Unofficial FM24 French League Teams Guide

[Ronaldo Beckham]

With FM24 Beta just coming out I have decided to start this thread as I really enjoy the French league and would be good to see the great contributors like @Jogo Bonito etc make this thread great again. 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Lyon Season 1

Most of the squad are not good enough for the long term so I will gradually get rid of pretty much everyone and try build a team full of wonderkids and bargain signings from Africa and France.

This is the tactic I am using with us focusing on getting the ball wide to the wingers and inviting the crosses in.

Not much money to spend so I have shifted it into the wage budget and will focus on scouting Africa for now.

Good luck to anyone who manages in France.

I will update you as I go along.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Changed my tactic a bit as my first tactic bombed.

I managed to sign a few young prospects on free transfers. 

My DOF signed Brian Olivan who at 29 years old doesn't seem like a typical Lyon signing but we will see how it goes.

My DOF has also signed David De Gea on a free and he was happy to be back up to Lopes.

[sedge11]

I plan to do a Lyon save as well this year after I finish my Man Utd beta save.
They stood out to me, especially after seeing how bad they have been at the beginning of this season. It’s a massive rebuild job on them.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

5 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

I plan to do a Lyon save as well this year after I finish my Man Utd beta save.
They stood out to me, especially after seeing how bad they have been at the beginning of this season. It’s a massive rebuild job on them.

Yeah I just did 4 seasons with Lyon on FM23 with recent transfers etc and it was a fun save. The starting squad is pants but it is a good team to rebuild.

Annoyingly I never won the French league in the 4 seasons I managed Lyon.

I am hoping to win the league title with Lyon before I finish the save with them.

Please feel free to post your progress with Lyon when you do decide to start it.

 

[Hog]

Can someone post a screenshot of the player profile of Angel Gomes at Lille?

Really curious to see his attributes.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

22 hours ago, Hog said:

Can someone post a screenshot of the player profile of Angel Gomes at Lille?

Really curious to see his attributes.

This is him in the 2nd season. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I ended finishing 3rd in the 1st season in charge of Lyon with PSG finishing first and OGC Nice finishing 2nd.

Mama Balde was our top scorer with 24 goals from 32 games.

I can't do a proper season review as I forgot to post it after the first season and I have already started the 2nd season.

Major Transfers in last was David De Gea on a free who I sold in January for £9.5m after he was complaining about the lack of game time.

Nicolas Tagilafico wanted to leave so I managed to get £10m from Newcastle for him which aint bad considering he was 31 when I sold him.

I also sold Anthony Lopes because he moaned when I fined him and then asked to leave. I have zero tolerance for divas so I called his bluff and sold him to OGC Nice.

I also sold Kadewere, Jake O'Brian and Jeffinho.

Major signings in were Quentin Merlin for £17.5m from Nantes, Victor Chrust from Cadiz for £6.75m, Yahia Fofana for £5.75m from Angers and Vicente Taborda from Boca Juniors for £5.5m.

I have mostly been signing unknown players from Africa to see if any of them come good. If they do I will let you know.

 

[sedge11]

13 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I ended finishing 3rd in the 1st season in charge of Lyon with PSG finishing first and OGC Nice finishing 2nd.

Mama Balde was our top scorer with 24 goals from 32 games.

I can't do a proper season review as I forgot to post it after the first season and I have already started the 2nd season.

Major Transfers in last was David De Gea on a free who I sold in January for £9.5m after he was complaining about the lack of game time.

Nicolas Tagilafico wanted to leave so I managed to get £10m from Newcastle for him which aint bad considering he was 31 when I sold him.

I also sold Anthony Lopes because he moaned when I fined him and then asked to leave. I have zero tolerance for divas so I called his bluff and sold him to OGC Nice.

I also sold Kadewere, Jake O'Brian and Jeffinho.

Major signings in were Quentin Merlin for £17.5m from Nantes, Victor Chrust from Cadiz for £6.75m, Yahia Fofana for £5.75m from Angers and Vicente Taborda from Boca Juniors for £5.5m.

I have mostly been signing unknown players from Africa to see if any of them come good. If they do I will let you know.

