The big brother challenge, also known as the little brother challenge, dares FM players to pick a smaller team in a city that houses another team that is bigger and more successful, then guide the smaller team to consistent success and in the end surpass the achievements of the bigger brother.
The big brother challenge is not restricted to cities with only two major football clubs, cities like London and Manchester that are home to more than two clubs are still fair game.
This FM challenge can be tailored to be as hard as you want or either a short-term or long-term save depending on the teams that you pick.
Pick Manchester City for instance, and it wouldn’t be long before you surpass the achievements of Manchester United, however, start with FC United of Manchester, also found in Manchester, and now you have a gargantuan task of toppling over two financial juggernauts of the footballing world.
You will need patience and sheer will. First, you will need to rise through the lower leagues, then once you reach the Premier League, work hard to avoid relegation then start challenging for a spot in the European club competitions before finally challenging the aforementioned two for league titles.
At what point you consider the challenge done is really up to you, as managing some smaller teams can become quite a slog fest soon enough while chasing the titles of its bigger brother.
1860 Munich, for instance, only has a single Bundesliga title to its name, Bayern Munich, on the other hand, has more than 30.
Trying to get to 30 league titles is bound to get boring and repetitive at some point, and there are other challenges like the Youth Academy Challenge or the Director of Football Challenge which you can take a look at.
Furthermore, the years you spent rising through the ranks and making your team competitive might add a few more titles to your big brother, making the challenge even longer and more difficult.
Although, getting a skin that adds the instant result button can make you breeze through the seasons considerably faster, especially from around your fifth or sixth season when you have built a strong side that can bulldoze past most opponents.
Therefore, getting a metric to determine when the challenge is sufficiently done without necessarily chasing down all the records is needed.
At What Point Is The Big Brother Challenge Complete In FM?
This will obviously vary from player to player, depending on how much time you are willing to put into the challenge.
- Win more trophies – Unless there is a massive gap, winning more trophies than your bigger brother should always be the goal. If the teams are not title challengers, consistently finishing higher in the league should be the target.
- Get a bigger stadium – You can not topple the bigger brother when they still have a bigger stadium than yours. However, this can get complicated since stadiums in FM can only be built when they are more than 25 years old. Expansions to the stadium, on the other hand, do not count to this limit and can be done at any point when you have healthy finances and are selling out your stadium consistently.
- Make your club value higher – Club value can be seen on the Club’s default page. Raise the value shown to be higher than your big brother, and you will have already toppled them financially.
Suitable Clubs For the Big brother Challenge
Aside from the already mentioned FC United of Manchester and 1860 Munich, there are a few more lesser-known gems that you can take over and lead them to glory.
- Brentford /Fulham / Crystal Palace / AFC Wimbledon / Charlton Athletic – London is home to more than 10 sides. Choose one depending on how short or long you want your FM adventure to be. Starting with a more established side shortens your save.
- Espanyol – Derbi Barceloni (Barcelonian derby) is not as famous as the El Classico, but is still a match that is fiercely contested. Take over the lesser-known Espanyol and aim to turn them into the biggest club in Barcelona.
- Torino FC – Not as well known as their city rivals Juventus, which makes them the perfect side to start with in Serie A then aim to replicate the success Juventus have had in the past decade.
- Paris FC – Take on the challenge of ending PSG’s dominance in Paris and the French Ligue 1 as a whole, despite PSG’s massive financial advantage.
- Everton – It doesn’t feel right calling Everton the little brother, but they, unfortunately, share the same city with Liverpool, who have in the past five years or so toppled Manchester United as the biggest club in English football. Your challenge is to drop the little brother tag and consistently outperform the more successful Liverpool side.
Once you have had your fill of the Big Brother challenge and want to try something new, hop over to the SAF (Sir Alex Ferguson) Challenge or the Journeyman Challenge for more tests on your managerial skills.
