Managing a club with one of the best youth training facilities in the nation brings another dimension to your save. Rather than buying peaking players at a high cost, shifting the club’s philosophy at youth development brings another type of reward.
To help you find your next FM26 save, we will hereby look at some of the best Football Manager 2026 youth development challenges by looking at teams to manage with good youth training facilities, the history of developing their own home-grown talents, or provides the opportunity to compete against the best youth academies in their country in the future, with the right club philosophy.
Why starting a Youth to Gold Save on FM26?!
Have you ever had the desire to try out one of the youth development challenges on Football Manager? Then, following in the footsteps of FM Youtuber Omega Luke by doing a youth to gold save on FM25 should be considered.
A famous saying is that “You can’t win anything with kids“! However, wouldn’t it be wonderful to prove former Liverpool starlet Alan Hansen wrong by trying to build a young squad of wonderkids and homegrown talents on a Youth to Gold FM26 save.
Perhaps you were as impressed as me when Barcelona fielded a complete starting XI of players from their own Academy on the November 25th, 2012, against Levante, and won!
It was a historic but proud moment for the club as it showed the entire world, youth development and putting attention and resources on the club’s youth Academy, the La Masia, benefits the club on different fronts – not only on a competitive side.
Or perhaps you wish to clinch the record of having the youngest squad to ever win the Premier League, or another of the top five leagues. If so, you will have to build a team younger than Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea 2004-05 team who had an average age of 24 years and 3 months.
Regardless of why, embarking on a youth development challenge on Football Manager 26 can become a wonderful challenge which keeps you motivated and interested in your save, despite of advancing far into the future.
Always seeking to get that golden generation at the annual youth intake and spent your focus on turning the next generation of talents into club legends, can be more rewarding than just signing the best players and hunt for titles. Couple your focus on developing your own talents by relying mostly on newgens with signing under-18 wonderkids from across the world and your FM26 youth development save is destined for long-term success!
If this sounds something for you, here is our guide on the best Football Manager 26 youth development saves as we have collected 10 clubs to manage with a great Youth Academy.
Check out our list of best youth Academy clubs and other hidden wonderkids factories across the world for more suggestions on youth development saves on FM26.
For more FM25 save ideas, check out our comprehensive guide to Football Manager 26 teams to manage.
10 Football Manager Youth Development Save Ideas
Zeljezničar Banja Luka – Bosnian First League
We kick off our list of FM25 youth development save ideas with a club that could be recognised as a hidden wonderkid factory. Based in Bosnia & Hercegovina, Zeljezničar Banja Luka might not be first club you consider when searching for wonderkids and talents on Football Manager 26 as they are based in the first division of the Bosnian football league system, the Prva Liga Republike Srpske.
Founded in 1924, Zeljezničar BL is based in the oldest city in the country, Banja Luka, and must not be mistaken by Zeljezničar Sarajevo, who is the second most successful club in the country.
Managing Zeljezničar Banja Luka on Football Manager 26 represents a chance to build a club from the ground up and hunt for legendary status as you try to win the club’s first major title.
With one of the country’s best youth academies the club relies on youth and could be considered a grassroot football club. According to Transfermarkt, the squad’s average age is only 21.6 and find themselves in the bottom half of the table halfway through the season.
In Football Manager 2024, the club possess great training and youth facilities and are at a similar level as FK Sarajevo.
Zeljezničar BL’s overall great youth facilities and training facilities has aided the development of a handful of great Bosnian talents. Sporting CP’s goalkeeper Vladan Kovačević is currently the most familiar graduate.
NB! The major con for Football Manager 26 is that you will need to rely on a league expansion pack to be able to manage them – meaning we need an Editor released for FM25 before Bosnia & Hercegovina is playable on Football Manager 26.
Parma – Italian Serie A
After a one-year hiatus, Parma Calcio 1913 is back in the Italian Serie A. After three seasons in the second tier, Fabio Pecchia has revived the classic Italian football club we all have fond memories from their golden era in the 90s when they won the UEFA Cup on two occasions: 1994-95 and 1998-99, the European Cup Winner’s Cup 1992-93 as well as the European Super Cup 1993.
At home soil, Parma has never won the Serie A but finished as runners-up in 1996-97 but have won the Coppa Italia three times: 1991-92, 98-99 and 2001-02.
