[Suggestion] Realistic board takeovers should be a thing.

fostberg · April 2

I am currently in October 2026.

Playable leagues: EN 1-4 / DE: 1-3 / ES: 1-2 / FR: 1-2 / IT: 1-2 / POR: 1-2 / SCO: 1 / NL: 1-2 // Rest of the whole world is on view only.

The amount and nature of board takeovers that already happened in this short period of time is absolutely bonkers - here are a few examples:

Arsenal: Alex Grimshaw (EN) - I am assuming this is a fantasy bloke.
Atletico: Jae-Hwan Lee (KOR) - Atletico Madrid has been bought be the Koreans.
Union Berlin: Jürgen Machmeier (DE) - This is the former Chairman of SV Sandhausen, who gained some popularity for pushing a referee after a game. Having a non-Berliner as Chairman of Union Berlin (a club who is basically run by lifelong fans only, is hugely immersion-breaking). Additionally, the club's fans would revolt against having a chairman who pulled something like this in the past. Union is one of the most unusual clubs in Europe in regards to togetherness and embracing a culture of love within a tight-knit community. This happened while I was at the club. Had to reload 50+ times for realistic faces btw.
Liverpool: Hans Rothammer (DE) - This is the former Chairman of Jahn Regensburg, a 3rd division club in Germany. Insane career move for him.
Real Madrid: Alvaro Gomez (ES) - Fantasy bloke, Google says that he could be a real estate lawyer from Marbella.
Ajax: Klaus Hofmann (DE) - Former Chairman of Augsburg. Stepped down IRL, because of health issues. A German chairman with no highly relevant track record in developing outstanding youth players of managing a club of this stature is just... interesting.
Man United: Miguel Angel Ramirez (ES) - Again, a huge career move, stepping up from Sporting Gijon.
Hoffenheim: Maximilian Bittner (DE) - Fantasy bloke. Either Dietmar Hopp died or made the decision to put his lifelong club "ownership" (50+1) in new hands. Again: highly unrealistic.

Other clubs with a new Board/Chairman: Sporting (President, 2026), Porto (whole board, 2024), Benfica (MD, part of the board, 2024-2025), Everton (is French now, 2024), Hertha BSC (is in Bulgarian hands since 2024), The Danish Notts Owners are gone. ... and the list goes on and on.

Oh btw: Juve is in a board takeover right now. Apparently, the Agnelli family does not care about their heritage anymore.

These are the things that are bothering me (+450 hours in FM24 so far):

The amount of takeovers that are bound to happen in a very short period of time.
The realism of these takeovers (e.g., some German manager taking over Ajax, a club patron like Hoffenheim's Hopp just being part of a takeover all of the sudden, Agnelli getting taken over at Juve!?)
Not taking the German club structure into consideration (50+1 and the general "Vereins-Structure"). In Germany, very often the main club is the controlling/voting instance for nominating a new Chairman for the soccer instance/department/business of the club. Getting mails about a potential board takeover is just super annoying, because this is not how things are going within German football. There is campaigning, there are mind games in the press and then there is a voting instance (the new board against the old and other challengers) - I am really simplifying here, but I think that you are catching my drift.

What I would improve:

Enhance the board takeover complexity (lifelong board, board restrictions, board possibilities)
Enhance the depth of the board takeover process (I would like to understand why Ajax is run by a German now or why Atletico is now Korean. Why are the Agnellis in a takeover!?)
Consider the different localized restrictions (Establishing a board can differ from country to country)

Thanks for reading this. And thank you for making a game that makes me actually care about the world while playing in it.

Cheers!