Why you start in division 3

Update, 9 October 2026: new careers now start in division 10, at the very foot of the pyramid. What changed is the problem this post describes: every number in a club's economy — TV, gates, sponsors, prizes, wages and building work — now follows the scale of its division, and players at the foot of the pyramid are paid like the amateurs they are, so a club at the bottom can pay its way. The rest of this post explains the earlier rule and why it was right at the time.

The most romantic version of ManageFC starts at the very bottom. Ten divisions below the top flight, a pitch with one stand, a squad of part-timers, and a long road to glory. We planned exactly that in May 2026 and called it, half-jokingly, "zero to hero".

In September we measured whether it actually worked. It did not.

What the numbers said

Football's economy is steep, and ManageFC's mirrors it. Central TV money is paid every week and depends entirely on your division. At the top, a club receives about 3.16 million a week. In division 3, about 316,000. In division 10, it receives 39.

Prize money tells the same story: the division 1 champion receives 50 million, the division 3 champion 4 million, and the division 10 champion 1,500.

When we simulated a new club starting in division 10, the result was blunt: it could not pay its wages in the very first week. Not after a bad season, not after a few poor signings — in week one. A career that begins with a club that cannot afford its own players is not a challenge; it is a dead end.

The decision

We kept the start in division 3 of your base country, with a club founded from scratch: an empty trophy cabinet, facilities at the first level, and a starting balance that depends on how strong your football nation is. Division 3 is a strong league — the clubs around you have real quality — and the climb from there to the top flight is long enough to fill many seasons.

The lower divisions are still part of the world. They exist in every pyramid down to division 10, they have their own champions and promotions, and you can include lower divisions from other countries in your save.

What would have to change

Starting at the very bottom is not cancelled; it is waiting for an economy that makes it fair. For a division 10 start to work, small clubs need income that matches their size — matchday revenue that means something at a small ground, sponsors that care about local clubs, costs that scale down as well as up. We are working on that, and when a division 10 club can survive a season on sensible decisions, we will offer it as an option.

Why we tell you this

Because for a while a division 10 start was the plan, and some of you heard about it. Plans change when measurements disagree with them, and we would rather explain the change than quietly edit a sentence.

Next in the diary: the day the league tables froze.