6 of the best clubs to manage on Football Manager 2023: Villa, Wrexham…

The beta version of Football Manager 2023 dropped on Thursday night ahead of its official release on November 8, which means anyone who pre-purchases the game can gain full access today.

Once you get over the initial rush of looking through the team you support before remembering you’re actually sick of the sight of them, it will be time to find a challenge – whether that’s doing better than the club’s real-life 2022-23 or rebuilding a sleeping giant.

If this gets you in the mood for Football Manager 2023, then you’re in luck. We’ve teamed up with Fanatical, who are offering 25% off FM2023. You can get an extra 5% off (in addition to the 25%) using the discount code PLANETSPORT. Click here to take advantage. 

Here’s our pick of the six best clubs to manage on Football Manager 2023:

Bordeaux

Budget: £860k, £0 wages
First-year expectation: Finish in the top four

There is no better challenge this year than reviving the fortunes of one of France’s greatest clubs, Bordeaux, who almost went out of business last year after falling into administration. Thankfully the six-time French champions survived, although they were still relegated to Ligue 2 for the first time since 1990/91. Their descent has been remarkable, considering that Bordeaux won the double as recently as 2009.

Aside from Paris Saint-Germain France is an open division, meaning a journey into the Champions League is not out of the question – plus Football Manager has a habit of levelling things out at the top, meaning even PSG will often only get a mid-80s point total. Your mission is to restore Bordeaux to the top table and make a push back up towards the elite.

Juventus

Budget: £15.6 million, -£15k wages
First-year expectation: Win Serie A

For a slightly easier challenge, Juventus are in serious need of a rebuild after a catastrophic last few years defined by greed and mismanagement – and symbolised by the purchase of Cristiano Ronaldo. With Matthijs de Ligt leaving in the summer, things are looking pretty bleak for Juve, who at the time of writing are eighth in Serie A.

But they remain one of the richest and most powerful clubs in Europe, so it shouldn’t be too hard to clear out the dead wood and usher in a new era of dominance. Aside from winning the title for the first time in three years, the challenge here is to turn Juventus into a European force; the Old Lady have only won the Champions League twice, and not since Zinedine Zidane’s wonder-goal in 1996.