Welcome back to CoffeehouseFM.
Post-imperial Japan is fascinating. The country’s culture had previously been one of the most secluded and preserved, until Allied forces occupied it for 6 years after World War II. Under US General Douglas MacArthur there were sweeping reforms in order to change Japan’s political systems, the ultimate power was put in the hands of the people and not the emperor.
While the ink was still drying on the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco paperwork, which saw the Allied occupation end, the cultural change in those few years was irreversible too. Food, entertainment, fashion would all change; and so would sport. Perhaps ‘soccer’ was one of the last to catch on. The 1960s saw Japanese soccer mirror baseball, where large co-operations would own a team of amateur players. But the big change came in 1992, when most of those co-operations were brought into the new professional-era called the ‘J-League’.
Ten clubs kicked off that inaugural campaign, nine of them big corporation owned…but there was one outlier. A newly formed non-company club was formed in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka: it was initially called Shimizu FC, but after a few months it would be renamed to Shimizu S-Pulse (in keeping with Japanese tradition of using English, French, Portuguese or Spanish in many club names). The pulse is a literal embodiment of its fans' enthusiasm for soccer and, with my pulse now raised, it is where I want to manage on the full release of Football Manager 2026.
Really, why Japan?
Fully licensed league
I think it is fair to say there were a few hiccups with the launch of the J-League into FM24. Certain players were not in the game right away and the database perhaps needed more eyes on it to increase the accuracy. But an excruciating time has passed, and I’m more confident about dipping my toes into the league for a J League save. That confidence was also demonstrated at the inaugural FIFAe tournament, where Yokohoma F. Marinos was one of the Group Stage clubs (something which I also played along with at the end of the FM24 cycle). It is a really enjoyable league, and it will have all the fancy player/club pictures.
Finding the next Hulk
The J League has a love affair with Brazil (around 50% of all foreigners in the J League are from the country). Although S-Pulse started its history with a cantera type policy of fielding players only from the Shizuoka Prefecture, I intend to keep with the current fashion of signing Brazillians. However do not expect them to be big names though, instead I plan to unearth some Brazilian talent that is perhaps beneath the classification of ‘Wonderkid’. Players who are talented enough to have a decent career as long as they have gametime. The best example I can give is that of Givanildo Vieira de Sousa, but you would know him as ‘Hulk’. As a teenager he made the move from Serie A fringe player to Japan and excelled at the chance to play competitive football. After 74 goals in Japanese football over three years Hulk earned the big move to Europe, ending up at FC Porto for the 2008/09 season. Can I find the next Hulk in FM26 and move them on to Europe?
Another example is my chosen Manager Man: Bismarck Barreto Faria, better known as just ‘Bismarck’, who at 24-years-old moved to Japan. In real-life the attacking midfielder went on to play for Verdy Kawasaki, Kashima Antlers and Vissel Kobe over a 9 year spell in Japan in the 90s. I will be stealing his identity for my save, which fits narratively with the save’s ethos as I focus on Brazil’s Série A, B and C for emerging talents overlooked by Europe: technical midfielders, explosive wingers, and clever forwards. The idea is not to chase stars, but to find hidden gems instead.
Adopt a salary cap
Out of necessity, every club operates within its own salary cap. Players are usually organised in salary bands, and that usually is a private matter between player and club. Some leagues (e.g. Major League Soccer in North America) and confederations go a bit further and set caps on spending, in order to ensure parity between league members…or to at least look like parity is an aspiration in the case of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play.
In my opinion, Major League Soccer’s approach is great and they do that via their franchise structure. FM22 has been one of my favourite saves since blogging so far. I loved working and operating within a strict budget + salary cap with Inter Miami. There’s something very ‘socialist’ about it all: players getting comparable pay in a team sport. Furthermore, it was great to get the spreadsheet out and organise my squad to the minute detail, ensuring I got the most ‘bang for my buck’. Just like Japan adopted some American traits in its post-war history, I want to adopt the MLS salary cap system.
In order to get to the number that I feel offers the balance between FM challenge Vs realism, I would look to get my salary cap number based on a % of my club turnover. This is similar to how UEFA’s FFP operates. As a reminder, from 2025/26, UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play rule limits spending on player and coach wages, transfers and agent fees to 70% of club revenue. I am not quite sure what my salary cap needs to be just yet, Season 1 will probably be the cap that the Board has set in-game. However for subsequent years I will likely take the % of turnover model.
Other miscellaneous reasons
Cherry blossom/sakura trees in bloom are great. I also like vegetable sushi, mochi, karate, the colour orange and Japanese lo-fi. Put them all in the Grasshopper blender, season it with an S-Pulse FM save and I am good to go for FM26. See you there?
My FM26 aims ✅
Sign young Brazilians, and let them use Shimizu as a stepping stone.
Adopt a salary cap.
Maintain J League status, and work to challenge for the title within 3-5 years.
Ultimately: win things, lots of things. FIFAe style.
Changing how I play…
I have deliberately put this section towards the end of this post, because I do not wish to kill peoples’ enthusiasm towards FM26. But it has got to be noted: Football Manager 26 will change the way I play the game. To be fair, this is probably in keeping with Miles Jacobson’s remarks who said in several pre-release interviews that FM26 is a totally different game to the previous titles before it.
There are a number of UI pain points, and whilst you can play FM26 and progress through seasons…in order to have a long(ish) term save I feel like I need to delegate a lot of tasks in the game to my backroom staff in order to keep sane. I will not be conducting media duties, take the training or handle [most of] the scouting functions. It means I will be processing the game much quicker than usual, but I am unsure if this means I will have longer saves. I do plan to write a bit more about how I delegate certain functions, including transfers, scouting and utilising the (new and great btw) Transfer Room system.
Another blow for me personally is that you cannot currently export data out from the game, and the data that is there in-game is also sketchy. Deep dive Football Manager saves, adopting data driven recruitment practices for example are perhaps too complicated to do this time around. Football Manager 26 has stripped out some of the immersiveness that made the previous 20 years so good for us Bloggers.
Despite all this, I remain eager to get going with FM26 🙂
Thank you for reading/sharing and caring.
Tony / FM Grasshopper