Winning The Most DIFFICULT League in Football Manager

Find your new favourite shirt at: www.sangalo.co...
Major League Soccer is the most difficult league in Football Manager with all it's complicated rules. And now it's even harder to win as an unlikely team want me to rebuild them into MLS Champions.
Editor: Elensar (x.com/Elensar_)
🔔: MAKE SURE YOU SUBSCRIBE & TURN NOTIFICATIONS ON
2️⃣: 2nd Channel: / @moretomfm
💜: Twitch: / tomfm
🔵: Twitter: / tomfm_yt
🤖: Discord: / discord
⚫: TikTok: / therealtomfm
📸: Instagram: / tom_kelso
🎥: My Set-Up: kit.co/TomFM/t...
About TomFM:
Welcome to TomFM, the home of Football Manager 2024 content. You can expect FM24 let's play videos as well as experiments and guides across the lifecycle of FM 2024. All videos uploaded at 5:15pm UK Time. Make sure you hit the subscribe button and turn the notification bells on for tutorials, wonderkids, tactics and lets plays!
#FM24 #FootballManager2024 #FootballManager

[@yojlik]

one thing to remember about drafting; if the player you want isn't even close to the pick you own, it's wise to trade down closer to his eval and get more picks in the process! just bc you're the first overall team selecting, doesn't mean you have to stay there

[@djzizzly]

It is always interesting seeing people who aren't from the US play in the MLS in FM. They never seem to fully figure out the draft and how to utilize it properly.

[@damonwright3851]

The whole MLS system just seems to bypass all of us who aren’t from the US. I tried a MLS save once and just couldn’t understand any of it at all. Can’t seem to get my head round most of the rules - too used to home grown and transfer budgets 😂

[@terch2882]

@@djzizzly Yea I'm not from the US but follow the NBA and I've always thought the draft was a super cool concept. Not sure anything is more satisfying than trading down for a player that ends up being better than the player selected with your original pick 😂

[@TomFM]

That's a really good tip actually! With no drafting in any English sports, draft tactics are non-existant to me 😂

[@KennyE21]

@@TomFMthe AFL Australian Football League, its own sport, also has a draft. People routinely trade draft picks, idk about NFL but be glad you’re not also dealing with father-son preferential drafting lol.

[@zombazukahz]

miles robinson wanting to get massively overpaid is canonically accurate

[@TomFM]

Dude was actually really useful on the team, even if he was our top earner by a mile 😂

[@kylec10]

Lmao for real 😂

[@seanchandley1604]

You should try a Canadian save. They have some fun rules such as: Wage cap of £12,500. Youth/U21 players are required to play a minimum of 2000 minutes across the season or else you aren’t eligible for the playoffs at the end of season. A draft

[@TomFM]

Wage cap of 12,500 a player or for the whole team?!?

[@umutcangezici6632]

5M per team

[@parmaman8551]

I'm tried it on FM mobile with Vancouver and it was almost impossible to win it. On mobile it was more of an issue of basically ever player apart from Canadians being illegible for work permits.

[@joshyork3846]

@@TomFM It’s brutal, try to win a North American Champions League with one of those teams. Beating MLS teams on the way is relatively straightforward with some luck once you get a good system in place, but the big Mexican clubs, oof. Edit: My go to is Halifax Wanderers in that league, the board is often willing to spend in my experience. That’s helpful because as far as I can tell the cap doesn’t take signing bonuses into account so you can kinda artificially lower your cap hit that way and keep better players

[@mattnunn5934]

​​@@TomFM 12,500 for the 23 registered players. Max of 7 non Canadians too. Try Valour. Finished bottom the last 2 seasons. The CPL also has a draft too, but you don't do trades.

