Longest game of Football Manager lasted 535 years and included five clubs

No matter how much you intend on getting stuck into the Football Manager game, it will take some serious FM bashing to come anywhere close to the record for the longest save in history.

Football Manager 27 is free to play until 3 November before the game's official release - with players able to continue their saves from the exact point where they left off following the early access.

But however long anyone's save ends up being, it is near-on impossible that it will surpass the incredible run FM fanatic Sepp Hedel achieved.

Football Manager fanatic completed longest game which spanned 535 seasons

The German went into the Guinness World Records after completing a whopping 535 seasons in one continuous save.

He played the majority of the game while working in Africa, beginning in December 2017.

The record was first celebrated in 2019 when he got to 333 seasons, beating Michal Leniec, a 38-year-old man from Poland, who managed for 221 seasons and claimed the award in December 2018.

In 2022, he was knocked off his perch by Paweł Siciński after his save lasted 416 seasons.

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But Hedel kept on playing and reclaimed his record in June 2025 in Diebelstadt, Bavaria, Germany.

In total, his real-life playing time came to a staggering 146 days in real-time and spanned five different clubs.

The stats behind Football Manager record-breaker's

He kicked off his managerial career with FC United of Manchester, a breakaway Non-League club set up by Manchester United fans in protest to the Glazer family takeover.

Hedel then went on to travel the world, taking charge of Bengaluru Football Club, Hereford FC, LA Galaxy and Tai Po FC.

During his original record of 333 seasons, where he did not do any simulation or in-game vacations, he won nearly 1000 trophies.

In this period, he scored 42,672 goals in 15,768 matches and signed a total of 684 players for a combined total of £9.41 billion.

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Fernando Robles, an FM regen, proved to be his trusty talisman, scoring 427 times in 587 games. The updated statistics including the second record-break have never been released but it has been verified by Guinness World Records and Hedel has the certificate to prove it.

"My favourite part of the game was to develop smaller clubs, so I started with FC United of Manchester who had their first Premier League win in 2037 after six second places! That was a special moment," Hedel reflected on his heroics.

"After 50 years in Manchester I had won everything, so I decided to try something new and signed with Bengaluru FC of India.

"Eventually I returned to the Premier League with Hereford FC in 2277. However, I realized how insanely strong I developed FC United and it was even harder to beat my former club, but I finally managed to in 2289.

"I think the first win against the big clubs Manchester City and Manchester United with FC United of Manchester was very special. Of course, the first Premier League title and the first win of the UEFA Champions League against Atletico Madrid in 2037 was also a big deal too."

We await to see what damage he can do on Football Manager 27.

Where can I buy Football Manager 27?

Multiple retailers have Football Manager 27 available for pre-order for your XBox or PC.

At full price, the game costs £49.99, but there's currently 16 percent off on the Fanatical website. And you can snag an additional five percent off with our exclusive code SPORTBIBLE5, bringing the cost down to £39.89.

Anyone that pre-orders the game will be able to access the title after the five-day free preview ends on November 3, 2026 and before general release on November 9, 2026.

You can apply the code to checkout here.

Shop FM27 at the following retailers:

• Steam/Microsoft: Fanatical
• Xbox: Loaded
• PS5: Playstation