 

A good first season, considering just how bad they are in real life. PSG being unbeaten is not a good sign though, they are difficult to beat at the best of times.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

6 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

A good first season, considering just how bad they are in real life. PSG being unbeaten is not a good sign though, they are difficult to beat at the best of times.

Yeah PSG are pretty much going to win the title every season. My aim is to get closer and closer every season and eventually topple them.

 

[Hog]

7 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

This is him in the 2nd season. 

Thanks for replying. He looks better further forward even though he has been Lille's dlp in real life. Not that I have watched him play but he should have been made at least somewhat usable defensively.

[nico_france]

Nice is a really good team in my saves as well

They were 2nd during the first season too

All the best for you future success with Lyon !

Edited October 23, 2023 by nico_france

[Ronaldo Beckham]

47 minutes ago, nico_france said:

Nice is a really good team in my saves as well

They were 2nd during the first season too

All the best for you future success with Lyon !

Cheers mate.

[preben]

On 19/10/2023 at 18:12, Ronaldo Beckham said:

wingers

How is Nuamah developing? Really interesting player IRL.

[Mackem742]

Im planning on a save in the French League again on this years game. Im just not sure who to go with. I had a great save with Lens on FM23 and managed to build them up into a side that was well capable of taking on PSG, I just couldnt crack the Champions League.

Ill have a proper look when Im over my initial beta save with Sunderland but my initial thoughts are Monaco, Lyon or Marseille.

[Fraser]

Always space for a fun save in France.  If often like to manage one of the two teams that contest the Derby du Nord, fierce rivals Lens and Lille.

Lens have a squad built for a very specific formation and style under Franck Haise and it will be interesting to deal with losing Seko Fofana and Openda, though Wahi is a good replacement for the latter.

Lille have some good young talents, particularly in defence, and have managed to keep the excellent Jonathan David to lead the forward line.

I also quite fancy the idea of a Ligue2 save with Bastia.

[evilpimp972]

Rennes is loaded with young talent. 

So is Monaco. 

Lens also has a good future. 

Even Marseille (!!) 

This will be a fun year managing in France, you can even try Strasbourg with their new affiliation with Chelsea. 

[bestbrother]

Any French teams with a few quid lying around? Maybe lesser teams as such?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

10 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Im planning on a save in the French League again on this years game. Im just not sure who to go with. I had a great save with Lens on FM23 and managed to build them up into a side that was well capable of taking on PSG, I just couldnt crack the Champions League.

Ill have a proper look when Im over my initial beta save with Sunderland but my initial thoughts are Monaco, Lyon or Marseille.

All good choices. OGC Nice and Lille would also be good choices.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

9 hours ago, bestbrother said:

Any French teams with a few quid lying around? Maybe lesser teams as such?

PSG, Monaco and Strasbourg would be good choices.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

On 23/10/2023 at 17:14, preben said:

How is Nuamah developing? Really interesting player IRL.

Sorry for the delay in replying as I was away for 2 days so I didn't have my laptop in front of me.

Nuamah had a good season on loan so I decided to sign him for £32m and he is now valued at £48m-£57m.

[nico_france]

Anyone tries a save with GOAL FC (3rd tier) ?

That's another team close to Lyon

Seems interesting this year

[Ronaldo Beckham]

11 minutes ago, nico_france said:

Anyone tries a save with GOAL FC (3rd tier) ?

That's another team close to Lyon

Seems interesting this year

I like their logos and team colours. It was one of the teams I was thinking of managing on FM23 in the Youth Academy only save.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

On 19/10/2023 at 17:52, Ronaldo Beckham said:

With FM24 Beta just coming out I have decided to start this thread as I really enjoy the French league and would be good to see the great contributors like @Jogo Bonito etc make this thread great again. 

 

Thanks for the name check, very kind.

Sadly I left home for Valencia at the exact same hour the BETA came out last week! But now I am back and downloading it this evening.

It's been a few years since I managed in France, but it was not tagged 'The League of Talents' for no reason. You also now have Akor Adams and Maltese 'star' Teddy Teuma to brighten your experience further 

Good luck with OL and to all managers at clubs in France.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

11 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks for the name check, very kind.

Sadly I left home for Valencia at the exact same hour the BETA came out last week! But now I am back and downloading it this evening.

