Coaches: a Guide to Coaching Staff

Coaches:
A Guide to Coaching Staff

For FMM23 + FMM24 
(and should be mostly true for FMM25)

 
Intro
There is SO MUCH knowledge about coaches in FMM, but it’s not easy to find. So this is one consolidated guide, to help you setup your coaching staff for success!

• What does a natural, gold, 4* coach mean?
• What does an attacking coach actually do?
• Should you really have 4x fitness coaches?!
• What should YOUR manager speciality be?

… plus an FAQ and more … !

Thanks - this guide is the collected wisdom from other experienced players on Vibe + the Discord, plus evidence / screenshots of posts from Marc V. (the game’s lead developer!)

——————————————————

Part 1
Coach Aptitude vs Badge vs Stars

Do you know what each of these mean?
 

Aptitude (Natural, Normal, Poor)
Their improvement likelihood - how likely the coach will improve their ability (badge).  
 

Badges (Gold, Silver, Bronze)
Their ability - how good the coach is.  
 

Stars  
Their reputation - how good players / clubs think that coach is. 

Two rare side-effects. (1) coach reputation is low: may affect how players respond to that coach. (2) coach reputation is high: may cause other clubs to steal / poach that coach.  
 

Summary
Most of the time - you should get the SAME coaching impact from (A) a gold, 4 star, natural coach vs (B) a gold, 3 star, poor coach! 😲 Surprising isn’t it!

 
Evidence  
Screenshots from the Game’s Lead Developer)

Spoiler

Aptitude vs Badges

Stars / Reputation 

Side Effect #1

Side Effect #2 

——————————————————

Part 2
Coach Speciality
(General, Youth, Fitness, etc)

So what does each Speciality do?

• General - can improve any player.
• Fitness - can improve Physical attributes more than a General coach.
• Goalkeeper / Defensive / Attacking - can improve players in that position more than a General coach.
• Youth - can improve young players (under 23) more than a General coach + improves young players’ personalities.
• Motivational - can improve any player (though at a slower rate than a General coach) + improves mental attributes + improves low morale.

 
Impact 🎯 on the Pitch  
Each speciality has a small impact on the pitch.

Defensive coaches help your team’s defensive cohesion. Attacking coaches help your team’s attacking moves. Apparently Youth coaches slightly protect your young players from ‘wear and tear’ in matches.  
 

Impact 🎯 on the Youth Academy
Each speciality also has a small impact on youth academy intake.

Multiple attacking coaches often gives more attacking youngsters. Multiple fitness coaches often gives more physically better youngsters. Multiple youth coaches often gives more / better youngsters in your academy intake - but this is not 100% clear, as the game’s lead developer has stated both more quantity and better quality youngsters in separate posts. 
 

Tip 🔥 Why ‘Motivational’ is Key
If you (the manager) or 1x coach has a motivational speciality, then the personalities of your youth academy graduates will be SIGNIFICANTLY improved - e.g. professional, hardworking, determined, copes with pressure.  

This is very helpful for long term saves and/or careers which rely on your youth academy graduates.  
 

Tip 🔥 Why ‘Fitness’ Coaches are Key

Physical attributes do not use up your players’ PA (potential ability).

Therefore having 4x fitness coaches improves your players’ physical attributes - e.g. aerial, pace, stamina, strength - without using up that player’s PA. This is very helpful for general team performance and maximizes your players’ development.  
 

Tip 🔥 Superstar Players  
If you have a world-class player (e.g. Mbappe, Haaland, or a Messi regen) - then you may see the message ‘needs specialist coaching to improve’ on his training profile. 

This is when you may need a specialist coach in that position (e.g. an attacking coach) to help that superstar reach their potential.  
 

Summary
Hopefully this helps you understand your coaches have a broader impact than many of us would expect 🙂  including on the pitch and in your youth academy! 
 

Evidence
(Screenshots from the Game’s Lead Developer)

Spoiler

What each Speciality does

 
Impact on the Pitch / Youth Academy

 
GK Coaches

 
Superstars / Specialist Coaching

——————————————————

Part 3  
Coach Combinations 

So what mix of coaches should you use?

