There’s something beautiful about starting at the very bottom and working your way up to the pinnacle of football. In fact, it’s the ultimate Football Manager challenge in many ways.
I’m going to be giving this one a try myself, and have given myself until the release of Football Manager 21 to achieve it. I’ll also write a blog about my journey and upload it to the site. So keep your eyes peeled.
For this, I’ve added extra leagues in England. You can usually find an extension on Steam > Workshop that gives you access down to tier 12 or tier 13. It’s not essential for this challenge, but may make it a little more fun, if you like the idea of starting at an amateur club.

Anyway, let’s get on with it, shall we?
The Challenge:
- Start unemployed and within 15 years, lift the Champions League.
The Rules:
- You MUST start with no coaching badges and only Sunday League playing experience.
- You can add as many leagues as you like.
- You can manage no more than FIVE teams through the 15 year challenge.
- You cannot use editor to add players or finances to your club.
Bonus points:
- Win the Champions League with a team that have never won it before.
- Win the Premier League (or equivalent) in the same season as the Champions League.
Let me know on Instagram if you’re taking on the challenge too. Let’s see who can do it in the quickest time.
Best of luck, fellas.

Run meme pages and this website. But spend far too much time on Football Manager to do either very well.
I actually did this, started at the bottom got my first job at Semi Pro, Lisburn Distillery in the 3rd division of the Northern Irish Leagues, worked my way up to 1st div, got relegated, got back up, survived and moved to Linfield, most successful Northern Irish team that was on a bad run, for 3 season, incidentally they had a couple of players they bought from my Lisburn team, got them to 2 league titles, and to Champs league group stages, ended up moving to Aberdeen thereafter, for just 2 seasons and moved over to Bordeaux, there for 1 season, ended in Champs league spots, with a goal of only mid table, then went to Juve, who declined dramatically, with Inter the best team in Europe winning the Champs League for 4 seasons in a row. Juve’s targets were to finish best of the rest. De Ligt still there, and 1 or 2 others, first season just made Champs League, next season round of 16 in champs league and 2nd in league. Won the league the following season, still ended round of 16 though… 2034 season I ended up 2nd in the league but won the champions league… Love the journey, as much as I want to carry on with this save, I also wanna do it again as unemployed as the save was before the Mid season transfer updates, basically Werner stayed at RB Leipzig his whole career, Haaland moved to Chelsea in 2024, so doesn’t feel as great as it should.
Definitely starting afresh.