Data and methodology

Source export

The bundled source is an FM26 export produced by fm26-exporter 0.1.0 for game version 26.3.2.2329565, exported on 24 September 2026. Country membership is mapped to scouting regions; the import separates men’s and women’s data and excludes non-main club teams.

Coverage and freshness

The export date identifies the bundled source, not a guarantee that every live value was reviewed that day. Administrators can correct values after import. Ratings and available clubs can differ by database update, loaded leagues and individual save. No independent dataset review date is recorded; missing values are shown as unavailable.

How the comparison works

The scouting score is this tool’s estimate of how good and how plentiful a country’s newgens are, not an official Football Manager rating. It follows what player-run tests (FM-Arena) measured to drive newgen potential: junior coaching (about 40% of the effect), youth recruitment (about 25%) and the country’s youth rating (about 25%). Newgen quality counts 75%: youth rating 28% and the country’s 10 best academies 72% (junior coaching 60%, youth recruitment 40%). The number of strong academies counts 15% and game importance 10%. The map has a second view, Good and cheap, for players who buy their newgens: 70% that score and 30% club prices, with a lower reputation of the 10 best academies meaning cheaper players. Each score is turned into a grade from S (90–100) to E (below 35): S and A (80–89) are Scout here first; B (68–79) is Worth a scout; C (55–67) is Deep search; D (35–54) and E are Long shots. These pages show grades rather than the raw score, and a grade compares countries within the same dataset.

Youth facilities and country reputation are not counted: the tests found no effect of youth facilities on newgen potential. A scout assigned to a region covers every country in it, so regions receive a size penalty. Countries with no or few clubs in the data get, for the missing part, the academy values their youth rating suggests. Scores help comparison; they do not predict a particular newgen or guarantee a scouting outcome.

Corrections and maintainer

Include the country or club, men’s or women’s dataset, your FM version and the value you believe is wrong when reporting an issue. Please omit private save files and personal information.