Well it depends on what kind of club + career you want. Here’s how to setup your coaching specialities wisely!

 
Tip 🔥 Lower Leagues  
If you’re a lower league club (with 1 to 3 coaches) - I’d start to get Fitness coaches, especially as physical attributes are so important in lower leagues. If you’re developing youth academy players in the lower leagues, then having one motivational speciality (either yourself or a coach) is super helpful for having academy players with great personalities.  
 

Tip 🔥 Most Clubs  
A controversial opinion - now I almost always choose a ‘Motivational’ speciality for myself, with 3x to 4x Fitness Coaches - for the reasons explained in part 2 above. This is probably the optimal setup for most clubs.  
 

Tip 🔥 Top Clubs
If you have 4 coaches AND top 5* facilities - then there’s no point having ‘General’ coaches. So I’d recommend a ‘Motivational’ speciality for yourself, with multiple Fitness Coaches, and only a GK / Def / Att coach if you have a superstar who ‘needs specialist coaching’.  
 

Tip 🔥 Technical Tactics  
If you are doing a 1k challenge, or are building a highly technical squad / tactic - then having one or more Attacking coach should help improve your players’ attacking minded players. I don’t do it, but know others do!
 

Tip 🔥 Youth Academy  
If you’re doing a ‘academy only’ save, or rely on academy graduates - then having one ‘Youth’ coach is also good, as helps with your academy players’ quantity and/or quality.  
 

Summary
This is controversial - now I almost always choose a ‘Motivational’ speciality for myself, with 3x to 4x ‘Fitness’ Coaches. That’s probably a solid / optimal setup for most clubs. 

This can leave 1x other Coach, if I want a Youth Coach (e.g. if I’m using a lot of youngster) or if it’ll help my ‘game immersion’ (e.g. hiring an ex-club legend). 

 
Evidence
Screenshots are posted in Part 2 (above)

——————————————————

Part 4  
Manager + Assistant Bonuses

Coaches are great … but you + your assistant have an even bigger impact on your players’ development.

• Assistant Manager - make sure this is your best coach (e.g. Gold badge), as the assistant gives an extra ‘boost’ to your players’ development.  
   
• You / The Manager - make sure you develop your own ability (e.g. Gold badge), as you give an even BIGGER ‘boost’ to your players’ development.

An Example
If a Coach gives a x1 improvement, perhaps an Assistant gives a x1.2 to x1.5 improvement, and You / The Manager gives a x1.5 to x2 improvement. 

These numbers are just guesses, to explain this key point: pick your Assistant wisely!

 

Tip 🔥 Your / The Manager Speciality
If You have a ‘motivational’ speciality, then (I think) you get an extra bonus. 

• You improve players’ mental attributes + improve low morale (as noted above) … 
   
• … PLUS (I think) as a motivational manager you also get better results from player interactions (including team talks + player talks). That’s useful!

 
Evidence  
(Screenshots from the Game’s Lead Developer)

Spoiler

——————————————————

Summary
This is a consolidated ‘guide to coaching staff’.

In the posts below, we’ll try to add a FAQ, plus maybe some experiments on alternative ideas.

Feel free to share YOUR experiences + questions! 😀
 

Edited December 10, 2024 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions

Will add more questions (and update answers!) as people contribute to this thread 🙂
 

Q: Who are the best Assistants / Coaches in the game?

A: Don’t know. It depends on what leagues you load, what database version you are using, and what coaching you want. Just search for ‘Gold’ badge Assistants / Coaches and see who’s interested in moving to your club.  
 

Q: What’s the best combination of coach specialities?

A: Personally I go for 3x to 4x Fitness coaches, plus myself with a Motivational speciality, for reasons explained in the article. Occasionally I’ll have a different coach for gameplay / immersion reasons (because it feels right).  
 

Q: Who should I make my Assistant Manager?

A: Your best coach and/or the coach who you want to have the biggest impact on your squad and youth academy intake. 
 

Q: How can I get more coaches?

If you have less than 4 coaches, but no available / empty slots in your staff screen - then you need a successful ‘Board Request’ to improve your ‘training facilities’. This costs money, so make sure you have available transfer budget. Then as your facilities improve, you can hire more coaches.  
 

