Scouting

The Best Countries and Regions To Scout In Football Manager

Having a limited number of scouts in football manager makes the process of setting up your scouting assignments more crucial to get it right the first time. Do it well first time round, and you will definitely unearth a few gems before real powerhouses like PSG and Barcelona get a sniff on them.

FM22 has brought a change in the way the countries are grouped into regions, with more regions being added, to depopulate some of the regions which, in FM21 as well as other previous FM versions, had too many countries. 

I will delve into which regions provide the best chances of scoring great players at cheap prices, as well as ranking the countries to prioritize scouting the best ones, if you have a few scouts left over.

Countries and regions to scout in football manager

It is essential to note that the youth rating for countries from FM22 onwards is now dynamic. This means that depending on what transpires in your save game, say a country not known for their footballing prowess wins an international trophy or two, their rating will subsequently rise as it is assumed their success will inspire more of their citizens to pick up the sport and put more emphasis into it, increasing chances of providing better players in the future.

The Best Regions To Scout In Football Manager

  1. Western Africa – With footballing powerhouses like Ghana, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, the Western Africa region provides a very good place to scout. There are also a few less known footballing countries like Mali and Togo who can produce great regens. To make things better, they come at very low prices, mainly because the countries have low reputation at the start of the game.  
  2. South America (South) – One of the most popular regions to scout among all FM managers. With Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay being in this bloc, it makes the region a goldmine. The South American region as a whole (North and South) has a lot of high potential players who are normally relatively affordable if you buy them early. However, they are more expensive than players from Western Africa.
  3. Northern Europe – Denmark, Norway and Sweden make this region a great place to find great regens. Despite the players being more expensive than those from Southern America, they will have it easier when it comes to dealing with work permits.
  4. Central Europe – Central Europe houses Germany and Netherlands. These two countries are a source of great regens that are unfortunately very expensive since the countries have really high reputations. However, regens from Poland, Belgium, Switzerland and Czech Republic are normally more affordable, at par with those from Northern Europe and also have no problems when it comes to work permits.
  5. Western Europe – Sticking with Europe, Western Europe houses Portugal, Spain and France. The wonderkids from these countries will understandably be pricey, but the amounts should be manageable for top flight teams. 

The Best Countries To Scout In Football Manager

To give your team the best possible chance of covering every nook and cranny. I have avoided listing any nation that falls under the scouting regions above. I have also omitted countries whose players are normally too expensive, for instance England. This leaves us with the following as the best countries to scout in football manager;

  1. Colombia – Located in South America (North), Colombia produces impressive players that even rival those from Brazil and Argentina
  2. Serbia – Located in Eastern Europe, which is also a good scouting region, Serbia produces occasionally impressive regens that are affordable because of the country’s low reputation
  3. Turkey – Turkey has a huge footballing culture with clubs such as Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Besiktas. This is also reflected in the high amount of quality regens that the country produces regularly.
  4. Croatia – Reaching the final of the 2018 World Cup, and with world-class players like Modric, Perisic and Rakitic, Croatia also regularly produces top quality regens in football manager.
  5. DR Congo -Cedric Bakambu, Yannick Bolasie and Arthur Masuaku just to name a few of the real world players, DR Congo, located in Central Africa holds the game in the highest regard and this is reflected in the number of quality regens that they produce regularly in football manager

The regens from the nations listed above will be affordable and easier to sign, since the countries listed do not have very huge reputations, which normally complicates matters.

Nations With The Best Youth Ratings In Football Manager

As touched upon earlier, FM22 introduces a dynamic youth rating system, which means that the ranking will change as you progress in your save game. Therefore, a country that at the start of a save you considered to be a poor place to scout might change over time and become a decent place to source your wonderkids.

Furthermore, game importance comes into play, as countries with a high youth rating might still produce poor quality regens if game importance in that country is not high enough.

At the start of a save, the following countries have the best youth rating in football manager 2022;

  1. Brazil 163
  2. France 155
  3. Germany 155
  4. Spain 145
  5. Italy 144  
  6. Argentina 140
  7. England 135
  8. Portugal 134
  9. Netherlands 132
  10. Egypt 125

Now that you are aware of the best regions and countries to scout from, check out this guide here that explains the optimum way of setting up your scouting assignments to avoid missing potential wonderkids.

It goes without saying that it is not only the countries and regions that are listed here that will be producing quality players. Countries in other regions, including Asia and North America, will also occasionally produce top talent.

If you have scouts left over after setting up your scouting assignments, send them to countries that you have not yet looked at, then slightly tweak your scouting network at the beginning of every season to ensure you are covering as much area as possible.