RELATED | The Greatest Players from the Parmalat era by Bleacherreport [External]
Although the team was represented with several foreign world-class players such as Hernan Crespo, Hristo Stoichkov, Fausto Asprilla, Fernando Couto and Tomas Brolin, Parma’s youth academy has played a significant role to their current reputation.
Throughout their history, legends like Gianluca Buffon, Carlo Ancelotti, Daniele Dessena, Stefano Piolo, Roberto Mussi and Antonio Benarrivo has been developed by Parma whilst a great number of players has used the club as a stepping-stone club.
What’s interesting regarding Football Manager 25 is that Parma has the youngest squad competing in the Serie A this season with an average age of 24.8. Their excellent training facilities (16) provides a great foundation to develop players and increase the likeliness of those players between the age of 18 and 23 can reach their maximum potential.
However, the club’s current level of youth facilities can only be described as average. Good youth facilities, adequate Academy coaching and average youth recruitment is far apart the rest of the Italian classic teams – meaning you will have a huge task at hand to shift the focus to youth development at Parma and be self-sustained with Italian wonderkids that can represent the National team as they get older.
In fact, that’s one of the objectives by managing Parma in a youth to gold series on Football Manager 25 – trying to produce as many players for the Italian National team as possible whilst competing against the big-5 in the country to lift a UEFA competition trophy yet again!
Sunderland – Sky Bet Championship
Just like Parma, Sunderland has the youngest squad in the English Sky Bet Championship with an average age of 23.7.
Featuring two of the most enchanting English wonderkids, Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham, Sunderland AFC could become a spellbinding save where you continue the club’s excellent work on youth development whilst hunting for the club’s first ever Premier League trophy in the modern era.*
At the moment, it’s eight years since they last played in the Premier League and have worked themselves up from League One to Championship after their disastrous consecutive relegation from PL to L1 in only two seasons.
Although they have won the FA Cup twice, we need to head back 52 years since they last won the oldest national football competition in the world.
Entering Stadium of the Light will provide you with some of the greatest resources in the second tier of the English football league system at producing your own football talents. Sunderland got superb training facilities (18), excellent youth facilities (17), good academy coaching (14) and above average youth recruitment (14) – making them into one of the best clubs in England for a youth development save.
Youth development has always been an important part of the club’s history. From Jordan Pickford and Jordan Henderson to the brilliant Chris Rigg who is destined for greatness.
*Sunderland has won the Premier Division six times with their last English championship coming in 1935/36 whilst the first came in 1891/92.
Managing Sunderland on FM26 presents a wonderful opportunity where you combine the thrill of managing an ambitious squad hunting for promotions with writing history by making the Sunderland Academy a world re-known youth production club.
Pogoń Szczecin – Polish Ekstraklasa
Founded by Polish exiles based in Lviv, Ukraine, Pogoń Szczecin, has established themselves among the top five clubs in Poland in the past 5 years. Qualifying for the Europa Conference League qualification in three seasons in row, Pogon presents a chance to manage a young side in European competitions.
In the Polish Ekstraklasa, Pogon’s best finish is a runner-up place in 2000-01 and 1986-87 meaning you’re able to write history if you manage to become Polish champions by focusing on home grown talents after 13 consecutive seasons in the Ekstraklasa after finishing on third place at their best (2021/22).
For the last 20 years, Pogon has established themselves as a club focusing on youth development but is a few steps behind Legia Warzawa, Lech Poznan and Jagiellonia as earning the reputation of having the best youth Academy in Poland.
Apart from Adrian Przyborek – a talented attacker representing the Polish Under-18 national team on 8 occasions – the current youth team of Pogon lack the biggest Polish wonderkids for the moment… at least before you enter the club.
However, if we consider their history of developing youth, the Polish club has seen talents like Kamil Grosicki, Adrian Benedyczak, Piotr Celeban and Kacper Kozlowski coming through their ranks – several players who have represented the Polish National team either for the men’s or youth teams.
This will also be the objective as you take on the challenge of managing Pogon on Football Manager 25 by relying on the club’s youth academy at the annual youth intake and hunt for that golden generation which can create the foundation for a golden era that overtake Legia Warzawa as the most successful club in Polish history.
