Club management

The team information screen

Team information begins with nation and league, then describes the financial position from bankrupt or deeply in debt through secure, good and outstanding. This description reflects the club’s overall financial condition, not merely the affordability of one transfer.

The squad summary shows the number of senior players, average age and most valuable footballer. Together these values describe the size, age structure and concentration of value in the playing group.

Three mood indicators describe different parts of the club:

Mood of the fans

The supporters’ emotional response to results and expectations, ranging from outrage to enthusiasm.

Confidence

How strongly the team currently believes in itself after the recent pattern of wins, draws and defeats.

Team morale

The wider spirit of the playing group, which rises with success and falls during difficult runs.

These indicators move gradually. One excellent result helps, but it does not erase an entire poor season. One defeat hurts, but a successful side retains some resilience.

Changing the displayed kits

The three kits at the bottom of Team Information are interactive. Left-click a stripe, sleeve, pair of shorts or pair of socks to move forward through the available colours for that part. Right-click the same part to move backwards through the colours. The shirt’s two alternating stripe colours can be changed independently from the sleeves, shorts and socks.

A right click within the kit area edits the selected part rather than leaving the screen. Right click elsewhere retains its usual Back function. The chosen colours become part of that team’s match appearance and are retained with the career.

Open Staff to see the people supporting the club, inspect their profiles and manage appointments when this is your club. History opens the club’s recorded seasons, progress and trophies. Staff and scouting explains how a backroom team changes training, care and recruitment.

Choosing clearly different kits

The three designs give the club alternatives when colours clash. If two teams are difficult to distinguish, open Team information and adjust one of the retained kit designs before the next match.

1. Change the two shirt colours to create a clear difference from the opponent.
2. Check sleeves, shorts and socks as well. A light shirt against a dark shirt is easier to recognise than two similarly bright colours.
3. Leave the screen normally to retain the design with the career.

The shirt, shorts and socks are edited separately. Right-clicking a kit part changes its colour backwards, so use Back or right-click outside the kit to leave. There is no separate referee-kit editor here. For preparing a reusable football world, see the Team editor.

Reading the finance screen

Open Finances from the career office. The 2026 screen combines the account, a period comparison and an outlook. Use monthly or yearly to compare the current period with the last one. A further column estimates the next month or coming year.

Account

The money the club holds now. A positive balance does not mean every future commitment is affordable.

Profit/loss

Income minus expenditure during the selected period. A profitable month can still leave an indebted club with a negative account.

Next-month cash flow

The projected change in cash during the next month, not the projected account balance. A negative figure means expected payments exceed expected receipts.

Next month / Next year (forecast)

A category-by-category estimate of coming income and spending.

48-month projection

The possible path of the account over four years if the present financial picture continues.

The rows in the current screen show the net amount for each category. Wages are an outgoing amount. Transfers and Other can contain receipts as well as spending. Positive and negative amounts are distinguished so that you can see which activities are supporting the club.

The transfer and contract screens assess the affordability of particular commitments. Use them together with the account and outlook. Money available for an initial fee is only one part of recruiting someone who must also be paid every month.

Using the financial outlook

The projection reflects the present wage commitments of players and staff, expected attendance and commercial income, and scheduled data-subscription payments. Seasonal sponsorship and television money fall in the appropriate accounting month. They are not shown as twelve equal payments arriving throughout the year.

Consequently, a healthy club can have several negative months followed by a large seasonal receipt. Look at the lowest part of the account curve as well as the end of the line. The attendance forecast helps explain the contribution expected from home matches.

The graph is a planning estimate, not a promise. It cannot know your future transfers, scouting orders, settlements or sporting results. A major signing or staff appointment changes commitments. Promotion, relegation, a cup run and future commercial income can change the longer-term picture.

1. Check the current account before paying a fee.
2. Check recurring wages and the next-month cash flow before agreeing a salary.
3. Look ahead to the next seasonal receipts and any period of falling cash.
4. After a significant deal, return to Finances and reassess the outlook.

Where club income comes from

An internal friendly is a club test and does not add match income or competitive statistics. Competitive fixtures are the heart of the club economy, which makes a cup run valuable even before a trophy is won.

Where the money goes

Wages are a recurring commitment to professional players and employees. They matter every month, long after a transfer fee has been paid. A staff appointment, loan wage share or new contract can change the club’s ongoing costs.

Transfers includes fees paid to selling clubs. Youth is the accounting category for youth-related spending when incurred. An academy player awaiting his first professional contract has no senior salary. His signed first-team agreement creates that commitment.

Interest combines interest income and debt costs in the finance comparison. Other includes costs outside the main categories, such as booked scouting work and data subscriptions. Contract termination can require a settlement, so releasing someone does not necessarily provide immediate savings.

Separate the purchase price from the longer commitment. A low transfer fee with expensive wages can be more difficult to sustain than a larger affordable fee for a modestly paid player. The same applies when choosing between a monthly and a seasonal data licence.