Q: Why can’t I have more than 4 coaches?

A: You can have a max of 4 coaches (plus yourself as a 5th coach) in FMM. This ‘max’ is programmed deliberately, as Marc V. explains here …

Spoiler

 
Q: Should I hire younger or older coaches?

A: Your choice. Older staff aged around and over 65 are more likely to retire (which can be annoying to replace + train up a new Gold coach). But younger staff generally have lower reputations, which means star player may respond less positively to their coaching. When there’s a choice, I tend to go for 30-50 year olds, but it’s up to you.
 

Q: I use a different combination of coaches. Does that mean this guide is wrong?

A: You are allowed to use whatever combination of coaching you wish. The info from this guide (in parts 1, 2, and 4) are mostly from the game's lead developer himself, so we can probably take them as near-facts. How you combine them into a team of coaching staff (part 3) is opinion - based on your personal preferences - where I've shared my personal preferences in that section (part 3).

 

Edited December 10, 2024 by DanEnglish

[Fortune456]

👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾really needed this!

About that needing a specialist coach for star players. I've tried hiring a specific coach say attacking. But that prompt was still in his coach's report??,

[leedsunited87]

Awesome guide there Danny boy. I never knew clubs could poach your staff, never in 7/8 years has this never happened 🤔 

[Lil-Mont]

Very nice and detailed guide 👍 👍 

 

Got nothing to add to this and I learnt a lot myself. 

[Enrique34]

I have a question, my trainer profile is general, can I change to Motivational or is it not possible unless I start a new profile? 🤔

[DanEnglish]

6 minutes ago, Enrique34 said:

I have a question, my trainer profile is general, can I change to Motivational or is it not possible unless I start a new profile? 🤔

Great question. I don’t think it’s possible. Maybe it’ll be possible in future FMM versions?

If you want the ‘motivational’ effect, but can’t have that speciality yourself, then just hire a ‘motivational’ coach. That’s what I’m doing in my current save - where there’s a (self-decided) limit to not have a badge myself.

 
 

3 hours ago, leedsunited87 said:

Awesome guide there Danny boy. I never knew clubs could poach your staff, never in 7/8 years has this never happened 🤔 

Same! I also had no idea until I read through Marc V.’s posts on coaches. 
 

4 hours ago, Fortune456 said:

👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾really needed this!

About that needing a specialist coach for star players. I've tried hiring a specific coach say attacking. But that prompt was still in his coach's report??,

If you post some screenshots, then we can look at your specific situation. Screenshots:

1. of the player’s training profile - which says ‘needs specialist coaching’,
2. of your coaches - do we can see their badge + specialities - like my screenshot in this post above,
3. of that specific attacking coach - so we can see that coach’s stars / reputation
4. of your club’s training facility stars - usually the club’s general information screen.

My guess is that either your training facilities are not good enough, or that your attacking coach’s reputation isn’t good enough. Let us know 🙂 

[DanEnglish]

<blank>

Edited December 10, 2024 by DanEnglish

[Fortune456]

10 hours ago, DanEnglish said:

Great question. I don’t think it’s possible. Maybe it’ll be possible in future FMM versions?

If you want the ‘motivational’ effect, but can’t have that speciality yourself, then just hire a ‘motivational’ coach. That’s what I’m doing in my current save - where there’s a (self-decided) limit to not have a badge myself.

 
 

Same! I also had no idea until I read through Marc V.’s posts on coaches. 
 

If you post some screenshots, then we can look at your specific situation. Screenshots:

1. of the player’s training profile - which says ‘needs specialist coaching’,
2. of your coaches - do we can see their badge + specialities - like my screenshot in this post above,
3. of that specific attacking coach - so we can see that coach’s stars / reputation
4. of your club’s training facility stars - usually the club’s general information screen.

My guess is that either your training facilities are not good enough, or that your attacking coach’s reputation isn’t good enough. Let us know 🙂 

I loaded Denmark, Spain, England, Italy and Argentina in my save. I'm gonna end up in the premier league, but iw any to start in the danish league. Should I put my manager nationality as English or danish??