[@mikexstad1121]

Tip: Trade all your draft picks for International spots. Fill them with wonderkids and elite UEFA club castoffs. Do this over many seasons and your club will be so good you'll he CONCACAF Champions league contenders. Christian Früchtl made like 400 appearances for my minnesota at GK (in FM21). Skip the draft altogether and utilize the over value of draftpicks by the AI and the undervalued International Spots, which yes, can be traded.

[@Remianen]

BINGO! This is the perfect strat that merges football rules from both sporting cultures.

[@YouTube]

love the MLS content

[@ytashy]

yoo

[@TomFM]

When is KZbin going to buy an MLS team?

[@CacheMoney1851]

@@TomFM I mean Elon Musk wants to buy Liverpool so we'll see.

[@OmakChanFe]

KZbin is buying a MLS club?

[@CacheMoney1851]

@@OmakChanFe I hope not

[@49Unbeatennnn]

Alright Tom, you have the teams joining in now!! Sangalo, you get my money this time that's a fire jersey!

[@ChooChoo-s8t]

I had to look up the club captain and it's actually him!

[@TomFM]

It was really cool to get them involved with the video, class kits too!

[@Wojtinho]

I see everyone is now trying to get that one hardest FM challenge these days. But this wins. At least in terms of league regulations (probably) PS. 7:22 well you got me to record FM stuff myself so I thank you back. 11:10 should've sent that goal to the FM Puskas Award

[@tazra.mp349]

canadian premier league is worse I tried playing with a team called forge fc, they have a max salary cap of 12k

[@Aj_2044]

My Mexican girlfriend got me into Soccer. It’s pretty cool that the first season I cared my home team(FC Cincinnati) won the Supporters Shield😂. She also told me about Football Manager, and your channel so now I’m addicted to this game and watching your videos lol

[@TomFM]

She sounds like a keeper to me! Glad you've been enjoying the videos!

[@sirbeton9166]

"Soccer"😅

[@Aj_2044]

@ I know I know. But soccer makes people mad and it’s funny to see the reactions

[@drillnewsandclips3798]

​@@sirbeton9166 that's what they call it over there

[@Mysterio-x85]

​@Aj_2044 he's laughing at what you call it. It'd called football, hence the name of the game is football manager

[@burner8959]

Might want to mention that the Helenites aren't in MLS nor would they have a chance to be through some sort of promotion. I mean if the owner came up with the 500 mil fee to join the club of MLS, I'm sure Don Garber would listen.

[@AVFCAM]

Thank you 🙏 I’ve been searching online trying to work this out 😂

[@CacheMoney1851]

Being a fan of Real Salt Lake myself, I'm happy to see us in the MLS Cup Final since we haven't been in it since 2013 and haven't won it since 2009.

[@bradp3766]

Like most leagues, there are multiple important trophies in the MLS. The regular season champions of both East and West wins the Supporter's Shield, and the US Open Cup compiles all the professional teams in the US in a single elimination tournament. Kind of like the FA Cup in England

[@KoosBustert]

It's still a shit league with shit rules and shit cups

[@Tayhurts]

@@KoosBustertbro toke time out of his day to hate

[@SanFranFan30]

The US Open cups isn't only open to every professional team it's open to every non-youth team in the country.

[@pylon_productions]

@@KoosBustertL

[@lucasmilligan5615]

The open cup is now basically a minor league tournament. The leagues cup with the Mexican league has overtaken it in terms of Concacaf qualifying and priority

[@richardgwynedd1024]

Great stuff, MLS used to be my first go to save in the early FM games (always LA Galaxy before Beckham joined) the league rules were quite off putting especially the salary cap and all that

[@jakesimpson5233]

Oof, if a Superdraft player is a 4 star CA, you know that's a rough team to start with. The Superdraft only turns out a handful of decent players a year, and most teams use it to fill their B team. As an MLS fan, I love the vid!

[@nathanielherman7393]

What the hell is a kilometer!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? *Eagle screeching noises* 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@sbflying]

As a person living in America myself, it’s a measurement far superior, particularly in terms of its conversion rate, to the mile.

