FM24's Ultimate Clubs & Countries Combo for Build a Nation Save

Discover top clubs and countries for the FM24 Build A Nation challenge. Transform football landscapes in this definitive guide to success.

Unveiling the Ultimate Clubs and Countries for the FM24 Build A Nation Challenge

Since FM22, Sports Interactive announced that nations on FM would have dynamic youth ratings. This means, if you bring consistent success to a country, they’ll produce better and better youth players. FM players quickly figured out that - if you pair this with growing the reputation of a club with a successful youth academy - you can turn a club into a wonderkid factory and turn around the football fortunes of an entire nation. The point of this article is to look at which nation and club combinations are your best choices to take on the Build A Nation challenge.

Portugal and Braga

Strictly speaking, there’s not much building to be done with Portugal. Regularly producing some of the best players in the world, Portugal ended their search for international silverware in 2016 when they won the Euros on penalties. However, when you look at the standard of players that Portugal have produced since the 1950s, one trophy seems to be an underwhelming haul.

While the obvious answer may be to take control of one of the big three (Porto, Sporting and Benfica), these clubs already have world-class youth academies producing players for the national team. They also contribute to raising the reputation of the league by performing adequately in Europe. The challenge with Braga is to add yet another high-performing club to continental competition, and improve your own academy to add to the ever-growing pool of elite players. Raising Primeira Liga into the top 5 leagues in Europe, while elevating the national side to one capable of winning the World Cup, would truly cement Portugal as one of the greatest footballing nations on earth.

Scotland and Hibernian

The Scottish national side have had something of a resurgence under Steve Clarke. While they missed out on the 2022 World Cup, the Scots have qualified for their second consecutive Euros, and will head to Germany next summer after comfortably making it through what could’ve been a difficult qualifying group. They’ve also gained qualification to group A of the Nations League, and will face off against some of the very best teams in the world.

Meanwhile, in the domestic game, Celtic and Rangers continue to dominate, and also perform respectably enough in Europe - achieving regular group stage football, but also Rangers’ recent Europa League final will live long in the memory of supporters. However, where Scottish football lets itself down is the lack of a consistent third power. Aberdeen and Hearts have both had their time in the sun in recent years, but neither have had to look far for their troubles either. At Hibs, you have the best youth academy in Scotland and, therefore, are best placed to build a homegrown side to challenge the Old Firm. Your challenge is to bring Hibs into the conversation, challenging for domestic silverware and increasing the SPFL’s reputation on the continent; while riding the ascension of the National team to a competitive force in European football.

Turkey and Trabzonspor

Turkey is another national team already on the rise. They have a decent amount of talent and players playing at the highest level with their clubs, but have been unbelievably disappointing in qualification for tournaments. Since 1954, Turkey has only appeared at one World Cup. They have qualified for a third successive Euros, but for a nation the size and population of Turkey, their lack of appearances on the highest stage is very disappointing. Trabzonspor have had a level of domestic success, culminating in a title win in 2021. They also have great training facilities, and their youth recruitment is roughly on a par with the rest of the league (not that that’s saying much).

However, in Turkey, the interesting matter of this save is the matchday rules. The Turkish Super League allows only 8 non-Turkish players in the matchday squad, only 6 of whom may be on the pitch at once. You also need to have at least one under-23 and homegrown at club player in the squad at all times. This makes the save tricky, because you’re competing for Turkish talent to compete domestically, while also trying to ensure they’re of sufficient standard to allow you to compete in Europe. The good news is, if you can raise your club with Turkish talent, you also help the national team to grow. This isn’t for the faint hearted, but it is rewarding.

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Republic of Ireland and St Pat’s Athletic

This is one of the toughest nations to build in the game. While Ireland have a reasonable amount of talent in their national team, regular qualification for tournaments has evaded the Irish for some time now. They often struggle to keep promising young players, as players with second nationalities either choose to take youth international football with Ireland before changing allegiances later (like Jack Grealish), or choose not to play with Ireland at all in hopes of earning a call up for their other nationality. This is a challenge that will only be overcome by consistent success for the national side, so you’ll have to make do with what you’ve got for now and hope you can regularly qualify for tournaments.

Domestically, the Irish game is a bit of a mess. The Irish Premier Division is 74th in Europe, roughly on a par with League 2 in England. There’s a serious gulf in quality between the Irish Premier Division and Scotland who are similarly-sized and nearby enough to feel competitive. Your job as manager of St Pat’s is to raise the profile of your club while bringing through young Irish talent. They have the best youth recruitment aside from Shamrock Rovers, and good newgens. Average facilities will need to be upgraded, but scraping into European competition a few times should earn you the money to do so.

Conclusion

Build A Nation saves can be incredibly satisfying long-term saves. The satisfaction of not just boosting the profile of one club, but an entire league and national game is second to none. I hope the above article has inspired you to take on this challenge, and provided some food for thought of how best to tackle this.