It's been a few years since I managed in France, but it was not tagged 'The League of Talents' for no reason. You also now have Akor Adams and Maltese 'star' Teddy Teuma to brighten your experience further 

Good luck with OL and to all managers at clubs in France.

Cheers mate. Yeah I will sign Akor Adams at some point and I will take a look at Teddy Teuma as well.

What team are you going to manage on the Beta then?

 

[Jogo Bonito]

9 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Cheers mate. Yeah I will sign Akor Adams at some point and I will take a look at Teddy Teuma as well.

What team are you going to manage on the Beta then?

 

I have no idea yet. Well actually I do, but the number of possible clubs exceeds 10 at the moment. I'll have a look through some squads and decide after sorting my face pack, logos and kits.

Unlikely to be in France at this stage though.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

6 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I have no idea yet. Well actually I do, but the number of possible clubs exceeds 10 at the moment. I'll have a look through some squads and decide after sorting my face pack, logos and kits.

Unlikely to be in France at this stage though.

Ok no worries. I hope to see you in the French thread at some point.

I am also thinking of starting an African hidden gems players thread on here sometime soon so feel free to contribute on there if you want.

Looking forward to seeing who you manage on FM24.

[kopfan1977]

Le Havre should/could be a good save. They had an excellent youth academy back in the day.

Also bringing Paris FC up from where they are to challenge, Dethrone and overtake PSG as the biggest Parisian football team. Now that is some challenge!!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Lyon 2nd Season Review

We were rubbish this season with us just getting 6th place. A bit of bad form had me abandoning my tactic and just trying any downloaded tactic I could find with little success from doing so.

I am going to go back to my original tactic for the 3rd season with Lyon.

My best player was Gift Orban who cost me £25m and was money well spent with him getting 18 goals for the season.

Ernest Noumah had a very good season in the end with 7 goals and 14 assists.

Another good signing for us was signing Mohammed Diomande for £7.5m from AC Milan.

 He managed to get 9 goals and 8 assists.

Home grown talent Rayan Cherki also had a great season with 14 goals and 10 assists. He is likely to leave the club sooner rather then later.

Hopefully next season will be better for the club.

 

[Gene]

On 24/10/2023 at 15:20, Ronaldo Beckham said:

PSG, Monaco and Strasbourg would be good choices.

I actually started a save on the Beta with Strasbourg, your starting transfer budget is quite limited comparatively. I believe I got just over £1 million and my wage budget is near the bottom of the league, but you have to consider that they bought Sylla and Emegha in the summer which explains the low budget. To be honest I wasn't fully up to speed on the Chelsea-Strasbourg connection until after choosing to go with Strasbourg a few months ago as a my first save. It'll be interesting to see how finances carry on over the seasons. 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

21 minutes ago, Gene said:

I actually started a save on the Beta with Strasbourg, your starting transfer budget is quite limited comparatively. I believe I got just over £1 million and my wage budget is near the bottom of the league, but you have to consider that they bought Sylla and Emegha in the summer which explains the low budget. To be honest I wasn't fully up to speed on the Chelsea-Strasbourg connection until after choosing to go with Strasbourg a few months ago as a my first save. It'll be interesting to see how finances carry on over the seasons. 

 

I assume you get more money after a while but I could be wrong.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Samson Akinyoola

I managed to sign this wonderful striker on a free in my 3rd season at Lyon and he has stormed the Ligue 1 so far.

A proper poacher with great finishing, flair, leadership and a fairly determined personality.

Already valued at £34m-£40m I reckon I will get some good money for him.

 

[Gene]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I assume you get more money after a while but I could be wrong.

 

Hoping so, the transfer budgets for the next two seasons are projected to be £6.5 million each season - likely because our bank balance is so low, £14 million, with no real big sponsorship deals in place. Makes me wonder if they didn't code the ownership by the Chelsea group properly. RB Salzburg has a general 10 yr/£200 million dollar sponsorship deal which seems to reflect the ownership by the RB group.

[Gene]

My current tactic has me 4th in the league after 10 games. @Ronaldo Beckham I know you said you've tinkered with yours a bit but ours are fairly similar. 

