FM Challenges

Explained: The Director of Football (DoF) Challenge In Football Manager

The Director of Football challenge also referred to as the DoF challenge involves designating all the transfer-related activities including signing new players, handing out new player contracts, hiring staff, negotiating staff contracts and also the scouting activities to the Director of Football 

Instead of being a manager, you will effectively be relegated to a head coach only tasked with leading the team, with no input on who gets sold or gets to sign a new contract.

Director of Football In football manager

This challenge effectively nullifies the advantage FM players have over the AI in identifying new talent and moving fast to acquire them for our teams so that after a few seasons in-game, most of us have  teams dominated by all-conquering regens from South America propelling us to multiple Champions League titles 

By assigning the transfer decisions for both the senior and youth teams to your Director of Football, be prepared to welcome the fourth right-back while your team is crying out for a quality raumdeuter to supplement your main striker.

You will not have the luxury of building a team as you see fit, but rather change and adapt according to the whims of your Director of Football.

That quality wonderkid you hope will lead your team to success will be sold to your main rival for peanuts, while that 32-year-old past it shadow striker will get a two-year extension on his contract.

Frustration is the name of the game, but it will only make your success at the end of it all much sweeter.

The end goal of the DoF Challenge is not as fixed as some other challenges like the Pentagon Challenge or the Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge

Director of football challenge in football manager

You can opt to have a Journeyman like save touring different countries and hopefully use the existing DoFs at the clubs you land at to achieve some success, or you can pick one team from the top five leagues in Europe and try to lead them to a league and Champions League double.  

The DoF challenge can be played in a number of ways to make it more accessible or more difficult as you see fit. These are;

  1. Head Coach – In head coach mode, you leave the DoF to manage the scouts, meaning he also sets up the scouting network without your input. You will have virtually no input on the kind of players you receive.
  2. Head Coach With Some Influence – I’ve made this name up. But basically, in this mode, you take control of your scouts, sending them to the countries and regions you want them to scour. However, you will still have no say in which of the scouted players the DoF will sign, but at least you have some control of the type of players you want your DoF to consider.
  3. Be the DoF – This challenge is slightly different as it involves you taking the role of the Director of Football and leaving all the training and match management to your assistant manager. You will need to download a skin that adds the instant result button to help you skip matches faster. You sign the players, then let the assistant manager manage them

Setting Up FM For The Director of Football (DoF) Challenge

Before you get started on your next adventure, there are a few settings you have to change to ensure the DoF handles everything regarding contracts, transfers and scouting

  1. Head over to the Staff tab, then select Responsibilities > Staff. From here, delegate all the first team, U23 and U18 staff recruitment to the Director of Football, in addition to coaching courses.
  2. Then Under Responsibilities, select scouting and also assign all the scouting responsibilities to the Director of Football
  3. Finally, still under Responsibilities, Select Transfers and Contracts and assign all the duties spanning the U18, U23 and the senior teams to the Director of Football 

Once you have designated all the transfer related responsibilities to the DoF, you can then begin your journey.

DoF Challenge In Football Manager

Choosing whether to let the board hire a Director of Football for you or hiring one yourself before handing over the reins is totally up to you.

Choosing to let the board hire one might leave you with a DoF who is poor at his job, making your task even harder, while, on the other hand, finding a suitable DoF by yourself ensures you get the best possible candidate that the club’s budget can accommodate.

Whichever direction you choose, the task ahead is not for the faint-hearted.

If this transfer business is not really your thing, consider trying out the Youth Academy challenge where you are not allowed to sign any player at all, but rather rely on the club’s youth set up to bring through youngsters who will be integrated into the first team,

It is also another effective way of removing the scouting advantage that FM players tend to have over AI-controlled teams.