Creating a 5-star coaching team on Football Manager is a task many players have found difficult and even impossible over the years.
This guide will tell you the best way you can achieve a 5-star coaching team in FM by breaking down the individual components that make up this tricky task.
See also: How to conduct effective training on FM.
Contents
The basics of creating a 5-star coaching team on Football Manager
Any Football Manager player wanting to get the very best out of their players is going to need to have the best staff behind them. However, having the best staff won't significantly aid your players' development if you don't possess state-of-the-art training facilities, so for this challenge, you are either going to need to take control of one of the top clubs or you will need to simply make your team one of the best.
Starting at a team with a lower reputation will obviously make achieving a 5-star coaching team an even tougher challenge as you aren't likely to have the facilities, reputation or the money to attract the best coaches.
Attributes and personalities
The criteria for any potential 5-star coach are their attributes, coaching badges and personality. Before you check the attacking, defending or goalkeeping stats for any coach, you must first look at their Determination, Level of Discipline and Motivating attributes as these are the key stats for any 5-star coach.
Once you have found a coach with high numbers in these three key areas you can assess his attacking, defending or goalkeeping attributes to figure out what their specialist area of training is.
Personalities play a big role in players and coaches on FM and if you want to get the best coaching staff then ideally you want them to have either of these three personalities, Model Citizen, Model Professional or Professional.
What coaches do I need?
Assigning coaches to specialised roles is essential to maintain 5-star quality in each training area. Spreading them across multiple areas can dilute their effectiveness. Therefore, you’ll need two coaches for each key discipline: fitness, goalkeeping, defending, attacking, and possession, as each has two distinct training focuses. Additional coaches with broader skill sets may be a good option for larger clubs, who can utilize them better.
The list below outlines the type of coach required and the key attributes they should excel in to achieve or develop into a 5-star rating. While these traits may seem straightforward, it's crucial to prioritize them alongside high Motivating, Discipline, and Determination stats when recruiting the best talent for each role. These three stats, alongside Adaptability, are the most vague of the coaching stats, but they are good to have. Note that high discipline isn't always a higher is better stats, having a balance is key.
Remember, coaches grow just like players. If you can’t secure a 5-star coach right away, choose one with room to develop—ideally someone younger or someone who can benefit from further qualifications. This growth potential is important, as it allows coaches to progress in their roles. Avoid hiring coaches nearing retirement who are unlikely to show improvement. While there is no set age at which a coach will retire, a general rule is that 60+ is the retirement zone. If you can hire coaching of 4-star quality who are under 40 you will have plenty of room to develop them.
Goalkeeping Handling
Key Attributes: GK Handling and GK Distribution.
Goalkeeper Shot Stopping
Key Attributes: GK Shot Stopping
Defending Tactical
Key Attributes: Defending and Tactical
Defending Technical
Key Attributes: Defending and Technical
Attacking Tactical
Key Attributes: Attacking and Tactical
Attacking Technical
Key Attributes: Attacking and Technical
Possession Tactical
Key Attributes: Mental and Tactical
Possession Tactical
Key Attributes: Mental and Technical
Fitness Strength
Key Attributes: Fitness
Fitness Quickness
Key Attributes: Fitness
Which 5-star coaches can I sign?
If you were hoping to start a new save and hire an entire team of 5-star coaches straight away then you are out of luck.
There simply aren't ready-made 5-star coaches available when you first load up FM, well not in all the areas you need anyway. Assuming you don't want to discover the best coaches on FM yourself, we have handpicked a selection of 5 and 4.5-star coaches that you could potentially sign.
However, you would need to load up the largest database to find all of these staff members which would slow your game down considerably, so don't plan on signing, or even finding, all of these coaches if you are already in the middle of a save.
Fitness
Holger Broich – 5 Stars
Holgar left Bayern at the end of this season having been at the club for 10 years. He's been a fairly consistent 4.5 to 5 star rated Fitness coach and we don't see that changes just yet.
Oscar Ortega – 5 Stars
Recently took up a job at Tigres UNAL, but we expect he'll remain one of the best Fitness coaches in the future.
Goalkeeping Shot Stopper
Jorge Vital – 4.5 Stars
Jorge remains at Sporting CP as the club's Goalkeeping Coach and should maintain his high Star rating
Alternative pick: Vincenzo Sicignano – 4.5 Stars
Goalkeeper Handling
Adriano Bonaiuti – 5 Stars
Currently, out of work, Bonaiuti should maintain his Star rating regardless and be a cheap pickup as a free agent.
Alternative pick: Vicenzo Sicignano – 4.5 Stars
Defending Tactical
Giuseppe Baresi – 5 Stars
Giuseppe is now a Scout at Inter Milan, however, his rating as a Tactical coach will be maintained.
Alternative pick: Daniele Bernazzani – 4.5 Stars
Defending Technical
Daniele Bernazzani – 4.5 Stars
Giuseppe Baresi – 4.5 Stars
Attacking Tactical
Loris Beoni – 4.5 Stars
Currently managing United Riccione in Serie D, Loris will still be a fantastic coach to add to your team.
Jason Euell – 4 Stars
A bit of a wildcard pick here, the former Charlton man has been key in the England U20 setup, and the sides attacking displays could see Jason get a nice bump.
Attacking Technical
Rodolfo Borrell – 4.5 Stars
Maurizio Trombetta – 4.5 Stars
Possession Tactical
Loris Beoni – 4.5 Stars
Giuseppe Baresi – 4.5 Stars
Possession Technical
Flavio Tenius – 5 Stars
Rodolfo Borrell – 4.5 Stars
As you can see from that list, your biggest issue is going to be finding and developing a 5-star attacking coach who specialises in the tactical side of training.
The fact that FM doesn't hand you everything on a plate is part of its appeal to most fans, we like having to discover and train players and coaches to the best of their abilities as it gives us a sense of achievement.
Hopefully, this guide will have answered some questions and given you an idea of what you need to do in order to attain a 5-star coaching team in FM, it won't be easy but it will be fun.