The only real moves I've made thus far is getting De Gea signed on as my keeper, getting Nathaniel Nwosu to agree to join us in Jan 2024, and then signing Victor Andersson from AIK. 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 hours ago, Gene said:

Hoping so, the transfer budgets for the next two seasons are projected to be £6.5 million each season - likely because our bank balance is so low, £14 million, with no real big sponsorship deals in place. Makes me wonder if they didn't code the ownership by the Chelsea group properly. RB Salzburg has a general 10 yr/£200 million dollar sponsorship deal which seems to reflect the ownership by the RB group.

Yeah maybe it wasn't hard coded in time. Hopefully they will change that in the full release or the first patch.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 hours ago, Gene said:

My current tactic has me 4th in the league after 10 games. @Ronaldo Beckham I know you said you've tinkered with yours a bit but ours are fairly similar. 

The only real moves I've made thus far is getting De Gea signed on as my keeper, getting Nathaniel Nwosu to agree to join us in Jan 2024, and then signing Victor Andersson from AIK. 

 

Yeah I signed De Gea and then sold him after he was moaning about not playing. I made £9m profit from signing him on a free 

I actually have Nwosu as well.

He hasn't played for me yet but he will probably become my first team goalie at some point.

 

[gggfunk]

I plan to do a Monaco save this year, seems like a perfect team to build around wonderkids and be able to dethrone PSG in a relatively short time.

As I tend to play as a real manager who would suit the particular team in real life, I'm thinking about role playing as Thierry Henry, to give him a second chance to succeed, or Marcelo Gallardo. Not decided yet.

[Gene]

52 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah I signed De Gea and then sold him after he was moaning about not playing. I made £9m profit from signing him on a free 

I actually have Nwosu as well.

 

He hasn't played for me yet but he will probably become my first team goalie at some point.

 

Nice! I honestly haven't seen much of De Gea in action since signing him. He was injured in the first match he played. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Lyon Season 3 Review

An improvement on last season with us finishing 5th compared to last season when we finished 7th. Still not good enough though and we were 30 points behind PSG which is so bad. We need to do better next season.

Samson Akinyoola

Akinyoola was brilliant for me this season with 20 goals for the season. Annoyingly he was moaning of not playing in his favourite role so I have put him on the transfer list for now.

I hope he stays and stops moaning.

Abdullah Sima

Sima who I signed on a free transfer last season from Brighton had a great first season with him getting 15 goals, 5 assists and the best average rating for the club.

Jakub Moder

Jakob Moder another great free transfer signing from Brighton was amazing for us this season with him getting some important goals.

We also managed to sign Jeremy Doku for £30m, Junior Mwanga for £25m, Mohamed-Ali Cho for £15m, Jaidon Anthony for £17m, Jacob Ondrejka for £13.75m, Eduard Mendy for £5.75m and a few others.

Main transfers out were Rayan Cherki who went to Stuttgart for £40m, Mohammed Diomande for £10m to Sevilla, Ryan Sessegnon for £8.75m to Real Betis and Mama Balde for £7.25m.

 

[DavePott]

Started out like I usually do, holidaying until the end of the first season to take over a relegated team. Somehow Valencia dropped so took the job. Managed to win the league quite easily. Had a few job offers end of the season including Rennes. Never managed in France and got offered the job so off I went

 

Rennes finished 8th second season, missing out on Europe. Had a mini rebuild as despite having what incredible youth players, they had alot of grandads in their team! Managed to ship alot out and the picture is where I'm at. Will follow with signing updates and show you the youth when I'm back on the computer.

[DavePott]

 

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by DavePott

[DavePott]

[bestbrother]

PSG are mental and honestly i dont think ill be able to fully usurp them until Mbappe either signs for me or retires

4 years at Lyon have yielded:

23/24 - 8th and Cup S/F

24/25 - Champions

25/26 - Runners Up and C/L Last 16

26/27 - Runners Up / Cup Runners up and C/L Last 16

So we have won it once, but honestly you almost need to be perfect as PSG are just a machine that keeps churning.

[bestbrother]

Haaland ran riot in the 5th year and we clinched a French domestic treble. Still fell short in Europe and a C/L Last 16 exit left us a little disappointed.

[Gene]

Just kicked off the 2026-27 season with Strasbourg. The last three seasons we've finished second to PSG each season. It's an interesting save. Ligue 1 seems to be in a bit of turmoil at the moment with most teams struggling to compete. Lyon has finished 10th, 12th, and 7th. Thus far it's been Nice, OM and Strasbourg all fighting for second every year, with everyone else lagging far behind. 

