Would a football management game focused entirely on academy development interest FM players?
Hi r/footballmanagergames
I’ve been playing football management games for years, and the part I always cared about most was youth development. I love scouting young players, planning future squads, watching talents improve, and seeing whether an academy can actually produce the next generation.
So I started working on a solo project called Football Academy Director, focused on the academy side of the game.
You are not managing the first team. You manage the U19 academy team, while also following younger players from U11 to U16 and planning their future pathway.
The game focuses on scouting, recruitment, squad planning, training focus, camps, tactical decisions, youth competitions, facilities, board expectations, and long-term player development. You compete in Youth Leagues, can qualify for the Youth Cup, and plan for the future through youth camps, scouting, recruitment systems, youth intake, and long-term academy progression.
Matches are text-based, with commentary, statistics, and tactical detail — similar to the classic text-commentary style of older Football Manager games, which is honestly still how I usually play FM. There are also touchline shouts, with a small but useful effect during matches.
The main question I’m interested in is:
Would a football management game focused mainly on academy development be interesting to FM players, or does it need the full senior club layer to feel meaningful?
I’d genuinely like to hear what other FM players would expect from this kind of concept.
Edit: Since a few people seem interested. Here's a link to the Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4865840/Football_Academy_Director/