FM22 Best Teams To Manage: Football Manager 2022 Save Ideas

This is our list of the FM22 best teams to manage that will test your management and tactical skills. Football Manager 2022 gives you wide access to a tonne of leagues and tiers across the world, and sometimes it's more fun than walking the league with the biggest budget. So if you need some ideas to spice up your saves and challenge yourself, here's our best FM22 teams to manage. 

• Looking for some cheap players? Check out our top picks for FM22 bargains

FM22 Best Teams To Manage: Newcastle United

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Transfer Budget: £200m
Wage Budget: £2,076,313 p/w

Kicking things off is possibly an obvious choice in Newcastle United, but the dynamic they bring to Football Manager 2022 cannot be understated. The Toon Army has been in the news lately thanks to their financial takeover which means when it comes to money, you're sorted on all fronts. The current Newcastle squad isn't one to be laughed at, with the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson up top, not to mention latest signing Joe Willock from Arsenal, but with a budget of £200m? You can practically buy anyone.

You may face the issues of players like Mbappe and Messi not wanting to join Newcastle United, but that sort of transfer budget offers so much manoeuvrability in the transfer market that you can hunt down all of the best FM22 wonderkids and snap up whoever you like. What's even better is that the board only want a top half finish so it gives you a few years to develop the young stars before the board demand silverware.

FM22 Best Teams To Manage: Sheffield United

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Transfer Budget: £1m
Wage Budget: £627,547 p/w

Three teams got relegated from the Premier League last season but Sheffield United definitely pose the most interesting challenge, largely down to their real life performance in the Championship being very sub par so far this season. The club is stacked with forwards that could never hit the back of the net in the top division; will you be able to turn Rhian Brewster into the titan he was once slated to become? How about club legend Billy Sharp - does he have a place in your team?

There's also the question of whether you opt to keep the defensive-minded playing style that has become synonymous with Sheffield United over the last season or two, which is actually even more possible in Football Manager 2022 thanks to the introduction of the wide centre-back role. Sheffield United love playing with three centre-halves, so now you can execute that more effectively.

FM22 Best Teams To Manage: Werder Bremen

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Transfer Budget: £169k
Wage Budget: £310,339 p/w

Over in the German leagues, do you fancy taking a once great team back to the top? Werder Bremen got relegated to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in 40 years last season, which means they have a breadth of history behind them and an iconic legacy to restore. While they're one of the favourites to bounce straight back up to the top, when you get them there you've got to tackle the mighty Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, and RB Leipzig.

When it comes to the Werder Bremen squad, the most interesting player is Roger Assale. A natural advanced forward with impressive physical and on-the-ball stats, he's not actually owned by your club; he's on loan from Dijon FCO in Ligue 2. So at the end of the season, you'll need to replace your star striker, along with your best right back in the form of Mitchell Weiser, because he's also on loan but from Bayer Leverkusen. When your contracted players aren't up to the same standard as the few loanees you have, you face an uphill battle to bring your squad up to scratch.

• Wondering how to set up your squad effectively? The best FM22 tactics will help with that

FM22 Best Teams To Manage: Dover Athletic

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Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £8,065 p/w

A much longer-term save here with Dover Athletic, a team in the Vanarama National, also known as the second-to-bottom tier of English football (that is playable in Football Manager 2022). Putting aside the non-existent transfer kitty and the fact the club is already spending the entirety of the £8k wage budget, managing Dover Athletic in FM22 comes with a huge caveat: the club has a -12 points deduction. This means you're four wins behind any of the other clubs in the division, and you're 500-1 to win the league.

It's not all doom and gloom though. Able to play pretty much anywhere on the pitch but excelling in the middle of the park is Henry Woods, 21-year-old star on loan from Gillingham. You may lose him at the end of the season when he returns to his parent club but for at least the first year, any hope you have of not being relegated to the Vanarama South will rest on his shoulders. 32-year olds Ricky Miller and Ben Williamson can play up top and on the right wing respectively, but aside from that? The squad is threadbare, so this challenge is not for the faint hearted.

FM22 Best Teams To Manage: Celtic

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Transfer Budget: £4.5m
Wage Budget: £459,240 p/w

The most successful team in Scotland over the last couple of decades has fallen to the wayside recently, as Rangers have reclaimed their spot at the top of Scottish football. The Bhoys have got a moderate transfer budget, but given their ambitions to play in the Champions League, a squad overhaul may be needed to make it a success for the green side of Glasgow.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, on loan from Tottenham, and Christopher Jullien are two stalwarts in the heart of defence, and Callum McGregor can run rings around players in the middle of the park, but the rest of the squad isn't great. To free up some funds, you can sell players such as Tom Rogic and James Forrest, who are both getting on now in age and take up significant chunks of the wage budget.

FM22 Best Teams To Manage: Inter Miami

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Transfer Budget: £7.2m
Wage Budget: £256,038 p/w

We'd be remiss to not include an MLS team in this list, simply because the way football in the United States works. With a season that runs on a completely different schedule to the European leagues most of us know and love, and a draft system replacing the usual transfer window, it completely changes everything you know about Football Manager. Of all the MLS teams to pick, Inter Miami are one of the most interesting since they're the newest team in the league and are owned by global sweetheart David Beckham.

The squad at your disposal is interesting too, because you have two ex-Juventus (or Zebre) superstars in the form of Gonzalo Higuain and Blaise Matuidi. The pair are far and away the best players at the club, followed by an Argentinian centre-back pairing. Kieran Gibbs and Ryan Shawcross are also in the squad, which will delight fans of late noughties Premier League football.

FM22 Best Teams To Manage: Adelaide United

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Transfer Budget: £113k
Wage Budget: £42,724 p/w

Alright, there's actually nothing particularly interesting about Adelaide United other than the fact the A-League often goes unloved in Football Manager. What does draw us towards them, and hopefully you too, is that Josh Cavallo plays for them. Who's Josh Cavallo? Well he's the only openly gay footballer in a top league right now. The central midfielder isn't a world beater by any means, but to set yourself a harder challenge in a league where you're predicted to finish mid-table, you can convert Josh Cavallo into the first name on your teamsheet.

Javi Lopez, ex-Espanyol legend is the star player in the rest of the squad, with the ability to play at either right-back or right-mid. When you start, he is transfer listed though, so you may be better off removing him from there pronto. The well-travelled Juande is another player along the same lines, but he can do a very decent job as a defensive mid, as can Isaias. The glaring hole in the squad is up top; the three strikers in the team are incredibly poor, so your limited transfer budget should focus on signing someone there.

Make sure you check out the FM22 real name fix to know how to get all the correct team and player names in the game, and stay tuned on GGRecon for more Football Manager 2022 guides.