Cos,  I noticed that you can actually teach a player that language. Say, you're English and you bring a Spanish youth player to your club, you can 'teach' them English especially if you're a motivational coach. So does your nationality as a manager have any effect on the game?

[StuartM]

On 10/12/2024 at 12:39, DanEnglish said:

On 10/12/2024 at 12:20, Enrique34 said:

I have a question, my trainer profile is general, can I change to Motivational or is it not possible unless I start a new profile? 🤔

Great question. I don’t think it’s possible. Maybe it’ll be possible in future FMM versions?

If you want the ‘motivational’ effect, but can’t have that speciality yourself, then just hire a ‘motivational’ coach. That’s what I’m doing in my current save - where there’s a (self-decided) limit to not have a badge myself.

Another great thread Dan, I thought I knew what I needed to know but I didn't realise that having a motivational coach had the same effect as having that badge yourself... does that extend to the personality of the youngsters that come through and is it as strong an affect to your knowledge?

The reason for asking is that I find there is a bug when I switch clubs a lot where I don't appear on the coaching staff and lose the motivational influence on youth intake personalities. Strangely, I am allowed an extra coach... I'm just going to make them a motivational one now!

[Fortune456]

7 hours ago, StuartM said:

Another great thread Dan, I thought I knew what I needed to know but I didn't realise that having a motivational coach had the same effect as having that badge yourself... does that extend to the personality of the youngsters that come through and is it as strong an affect to your knowledge?

The reason for asking is that I find there is a bug when I switch clubs a lot where I don't appear on the coaching staff and lose the motivational influence on youth intake personalities. Strangely, I am allowed an extra coach... I'm just going to make them a motivational one now!

Most times if you change clubs say mid season or past the time you're supposed to, the youth intake will not happen or has already been finalized. So, you going to that club doesn't change whatever personality your youth intake has. Personalities aren't also only dependent on the motivational coach. Your team dynamics plays a solid role too. If you have As for most of them. The couples with you being a motivational coach, your youth intake will have great personalities, thrives in big matches and the likes. Especially loyalty. I think this one is totally dependent on your team dynamics. If your club players are too ambitious and have F in loyalty. There's a likelihood of having a youth player with a 'mercenary' personality. 

 

[Fortune456]

7 hours ago, StuartM said:

Another great thread Dan, I thought I knew what I needed to know but I didn't realise that having a motivational coach had the same effect as having that badge yourself... does that extend to the personality of the youngsters that come through and is it as strong an affect to your knowledge?

The reason for asking is that I find there is a bug when I switch clubs a lot where I don't appear on the coaching staff and lose the motivational influence on youth intake personalities. Strangely, I am allowed an extra coach... I'm just going to make them a motivational one now!

If you're a youth to gold kind of player or you love using youth players. Most good strikers come from the EPL. Good penalty ability and the likes. In terms of creative midfielders, ones with 'unpredictable' sometimes, Spain is your go-to place.  And France also. It's a haven of good midfield youth players there. For defenders, EPL too. Spain for wing defenders

[Enrique34]

@DanEnglish bro, excellent guide, I have a doubt, does it influence something to look for coaches that use the same tactical system, I mean that I for example almost always use a 3-4-3 in my tactics, will it have something to do to look for coaches that use the same tactical approach, or it would not be necessary? 

[DanEnglish]

On 11/12/2024 at 07:08, Fortune456 said:

So does your nationality as a manager have any effect on the game?

I’ve not tested it properly - BUT I have noticed that (1) it’s easier to get a national job, if you gave that nationality, and (2) you / the Manager can help new players adjust / learn the language if you share a nationality 👍 
 

On 11/12/2024 at 23:42, StuartM said:

I didn't realise that having a motivational coach had the same effect as having that badge yourself... does that extend to the personality of the youngsters that come through and is it as strong an affect to your knowledge?

It’s a great question. Certainly having a ‘silver’ motivational coach has a HUGE positive impact on your academy youngsters’ personalities. It doesn’t seem to be quite as good as being a ‘gold’ motivational manager (myself) - but it’s close enough 👍 
 

On 12/12/2024 at 06:51, Fortune456 said:

Personalities aren't also only dependent on the motivational coach. Your team dynamics plays a solid role too

Again I haven’t tested properly. But I definitely think a motivational coach is MUCH more impactful that your existing squad dynamics. 

