As you may have seen, Football Manager 22 is out now along with an official license of the Canadian Premier League.
You can play as all eight CPL clubs with licensed CPK kits, headshots, and rosters. FM22 is available to be downloaded here on Steam, Epic Games, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and on mobile.
FM22 is the third game CPL has featured as an officially-licensed league, the first of which came in an exclusive patch for FM20 back in 2019.
If you’re about to pick up the game, or if you have already, and you’re looking for a club to take to glory, here are four CPL save games you should try in the latest edition of Football Manager.
RELATED: Football Manager 22: Taking a deep dive into the CanMNT player pool || Football Manager 22: Play as CPL clubs in FM22 now || Beyond The Pitch: CanMNT & Beşiktaş midfielder Atiba Hutchinson
FC Edmonton’s ‘Eddie Krueger’ challenge
Listeners to the CanPL.ca Newsroom podcast will be familiar with the nickname given to FC Edmonton’s towering attacking duo: the Eddies’ Easton Ongaro and Tobias Warschewski — known as the Eddie Kruegers.
To get the most out of Edmonton’s scary pair, your challenge is to play every match they are healthy for… as dual strikers. You’re free to change their roles – Warschewski may be best suited as a deep-lying forward while Ongaro pushes higher to take advantage of above-average “off the ball” and “finishing” stats seen below – but you have to stick with this mighty strike force throughout the season. For better or worse.
Let us know how you do!
Complete York United’s youthful dynasty
The Nine Stripes smashed CPL’s required 1,500-minute threshold nearly six times over this season as they qualified for the fourth and final playoff spot. Players like Max Ferrari, Cedric Toussaint, Lowell Wright and Isaiah Johnston, valued in the game at anywhere from $1.7 million to $650,000 after a decent season, offer one of the best young group of footballers in Canada – virtual or otherwise.
Your goal taking over York is simple – ride the youth wave! The building blocks are there to bring hardware to York Lions Stadium before long. Or, if you’re into wheeling and dealing, you could sell on some of these much-sought-after prospects and spend on more youth.
Rewrite Atlético Ottawa’s first proper season
If you’re looking for a club to really sink your teeth into, you should give Atlético Ottawa a chance. A balanced group of midfielders and defenders allows some tactical flexibility (a back three with Matthew Arnone, highly-rated Keesean Ferdinand, and Drew Beckie is nothing to shake a stick at) while there are some solid players to build around in a multi-season save (especially teenage Antoine Coupland).
Your challenge is to rewrite Ottawa’s off-season script – from early favourites to bottom-of-the-table bound. Will you take advantage of Mista’s late-season revelation of sturdy defensive shape or focus your attention on the attack?
There’s flexibility for sure – starting with talismanic winger Ryan Telfer who can improve at a couple positions from everywhere to left wingback to striker.
Follow Forge FC down the continental path
It’s been suggested Bobby Smyrniotis is playing real-life Football Manager with Forge FC this season… So why don’t you prove it!
Your goal is to qualify for Concacaf Champions League at your first time of asking. It won’t be easy, just like in real life, as fixture congestion plays a big part in your late-season push – continental competition kicks off in August with Canadian Championship and the playoff push ramping up.
If you do make it to next year’s Champions League, well, I guess you have to see if you can better Smyrniotis and co.’s eventual try next Spring.