Introduction
Championship Manager 01/02 was released on 12th October 2001, which means that the game celebrated 24 years lately. Nevertheless, this particular edition of CM (which later turned into well known Football Manager series) has legendary status and is still played, updated and patched by an active community of fans.
Why to play CM 01/02 while for example FM 2024 has been available for free not so long ago? Why to play a football manager game where everything happens in your imagination because dots or 3d pitch view are not yet there?
The main answers are climate, simplicity and playability. CM 01/02 is purely about the joy of gameplay, no social media, weekly press conferences and other overwhelming mechanics implemented in the FM series with time. Even the most completionist minded managers can take care of everything in finite time.
Thanks to community data updates it is possible to play with the actual playerbase and tactics used by teams. At the moment I write this article, the most recent update is October 2024, but another one is supposed to happen in about a month.
CM 01/02 is a game of my childhood – revisiting it was an interesting experience and I learned and discovered a lot of new things. In this article I’d start from installing the game and some general info, then finish with a demo FC Barcelona season on 2024 October update.
How To Install And Patch CM 01/02?
hile it is possible to download the game from various sources, I strongly recommend to visit and register at the game forum, where detailed instructions and faq are available (download section). It is more likely than not that the installation process wouldn’t work for you immediately. The game comes in .iso form and has to be mounted on a virtual drive. I used PowerIso for this purpose.
Then you’re supposed to launch “setup.exe” from the mounted cd and here some issues may appear. In my case (Windows 10) I had to go to “Task Manager” => “Details” tab => find setup.exe in process list => right click on it and analyze wait chain => shut down the app which blocked setup. I also had to close all other active apps which used memory at the moment of installation (Discord etc.).
The vanilla 3.9.60 version is playable, but there is 3.9.68 official patch available and required if you want to apply other patches and fixes later with tools like Nik’s Patcher.
I find Nik’s Patcher as the most stable and convenient tool out of available options and patches as really useful for gameplay experience (starting from things like resolution…). Be sure to read the instruction in the patcher thread.
Data Updates
Every year after the transfer window Data Updates are provided to the community by cmforum update team (sometimes twice a year). 24 years is a big time gap – for example Lionel Messi doesn’t exist in the CM 01/02 original database, while in the most recent updates he is 37yo Inter Miami player. Therefore to witness the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi battle of goats you’d have to install one of older or thematic patches (database download section). The 01/02 is the era of the first Galácticos in Real Madrid, beginnings of Ancelotti’s AC Milan, or prime Wenger’s Arsenal.
Installing Data Updates is generally simple. Make a backup copy of the current Data folder, then copy all files from the update pack into Data replacing the old ones.
In the October 2024 patch we can for example develop wonderkid Lamine Yamal, check out how many goals Erling Haaland can score in a season or try to win something with Arsenal.
If you prefer nostalgic vibes instead… up to you. By the way you can dive even deeper into the past with “retro” patches made by the community.
Updated Database vs Original CM01/02
The gameplay experience differs in some important aspects between the updated databases and the original one.
In the original CM01/02 the careers often were built around transferring in “cheat” players and using “killer” tactics optimized against ones used by AI (as you can still see in many vods on yt). Unexpected players outperforming the stars of 2000s football probably came from the game developers not recognizing exactly how the attribute system which they built works in practice.
In the updated databases the contemporary stars of football are usually indeed the best players in the world and the playerbase is more realistic and fair thanks to properly set attributes. Nevertheless some slightly overtuned players and wonderkids are still there for more spice. Also tactics used by AI got updated to be stronger, more realistic and harder to crack than in the original database. During 20 years football tactics changed a lot; while in early 2000s the 4-4-2 formation was common with wingers like Ryan Giggs, right now most of the top teams play with a central striker and AML/AMR inverted wingers like Mohammed Salah. This trend is also reflected in the updated tactics.
A Season In FC Barcelona
Squad Analysis
Goalkeepers
- Marc-André ter Stegen – [6 months injury] World class keeper, played for the club for over 10 years, relatively low wage 2.5M/year. 32 yo is fine for keeper, can be first squad choice for ~4 next years.
- Wojciech Szczęsny – [Retires after season] weaker than Ter-Stegen, but can be a reliable enough replacement in the current season, good crucial skills, high experience and influence. May be hard to find anyone better.
- Iñaki Peña – weak keeper even as backup for Szczesny, overpaid (~1M/year). Strong candidate to transfer out in the long term
Recommends:
- Szczęsny => first half of the season, Ter-Stegen => keeper for next seasons
- Pena => (low priority) transfer out, replace with long term 2nd keeper for T-S , who should be reliable, strong enough and cheap. Make transfer only when very good occassion appears.
Central Defenders
- Ronald Araujo – [2 months injury] All-around defender, could be upgraded only to absolute world class players. Susceptible to injuries and discipline problems.
- Jules Koundé– in the October 2024 patch his attributes are more of versatile central defender / full back rather than a wing-back. Good player, similar to Araujo, but a bit weaker and less aggressive as DC. Learned DR a bit more than DC.
- Iñigo Martínez – a veteran player, likely in his last season in rotation system. Martinez is weaker player overall than Kounde or Araujo, but decent at crucial defender stats (especially Positioning) which makes him a worthy sub current season. In perspective a transfer out is to be considered.
- Pau Cubarsí – a great talent with amazing mental stats and a good pass. Sadly relatively weak Positioning. Already close to first team level.
- Andreas Christensen – average defender, little added value.
