After a wait of more than a decade, the fully licensed Bundesliga finally makes its debut in Football Manager 2019. This means that in FM19 – which is released on November 2 this week - both the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 will be kitted out with club badges, kits and player faces as well as the respective trophies for each league, creating an even more immersive user experience.
Football Manager is the most realistic, in-depth and immersive football management simulation in the world. Putting you in the hot seat of any club in more than 50 countries across the world, Football Manager allows you to make all the decisions a real manager has to make: you’re in total control of signings, tactics, team talks, substitutions and pitch-side instructions as you follow the action live with the acclaimed 3D match engine. It’s the closest thing to doing the job for real.
In recent years Football Manager has become an integral part of football culture. The game’s hugely loyal fan base includes celebrities and footballers and it has inspired books and comedy shows. Football Manager is developed by Sports Interactive (SI). Founded in 1994 and based in East London, SI has a full-time staff of more than 110 and employs the services of roughly 1,300 part-time researchers across the globe (as well as more than 200 offsite Beta testers). SI has ongoing relationships with some of the biggest names in professional football, including the Bundesliga, the League Managers Association and many other leagues and national associations.
So for the return of official Bundesliga players and clubs to the game, we want to give you the scoop on the young talents you should sign from the Bundesliga. Renowned as the leading league for developing, and playing, young rising stars, the Bundesliga’s reputation for being the home of the best youth talent in football is huge, and consistently growing.
Some stars, such as Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho and Schalke’s Weston McKennie, have already made their mark on the league despite being aged under 21. However, while young talent is a certain thing to find on the pitches of Germany’s top flight already, there are some hidden gens that can put you ahead of the game.
Take Eduard Löwen of Nuremberg and Erkan Eyibil of Mainz as the perfect example. Twenty-one-year-old Löwen is a Germany U21 international, despite only now playing his first season in the Bundesliga with the newly promoted side. He’s been one of the first names on their team-sheet so far this season as a defensive midfield rock. Eyibil, on the other hand, is only 17 and has yet to make a first-team appearance with Mainz. With six goals in eight games this season at youth level, the attacking midfielder is one of the hottest young properties in the Bundesliga, and will surely soon be gracing a Bundesliga pitch very soon.
Names you may already know as targets for your first new game with FM19 are the likes of Bayer Leverkusen’s Leon Bailey, Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic and Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Mickaël Cuisance. The trio have been superb signing joining their Bundesliga teams respectively and are regarded as some of the best young talents on FM19 as a whole.
Other names who have yet to write their Bundesliga story so far include Simon Asta at Augsburg, David Otto of Hoffenheim and Haji Wright of Schalke.
But be sure to check every club’s squad and youth ranks for the hidden gems lurking in the Bundesliga. Every team has a state-of-the-art youth academy and consistently produces talent that not only goes onto to dominate the Bundesliga, but also playing in some of the other top leagues around the world.
The return of the Bundesliga in all its glory to Football Manager is an exciting prospect for the league and fans as a whole. But what’s most important is that you can create your own managerial history with your favourite team, using your favourite stars from the Bundesliga.