[@owlised]

As a brit, we also don't use kilometres here, but we do use the rest of the metric system

[@dchizy]

It’s 2.3 Cheese Burgers to a Buffalo

[@TomFM]

I swear whoever came up with the measurements for things in the US was trying to prank everyone, but no one else realised and it just stuck

[@nathanielherman7393]

@@TomFM As am American I am convinced that we would rather do things differently than everybody else than do things right or logically.

[@Vocas46LP]

MLS is suprisingly pleasant competition to play. once you understand the rules, its fun and different experience than what are you used to. i haven't played it for a while though, maybe i should give it a shot after some time.

[@nicobell3373]

11:12 holy shit that sensi goal was bananas

[@ariapipe32]

Takes me back to the Inter Miami Live days!! Love a bit of MLS, awesome video as always Tom ✊🏻

[@TomFM]

What a throwback!

[@DuduPRT]

6:56 I bought him for 1,4M in my Vasco da Gama save, absolute Legend. Immediately came into my team as one of the leading players in Brasileirão at age 18

[@LordWay]

An MLS video before Mr Fiji is awesome. I do enjoy an MLS save tbh

[@drewswallow6043]

Part 2? I wanna see this team in the Concacaf champions league

[@thbroadway]

This is a great video, Tom. I'll defend the MLS Cup system by pointing out that other countries (especially in South America, but a couple of European leagues do as well) have systems where the top half competes after the first part of the season for the championship, but often times it matters little because of a runaway champion on points, or enough international competition spots that there is little competition at that stage. The MLS combats this through a knockout tourney, but the third leg still provides plenty of time for the team with more depth/excellence to succeed, and those teams tend to be seeded higher. This system also means the less competitive clubs in a particular season can rest and recover more, as well as navigate tactics or team sheet changes with more time before the next season than more successful clubs. In some other systems, the bottom half of the table will still need to play more matches to decide relegation. However, if that season has two particularly bad teams in the bottom of the table (which is very common) there is little to play for. While I would love for a promotion/relegation system in the MLS, the league owns the teams so it would not work unless the leagues were owned by a holding company, or allowed individuals/groups to purchase all of the teams first. One other small note: they are North Caro-LIN-i-ans, not North Caro-LIE-nans.

[@TheDieseI]

another note, for promotion/relegation there would have to be enough teams below the MLS all with individual owners to have a pyramid system but then you couldnt have a draft because how would you give players to teams in the 2nd division?

[@TomFM]

All is forgiven now you're subscribed 😉

[@arribalaschivas91]

It’s all about parity and sustainability, so the league is theoretically structured so that the worst team has a chance to rebuild and the winningest team doesn’t compound its financial advantage. MLS is haunted by the ghost of soccer leagues past, like how the NY Cosmos bankrupted a whole league. There are enough teams in division 2 already for pro-rel, just look at USL Championship. Side note, I like seeing Chicago Fire as playoff regulars. A man can dream 😅 Edit: added a bit about pro-rel

[@Stephenkertis7]

My favorite team is NYCFC, so naturally i am gravitated to using them in my FM saves. In my most recent one (and the one I am currently playing) I led NYC to a treble in season 1 (MLS Cup, Estern Conference and supporters shield). In 2025 I went back to back in both the cup and Eastern conf., this time from 2nd in the east but yet again completing a treble with the NACC (Concacaf Champions League). both seasons i won Coach OTY, then went trophyless in 2026, and in Sepember of the 2027 season i have just won the US Open Cup

[@MattuXh1]

Stefano Sensi ALWAYS delivers when it matters. Scored a free kick in my Mallorca save to meki it into Champions League

[@haidynwendlandt2479]

I’m from Chicago, Illinois, so my local club is Chicago Fire FC! Love to see some content for my home league lol

[@derpcreamcone]

As a Saint Louis CITY fan having Roman Bürki made this a lot more fun

[@kingstonkuek1930]

Love watching you and Fiji! Although I wish you would make a channel like Fijiism, like Tomism, to talk about more general football stuff like Lincoln City’s season 🔥

[@Donovanmcdab41]

Mateusz Bogusz had a breakout season at lafc last year. He had 20 Goals and 11 assists in 48 matches (all comps). He was a joy to watch at LAFC but he just transferred to Cruz Azul in liga mx.