The Strasbourg board, however, is not helpful in the least. The money was there and then they decided to build a new stadium which killed a lot of our momentum. I'm over my salary budget due to having to extend a few contracts for key players, but now I'm over budget and the board won't let me move the 3 million in transfer funds I have to the salary budget. I'm struggling to raise funds for players and my wage budget is very restrictive. I managed to hold onto Emegha thus far, but I may have to sell him this summer otherwise I risk sliding backwards. I'm honestly not that upset since he's not playing to the level that his backup Max Morestedt is (31 goals and 9 assists in 33 matches).

I've done as well as I have thanks to some players like Bakwa, Sylla and Emegha all developing into leading Ligue 1 talents and making use of my link with Chelsea who are more than happy to send their players to me on loan.

We finally won our first trophy this season, the Trophée Des Champions against PSG. They had a plethora of injuries but I'll take what I can get at this point. PSG has been so dominant this save that it's nice to FINALLY pull one over on them. 

Edited December 12, 2023 by Gene

[sedge11]

                                                                                                  

So my Lyon save starts, I'm looking forward to the challenge, and a challenge it has been.

I started with the 1st window disabled so I could work with what I had and gauge how bad this team was.

Season 1 went as expected, we were terrible and very inconsistent but we just about scraped 7th place.

We actually had the 2nd best defence in the league, but our problem was scoring goals, only scoring 45 goals in the league.

This shows the problem, if Lacazette didn't score we struggled.

But overall I was happy to get 7th, as I felt the europa conference would be a nice early trophy to try and win.

The summer was very busy and we did alot of business in and out.

We brought in a lot of young players to freshen the team up, and players we can build this team around or make big profit on.

Season 2 was a another difficult one, in November we were in 11th and on the verge of the sack, but we managed to sort ourselves out and put in a good run until the end of season. 

So in the league, we managed to salvage 7th again.

We were only 5 points off 4th, so its an improvement.

Now I said I was happy to be in the conference league as I thought would be a good chance to win an early trophy.

And we won it, so that's 1 trophy in the bag. Villarreal were the hardest team in the competition, and once we knocked them out I was confident of winning the final.

The conference league also sums our season up, which was the opposite to season 1. This season we had no problem with scoring goals, but we couldn't stop conceding, zero clean sheets in the comp.

I also looked and in 51 games we only kept 9 clean sheets.

The unsung hero of this team and season was Alvero.

In season 1 I didn't use him at all and was looking to sell, but no one was interested. So I kept him and re trained as a defensive winger on the right and what a season he had. Was our top scorer in the conference league, won player of the tournament and got an assist in the final.

Our best players of the season were:

Bardghji a great signing, Mainoo I used and developed on my Man Utd save and he's brilliant so no surprise how well he performed in the french league, and then obviously Alvero.

So now onto season 3. 

We have a deal in place to sign De Vrij for free, he's now 33 but he's a quality CB and will do a job for 2 seasons. But my main focus is a new keeper, a RB and another midfielder. I would like to keep Mainoo but not sure will be possible.

Sorry for the long post haha .

[n1mez]

Guys! I just want a French team, and i wanna produce wonderkid after wonderkid. 

Who to be? 

Saint-Etienne? 

Lyon?

Toulouse? 

Monaco (just put off about the stadium a little)

Those are clubs i thought about - you got any bids?

Edited January 12 by n1mez

[DavutOzkan]

1 hour ago, n1mez said:

Guys! I just want a French team, and i wanna produce wonderkid after wonderkid. 

Who to be? 

Saint-Etienne? 

Lyon?

Toulouse? 

Monaco (just put off about the stadium a little)

Those are clubs i thought about - you got any bids?

Rennes. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 hours ago, n1mez said:

Guys! I just want a French team, and i wanna produce wonderkid after wonderkid. 

Who to be? 

Saint-Etienne? 

Lyon?

Toulouse? 

Monaco (just put off about the stadium a little)

Those are clubs i thought about - you got any bids?

Yeah definitely Rennes is the obvious choice. FC Metz is another one. Most top league French league teams will produce great youth players. 

 

[BadAss88]

First save with the winter update!