The longest Football Manager game ever lasted 535 years and had five different clubs!
No matter how much you dive into Football Manager, it takes some serious dedication to come close to the longest save in history. Football Manager 27 is free to play until November 3rd before its official release, and players can keep their saves going right where they left off once early access ends.
But no matter how long your save lasts, it’s almost impossible to beat the amazing run by FM fan Sepp Hedel. The German made it into the Guinness World Records after playing a huge 535 seasons in one continuous save. He mainly played while working in Africa, starting back in December 2017.
His record was first celebrated in 2019 when he hit 333 seasons, beating Michal Leniec from Poland, who held the record with 221 seasons since December 2018. Then, in 2022, Paweł Siciński briefly took the record with 416 seasons. But Hedel didn’t stop—he reclaimed the record in June 2025 in Diebelstadt, Bavaria, Germany.
All in all, Hedel spent an incredible 146 real days playing and managed five different clubs. He began with FC United of Manchester, a club created by Manchester United fans against the Glazer family takeover. Later, he managed teams worldwide, including Bengaluru FC, Hereford FC, LA Galaxy, and Tai Po FC.
During his first record run of 333 seasons—without using simulations or taking breaks—he won nearly 1,000 trophies. He scored 42,672 goals in 15,768 matches and signed 684 players for a total of £9.41 billion. His star player, Fernando Robles, scored 427 goals in 587 games. Although exact stats for the second record haven’t been shared, Guinness World Records verified it, and Sepp has the certificate to prove it.
Sepp shared, “My favorite part was developing smaller clubs. FC United of Manchester’s first Premier League win in 2037, after six times finishing second, was really special. After 50 years there and winning everything, I tried something new with Bengaluru FC in India. I eventually returned to the Premier League with Hereford FC in 2277. It was tough beating my old club FC United, but I finally did in 2289.”
He added that beating big clubs like Manchester City and Manchester United with FC United, winning the Premier League, and lifting the UEFA Champions League against Atletico Madrid in 2037 were big highlights.
Now, we can’t wait to see what he’ll do in Football Manager 27. The game is available to pre-order for Xbox and PC from multiple retailers. It’s priced at £49.99, but you can get 16% off on the Fanatical website, plus an extra 5% off with our exclusive code SPORTBIBLE5—bringing it down to just £39.89.
If you pre-order, you’ll be able to play the game right after the free preview ends on November 3, 2026, and before the full release on November 9, 2026. You can use the code when you check out here!