A side mission would be to see the next Robert Lewandowski come through the academy and get one of your players to surpass the prolific striker as the most capped Polish player in the history.
Belgrano – Argentine Liga Professional
In a fierce competition among between the big 5 clubs in Argentine at developing the best Argentinian wonderkids, Club Atlético Belgrano might not be at the top of your head. With River Plate, Velez, Boca Juniors and Racing Club often taking the spotlight, Belgrano could become an immersive Football Manager 25 save where you try to develop as many players as possible for the Argentinian national team and see one of your players winning the World Cup in the future.
Based in the second biggest city in the nation, Belgrano was established March 19th, 1905, and will celebrate their 120th anniversary in 2025.
Despite their long and pride history, Belgrano is yet to become Argentinian champions. It wasn’t until 1991 until they promoted to the Primera Division for the first time and have spent most of their time playing in the first and second division.
After promotion to the top division last season, the club’s priority is to maintain their topflight position above anything else. However, over the last few years, the club has consistently produced Argentinian talents that have been exported to Europe. When Fiorentina bough Matias Moreno (20) in the 24/25 winter transfer window he became the latest one in a long line of academy graduates. Over the years Belgrano has developed generational talents such as Bruno Zapelli, Cristian Romero, Franco Vazquez, and Bruno Amione.
Now the challenge begins to develop the next generational talent from Cordoba – an Argentinian wonderkid who could be mentioned in the same breath as Franco Mastantuono, Felipe Esquivel, Agustin Ruberto and Claudio Echeverri. Notice that these are all products of River Plate – meaning you’ll have a tough task ahead to become the best club in the country at developing youth.
Malaga CF – Spanish La Liga 2
If you have landed here after searching for Spanish football clubs to manage on Football Manager 26 one of the most interesting opportunities for a youth development save on FM26 is Malaga CF.
Although there are several great subjects in Spain including Las Palmas, Marbella, Tenerife or rebuilding Valencia who finds themselves in the relegation zone of La Liga, Malaga could become an immersive project.
After relegating to the third tier in Spanish football for the first time since 1998 in 2023, Los Albicelestes has begun the huge task of restoring their glory.
13 years ago, Malaga was a household name in La Liga and after their fourth-place finish in 2011/12 they qualified for the Champions League the following season and managed to reach the quarter finals.
The squad featured Enzo Maresca, Isco, Julio Baptista, Javier Saviola and Martin Demichelis – a mix of both homegrown players and foreign big-names but it also included players from their own academy such as Fabrice Olinga and Jesus Gamez.
Now it’s 7 years since they played topflight football and with the ownership of the Qatari businessman, Abdullah ben Nasser Al Thani, Malaga might have the financial strength to quickly get back to their former heights.
Apart from the challenge of winning the club’s first La Liga trophy, the club’s vision is to continue their remarkable track-record of producing Spanish wonderkids.
Throughout the history, Malaga’s Academy has featured Brahim Diaz, Dean Huijsen, Youssef En-Nesyri and Javi Ontiveros plus many other players who have made hundreds of appearances in the Spanish league.
Now their greatest youth prospect is Antoñito Cordero – a technical-gifted inverted winger with flair and one-on-one skills that could make the player into a club legend as you advance through the seasons.
As you embark on a youth development save with Malaga on FM25, you’ll have great training and youth facilities at your disposal. Their good youth recruitment ensures the club is among the top 10 youth academies in the country. All it requires is your effort by establishing a club DNA that runs through the entire club focusing on giving the club’s best youth a pathway to the first team.
Can you replicate the success of Barcelona’s La Masia academy at Malaga and avoid singing any foreign players as you begin the process of entering the next golden era for the Andalucian club.
Brescia Calcio – Italian Serie BKT
In fierce competition with Como and Atalanta over being dubbed as the greatest club from the Lombardy region, Brescia Calcio has often been seen as the little brother… at least in relationship to Atalanta.
In difference to Atalanta, Brescia has played most of the last 20 years in Serie B. A short spell in 2019/20 and 2010/11 to the Serie A, Le Rondinelle has often been the club the greatest football legends come to retire. Both Roberto Baggio and Pep Guardiola went to Brescia at the latter stages of their retirement.