Recommends:
- Order at the start is roughly: Araujo – Kounde – Martinez/Cubarsi – Christensen. Cubarsi is the most interesting of players, may even develop into the best defender in the team.
- Central defence can be made visibly stronger only with top players, like Saliba – Dias – Marquinhos – Bastoni – Gabriel – Militao – Bremer – Van Dijk – Skrinar…
Side Defenders
DR/WBR
- Kounde
- Araujo
- Héctor Fort – young talent, at the start good enough only as 2nd/3rd right wingback
DL/WBL
- Alejandro Balde – flamboyant wingback, the main reason to include this position in Barcelona starting formation
- Gerard Martín – 3rd wingback level, too weak
Recommends:
- If playing side defenders / wingbacks, the left side needs a reliable sub for the excellent Balde.
- The right side at the start has no wingback type of first team players. A world class player is needed if you prefer them to more defensive oriented full backs.
Defensive Midfielders
- Frenkie de Jong – [inj 2 months] world class defensive playmaker, may also play as MC.
- Marc Casadó– very solid defensive midfielder, first team consideration, in the long term may be solid substitute.
- Marc Bernal – a talent, but very weak positioning; moving him up also doesn’t look great because of low Off the Ball; a sub or transfer out candidate in the long term
- Eric Garcia – in October 2024 Eric Garcia skills put them rather in position of DM than DC; decent enough only for 3rd sub
Recommends:
- A solid defensive midfielder for replacement is welcomed. If Casado gets injured there is no classical DM, only de Jong who has more offensive characteristics.
Midfielders
- Gavi – [inj 2 months] world class offensive playmaker, high Dribbling and Passing attributes.
- Pedri – world class offensive playmaker, similar characteristics to Gavi; higher pace, weaker defensive attributes
- Dani Olmo – very good offensive midfielder, just one level below world class Gavi and Pedri.
- Pablo Torre – a solid backup midfielder. With Gavi, Pedri, Olmo and De Jong in team though likely would sit deep in reserves whole season.
- Fermín López – October 2024 patch is not generous for Fermin Lopez making him long shots one trick pony. Including his wage, Fermin is a firm transfer out candidate.
Recommends:
- Midfield line is already powerful in Barcelona.
- Fermin Lopez may be transfer listed.
Forwards
- Lamine Yamal – supposed to be AM/F to build the squad around for years.
- Robert Lewandowski – veteran Polish striker. At 35yo his physical attributes, especially Pace and Acceleration would gradually decrease. Good enough striker for the first season, but visibly one or two levels below top.
- Raphinha – very good AM/F. Note that the Oct 2024 is yet before the excellent 2024/2025 season for Raphinha, therefore he is a bit below top world class level.
- Ferran Torres – a versatile sub, never good enough for the starting squad
- Ansu Fati – former wonderkid, still a bit below potential. Decent forward, but clearly not good enough for the first squad.
Recommends:
- Forward line can always be supplied by offensive midfielders (Dani Olmo, Pedri…).
- Yamal is the cornerstone player in the forward line, the others can be replaced via world class transfers whenever occasion appears.
- Extra backup players are not necessary unless you’d like a physically strong striker similar to Lewandowski.
1st Transfer Window
At the start the team (including Barcelona B) has so many players that only one transfer in is possible without transfers out.
Accordingly to the squad analysis above I’ve bought following players:
- Jeremie Frimpong (£46M) – extremely fast world class wingback. I like this position and want my team to make full use of wings.
- Kieran Tierney (£3.3M) – solid wingback, sub for Balde
- Thomas Partey (£2.7M) – defensive midfielder with a decent pass, sub for Casado/De Jong
Tactics
I used WB position with arrow back rather than DL/R with arrow up because the game regards WB and DML/R as two different placements; you can even see that WB is more outside than DL/R in tactics build-up screen).
Pedri has no arrow forward because FC is not his learned position. In an ideal world both AMs would have an arrow forward, you can easily do it if playing Raphinha here for example.
I played with AMFs in central positions because it was more effective in my experience, but if you’d like direct real life resemblance feel free to play inverted wingers instead. I’m not sure what would really be better in this case – in some tests I’ve done lately in a different team the difference was very small.
It is also possible to change the position of players at With Ball and Without Ball screens (so called WIB-WOB). I don’t really recommend using this option as a beginner because that’s a tedious and unintuitive process. My tactic doesn’t include wib-wob.
My tactic can be downloaded here, but I invite you to play around with tactics yourself too.
Final Results
99 points in 38 matches was barely enough to win the season because of the outstanding form of the 2023/2024 UCL champions Real Madrid. My tactic worked by far better in home rather than away matches – maybe it is just too offensive.
Wingbacks had the highest average ratings of all players. Also note 5.7 tackle per game from Casado and goalscoring/assists spread well between all offensive players.
Even in the virtual reality Lewandowski (29gls) wasn’t able to outscore Mbappe (40gls) in the 2024/2025 season. Note that 40 goals is more than 1 per game!
Closure
I hope this article incentivized you to give this old classic game another run or maybe discover it for the first time. Data updates really change the character of the game, making it more realistic and relatable.
There is some archeological vibe to CM01/02 right now, with great pieces of knowledge being forgotten, hiding deep in the web or spread between communities of different languages. That’s the main reason why I’ve written this article and maybe some more in the future.
After over 20 years bugs in the game engine sometimes still are found thanks to reverse engineering and fixed with community patches. An example is Creativity Bug – for skilled enough players suddenly the match engine started to make use of Reflexes rather than Creativity. The game has already been very playable and with bug fixes it becomes only better.
Enjoy!
lerio2