[@dharmarius]

Vancouver Whitecaps fan here. Love the MLS, thanks for doing a video on it!!

[@cam4top]

Enjoyed this. I’ve had a really fun MLS save recently. It’s very interesting learning the rules on transfers and trades. I was already aware of the various drafts but in the past they haven’t been too useful for me on FM but they’ve come in valuable here

[@GeneralMcNugget]

Your videos are highly intertaining and are getting me into football when everything aroung here is about hockey, keep up the good work, cheers from canada! 😁

[@TheMarshole82]

Had Noel Buck at Schalke - great midfielder. Love these random rebuilds Tom

[@TheDieseI]

I love all the non-NAs thinking this is the "most difficult league" when its actually just them not understanding North American playoff systems, salary caps, and trading lmao very impressive nonetheless

[@michaelmccarthy4892]

That's what makes it so difficult

[@TomFM]

Most complicated is the more accurate phrase, but that doesn't do quite so well in a KZbin title 😅

[@noviantobagus]

I'm really sorry to say this but other rules than salary cap is stupid. Why bcz for me only salary cap is actually makes sense in a way no teams that cut dominate the league just bcz they're have tons of money which is good.

[@franciscloutier5387]

Colleen Warner is a super good dude, he used to play for my local MLS team (Montreal) and I ran into him in the city one time and chatted him up, super nice guy

[@AVFCAM]

Wondering if “chatted him up” means the same in Montreal as it does here in the UK…

[@franciscloutier5387]

@@AVFCAM hah, no, just ran into him on the sidewalk, said hi, told him I was a fan of the team, we had a short chat and then went our separate ways lol, super friendly

[@prediccionescountryballs893]

Really love Tom signing Colombians and specially Gabriel Fuentes, an absollute leyend of my hometown club!

[@L-po8rx]

You are the best FM streamer for self contained stories in youtube. Keep up the good work!

[@CalSN20]

wake up, tom fm uploaded

[@fathonifirmansyah9312]

way to go tom, have subscribed since from just 10K subscribers to become the most subscribed fm content creator in UK

[@steveburton8904]

I did an MLS save a couple of years back - loved it.

[@LordWaffle]

So all I learnt is (correct me if I'm wrong) the MLS is not a league but one giant Cup competion. With a lauege phase.

[@comba4152]

Hey really nice video! It would be great if you showed us the attributes and growth of the players and wonderkids at the end of the challenge.

[@dangnguyenphucdoan7681]

4:28 Hanoi FC mentioned 🗣🔥

[@filippintar8533]

Tom hope to see much more videos from you in 2025. I’m currently not in the best mental state and every time I see you’ve posted a new video makes my day much better!

[@md.abdullaalwailykhanchowd3974]

Tom as Hamza Choudhury will be representing Bangladesh🇧🇩 and after the July uprising! Your next challenge is winning the world cup with Bangladesh🇧🇩! I wish you all the best luck! BTW we got 200 million people! Surely we can find 20 world class players, right!? Right!!?

[@Robi2009]

7:40 - good one :D BTW, 13:35 - Polish "sz" is very similar to English "sh" sound. So not "bogus", but more like "boh-goo-sh"

[@adammizrahi310]

I've seen Erik mcue play IRL! When he was playing for AB in the Faroe Islands!!! Didn't expect to see this name pop up at all

[@holm-v4o]

Keep up the good work, still remember when you had 20k subs

[@Mr_Aivo]

11:10 why no reaction about this BANGER he scores 😭

[@shesh_]

Tom, what about moving all these MLS rules into, for example, England? No relegation, two zones (north and south), drafts, wage limits

[@shyguy1051]

Happy new year Tom, much love from Uganda 🇺🇬🫶🏿

[@TomFM]

Happy New Year my friend!