However, their reputation as a youth development club has been increased by developing midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo. In fact, a host of brilliant talents has gone the grades through the Brescia Academy.
Giorgio Scalvini, who was one of the most bought wonderkids on FM24, Sandro Tonali, Lorenzo Lucca, Mattia Zanotti, Marek Hamsik and Sebastiano Esposito are all Brescia products.
With good youth facilities, adequate Academy coaching and above average youth recruitment, you’ll have some job at hand to turn Brescia into one of the best clubs in Italy at youth development. Seeing the next Italian wonderkid able to play in the deep-lying playmaker role could be a wonderful mission.
When Pirlo retired, he had won the Serie A four times, become World Cup winners and led AC Milan to two Champions League trophies. Can you replicate that success by focusing your attention to the club’s youth intake?
Then, the club has never played more than 5 consecutive seasons in the topflight, and never won the Serie A title – meaning you will have several challenges to try to achieve by managing Brescia on Football Manager 25.
Lokomotiv Zagreb – Croatian SuperSport HNL
Croatia is one of my favourite places for a youth development save on Football Manager. With both Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb as the biggest candidates for a youth to gold save, you can step up the challenge by managing one of their most fierce rivals, NK Lokomotiv Zagreb.
Founded in 1914, the club has mostly played in the lower leagues until they made three consecutive promotions between 2007 and 2009.
Now they have been part of the Croatian football league for 16 seasons and established themselves among the top 10 clubs in Croatia. Their best-ever finish in the topflight is finishing as runner-up in 2019/20 season which resulted in qualification to the Champions League for the first time.
Although they have never won any titles, Lokomotiv Zagreb is a successful club when it comes to developing their own generational talents. Their excellent Academy coaching and good youth facilities has resulted in several great talents with huge potential coming through their ranks.
Their current youth prospect Lukas Kacavenda and Martin Soticek might be familiar names for all those of you who enjoy scouting for cheap wonderkids bargains but throughout the history we have also seen Lovro Majer, Luka Ivanusec, Roko Simic, Marko Pjaca and Karlo Bartolec coming through the ranks of astonishing Lokomotiv Academy.
Just imagine the great challenge of forcing yourself to sign only players under the age of 19 and rely mostly on the quality of your youth intake as you embark on the quest to produce as many players as possible for the Croatian national team.
Can you get that golden generation at youth intake day that makes Lokomotiv Zagreb become Croatian Champions with a team made of only players coming through the Academy?
AS Trencin – Slovakian Niké Liga
What do you do when you can’t compete with the rest of football Europe in the transfer market?
With the lowest average age in the Slovakian Niké Liga, (23), and one of the best youth facilities in Slovakia, AS Trencin emphasizes youth development as a key strategy behind the running of the club.
Through their ranks the club has developed Leon Bailey, Stanislav Lobotka and Martin Skrtel to name a few.
Affiliated with Ajax, Trencin has taken advantage of their widereach scouting network to identify cheap talents with great potential from both Brazil and the African continent. Players from both Ghana and Nigeria has entered the club at almost for free to later be sold for millions. Their transfer of Wesley to Club Brugge in 2016 increased both their reputation as a stepping-stone club and their finances by earning €3.9m.
This was later led by the sale of Samuel Kalu (€1m to KAA Gent) and Matus Bero (€2.5m) the following season. In 2018, Trencin bought Osman Bukari for the incredible fee of just €60k from Accra Lions. He was then developed at the club for two years until being sold for €1m to KAA Gent.
This shows us their brilliance at both having a clear transfer policy and their brilliance in youth development.
Whether entering the club with a similar strategy or using Trencin as an example in another youth development save on Football Manager 26 is all up to you.
For instance, we could imagine both Helsingborgs IF (Sweden), AC Horsens (Denmark) or Skeid (Norway) to be suitable clubs that could be managed for a similar transfer strategy.
In terms of titles, AS Trencin managed to win two consecutive doubles between 2014 and 2016 – a feat not many other clubs have managed before or after. In the past five seasons they have finished at best on a fourth place making the task of restoring their glory even better!
Managing Trencin on Football Manager 26 represents a great opportunity to conduct a wonderkids save where you continue the process of setting up the club’s scouting network to track down cheap and hidden wonderkids from all over the world.
