Fixing Football Manager's Worst League Format: Why I Modded Belgium (No Playoffs + 12 Subs)

Football Manager is my undisputed holy grail for dopamine. When I’m deep in a save, scouting wonderkids in South America, obsessing over half-space overlaps, and watching my tactical plan click in real time, I can happily lock in for eight hours straight.

But FM has a dark side for an ADHD brain: Friction Accumulation.

When a game requires hundreds of micro-decisions per hour, small systemic annoyances don’t just mildly irritate you: they compound. Eventually, they trigger Restartitis, that familiar urge to abandon a 50-hour save file in late February because the mental weight of finishing the season suddenly feels like climbing Mount Everest.

In FM24, nowhere was that cognitive friction more painful than managing in the Belgian Pro League.

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The FM24 Belgian Format Was an ADHD Nightmare

In FM24 (and Belgian football at the time), the Pro League ran on one of the most convoluted playoff systems in world football:

1. Play a 30-game regular season.
2. Cut everyone’s hard-earned points in half.
3. Split the league into Championship Playoffs, European Playoffs, and Relegation Play-Downs.
4. Play another 6 to 10 high-stress mini-league matches with bizarre European qualification playoff matches tacked onto the end.

(Note: While Belgian football voted to scrap this playoff system in real life and it is no longer the case in FM26, for anyone still enjoying long-term careers in FM24, the vanilla game remains locked into this fatigue-inducing format.)

[30-Game Regular Season] -> [HALVE POINTS / RESET MOMENTUM] -> [Mini-League Split] -> [Overtime Playoff Matches]

Why This Breaks the ADHD Dopamine Loop

An ADHD brain requires clear momentum, predictable milestones, and tangible rewards for effort.

When you spend 30 matches building a 7-point lead at the top of the table, having your points arbitrarily cut in half feels like an existential punch in the gut. The goalposts keep moving. The season drags on indefinitely. Your working memory has to constantly calculate tiebreakers, half-point roundings, and split-table European qualification brackets.

By March, season fatigue sets in, the dopamine dries up, and you end up clicking Quit to Desktop instead of hitting Continue.

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Pre-Match Decision Paralysis: The 9-Man Bench Problem

There is a second, quieter friction point that plagues FM managers: substitute bench constraints.

In default FM24 Belgian rules, you are allowed 5 substitutions, but you can only name 9 players on the bench.

For someone struggling with executive function and working memory, picking those 9 seats before every single match triggers intense analysis paralysis:

“I need a backup goalkeeper (1). A backup center-back (2). A fullback who can play both sides (3). A defensive midfielder (4). A box-to-box midfielder (5). A winger (6). A backup striker (7)… That leaves only two spots.”

Now you are paralyzed choosing between:

• Giving your 17-year-old wonderkid 20 minutes of match development.
• Carrying a target man for when you need a desperate late goal.
• Carrying injury cover for your fragile star playmaker.

You spend 10 agonizing minutes swapping players on the tactics screen before the match even begins. Multiply that by 45 matches a season, and your pre-match routine becomes an exhausting mental chore.

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The Mod: Belgium No Playoffs (FM24)

To solve both of these cognitive bottlenecks for FM24, I built Belgium No Playoffs using the official Football Manager 2024 Pre-Game Editor.

Here is what the database mod changes:

• 🏆 Classic 18-Team Single-Table Format: All 18 top-tier teams play a standard 34-game double round-robin season (home and away). No points halving, no split leagues, and zero playoff bloat.
• 📉 Clean, Direct Relegation: The bottom 3 teams are directly relegated to the Challenger Pro League. Simple, lethal, and clear consequences.
• 💺 12-Man Substitute Bench: Bench size is expanded from 9 to 12 players (with standard 5 substitutions in 3 stoppages).
• 💰 Rebalanced Economics: Prize money, TV distribution, and match scheduling are fully recalibrated across all 34 matchdays so club finances stay realistic and competitive.
• 📅 Streamlined Calendar: A predictable weekly match rhythm with a clean winter break, eliminating cluttered multi-leg playoff fixtures in late May.

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The Neurodivergent Impact: Why It Feels So Much Better

Modding these rules didn’t make the game easier; it removed extraneous cognitive load.

Before Mod: 30 Matches + Halved Points + 10 Playoff Matches + 9 Bench Slots = Cognitive Overload
After Mod:  34 Matches + Pure Single Table + 12 Bench Slots = Clear Strategic Flow

1. Unbroken Seasonal Momentum

With a 34-match single table, every matchday provides direct, immediate dopamine. Win a game? You gain 3 points. Build a gap? That gap is yours. The finish line is always visible, and you can comfortably power through a full season in a couple of focused gaming sessions.

2. Zero-Guilt Squad Rotation

With 12 bench slots, pre-match anxiety disappears. You can comfortably name your tactical contingencies, full positional backups, and 2 or 3 academy prospects on the bench. If you go 3-0 up by the 65th minute, you bring on the youth without having compromised your tactical safety net.

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Download & Setup Instructions

The mod is free, lightweight, and available on both the Steam Workshop and GitHub.

Quick Installation:

1. Click Subscribe on the Steam Workshop page or grab the .fmf file from GitHub.
2. Start Football Manager 2024 and click Start a New Career Game.
3. In the top right corner, click Database and make sure Belgium No Playoffs is checked.
4. Select Belgium in your active league setup and enjoy a clean, distraction-free career.

Have you noticed other league rules or game mechanics that trigger decision fatigue in FM? Drop your observations in our Idea Box and let’s engineer a fix.