[@rauhvelt]

Thanks Tom the entertaining videos! Not many do MLS challenges for what I've seen, was interesting!

[@nib5567]

I’m not sure if did this in you sim. But in a draft trade down, and accumulate more picks of you don’t like a the crop of potential 1. Is it risky yes. But don’t reach for a player. Your number 1 pick can also be an opportunity to build the team for the future if you accumulate enough picks.

[@MannyTaco123]

Yo bro remember that goal difference does not matter in the playoffs. You can win a leg 8-0 but if the other team beats you on penalties in the next matches you still lose

[@swbaxter13]

Oh, hey Whitecaps sighting a couple of minutes in! Uh, what the heck is Bendik doing in goal? Also, Tom, it looks like you bounced Nashville to make room. Did all their players just get released, or did you disperse them among the league in some fashion?

[@TomFM]

Yeah swapped Helenites with Nashville. I left all the players there and they slowly left the club

[@kajsterq3185]

Try Ekstraklasa where 2nd place finish team last season is on their way to get relegated

[@idhamkhalid6343]

Thanks. I didnt know there is draft system in MLS until now. Sounds interesting.

[@michaelstein7510]

Yeah, it’s becoming less and less important with each passing year as the quality of the league continues to improve. Back 10-15 years ago, good college players could expect to regularly make MLS squads and even become starters. Nowadays, that’s pretty rare, and even the top college prospects can barely stay in the league. I can see MLS getting rid of the draft in the next 10 years at this point.

[@mathewreisler1950]

This was a fun to watch! I love watching someone with very little knowledge of it learn how the American sports system works. Welcome to the chaos!

[@diegoguap]

Tom do a DC United rebuild pleaseeee they have been bad for damn near 20 years now would love to see you take them back to glory

[@sarahparkinson3021]

Any chance of some type of youth rebuild? Always enjoyable. Could do one in the future so there’s lots of newgens! Happy new year mate

[@ajsciri4]

bro it's crazy that ive been watching you since you were getting like 1000 views and youre the 2nd biggest now i feel old congrats

[@Tm-dp6qd]

Been here since you had 12k subs. Insane man. Great stuff tom

[@christycullen2355]

I really wanted to enjoy this video as your videos are always bangers. The whole farcical nonsense rules the MLS has makes it impossible unfortunately. It's like the krypton factor

[@GabrielHeidler]

My Kongsvinger save has been infinitely harder than this haha Fairly strict registration rules and the only job I've had where a £52k/week wage budget was slashed to £43k/week halfway through the season and I failed to "work within the wage budget". No one wants to sign your players to balance the books and even solid Premier Division players garner offers that are in the tens of thousands, you bounce between pro and semi-pro season to season, and then Bodo/Glimt win everything lol Promoted first season, relegated in the third and then immediately offered a new contract which made me howl 🤣

[@badnews2222]

People say the hardest leagues and although the rules are harder to get around, the league to designed to help the smaller clubs and try and level the playing field. Plus theres the playoffs which means you can finish 9th and still win the league

[@randallbestrcb]

Also, regarding the draft, teams are crap at trades and you can easily buy the first few picks in the draft (aka the best players) for peanuts.

[@bespoke2147]

this man got me back into Soccer let alone playing FM

[@hazorg16]

Seeing you play Beşiktaş might rekindle my love for the club and the sport

[@JDBerggreen]

If you have the first Pick but are going for the 5th Pick then use the Boston Celtics strategy of trading Down in the draft and get some more value!