Can you sell one of your own talents for a record fee of plus €50m profit?
Envigado – Liga BetPlay Dimayor
Whether you enjoy scouting for cheap wonderkids and talents or is searching for a club to manage in the South American continent, heading to Colombia could represent a wonderful affair.
Although there are several clubs suited for a youth development save in Colombia such as Barranquilla Fútbol (Torneo Dimayor I), Internacional de Palmira or Fortaleza CEIF, one of the clubs with the best youth facilities in Colombia is Envigado.
Their track record of producing Colombian wonderkids is outstanding. Aston Villa’s hot prospect Jhon Duran, Yaser Asprilla, Jhon Cordoba and James Rodriguez is just some of the names coming through their ranks.
At the moment, the club’s most significant talent is 18-year old Andres Tovar and Luis Angel Diaz but includes a potential wonderkid for FM25 that we’re sure you’ll hear more about. Santiago Londoño – remember the name!
Over the last five years, Envigado has finished on 20th, 16th, 20th and 18th before a 10th place last season. Founded in 1989, the club is still yet to win any major trophies but due to their reputation of producing wonderkids, the foundation is there for an eventful journey as you embark on the challenge of winning the CONMEBOL Libertadores with Envigado on FM26.
RELATED | Unveiling the five best young footballers in South America
At Envigado you will benefit from the club’s existing good training and great youth facilities and Academy coaching. Their exceptional youth recruitment will aid you as the youth intake approaches by ensuring the pool of youth intake graduates are wide reach and full of generational talents.
Perhaps you’ll be able to receive the new Luiz Diaz which you can sell to Europe for a huge profit – aiding the club to build a wonderkid squad who can compete against Atletico Nacional as the most successful club in Colombia.
Why a Youth Development Challenge can improve your motivation for a long-term save on Football Manager?
I guess we have all been in the situation where the enjoyment for your Football Manager save decreases with the number of seasons you’re in. Having a clear philosophy and plan behind your save could increase the motivation and excitement to keep playing the save. Whether you’re one who enjoys starting at the bottom of the pyramid and work your way to the top, or one who needs strict rules which you need to abid to in order for keeping the save challenging enough to enjoy it.
It’s in the aspect of the challenge, a youth development save comes in. Let’s take a closer look at why a youth development saves could be something for you.
Instead of spending money on signing middle age players at the heights of their career, all the club’s resources and your effort will go to getting as much out of your junior talents as possible. It means investments into the training facilities, backroom staff, and its youth coaches, are prioritized along with emphasizing your attention to details when planning training activities.
When starting a youth development save, all short-term goals of winning trophies will be set aside by focusing on the long-term prerequisites for the club to remain successful for the long-term. The overall objective of being financially sustainable is one of the main reasons the club’s abid to a youth development vision.
There are mainly three benefits by developing players coming through the Academy
- The overall cost of developing a player is severly lower than if you needed to sign ‘the similar’ player. Lower wage demands, agent fees and clauses will make the return of the investment larger if you one day should sell the player.
- Recruiting players comes with a risk no matter how much you scout the player. Will he fit into the club, your tactics and adapt to the new circumstances? Players coming through the Academy knows the club in and out. They know the club philosophy and the tactical system.
- The club DNA and your training philosophy also ensures that you get players that perfectly fit your tactics as you have monitored their progress from a young age and focused on parts of their play that’s essential for your club’s playing style. It means you could look within your own club if you need a new attacking midfielder to play in the Shadow Striker role instead of spending €60Mill for a player that needs time to adapt to your spezialized system.
Over the years, more and more clubs, who can not compete in today’s transfer market have surrendered to youth development in order to increase their competitiveness. It might be a financial reason for this as they have understood that their place in the hierarchy is to develop players for the bigger clubs by using their limited resources for the long-term prospect of gaining money on selling their best youth talents to other clubs around them, whether they are at a similar competition level within the same nation or to clubs abroad.
Personally, there’s nothing as satisfying as developing players in Football Manager that becomes one of the best players within the nation. The time and effort going to carefully attend players’ training on a monthly basis, and seeing the player progress from an average youngster to him getting his first international match debut a few years later, is nothing but satisfying.