Example - currently I have a Portuguese club with terrible squad dynamics, but one motivational coach was enough to turn the academy graduates from a ‘mix’ to ‘hugely positive’ personalities.  
 

On 12/12/2024 at 07:24, Enrique34 said:

I for example almost always use a 3-4-3 in my tactics, will it have something to do to look for coaches that use the same tactical approach, or it would not be necessary? 

That’s something I don’t know much about and haven’t tested. Maybe someone else knows the answer?

If anyone publishes decent evidence of how this works, then I’ll add it to this guide and will tag you 👍 

[aissa75]

If we are the type to delegate everything to the assistant for training for example? What would be the assistant or trainer combo that we should take ?

[Snipes99]

Great post Dan, thanks!

I have a question for you (and anyone else who may know the answer), I have players who "lack respect for the coaching staff", even though all my coaches have gold badges, have natural aptitude and are 4.5 stars. It doesn't change, no matter who I bring in. Do you know why this is and if it impacts the players in any way?

[Ctof86]

On 22/02/2025 at 16:04, Snipes99 said:

Great post Dan, thanks!

I have a question for you (and anyone else who may know the answer), I have players who "lack respect for the coaching staff", even though all my coaches have gold badges, have natural aptitude and are 4.5 stars. It doesn't change, no matter who I bring in. Do you know why this is and if it impacts the players in any way?

@DanEnglish Will know better than I, but I’ve only ever had that when a “new” coach arrives at the club and it goes away after the coaches have been in place for a while…

[Ctof86]

@DanEnglish great write up! I double down on giving yourself the Motivational specialism. Great tip for those who didn’t know!

A few gaps in my knowledge if you would be so kind:

1. What does the colour in the bar at the top of the training page mean:

Most of my players have the blue bar. But a few have yellow and 1 has a dark/navy blue. I can’t make heads nor tails of it.

2. My youth coach (also my AM) speaks Portuguese, in the hope that he could convince Neymar’s regen to learn English - when he has no interest in doing so (There were no gold/interested/youth coaches available when I hired them - There were two silvers which I hired and fired immediately when they failed the gold test 😂). But it hasn’t seemed to work sadly. Does it have to be the same country to influence this rather than languages spoken? Or is there another step to this?

3. Do we have any control over the “Players Influenced” section against a coach? It seems to be random players influenced by random coaches (My fitness coach is influencing players who are not training a physical attribute and I am influencing 3x random old players who I brought in for mentoring purposes only. Some don’t seem to influence any… ie my Youth coach (and AM):

Does this actually do anything anyway?

I normally had my AM be a Youth specialist as my belief was that I typically end up with a  young squad (average age 23-24) and that the youth specialism would be best suited logically. However after reading this, I think I might bin that idea and get an extra fitness coach in…?

Thanks

[DanEnglish]

57 minutes ago, Ctof86 said:

1. What does the colour in the bar at the top of the training page mean:

Huh. This is new for FMM24 - as it wasn’t in FMM23. I don’t know - but if you check the ‘squad dynamics’ page, I wonder if the colours (yellow, blue, red) match that for each player (e.g. team leaders in yellow) … ?
 

1 hour ago, Ctof86 said:

Does it have to be the same country to influence this rather than languages spoken?

I guessed it had to be the same country / nation - but have never checked / tested this.

Also I have no idea if coaches help players to learn languages - certainly other players and you / the manager can help players to learn languages though.  
 

1 hour ago, Ctof86 said:

3. Do we have any control over the “Players Influenced” section against a coach? … Does this actually do anything anyway?

This is also my biggest question - which I don’t know the answer to.

I’m not sure if the coaches impact only these players … or if coaches impact most players, but with an extra boost to these players. No idea 🤷 

🙂 

[Petertr]

Just came across this - I'd heard about the "lots fitness coaches" before, but didn't realise until recently it was to exploit that fitness attributes don't contribute to CA, so you can just keep improving every player - I assume this is unlimited?

