FIFA 17 Career Mode: Think you’re good enough to take on these challenges?

We’ve all been there. You’ve gotten bored with your 10th Career Mode save in the past month and you’re wondering if there will ever be a challenge worthy of your managerial prowess. Fear not, fellow Career Moder, I have your back. FIFA 17’s Career Mode, while lacking in many areas, does allow for one to get a bit creative. Here are some of my favorite career mode challenges and some teams that fit the bill.

For Club and Country

One of my favorite ‘Road to Glory’ campaigns. The idea is simple. You take a team from the bowels of their division, or a lower division, and aim to bring them up to the top of the league. The trick is, you can only use players who hail from that country’s origin. The goal is to eventually take over the national team and use as many of your clubs players as possible and win the World Cup. This mode will rely heavily on your ability to invest and make use of your Youth Academy (searching in your country only) as well as bringing in young prospects.

Teams: US - DC United, France - Stade de Reims, Germany - 1860 Munchen, Italy - Carpi

Difficulty Rating: Very hard

The Rebirth of Former Glory

This career mode is less complicated than Club and Country and much more straightforward. The idea is to bring a club, who is currently struggling, back to its former glory. The difficulty of this challenge will greatly depend on which team you chose to take on. My favorites are:

Nottingham Forest: Former Premier League dynasty, having won a few European championships, as well as experiencing wonderful domestic success. However, they have largely been an afterthought since falling out of the Premier League in 1999.

Difficulty: Hard

AC Milan/Inter Milan: Not nearly as difficult as Nottingham Forest but fun all the same. The idea is to break the spell and bring Milan back on the map for European dominance.

Difficulty: Easy

Marseille: The French side have won the Ligue 1 title on ten occasions and have experienced European success. However, they have only won one title in the last 25 years.

Difficulty: Normal

The Pep Guardiola Challenge

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images

The idea here is to establish your managerial dominance in every major league on Europe. You must win the title in Ligue One, Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A. No player restrictions here as time is a concern; you have 15 seasons to complete your mission. The only caveat is that you cannot start with a team with more than 3.5 stars. Once you start making a name for yourself within a few seasons, more clubs will being to offer you jobs.

Teams: Bournemouth, Hamburg, SD Eibar, FC Nantes, Palermo

Difficulty: Hard

Youth Academy Challenge

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

The Youth Academy Challenge turned out to be one of my favorite challenges, surprisingly. I didn’t think I would enjoy it but I found I was super attached to my gang of misfits after a few seasons. This is another variation of a “Road to Glory” and you must use a team at the bottom of the league ranks. Within a few seasons, get rid of everyone on your current squad who is not an academy product and work your way up to the top of the tables. This is not for the feint of heart as it will take a lot of time (and spreadsheets) to crack.

Teams: Barnet, Red Star, Union Berlin, Avellino, AZ

Difficulty: Very Hard

The Superleague

Photo by Harold Cunningham/Getty Images

Get ready to completely ignore the Champions League. In this “Superleague” scenario, we take all four levels of the English Footballing Federation and kick out every team. In their stead, we put in the top clubs from around the world. The best (five stars) going into the English Premier League, and so on until all four leagues are packed with talent. Start at League 2 and work your way up to the Premier League. Every match will be a fight and nothing will come easy. Consider the FA Cup to be the new Champions League.

I will say this is a great opportunity to play as some of those teams you never get to really experience (Zenith, Feyenoord, etc)

Just go down this list and start filling up the leagues until full.

Teams: Torino, Southampton, Malaga, Lokomotiv Moscow, Hoffenheim, Galatasaray SK