FM 23: How to Remove the Foreign Player Limit

The Turkish league's never-ending topic, the foreign player limit, is faithfully recreated in the Football Manager series too. In real life the rule changes at most once every 6 months, but since the FM game has long since been released and doesn't update mid-cycle, and while FM's developers aren't wrong to do so, the game assumes that whatever rule is in effect in Türkiye will keep applying until its official end date — so as seasons pass, managers are forced to play under increasingly strict foreign player rules. Given that, what can you do as the seasons go on to avoid being limited by fewer foreign player slots and stricter rules? Let's take a look.

Are you one of the players who wants to play FM freely, without limits or rules? For Football Manager fans who want to manage clubs in the Turkish league, how do you remove the in-game foreign player limit applied in the Turkish league? What do you need to do to remove the FM 23 foreign player rule? Let's take a look together.

You can find our FM 24 Foreign Player Rule Removal article here.

What Is the Foreign Player Rule in FM 23's Turkish Leagues?

Although the foreign player rule is quite favorable compared to previous Football Manager games, players who choose Turkish clubs in FM 23 still face a set of restrictions. These restrictions, which affect both your transfers and the players you can field, can take some of the fun out of the game.

If you're currently managing a club competing in the Turkish Süper Lig, Turkey 1st League, Turkish Cup, or Turkish Super Cup, you can only register a limited number of foreign players to your squad. For Süper Lig clubs, the number of foreign players a club can register is capped at 17.

You can also have a total of 14 foreign players in your matchday squad, but only 8 of them can be on the pitch at the same time. This is also known as the 8+3 rule. Under the rule, you must field a combined 8 foreign players and 3 Turkish players. There's also a separate cap of 14 for foreign players who haven't played for their country's under-21 national team.

In addition to the overall foreign player rule, players who came up through the club's own youth academy must also be included in your squad. You're required to have at least one academy graduate in your matchday squad, even if they're not in the starting XI.

How Do You Remove the FM 23 Foreign Player Limit?

There are two options available for removing the foreign player limit.

FM 23 Foreign Player Rule Removal Patch

You can download the FM 23 foreign player limit removal patch, which works with all versions of the game, including 23.3.

Depending on your computer's operating system, you need to place the downloaded file into one of the folders below:

• For Windows users: C:\Kullanıcılar\Belgeler\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2023\editor data
• If you're playing on a Mac: Users\Library\Application Support\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2023\editor data

If you set up the game on Windows to sync your save files to the cloud, you can also find the Sports Interactive folder under Onedrive\Documents, or, depending on the account name of the session on your computer, under C:\Kullanıcılar\Public\Belgeler.

After moving the file into the right folder, remember that you'll need to start a new career in the game. Unfortunately, the foreign player rule removal patch won't work on your existing saves. When starting a new career, be sure to check the database screen and confirm that the foreign player limit removal patch is active. If you don't see any patch file listed there, make sure you placed the file in the correct folder.

Removing the Foreign Player Limit with FM 23 Editor Tools

A second option is to purchase Football Manager 23 Editor, the tool published by the game's developers, and use it to change players' nationality and squad registration details. You can achieve the same result with a paid third-party tool known as FM Real-Time-Editor (FMRTE). However, compared to the FM 23 foreign player limit patch, these methods require you to deal with each player individually. You may also still run into various restrictions when fielding players whose details you've changed. This method lets you make changes directly on your existing save, letting you get around the foreign player limit to some extent without having to start a new career.

Depending on the editor software you use, you may need to set the player's birthplace to Turkey, or register the player for competitions through the squad registration options. That said, these methods don't always work, and you may still run into squad registration issues even after marking the player as Turkish.