[@SolomonsChalwa]

You kind of left out that the regular season tournament is for the shield and the playoffs are for the cup

[@Mister-Mayor]

Thanks for the insane challenge,sangalo

[@iw2751]

Sometimes you can use TAM sometimes you can't. Sometimes you can use GAM sometimes you can't.

[@KargoolElvalie]

Please dont dissapear into twitch gaming, for us on different timezones its so hard to follow on there.

[@lukewinter9727]

As an American, I do love the MLS content! I know it's a bit wonky, but it feels like it gets overlooked a lot by FM streamers. Though after having done my first MLS save recently and realizing just how many regulations exist...I do kinda get it. 😂 I know the history of the league, and of American soccer leagues in general, so I know there are very good reasons all of these rules exist. But as a FM player...it's annoying. 😛

[@Zekar]

love the work tom

[@P3TER_Official23]

1:18 Being an MLS Reject is crazy 💀

[@mheiseus]

2:10 No, only the top 8 teams in each conference advance to the playoffs... Not every team

[@kes9684]

Best of 3 series is just 😂 in football

[@mattyaztec]

I’m defo going to have a go at MLS in FM25

[@aleksandarbukvic4515]

How the heck did you sing that Obando guy on a free transfer?? That kinda player would be picked up by a European team as soon as he turned 18!! Are you using the editor for your videos?

[@timerunhistory2604]

He probably just didn’t have most of the European leagues loaded so they wouldn’t be bidding

[@Kai_zz2051]

4:28 đù có áo Ha Noi fc kìa mà có ai là người Việt ko

[@Imkohlton]

Burki is the goat. He’s gonna win you the league for sure.

[@damonmcknight]

The draft and salary caps and the registration rules are actually easy to understand once you learn them. Being different doesn't mean it's difficult. Although, in my experience, I find MLS to be one of the easiest leagues in the game. The AI only knows how to win by spending money, not by being tactically intelligent, and the idea of a salary cap completely messes up the AI and there are few teams that are ever "consistent" in any fashion in MLS, and as a human manager, that's easy to exploit just because you have a brain and the AI doesn't. That said, I'm also an American so I love managing MLS anyway because it's my own national league.

[@TakedaS115]

Tom, how about winning the CONCACAF Champions League with a USL team?

[@aidanbattley4494]

As a Whitecaps fan, this checks out!

[@stefan9303]

Your editor replicated your style really well! But I think the wind-ish sound when swapping scenes get kinds of annoying/ repetitive

[@paulm4652]

I really like the draft system...

[@felixjones8793]

Looks like tom is a world wide celebrity now

[@pasindupriyananda9098]

Fun krap and uncle god killer 4:10

[@Celticglasgow87]

10,000 to 1 odds on winning the league that's the lowest odds I have ever seen on FM 😮

[@yoavgabel8302]

Loved the shirts Sangolo have some amazing products loved the video

[@almightymcintosh]

can you see a draft prospects college stats before drafting them?

[@TheStuartGibson]

Great video, still rather confusing, make more videos from mls to educate us please

[@JennyQT]

Mls is so confusing, every signing they do they have to pay that club. Like every team had to pay La Galaxy for the signing of Reus

[@mischamoo3141]

Great video bro

[@benc-qh6mf]

Why does bro upload at the exact moment I should be studying

[@TirakyneTripleA]

11:10 MI BOMBOC-

[@keatonmonier8965]

Love your videos tom but why choose a non-mls team to play with in your mls save. As a weird mls fan that kinda took me out of it. It would be like if you played with Paris FC in the prem. Still love the videos, just food for thought

[@garrymartin303]

ZEALAND catching strays 😂😂

[@noobletzzz1267]

this is interesting actually

[@mclauc1999]

Hold up! Did you replace Nashville to do this challenge, Tom? I was looking out for them in your save but see they aren't on the title odds page you show at 1:28! Gutted!

[@brentton2]

I also think so as the club he was managing is from US Virgin Islands

[@lucianoarebalo41]

This is why the supporters shield >>> mls cup