When I think about a new edition of FM coming out, I never think about managing PSG, Manchester City or Barcelona, as that isn’t my bag when it comes to the way I like to play the game.
Granted, my main yearly saves will usually be managing my team, Everton, which can be a challenge in the first few seasons. However, in recent years, I have developed a fascination with the Bundesliga, and the German top flight is full of potential challenges for FM27.
Keeping Elversberg in the Bundesliga is a good challenge
You could try to restore Schalke or Wolfsburg to their former glory as German champions, for example. However, for me, the best Bundesliga challenge in FM27 would be keeping minnows Elversberg in the Bundesliga.
To be honest, I didn’t know much about Elversberg before their surprise promotion last season, as my 2. Bundesliga knowledge is not the best. Since then, though, I have discovered that they are an intriguing prospect.
Elversberg’s promotion to the elite of German football was a massive surprise. The club is based in Spiesen-Elversberg, which is home to just 13,000 people. That makes it the town with the smallest population ever to feature in the Bundesliga. The club’s stadium, Waldstadion an der Kaiserlinde, has a capacity of just 10,000 people.
Having been in existence for 119 years, the 2026/27 season is their first in the Bundesliga. They are the 59th club to play in the Bundesliga. It has been an incredible rise, as their promotion to the top flight was their third in just five years.
The minnows have made a solid start to life in the German top flight, picking up seven points from a possible 12 at the start of the season. That start has included wins over Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen. They even pushed champions Bayern Munich close, but ultimately suffered a 2-1 home defeat after Harry Kane scored in the second half.
What could the conditions be like at Elversberg in FM27?
Like any team that has won promotion, their stats and reputation will look very different in FM27 than they did in FM26. Their squad is different, too, as they have strengthened with several signings, including the loan signing of former Barcelona youngster Noah Darvich and the permanent signing of young USA midfielder Cole Campbell from Dortmund. Both players are regarded as promising youngsters.
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Campbell and forward Luca Pfeiffer are the only players in the current squad who have any Bundesliga experience of any note. Their current squad’s stats may still be low because of a lack of profile and many having stats relative to being second-tier players last season.
Elversberg are minnows of the German game, so you are likely to start the save with a modest transfer budget to transform the squad into a more competitive one in the German top-flight (although the current squad aren’t doing a bad job currently).
Like any newly promoted team without a massive budget, you will be looking to utilise the free and loan markets. The team already has three players on loan, but that still leaves lots of loan spots available, with a maximum of 12 allowed.
Whenever I have done a long-term save starting from a low budget, I have always found the loan market highly valuable. However, you have to be careful when loaning players in, especially with wages. The same applies to free transfers.
If you bring in a free agent on big wages and he flops, it can prove to be a costly mistake and can affect your future transfer dealings.
Keeping Elversberg up is a challenge I might try
Current head coach Vincent Wagner took up the challenge at the Saarlund club in June 2025, and it’s fair to say he’s done a stellar job so far. Keeping Elversberg in the Bundesliga is a challenge I may try on FM27, as it combines my passion for the Bundesliga and the underdog.
On FM24, I did a challenge involving winning promotion with Hamburg back to the Bundesliga. I achieved it on my first attempt, then continued the save for a couple of seasons, guiding them to fifth- and third-place finishes in the Bundesliga.
Although HSV had struggled for promotion for years, the team was well set up to be in the German top flight, and many of the players I signed in the first transfer window were good enough to play in the Bundesliga once we achieved promotion.
Elversberg is slightly different, as they are more of an unknown so that it would be an interesting long-term save idea. When FM27 is released, I will take a look at Elversberg and may start a save and do a short series on how it went.
It would be a massive achievement not only to beat the drop, but to progress from there, qualify for Europe, eventually challenge and win the German top flight, and then challenge for European trophies with the club from the smallest town ever to host a Bundesliga club.
Would you be up for trying to beat the drop from the Bundesliga in FM27 with Elversberg?
