Top Tips for Starting Your First FM27 Save

Start Your Journey

You have multiple options to begin your career. For single player careers, you can select either Quick Start for a quicker experience, or Advanced Setup to take full control over every detail. Or, if you’d rather compete against your friends in a multiplayer mode, you can take them on in an Online Career or in Shuffle Draft, a brand-new game mode that puts your squad-building and tactical nous to the test.

If you select Quick Start, this will build your game world depending on which club you decide to take over. However you can still change the selected countries and leagues throughout your career.

For example, if you manage in the Premier League, Quick Start will include men’s leagues and data from top European nations like England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. It also sets league-specific transfer windows and a standard database for your chosen top-flight.

If you’re the type of manager that likes to have full control, Advanced Setup is for you. This allows you to tinker with transfer windows, database sizes, preferences and much more.

Active Nations is where you’ll pick the leagues you want in your save. There are 59 men's nations and 12 women's nations to choose from in FM27, giving you more choice on how to craft your save universe. Here, you can also decide what leagues you’re able to manage in and what leagues are view-only, allowing you to follow the progress of teams and league without being a playable league.

Once you select the nations you want in your game world, it’s time to think about the depth of your database. FM27 has one of the largest databases in gaming. You can pick by continent, region, nation or at a division level:

• Current international players
• Players based in nation
• Players of nationality
• Players from top division clubs
• Players from top clubs
• Players with continental reputation
• Players with national reputation

As you add or remove data, be sure to keep an eye on the Estimated Game Speed indication. The speed of your game depends on the number of leagues and players loaded, as well as the performance of your computer.

You’ll see a list of start dates to choose from; these will depend on which leagues you’ve selected to be in your game world. FM27 will automatically pick the one that fits your selected league but you’re free to change this to suit your preferences.

Transfer Modes

FM27 has three transfer settings available to you, each offering a different starting pathway for your save.

• Original 
  • Squads will reflect all updated transfers, no matter when they occurred in real life. For example, a player who signed on deadline day will already be part of the team even if your save starts earlier in the same transfer window
• Real World
  • Transfers occur in sync with their actual dates. If players have changed clubs in real-life, the transfer will take place on the same date as it did in real-life (e.g. a player who moved on deadline-day in real life won’t join their new club until deadline-day is reached in-game)
• Your World
  • Club and player data will be accurate as of the start of the 2026/27 season, with no further transfers taking place from that point onwards (e.g. players who moved on deadline-day in real-life won’t move in-game if the season has already started)

Advanced Settings

You can also choose from several additional gameplay settings to further tailor and customise your FM27 save universe. However, it’s important to note these cannot be amended once a save has been created.

• Use Fake Players and Staff
  • No real player or staff names are used, giving you a completely alternate universe in which you can demonstrate your management skills
• Use Real Fixtures
  • Schedules will match real-life fixture lists (where available). Deselect this option if you wish to have a randomised fixture schedule in-game
• Add Key Staff
  • Select this option if you wish for vacant key staff roles to be filled by default
• Add Players to Playable Teams
  • Choose this option to ensure all playable teams start with full squads. Any empty or partially filled teams will have Newgens generated to complete their squads
• Allow First Transfer Window Activity
  • Select this if you wish for transfers to be made during the first transfer window of your save, or deselect if you wish for no transfers to be made
• Allow Player Attribute Masking
  • Scouting will be required to see players’ Attributes, so deselect if you wish to view all attributes by default
• Allow control of teams with managers in place
  • Permits clubs with managers to be taken over by human managers. Deselect if you only wish for clubs with no manager in place to be available for selection
• Allow use of the In-Game Editor
  • An additional tool available on Steam and Epic stores from full release which allows you to make in-game edits to players, clubs and leagues in your game world as your save progresses.

Preferences

FM27 gives you more tools to customise the game to suit your preferences, from language and currency settings to display, audio, accessibility options, shortcuts, save frequency, and matchday settings. Don't worry if you change your mind, many of these can be adjusted throughout your career.

Choose Your Team

It’s now time to pick your new club that you’ll lead to glory.

You can select from any of the playable leagues you selected, or, if you prefer, start unemployed and see where things take you.

When looking at clubs to manage, you’ll be provided with a preview on every team including Notable Rivals, Supporter Culture, and Board Expectation.

Manager Profile

It’s now time to create your manager. You’re able to tailor your profile, from their bio to their appearance including hair, body, attire and accessories.

Once you’ve setup your profile, you need to input your experience and qualifications including playing and non-playing achievements, coaching badges, management style and personality. Your choices here help determine your managerial ability, reputation, style and attributes as you begin your new career.

With these top tips, you’re all set to hit the ground running with your first save and start making the calls that will define your legacy. Let us know who you decide to manage on our socials @FootballManager.