Would a coaching setup of Me as a Motivational Coach for the academy mental boost, and then everyone else as a Fitness coach not have a detrimental impact on the improvement of skill attributes though, the ones that do increase CA?

If its not so bad, then I'd serious consider 1 Motivational and 1 Youth Coach (I tend to play as a manager who develops young talent), and everyone else fitness.

Thoughts?

[DanEnglish]

14 hours ago, Petertr said:

Just came across this - I'd heard about the "lots fitness coaches" before, but didn't realise until recently it was to exploit that fitness attributes don't contribute to CA, so you can just keep improving every player - I assume this is unlimited?

In a sense it's unlimited - as long as your player is young, then his physicals will improve with 3-4 fitness coaches.

• There may be some limits based on the players age (older = less likely to improve?) and/or players remaining PA (none left = less likely to improve?) - but am not sure of this. 
• Plus I assume that to improve - that specific player would have to be one of the players being 'coached' by that coach (i.e. when you click on a coach, it shows you who they are particularly focused on / influencing) - but that's a guess.

14 hours ago, Petertr said:

Would a coaching setup of Me as a Motivational Coach for the academy mental boost, and then everyone else as a Fitness coach not have a detrimental impact on the improvement of skill attributes though, the ones that do increase CA?

Not really. As long as you have a good training facility (and good game time) - your players will continue growing in non-physical attributes. 

With worse / lower-league players, with lower PAs, then they'll likely reach their max PA anyway through good game-time, so you may as well try to max out their physical development as well. With better / elite players, with higher PAs, then other non-fitness coaches are useful to develop their non-physical attributes, but that's just speeding things up. I.e. it's a choice.

14 hours ago, Petertr said:

If its not so bad, then I'd serious consider 1 Motivational and 1 Youth Coach (I tend to play as a manager who develops young talent), and everyone else fitness.

That is exactly what I do.

[RE5T 1N PEACE]

What scouting combinations do you recommend?

[Petertr]

On 23/06/2025 at 10:50, DanEnglish said:

That is exactly what I do.

I flipped to this last season.  First season in the Prem with South Shields!

[DanEnglish]

On 30/06/2025 at 06:36, RE5T 1N PEACE said:

What scouting combinations do you recommend?

No idea 🤷 

[Petertr]

On 23/06/2025 at 10:50, DanEnglish said:

That is exactly what I do.

Half a season in, I have a feeling my skills aren't developing very well since I made this change.  Are we sure we don't need general or other coaches to help with technical (i.e. non physical) skill improvements?

[DanEnglish]

7 hours ago, Petertr said:

Are we sure we don't need general or other coaches to help with technical (i.e. non physical) skill improvements?

General or attacking or defensive coaches would help more with technical skill improvements - that is correct.

Therefore if you’re using 4x fitness coaches, it’s not surprising that you’ll see greater physical growth and lower technical growth. That should be expected.

The reason physical growth is helpful is because it does not use up the remaining CA (current ability). So physical growth is like ‘free’ growth …

… while technical growth uses up CA (and once they have no potential remaining, they’ll pretty much stop growing). If you want to prioritize technical growth, that’s fine and your choice 👍 

[Petertr]

On 09/07/2025 at 01:30, DanEnglish said:

General or attacking or defensive coaches would help more with technical skill improvements - that is correct.

Therefore if you’re using 4x fitness coaches, it’s not surprising that you’ll see greater physical growth and lower technical growth. That should be expected.

The reason physical growth is helpful is because it does not use up the remaining CA (current ability). So physical growth is like ‘free’ growth …

… while technical growth uses up CA (and once they have no potential remaining, they’ll pretty much stop growing). If you want to prioritize technical growth, that’s fine and your choice 👍 

Just finished my first season since changing to the system above, and I did notice that anyone over about 26 really didn't improve their CA (I use that assistant manager app)

So I'm pressed with a choice - either add a general coach back into the mix, or stick with players who are young enough that the 1 youth coach I have is enough to get them to their potential for technicals before the age-out and then only really improve physicals.

I'm doing a squad rebuild to that effect at the moment, but I think I might just add 1 general coach in too - Hopefully they can coach keepers, who I would expect continue to improve a few years longer than outfield players?  I noticed they've stagnated badly too.