Other clubs also consider their finances. A financially pressured seller may be willing to negotiate, while a club with little salary room may reject an otherwise useful player. The account is part of football decisions throughout the world.

Supporters, attendance and match income

Attendance reflects the appeal of the home club, the visiting team, the competition and the current mood of the home support. A prestigious opponent can lift interest, while an important cup fixture carries a different appeal from an ordinary league match. Actual crowds include natural variation around the forecast.

The value of each attendee also reflects the football level of the host. In a cup meeting between clubs of different stature, the event considers both sides, and a single-match knockout can divide the gate income. The match report records the crowd, while the finance screen places the receipts in the correct month and year.

Winning supports future crowds indirectly by improving fan mood and, over longer periods, club reputation. This creates a sporting and financial reward for sustained progress rather than a one-match cash bonus.

Fan mood, confidence and team morale

A win pulls confidence and morale upward and brings supporters closer to enthusiasm. A defeat pushes in the opposite direction. A draw creates a more measured response. The effect accumulates, so a long winning run can make the club feel powerful while repeated defeats make every match more demanding.

These team measures interact with individuals. Players may enjoy a successful club, lose self-confidence in a difficult spell or question the strength of the squad. Match-day effectiveness includes mental condition alongside fitness and natural day form, so restoring the club’s mood has value beyond presentation.

Confidence and morale recover through subsequent results. Their gradual movement means the effect of a poor run can remain visible even after the first improved performance.

How club reputation changes

Reputation represents the club’s standing in the football world. At the end of a season, league position draws the club gradually towards the status appropriate to that performance and division. Promotion, high finishes and sustained success therefore build reputation over time. A difficult period reduces it without instantly erasing history.

Reputation reaches into many areas. It helps shape expected attendance, sponsorship, television context, salary levels, transfer interest, the standard against which squad members are judged and the foundation of future youth arrivals. League reputation provides a second layer: succeeding in a more prominent competition carries a different context.

This gives a custom or lower-league club a genuine growth path. Sporting success creates stronger status. Stronger status improves resources and appeal, which can support the next squad if the wage bill remains affordable.

News and decisions

The career office’s news feed is your working inbox. Select a headline to read it, use next unread to move through new messages, and open details for the full article where available. The list can be scrolled to earlier news.

Reports cover matches, player performance, training, contracts, recruitment, coaching changes, board confidence, sponsorship and competition events. Some explain something already completed. Others announce a reply that still needs a decision.

Use Offers and the relevant Transfer centre tab to act on a pending proposal. Check its status and deadline. A pending club reply, an estimated response date and the final day to sign are different things. Reading a message does not accept an offer, and allowing a deadline to pass can end the opportunity.

A useful daily habit is to read the new headlines, resolve any approaching deadline, check tomorrow’s availability and then continue. A player career should also read the coach’s feedback. A manager should review board messages before assuming a disappointing run has no consequences.

Planning with the calendar

Calendar displays the season by week and weekday, including league matchdays, cup events and international commitments. Your own fixture details identify home and away teams, completed scores and the relevant competition. A rest day or knockout bye means there is no opponent to play at that point.

Scroll to earlier fixtures to review results or to later weeks to plan rotation. Open a completed fixture’s report when available to revisit the match. In a national-team turn, the calendar follows international events rather than trying to place the nation in a club league.

The transfer-window opening and closing entries are shown alongside football events. They still matter when your team has no fixture that week. Check them before starting a lengthy negotiation, arranging a loan or accepting a move that needs registration.

Continue to the next day advances one day. Continue to the next event advances to a relevant stopping point. Continue to the next player passes a shared career to the next participant. Advancing time lets other clubs, negotiations, training and competitions progress as well.

Practice and internal friendlies

The office offers Practise controls when you have a playing assignment. A manager observing from the touchline can instead use an Internal friendly. Read the introduction before starting because this is a club test, separate from a scheduled competition match.

Your selected first eleven faces the strongest available side assembled from the bench, other senior players and the academy. Choose your intended first team and formation before entering. The opposition is chosen for the test, and there are no substitutions during it.

The score, knocks and cards have no career aftermath. Appearances and goals do not count. Use the session to learn controls, view a formation or observe your squad. It does not replace the weekly development process described in Training and youth.

The club needs enough suitable players to form both sides. When a test is unavailable, review the squad and availability rather than expecting a second copy of every player. For a match against a selected external opponent outside the career, use Quick games.

Managing a club you founded

A founded club has a place in the selected division and follows the world’s competition and finance rules. Starting funds provide the opening account, while subsequent wages, scouting, staffing and signings still have to be sustained by the club.

Start with a complete playing group and enough cover for injuries and suspensions. Then review vacant staff posts, the academy and the likely monthly cost. A large opening balance can disappear quickly if every new agreement assumes that the same money will still be available next season.

The club’s support, reputation and history grow from what happens in the career. Your permanent place as founder provides continuity, while promotion and trophies still have to be earned. See Founding and building your own club for the creation steps.