024 (FM24) is said to be the 20th and most complete edition to date that lets you manage your own team of superstar players, whilst pursuing footballing greatness.

Football Manager 2024 also sees the addition of brand new features from game modes, to improved match engine and much more.

Save File

One of the selling points of Football Manager 2024 would be that it can carry over progress from Football Manager 2023. We were able to load in save files in FM23 without any issues, despite using several custom database. However, save files in FM21 or FM22 won’t work unfortunately.

Game Mode

FM24 offers three game modes that players can play when starting off their career. The first being Original Mode, where players will be at the clubs they play for in the current Football Manager database at the start of their game, reflecting the most accurate real-life data.

The Real World Mode is where players will start the game contracted to the clubs they were with on the real-life date your Career begins. Players will then move to their new club on the same date they did in real life.

With the Your World Mode, club squads and budgets will be set at the date your game starts, and only players who joined before that date will be at your club, with all future transfers cancelled, giving players the opportunity to change history.

Set Piece Creator

One small, yet very impact new feature is the Set Piece Creator, which allows players to customise every Set Piece strategies like corner, throw in or free kick, making them better and more optimal for the teams you build.

There are scenarios for defence or attack. When you’re on the offence and you get a corner, you’re able to put players with the best Heading / Jumping Reach into “Aerial Threats”, then put players with good Long Shots in positions outside the penalty box to be ready to receive the raw ball and ready to kick.

While on the defence for example, when you’re playing against a stronger team and are expected to receive a lot of corner attacks, players can create a “counter attack” strategy if your opponent’s corner fails, and your players with strong Agility are ready to counterattack to create chances.

However, if you’re not big into micromanagement, your can just leave it as it is, and instead assign coaches to take control of certain areas or all areas of set pieces.

This feature brings in new excitement to the gameplay that requires more tactical depth, especially in terms of set pieces which are usually looked over by some players. Whether it’s just a corner kick or crossing the ball from a free kick, this can be crucial in determining whether you win or lose.

Smart Transfers

One of the common complaints from Football Manager players are the buying and selling of the players that they want; where buying a player can cost an arm and a leg, but if you want to sell a player, it’s oftentimes difficult or very cheap. Fortunately , FM24 brings in new features that makes the transfer system much smoother.

In the past, agents who managed player sales were only useful for asking the price / salary of the player. Players are now able to “chat” or “argue” with the agent of the player you’re after, to negotiate salary or selling price.

An example I came across during my playthrough was when I wanted to get Joao Cancelo, I immediately got the right price to buy him, however he was asking for a high salary as well as a short-term contract. I’m personally the type of manager who wants to buy a player on a long-term contract, so I was able to “argue” with the agent until the offer fitted my wants.

There’s also the Intermediaries, which can be hired if you’re looking to offload a player. Intermediaries are brokers hired by your Director of Football who can help generate new interest in a player and help secure his move for a percentage of the final transfer fee.

However, they have a “service fee” that ranges from 3% to 10% depending on how they can sell the player for the best price.

Intermediaries can also work for other clubs, meaning that they will come to your directly if someone else is looking to offload a player. In these instances, you’ll receive a Scout Report that includes Agent Feedback outlining a few expected financial details were you to pursue this deal.

My gripe about this intermediary is that they can’t sell players at the highest price according to market value. I have some players with a market value of $70M for example, but this intermediary could only sell at the player’s default value at $30M.

Despite this, I still think it’s a good feature because it’s very difficult to sell or get players at the right price considering I no longer have the headache of selling an old player with a high salary.

Improved Match Engine

One of the most noticeable differences I’ve seen is a from the improved match engine, which brings in better graphics, better lighting, smoother and more realistic player movement. Especially when players are holding the ball and moving from foot to foot.

The ball movement is now more true to real life and as a result, watching the match has a more realistic and natural flow too as it feels a lot more fluid than previous iterations of the game.

Official Japan League

One of the most anticipated things for Football Manger fans is the presence of an official J.League license, and it’s finally here in Football Manager 24. The license means players can play the official J.League database complete with official logos, kits, and photos of the players. In total there are 60 clubs that can be played.

It’s a nice addition to have in Football Manager 2024 because over the past few years, more and more talented players from Japan have played at the highest level of European football, so players can search and find talent in Japan more easily or even play in the league.

One drawback is that by default is there are still some teams in the Japanese league that still have no official license, thus some of the names and logos are still generic.

Verdict

Some of the new features that seem small actually makes the game more exciting to play and really impact the gameplay. Set Piece Creator and Smart Transfer especially are features that makes Football Manager 24 better when compared to previous titles.

Even so, Football Manager 24 doesn’t derive much from previous titles, which might be disappointing for fans who look for something different in the core gameplay. Despite that, FM24 is still the game that football manager fans can hold near and dear to.

Football Manager 24 is reviewed on PC via Steam, game code provided by the publishers.