How to make Football Manager 2021 more realistic

[Mihai]

Making Football Manager more realistic is possible by installing a number of addons created by the community. And no, this is not about logopacks or facepacks.

Most of the addons featured below are custom data files that either tweak certain aspects of how the game works or add more depth to what's already there.

Certain addons are available as packs which include multiple files. And since these files are created by different people, there are some cases of files that do similar things, so you'd have to choose just one to avoid data conflicts.

I'll briefly explain what all the different files do, where to find them, and when you need to make a choice to avoid possible conflicts.

So, let's get to it.
 

DLC for a More Realistic Football Manager 2021

 

 GUI

Trophies Megapack

Almost 1200 real trophies to add to all playable nations in the game.

 

You can only use 1 of the 2 competition color patches below.

 

Realistic Competition Colors

Over 400 competitions with inaccurate color schemes are updated and fixed.

 

Nik33's Competition Colours

Official competition colours for UEFA comps and Copa Libertadores.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

 Match Day Experience

Fez's Enhanced Turf Textures

New enhanced look of grass textures making the turf look more realistic.

 

3D Balls Mega Pack

3D Ball Pack for over 150 Competitions! Use a ball for each competition!

 

Realistic Weather

Real-life annual weather data was used to optimize current weather patterns, and create new ones.

 

Better Crowd Colors

Turn that sea of orange to a sea of neutral colors. A mod for more realistic crowd colors.

 

Better Crowd Sounds

Realistic Sound patch for crowd sounds that are better than the default ones.

 

Nik33's Club Colours

Changes club titlebar colours to their correct ones based on their logos and football tradition.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

 Skin

DaniDots 2021 Realism Mod

No Attributes and No Stars to guide us on player assessment but there are ways to work this around.

 

 Licensing

Real Names License Fix

Fix fake name of competitions, clubs and awards with their real names in Football Manager 2021.

 

Nik33's Competition Abbreviations

Updates 150+ competition abbreviations to match their licensed names.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

 Transfers & Finances

Transfer Update

This is the best Football Manager transfer update and it comes with daily repacks.

 

Realistic Transfer Preferences

Real life transfer data applied to top 35 nations, and more realistic transfer preferences for all 228 nations.

 

Current Currency Exchange Rate

Replicates the financial situation of all Nations more accurately to their current situation IRL.

Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.

 

Club Transfer Preferences

Certain clubs have a strong affinity for a specific nationality of players in the past and present. This is now a criteria in Visions of each Club.

Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.

 

Finances Mod

Teams should focus more on their youth. No inflation of wages. Better financial balancing for long-term saves.

Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.

 

You can only use 1 of the 2 transfer value patches below.

 

Realistic Transfer Values

Real life transfermarkt data applied to 30 nations. Better than default Transfer Values.

 

Improved Market Values + Salaries + Sponsors

Adjusted Market values to replicate transfer fees better. Increased potential Salaries for Top-players. Decreased salaries for some Nations.

Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.

 

 Leagues

You can only use 1 of the 2 league expansions below.

 

Complete Pyramids Megapack by Weiry

100% authentic footballing pyramids from 155 nations all around the world. Real Rules and Real Clubs.

 

Leagues Mega Pack by @Timo@

Unlock previously unplayable leagues in 216 nations. With real rules & structure wherever possible.
 

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League Reputation Change

Lowers the gap slightly between the Top-Nations and all the others in Europe. Boosts Top-Nations outside of Europe slightly.

Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.

 

 Injuries

You can only use 1 of the 2 injury patches below.

 

Realistic Injuries

Added 90 NEW injuries, and reworked 90% of injuries to be more logical.

 

Nik33's Extended Injuries System

Updates current injuries and adds 70 more to a total of 202 types for more diversity and realism, while slightly lowering some severe injuries odds.

 

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

 Languages

You can only use 1 of the 2 language patches below.

 

Full Language Update by J-Mac

Every actively used language in the world is added to the game with statistical accuracy.

 

Language Overhaul by majesticeternity

Added 80 New languages, 62 NEW Dialects. Edited 100 Nations and 1,500 Regions.

 

 Media

You can only use 1 of the 2 media patches below.

 

Media Overhaul

Adds 4,240+ real media, 1,000 real journalists, 80 bookmakers, along with their styles & personalities.

 

Nik33's World Media pack

About 250 new media sources of every kind from all around the world.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

 Agents

You can only use 1 of the 2 agent patches below.

 

Nik33's Agents pack

Adds more than 1.000 real life agents and their connections to 13.000+ players/clients, including every relevant relationship status as well.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

Real Life Agents by pr0

With specific attributes & clients adding more realism to the game.

Part of Pr0's Data Packs.

 

 Players & Staff

You can only use 1 of the 2 wonderkid patches below.

 

Wonderkids Reboot 2021

An extensive database update that adds multiple young talented players to your Football Manager 2021.

 

New Wonderkids by pr0

Newly created young players, aged U20 with a potential ability over -75, making them the future world class players.

Part of Pr0's Data Packs.

 

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Nik33's Career Plans

Adds career plans to players/staff taking into account their real life choices, interviews and social media posts.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

Nik33's Player Partnerships

Adds/updates player partnerships, a new feature that can add great real life partnerships like Kane/Son, Lukaku/Martinez etc.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

Nik33's Relationships

Adds more than 110 new relationships depending on player interviews, social media posts and other incidents. Also adds players' idols.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

New Players & New Staff by pr0 (2 files)

New players and new staff created who don't exist in the current database.

Part of Pr0's Data Packs.

 

You can only use 1 of the 2 ability patches below.

 

CA / PA Changes by pr0

Adjusted attributes, current ability & potential ability numbers.

Part of Pr0's Data Packs.

 

Nik33's Abilities & Personalities

Updates player/staff attributes based on their real life season form and after extensive comparison between all top leagues' players. Fills many empty attributes and also deals with attribute anomalies.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

 Newgens

You can only use 1 of the 2 youth rating patches below.

 

Alternative Youth Rating

Changes the National Youth Ratings, Game Importance and state of development for each Nation.

 

Nik33's Reputations

Updates reputations for Clubs, Nations, Competitions & adjusts nations' youth ratings.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

 Awards

Awards Overhaul

160 New Awards, along with a entirely reworked reputation system.

 

 Other

Derbies Overhaul

550+ NEW Derbies added, reworked all to create realistic national and world reputations.
 

Note: This might create problems with team reputations in less known leagues.

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You can only use 1 of the 3 patches with general changes below.

 

Other Changes by pr0

Changes in general which include second nationalities, affiliations between teams, new stadiums, favourite personel etc.

Part of Pr0's Data Packs.

 

Nik33's Generic Changes

Fixes player/staff info (DOBs, POBs, nicknames, histories, heights, weights etc), national team status, season stats, pref. squad numbers, language knowledge etc.

Part of Nik33's Data Packs.

 

Data Tweaks by SirTAVARES

Around +1500 changes to improve the gaming experience. Also created people missing from the game.
 

Note: This might also conflict with wonderkids by JG, new players and new wonderkids by Pr0.

 

Struggling to choose which addons to pick? Steve highlighted a few of his fav.

 

 Data Bundles

Many of the addons listed above are included in the following bundles and you can grab each of them as a single download.
 

Realism Increase Megapack by Daveincid	Data Update Packs by pr0 & Transfers by FMTU
Nik33's Data Packs

I will keep updating this list from time to time to ensure it always reflects all the quality addons that raise the realism in Football Manager 2021.