FC St Helens FM26 One-Season Challenge

I’ve put together a challenge for anyone who fancies something different.

I’m sharing my Football Manager 2026 save and handing it over at a very specific moment. The in-game date is 1st July 2037, and FC St Helens have just had a completely ridiculous treble-winning season. They’ve won promotion to the Premier League for the first time in their history, while also winning the FA Cup and the Europa League.

So instead of building something from scratch, you’re stepping into a club that’s already punched way above its weight and is about to deal with the consequences of that.

You’ll be competing in six competitions in the 2037/38 season:

• Premier League

• Champions League

• FA Cup

• Carabao Cup

• Community Shield

• UEFA Super Cup

The squad is not great and it’s massively overperformed to get here, and the clubs finances are in a mess The whole idea is to see how people handle that step up when everything suddenly gets harder at once.

The challenge

You play one season only, starting from 1st July 2037 and finishing on 4th June 2038. Once you reach that date, save the game and submit it using the form below.

• Download the save:
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UZlBHKpEae416lx8apbkug-pmZH7RMKd/view?usp=sharing

• Submit your save by 3rd May 2026:
  https://forms.gle/nG5a4hVPHM8gr2xs5

A couple of important rules:

• You must continue with the existing manager (don’t add a new one)

• No editor use

• No save scumming

• Play the season properly

• Upload your saved game no later than 3rd May 2026.

Beyond that, it’s up to you. Transfers, tactics, squad changes, all fair game.

Scoring

Everything you do across the season adds up into one final score.

Premier League
You get:

• Your total points

• Your goal difference (can be negative)

• A position bonus (1st = 20, down to 20th = 1)

Champions League
League phase:

• Points + goal difference + position bonus (1st = 20, down to 20th = 1, 21st–36th get 0)

Knockouts:

• Each knockout round won = +10

• Runner-up = +25

• Winner = +50

• Playoff round gives no points

FA Cup

• +10 per round won

• +25 for winning the trophy

Carabao Cup

• +10 per round won

• +15 for winning the trophy

Super Cup

• +20 for winning the trophy

Community Shield

• +10 for winning the trophy

Everything gets added together and I’ll keep a leaderboard going.

I've made a video with a few examples and longer explanation here:

https://youtu.be/DJRBdeBBn6I

Deadline

The deadline for entries is:

Sunday 3rd May 2026

Just make sure your save is taken on 4th June 2038 in-game before submitting.

I’ll be running it myself as well and will share how I get on, but the main aim is just to see how differently people approach the same situation.

It’s one of those saves where it could go either way. You might stabilise and have a great season, or it might completely fall apart once the fixtures pile up and the level jumps.

Interested to see what people do with it.