10 Steps to Glory | FM23 Save Idea

This is my potential idea for a long term save in Football Manager 2023. I’ve called it ’10 Steps to Glory’ and this is how it works.

I have divided the 34 playable leagues — minus Russia — in the vanilla FM23 database into 10 sections using the official UEFA coefficients.

— — STEP ONE — —
44 — Northern Ireland
48 — Iceland
50 — Wales

— — STEP TWO — —
35 — Latvia
36 — Finland
37 — Ireland
39 — Belarus

— — STEP THREE — —
27 — Slovakia
28 — Poland
31 — Slovenia

— — STEP FOUR — -
23 — Sweden
24 — Bulgaria
25 — Romania
26 — Hungary

— — STEP FIVE — —
19 — Croatia
20 — Greece
21 — Israel

— — STEP SIX — —
15 — Switzerland
16 — Ukraine
17 — Denmark

— — STEP SEVEN — — + Conference League
12 — Norway
13 — Czech Rep
14 — Turkey

— — STEP EIGHT — — + Europa League
8 — Scotland
9 — Belgium
10 — Austria
11 — Serbia

— — STEP NINE — — + Europa League
5 — France
6 — Netherlands
7 — Portugal

— — STEP TEN — — + Champions League
1 — England
2 — Spain
3 — Germany
4 — Italy

RULES…

Start unemployed, no badges, Sunday League Footballer.
Load as many leagues up the steps as your computer can handle, you can always add more as you leave each step.

You are starting in STEP ONE (Northern Ireland, Iceland, Wales), but you most start in the lowest playable tier.

You don’t have to stay with the same team throughout playing in the opening country, you are building your way to a title.

AIM 1: Win the league in any of the three Step One countries. Job done. Then you can move on.

However, when you move up to STEP TWO, you can only apply to jobs in the lowest playable tier. So pick wisely. At this stage, you are building your career, growing your reputation.

STEPS THREE to SIX, you can apply and take any job in the countries. You have won Two top tier titles, your reputation is higher, so it’s time to step up.

STEP SEVEN — Now, here you need to win a title, but you must also win the UEFA EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE with your chosen club — you could also manage multiple teams in this step and build up to being European contenders.

STEP EIGHT, then NINE — In each of these steps, as you are getting closer to the top, go and win the league AND the UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE in both Steps. Two titles and two European titles. Woof.

These are going to take longer to build and you might need to make sideways steps to get over the line.

STEP TEN — You’ve made it to one of the biggest leagues in Europe. Maybe you’ll stick to one team, maybe you’ll pick two or three, but as well as becoming champions of a top four league, you will always have to lift UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE to complete the 10 Steps to Glory.

The minimum is 10 league titles and four European trophies. Sounds easy, right?

If you were lucky to smash every stage, you are probably looking at around 13 seasons. But the hope is you take 2/3 seasons at each STEP and get 30/40 seasons down the line, but with enough intrigue and interest to keep you going through the cycle.

Perhaps, down the line, if there is a team you fall in love with, you could just stay and build a legacy before moving on. Maybe wait until you have become dominant before moving on.

That’s the challenge. What do you think? Let me know on social media or YouTube.